HungryForever

EEL, BACON AND PRUNE STEW

You can get your eels from the fishmonger in Chinatown in London, or most good fishmongers. I recall reading somewhere someone saying that skinning an eel is like removing a lady’s stocking. It is not, so leave the skin on. It will do no harm, and in fact holds the flesh together and enriches the sauce. Do, though, with a good pair of scissors, trim off the fins that run along the top and bottom of the eel.

Servings

Ingredients

1pound ½piece of smoked streaky bacon (rind removed in one piecetied and rolled), cut into chunks
butter
30 whole shallotspeeled
8cloves of garlicpeeled
1 bottle of red wine
5cups light chicken stock
a bundle made of fresh herbs and 2 sticks of celery
2 bay leaves
14ounces pruneswith their stones in (when they have been stoned they tend to fall apart in cooking, also you are left with nothing to play tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor with), Agen if possible
2 reasonable-sized eelscut into 1¼-inch sections, if small 3
a small splash of red wine vinegar
sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

In a pot large enough to fit all your ingredients brown the bacon and its rind in butter. When the bacon has colored and has given off some of its fat, remove and keep to one side, then gently cook the shallots and garlic in the pot to a sweet golden brown. Return the bacon and skin to the pot, then add the red wine, stock, bundle of herbs, bay leaves and prunes, and let this simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the eel and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Now carefully remove all the ingredients with a slotted spoon into a bowl, discarding the herbs, and keep warm. Add your wee dash of vinegar to the sauce to counteract the sweetness of the prunes and the richness of the eel, and bring it to a boil to reduce, skimming constantly to remove any scum that may arise. This may take 10–15 minutes.
The sauce should have a rich stickiness thanks to the eel and prunes. When happy with the juice check for seasoning and reduce the heat to a simmer. Return the other ingredients to the pot, let them warm through gently. Serve with lots of white crusty bread or mashed potato or white bread fried in duck fat. The prunes should have swollen to delicious rich clouds.