Around My French Table (38 page)

TO MAKE THE BATTER:
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and a grind or two of pepper in a bowl, then whisk in the club soda or seltzer. The batter will have the consistency of heavy cream. If you're not using it right away, cover and keep it in the fridge.
(The batter can be refrigerated for up to 1 hour.)

TO MAKE THE FRITTERS:
Wipe the blossoms with a lightly dampened paper towel, or, if they've got some dirt stuck to them, use a little brush to flick it off: you don't want to wash the blossoms and risk waterlogging them. Gently pry the blossoms open, reach in, with your fingers, a paring knife, or tweezers, and pull out the pistils and stamens. It's a touchy job, and you might tear a blossom or two, but that's okay—the shrimp and the batter will repair everything.

Season the shrimp with a little salt and pepper. Tuck 1 shrimp into each blossom and twist the top of the blossom gently to seal it (don't fuss too much if you don't have enough blossom to twist; the shrimp is not at risk of falling out).

Take a look at your tempura batter—if it has thickened considerably from sitting in the refrigerator, thin it as needed with a little more soda or seltzer or some cold water.

Pour about ½ inch of oil into a large skillet and heat it until it's very hot but not smoking. Line a plate with a double layer of paper towels. One by one, working in batches (you don't want to crowd the pan and lower the oil's temperature), run the blossoms through the batter, coating them on all sides, then drop them into the hot oil. Fry the fritters for a minute or two on the first side and a scant minute on the other—the coating should be golden brown. As each fritter is cooked, drain it on the paper towels and season it with a little fleur de sel. Serve immediately, with mayonnaise or tartar, cocktail, or chili sauce, if desired.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SERVING
These should be served as soon as possible after they're cooked, either plain or with mayo, tartar sauce, or even bottled cocktail or chili sauce—not thoroughly French, but delicious.

STORING
You can make the tempura batter up to 1 hour ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator.

BONNE IDÉE
Ricotta-Filled Zucchini Blossoms.
Put ¾ cup ricotta cheese, 1 large egg yolk, 1 shallot, finely minced, rinsed, and dried, and 2 tablespoons minced mixed fresh herbs, such as basil, mint, and parsley (or use 2 tablespoons of just one of these), in a bowl and whisk energetically—you want the ricotta to be nice and smooth. Season well with salt and pepper (think about adding a dash of cayenne or a few red pepper flakes), divide the filling among the blossoms, and fry as directed.

ANOTHER BONNE IDÉE
Zucchini Blossoms Filled with Goat-Cheese Tapenade.
Put ¾ cup very soft goat cheese, at room temperature, 1 large egg yolk, 1½ tablespoons tapenade, black or green (homemade,
[>]
, or store-bought), 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil, and the finely grated zest of ½ lemon in a bowl and whisk energetically—the mixture should be very smooth. Season with pepper and only a dash or two of salt (tapenade is salty), divide the filling among the blossoms, and fry as directed.

J
UST BECAUSE ESCABECHE
, a dish of marinated fish—in this case, sardines—vegetables, and aromatics, wasn't invented in France, it doesn't mean the French haven't taken it into their hearts and made it their own. When the weather's warm, it's popular all over the country, but you can find it anytime and everywhere in the southwest corner of France, on the frontier of the dish's homeland, Spain.

When you see the word
escabeche,
you know that there'll be olive oil and a not insubstantial quantity of vinegar (or maybe wine), since the dish was originally used to preserve fish. In fact, I got a lesson about the dish's roots the first time I served a version of it to a group of Parisians, one of whom was a chef. I offered the dish with apologies because I thought my initial attempt was too vinegary.

"How long has the escabeche been in the refrigerator?" the chef asked. When I told her "eighteen hours," she knowingly concluded, "That's the problem—you're supposed to wait eight days!"

I'm sure she's right and sure that in eight days the vinegar would have done a fine job of softening the sardines and rendering the carrots tender enough for babies—and that, having done all this work, the vinegar would have lost its bite. But who can wait eight days? Definitely not me! So I changed the recipe, cooking the sardines a little longer at the start so I wouldn't have to wait more than half a day to dig in. And, since I cut down the vinegar's work, I could also cut down its quantity.

It's escabeche for the modern world, and a quick check shows I'm not the only one without the patience to wait—this is how escabeche is made all around the country.

BE PREPARED:
You'll need to marinate the sardines for at least 6 hours, or, better yet, overnight.

Pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into a large skillet, preferably nonstick, and warm it over medium heat. Put the flour for dredging on a plate or sheet of wax paper, season it with salt and white pepper, and dredge the sardine fillets in the flour, shaking off the excess. Slip the sardines into the hot oil (don't crowd the pan—sauté the fish in batches if necessary) and cook for 2 minutes on a side, or until the flour is lightly browned and the sardines are just barely cooked through. Transfer the sardines to a plate covered with a double layer of paper towels and gently pat off any excess oil. Repeat with any remaining sardines.

Arrange the sardines in an overlapping pattern in an oval gratin dish, a Pyrex pie plate, or another rimmed serving dish. Scatter the rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, and sun-dried tomato slivers, if you're using them, over the fillets.

Wipe out the skillet, pour in another 2 tablespoons of the oil, and return the pan to medium-low heat. When the oil is hot, toss in the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are almost cooked through but not colored. Add the remaining ¾ cup oil, along with the remaining ingredients, 1 teaspoon salt, and white pepper to taste, bring just to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.

Pour the hot mixture over the sardines. Jiggle things around if necessary to make certain that the fillets are covered in oil and that the vegetables are evenly strewn over the fish, then cover the dish with plastic wrap. Allow the escabeche to cool to room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or, better yet, overnight.

Serve chilled, with lemon wedges and bread.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

SERVING
Bring the escabeche to the table as is and have lemon wedges and bread at the ready, so that guests can squeeze as much juice as they want over the fish and use the bread to get up every last drop of sauce. It's not at all traditional, but it is nice to serve a small salad on the side of the escabeche. If you do, use a drizzle of the escabeche soaking sauce to dress the greens.

STORING
Covered tightly, the escabeche will keep for about 3 days in the refrigerator.

BONNE IDÉE
Shrimp Escabeche.
Replace the sardines with 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined. Don't dredge the shrimp in flour; just sauté them very quickly in a little of the olive oil, season them with salt and pepper, and proceed with the recipe.

T
HE FRENCH SEEM TO KNOW
a million things to do with livers of every variety—some of them rough and rustic, like the chunky pâtés you find at charcuteries, and some elegant and quite pretty, like these little upside-down
gâteaux,
a specialty of Lyon, where they're most often served with tomato sauce (see Bonne Idée). In truth, these are more custard than cake, but the idea of having cake at the start of the meal is too irresistible. Made quickly and simply by whirring chicken livers with cream, eggs, herbs, and a little brandy in a blender, the cakes are baked in a water bath, then topped with some quickly pickled onions (a little treat you might want to make often for topping everything from salads to burgers) and, if you'd like, served on a handful of mixed salad greens. Done this way, with the lettuce leaves forming a ruff around the cakes, the dish looks restaurant-fancy.

A note on temperature: These cakes are meant to be served soon after they emerge from their water bath, but I think they're also good when they're just slightly warm or at room temperature. In fact, they're fine cold too, when they're more like pâté than custard.

TO MAKE THE ONIONS:
Put the peppercorns, coriander, and clove in a tea infuser or wrap them in a small piece of cheesecloth and tie up the bundle with kitchen twine. Put the spices, vinegar, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Lower the temperature so that the pickling mix just simmers and cook for 5 minutes.