Around My French Table (69 page)

Put all the ingredients except the potatoes in a medium saucepan with a cover, seasoning the broth well with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, cover, and simmer until they can be pierced easily with the tip of a knife, about 15 minutes. The time will vary with the type and size of the potatoes, so check a little before the 15-minute mark and then check frequently after it.

If you'd like to serve some of the cooking liquid with the potatoes, lift the potatoes from the pan with a slotted spoon—put them in a warm bowl and cover them—and turn the heat up under the broth. Cook the broth for a few minutes, until it reduces slightly and the flavors are more concentrated. Taste for salt and pepper.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SERVING
While the braised potatoes are good with any kind of roasted or pan-seared meat, I think they're particularly good with "white" foods like chicken or mild fish fillets.

STORING
The potatoes should be served as soon as they're ready. However, if you've got any leftover spuds, you can use them in a salad. Or turn them into hash browns by cutting them into smaller cubes and browning them in oil with chopped onions and, if you'd like, a little bacon.

BONNE IDÉE
Broth-Braised Fennel
. Trim 4 bulbs of baby fennel and halve them, or trim 2 small fennel bulbs and quarter them lengthwise, and braise them in the same way as the potatoes. The fennel usually cooks faster than potatoes, so check for tenderness at the 10-minute mark.

T
HE CLASSIC FAR BRETON,
a custardy cake with prunes, raisins, and rum, has been a favorite of mine since a friend of ours from southern Brittany made it for us more than thirty years ago. Until a recent trip to the region, I had no idea that the
far
had a salty sister. The base is still a crepe batter and there are still prunes and raisins, but instead of sugar, there are bits of bacon and lots of grated potatoes. It's a substantial go-along—a little like a German kugel—that pairs surprisingly well with dishes as varied as saucy beef stew and simply grilled salmon, but it's so deliriously quirky that since I discovered it, I've been serving it with a salad and calling it supper.

I usually bake the
far
in a deep-dish Pyrex pie plate, but if you've got an oven-going pottery or ceramic dish of similar volume, use it—you'll love the way the golden, puffed, and slightly craggy-topped jar looks in a rustic dish.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Generously butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate (or a similar-sized baking dish; 2-quart capacity is right); set the pan on the baking sheet.

Put a heavy skillet over medium-low heat and toss in the bacon matchsticks. Cook slowly, turning as needed, until the lardons are nicely browned. Lift the lardons out of the pan and drain on a double layer of paper towels.

Put the flour, milk, eggs, salt, and pepper in a bowl and beat with a whisk until the batter is lumpless. Lift the grated potatoes out of their bowl, squeeze them gently between your hands—you want to rid them of excess moisture, not pack them together—and stir them into the batter. Add the lardons, prunes, and raisins, stir to blend, and turn the batter into the prepared pan. Cut 1 tablespoon of the butter into bits and scatter them over the
far.

Bake for 45 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Cut the remaining tablespoon of butter into bits, dot the top of the
far
with the butter, and continue baking for about 30 minutes more. When done, the top will be golden (if it looks as though the
far
is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent), the butter will be bubbling all around the edges, and a knife inserted into the center of the
far
will come out clean.

Remove the
far
from the oven and serve immediately.

MAKES 6 TO 8 SIDE-DISH SERVINGS OR 3 OR 4 MAIN-COURSE SERVINGS

SERVING
The
far
should be served piping hot, as a side dish or as the main event of a casual meal.

STORING
Though
far
is best right after it's made, leftovers can be kept covered in the refrigerator or on the counter overnight and served at room temperature the following day.

A
FTER
POMMES FRITES
(French fries, see box,
[>]
), this may be the most famous potato dish in France. While the recipe for
pommes dauphinois
can have a few flourishes, it is basic: layers of thinly sliced potatoes soaked in cream, topped with cheese, and baked until the potatoes absorb the cream and the cheese melts and bubbles and forms a little crust, or
gratin.

The gratin is named and claimed by the former Dauphiné province of France (now part of Burgundy), but its reputation is international and its popularity extreme, particularly in cold climes. When we were in Megève, a movie-perfect skiing village in the French Alps, almost every dish, no matter what it was, came with a hefty serving of
pommes dauphinois.
And, in case you're wondering, a serving of potato gratin, even a small serving, is hefty—it's the nature of the dish and part of what makes it so remarkably satisfying. Besides, if you've been schussing the Alps all day, potatoes, cream, and cheese are just what you need.

There's really no reason to embellish this dish, but then there's really no reason not to, since potatoes and cream take so nicely to so many things, like mushrooms or spinach or a companion cheese. See Bonne Idée for a few suggestions for personalizing the gratin (and maybe using up some leftovers in the process).

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment. Generously butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate (a Pyrex pan is perfect) or other 2-quart baking pan and put it on the baking sheet.

Put the heavy cream and garlic in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over low heat. Keep it warm while you work on the potatoes.

If you've got a mandoline or a Benriner slicer, now's the time to get it out; if not, you can use the thin slicing blade of a food processor or a sturdy sharp knife. One by one, peel the potatoes and slice them into rounds about ⅛ inch thick. As each potato is cut, arrange the slices in slightly overlapping concentric circles in the pie plate (or rows, if your pan isn't round), season with salt and pepper, and spoon over some of the warm garlic-infused cream, lightly pressing down on the potatoes with the back of the spoon so that the cream works its way around all of the slices. Continue until you've filled the pan. If you're shy of a little garlic-infused cream—you want the cream to just peek out around the edges of the pan—pour over a little light cream or milk. If you're using the herbs, strew them over the potatoes. Dust the top of the gratin with the grated cheese.

Slide the gratin (on the baking sheet) into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, then check the gratin: if you can poke a knife through the potatoes and easily reach the bottom of the pan, the gratin is done; if the potatoes need more time but the gratin is getting too brown, cover the top loosely with foil and bake until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 30 minutes.

Remove the gratin from the oven and let it rest in a very warm place (or in the turned-off oven with the door open) for 5 to 10 minutes before you serve it, just so the bubbles can settle down and the potatoes can absorb the maximum amount of cream.

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

SERVING
Bring the gratin to the table to cut—it's too pretty to leave in the kitchen.

STORING
This should be eaten soon after it's baked. You can reheat it, but it will lose some of its creaminess and almost all of the sheen that freshly melted cheese has.

BONNE IDÉE
If you want a dash of color, substitute an equal weight of sweet potatoes for an Idaho or two or sneak in a layer of cooked chopped spinach or chard, sautéed mushrooms, or steamed small broccoli florets. Bits of cooked bacon or strips of lightly sautéed pancetta are natural go-withs as well. And while Gruyère or Emmenthal is traditional, there's no reason not to mix things up and add Parmesan or even a blue cheese, like Gorgonzola. If you've got odd chunks of cheese in the fridge, use Gruyère or Emmenthal as the base and add the other cheeses to it.

I
F THE FRENCH CELEBRATED THANKSGIVING,
I'm sure they'd find a place at the table for this gratin. Simply made, appealingly rustic, and very tasty, it can sit alongside a main course or, with a little salad (and maybe even some cranberry sauce), take the stage alone for brunch, lunch, or supper. The recipe was given to me more than twenty-five years ago, and after making it the first time, I wrote in the margin that it was a little like a quiche (it's really only the addition of flour that sets it apart from a quiche filling) and in some ways like a pudding, in that it's rich, soft, and creamy. It's a classic—it was popular when it was first passed along to me, and it's a recipe that's still treasured today.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Generously butter an oven-going pan that holds about 2½ quarts. (It's not elegant and it's a tad too big, but a 9-×-13-inch Pyrex pan is fine.) Put the dish on the baking sheet.

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Pull or cut the florets from the cauliflower, leaving about an inch or so of stem. Drop the florets into the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse the cauliflower under cold running water to cool it down, and pat it dry. (Alternatively, you can steam the florets over salted water. When they're fork-tender, drain and pat dry.)

While the cauliflower is cooking, toss the bacon strips into a heavy skillet, put the skillet over medium heat, and cook just until the bacon is browned but not crisp. Drain and pat dry.

Spread the cauliflower out in the buttered pan, and scatter over the bacon bits.

Put the flour in a bowl and gradually whisk in the eggs. When the flour and eggs are blended, whisk in the cream and milk. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and nutmeg and stir in about two thirds of the cheese. Pour the mixture over the cauliflower, shake the pan a little so that the liquid settles between the florets, and scatter over the remaining cheese.

Bake the gratin for about 25 minutes, or until it is puffed and golden and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top isn't as brown as you'd like it to be, run it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.