In the Hands of a Chef (34 page)

1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Turkish pepper, such as Aleppo

3 pounds fresh or frozen (thawed) whole small octopus, rinsed

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

¼ teaspoon anise seeds

½ cup paprika, preferably Spanish

½ pound dried linguine

¼ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges

1.
Heat ¼ cup of the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or braising pan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions, celery, and two-thirds of the chopped garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables start to brown, about 7 minutes.

2.
Add the wine, ouzo, plum tomatoes and their juice, bay leaves, 2 teaspoons of the oregano, and 1 tablespoon of the Turkish pepper. Add the octopus, season with salt and pepper, and enough water to come halfway up the octopus. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover with foil, pressing it down so it just touches the octopus, then cover with a lid. Braise until tender but not mushy, about 1 hour. The point of a knife should easily penetrate the mantle, the area where the head joins the body. The skin will also start breaking apart and sliding off the body. Remove the octopus from the pot and set aside.

3.
Strain the braising liquid, discarding the solids. Return the strained liquid to the pot and boil until it is reduced to 1 cup. Remove from the heat.

4.
Meanwhile, cut the head off the octopus, then cut the head in half. Peel away the gelatinous lining inside the head and discard. Divide the individual tentacles. Toss the octopus pieces in a bowl with the lemon zest, anise seeds, 1 tablespoon of the paprika, and the remaining 1 teaspoon oregano. Cover and set aside.

5.
Heat the remaining ¼ cup olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onion and the remaining garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook until they start to brown, about 7 minutes. Add the octopus and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the remaining 1 teaspoon Turkish pepper and 7 tablespoons paprika, and cook until aromatic, about 3 minutes.

6.
Add the reduced braising liquid and heat through. If the liquid seems too thin to serve as a sauce for pasta, continue cooking until it thickens slightly. Keep warm.

7.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and season with salt. Add the linguine and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.

8.
Drain the pasta, add to the sauce, and toss with the parsley. Divide into warm bowls. Garnish each serving with a lemon wedge.

H
aving grown up in Providence’s
heavily Portuguese neighborhood of Fox Point, I’ve always loved the combination of clams and pork. This hearty stew of potatoes, leeks, and shellfish takes advantage of the way clams and mussels flavor their steaming liquid. The Italian alternative is to add cured pork, in the form of pancetta or one of the dried cured specialty meats. The addition of capocollo, similar to prosciutto but with a stronger, more rustic flavor, at the end of the cooking adds an unexpected depth. This recipe is quite simple once you assemble the ingredients; the entire dish takes less than half an hour to cook. As a luxurious alternative to the garlic toast in the bottom of the bowl, try serving it over Lemon Mashed Potatoes (page 107).

MAKES 4 ENTRÉE SERVINGS

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 large leeks, white part only, trimmed of roots and tough outer leaves, thinly sliced on the diagonal and swirled vigorously in a bowl of cold water to remove any grit

2 garlic cloves, chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

16 sun-dried tomatoes (dry, not in oil), cut in half lengthwise and softened in fish stock (preferably) or water

24 littleneck clams, scrubbed

⅔ cup dry white wine

3 cups Fish Stock (page 33) or 1½ cups clam juice plus 1½ cups high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth

32 mussels, scrubbed and debearded

¼ pound capocollo, cut into ¼-inch-wide 2-inchlong strips

¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

4 thick slices French bread, toasted and rubbed with a garlic clove

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1.
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomatoes, clams, and wine. Cover and cook until the clams just start to open, about 4 minutes.

2.
Add the fish stock and mussels. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook until the mussels open, about 3 minutes. Add the capocollo and parsley and stir.

3.
Put a slice of toast in each of four warmed bowls. Ladle the shellfish stew over the toast, sprinkle with the walnuts and lemon zest, and serve.

S
ome dishes so excite your
senses that even reading about them seems to set off an avalanche of gustatory anticipation. The sense of shock and delight upon first encountering a bourride as a young cook reading about Provençal cuisine was one of those experiences for me. A garlicky fish soup thickened with garlic
mayonnaise
—Is that allowed? I almost swooned. At the time I hadn’t yet been to Provence and didn’t know just how rich a true bourride could be. Some recipes called for thickening the broth with egg yolks (just in case it’s already not rich enough) then adding the mayonnaise. In any event, this has remained one of my all-time favorite seafood dishes, right up there with
soupe de poisson,
although more rustic—and less work.

MAKES 4 ENTRÉE SERVINGS

6 small Red Bliss potatoes, scrubbed and quartered

Kosher salt

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus 2 tablespoons if using cherry tomatoes)

Eight 2-ounce pieces monkfish fillet, trimmed of membrane

Freshly ground black pepper

½ recipe Slow-Braised Tomatoes (page 118), in their oil, or 16 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 fennel bulb, stalks and tough outer layers removed, cut lengthwise in half, cored, and thinly sliced

4 shallots, thinly sliced

2 large leeks, white part only, trimmed of roots and tough outer leaves, sliced ¼ inch thick, and swirled vigorously in a bowl of cold water to remove any grit

4 garlic cloves, 3 thinly sliced, 1 only peeled

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

½ cup dry white wine

24 littleneck clams (I prefer Wellfleet because I live nearby, but you can use any high-quality fresh littlenecks)

4 thick slices rustic bread, toasted

16 basil leaves, 8 sliced into thin strips, 8 left whole for garnish

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 cup Aïoli (page 13)

1 recipe Green Olive Tapenade (page 25)

DO AHEAD:
Make the tapenade and the braised tomatoes, if using. (Both items have myriad uses and last for some time, so I often double the quantities.) Make the aïoli several hours in advance and keep refrigerated until needed.

1.
Put the potatoes in a pot large enough to hold them comfortably, cover with cold water, and season with salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain and let cool.

2.
In a large deep pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the monkfish with salt and pepper and sear lightly on each side, until lightly golden. Do not cook through. Remove the monkfish from the pan and set aside.

3.
Add 2 tablespoons of the oil from the slow-braised tomatoes (or 2 tablespoons olive oil if using cherry tomatoes) to the pan. Add the fennel, shallots, and leeks and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables are tender and the edges begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook just until it releases its perfume, 2 to 3 minutes. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the pepper flakes, lemon zest, the tomatoes, white wine, and clams. Cover and let the clams steam open.

4.
Meanwhile, rub the toast slices with the garlic clove and brush with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil.

5.
Check the clams after 5 minutes. If they haven’t opened, cover and continue to steam. All of them should have opened after 8 to 10 minutes; discard any that haven’t opened by then. Transfer the clams to a bowl large enough to hold the bourride when finished. Cover and keep warm.

6.
Add the monkfish and potatoes to the pan and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes. The monkfish will finish cooking while the potatoes warm. Give everything a stir and taste for seasoning. Add the basil strips and parsley, then pour over the clams.

7.
Divide the stew evenly among four warmed pasta bowls. Add a garlic toast to each, top with a spoonful each of aïoli and tapenade, and garnish with the basil leaves. Serve immediately, offering extra aïoli and tapenade on the side.

T
he Iberian tradition of thickening
seafood soups with toasted noodles inspired this dish. Catalan variations call for
fideus
, a dried thin short noodle, to be toasted in oil in a deep pan on top of the stove. The cook adds stock, various fish, shellfish, and sausage; the noodles soak up the stock, transforming the dish into something closer to stew than soup. If you have 3 cups of homemade Lobster Stock (page 34) sitting around, you can use it here, but the recipe includes instructions for a quick lobster stock (30 minutes), a technique worth learning and taking almost no time at all.

Reheated seafood stew loses much of its original texture. The noodles overcook and become soft; the clams and lobster can turn rubbery. If you won’t be serving all the stew the first night, prepare the recipe as indicated, but stop just short of adding the capellini. Figure out how much stew you want to eat today, and how much tomorrow. Divide the mixture of onions, peppers, and tomatoes in the casserole and set tomorrow’s aside. Only assemble as much of the dish as you intend to serve, reducing the proportion of the other ingredients accordingly. Refrigerate tomorrow’s onion, tomato, and pepper mixture, stock, lobster, clams, and basil and parsley. Reheat the stock the next day, and finish the stew by repeating the final steps of the recipe.

MAKES 4 ENTRÉE SERVINGS

LOBSTER AND STOCK

Kosher salt

Two 1-pound lobsters

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ small white onion, thinly sliced

½ celery stalk, thinly sliced

1 cup dry white wine

¼ teaspoon fennel seeds

1 strip orange zest (½ inch wide and 3 inches long)

2 bay leaves

Pinch of saffron (optional)

¼ pound capellini, broken in half

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 red pepper, stemmed, seeded, and sliced into ½-inch-wide strips

Freshly ground black pepper

4 garlic cloves, chopped

6 ripe plum tomatoes, each cut into 8 chunks

12 littleneck clams, scrubbed

Juice of 1 orange

1 cup cooked chickpeas (see page 230), or rinsed canned chickpeas

½ pound andouille sausage, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices

½ cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

½ cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes (optional)

DO AHEAD:
All of the major features of the stew—cooking the lobster, making the lobster stock, toasting the pasta—can be done a day ahead, leaving only the cooking of the pasta and assembling the stew.

1.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt per quart of water. Add the lobsters, bring the water back to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and cool the lobsters.

2.
Separate the tails, claws, and knuckles from the bodies of the lobsters. Set the bodies aside for making the stock. Remove the lobster tails from the shells, cut the tails in half lengthwise, and remove the vein-like digestive tracts. Cover and refrigerate the lobster meat.