Poached Sole, Orleans Mussels, Black Quinoa, Watercress Broth, Black Truffles, and Herbs

METHOD:

For the Black Quinoa:
Heat oven to 350ºF. In a hot, dry pan, toast quinoa and deglaze with white wine. Stir in butter, carrots, onions, vegetable stock, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook in oven 1 hour, checking every 30 minutes to see if more liquid is needed. Remove from oven, fluff with a fork, and stir in cream, cheese, salt, and pepper. 

For the Watercress Broth:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, season generously with salt, blanch watercress, and shock in ice water. Squeeze out excess water and add to a blender with scallions, garlic, ginger, and chicken stock. Purée mixture. Finish with butter and salt and pepper.

For the Poached Sole and Orleans Mussels:
Lay sole filets on individual pieces of plastic wrap and season with salt and pepper. With a microplane, shave truffles onto fish. With the plastic, roll the sole up tightly and tie at either end to make a sausage shape. In a large pot, bring wine, garlic, and shallots to a simmer. Place the wrapped sole fillets in the liquid and cook 4 to 5 minutes. Remove sole and keep warm. Turn up heat and drop in the mussels, cooking until they all open and discarding any unopened mussels. Remove mussels from pot, reserving liquid.

To Assemble and Serve:
Add 2 to 3 tablespoons Watercress Broth to mussel cooking liquid; whisk in butter and season with salt and pepper. Into a bowl, spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of Black Quinoa in the middle. Cut open the ends of each Poached Sole packet and slide out fish. Rest Poached Sole atop Black Quinoa, and place 4 Orleans Mussels around the sole. Spoon broth around the Black Quinao and garnish with herbs and shaved truffles