Around My French Table (37 page)

Just before you're ready to serve the tartare, prepare the avocados. Remove the pits and peel, and cut the fruit into ½-inch cubes. Put the pieces in a bowl. Halve the remaining lime to use for juice; have the reserved juice from the first lime at hand. Gently—you don't want to mash the avocado—stir in the remaining lime zest, some lime juice (I taste as I go and usually use the juice from a half or whole lime), the remaining 2 teaspoons chives, and the last teaspoon mint. Add a splash of Tabasco and season with salt and pepper.

Stir the lime segments into the salmon, add a little lime juice—a quarter to a half lime might be enough, but add more or less to match your taste—and season with salt. Taste a salmon cube and see if it needs more salt, pepper, Tabasco, or lime juice. Add some salt to the tomatoes if you haven't already done so.

If you're using a pancake ring (or rings), place a ring on a serving plate or salad plate and add one quarter of the avocado mixture, nudging it to fill the circle. Next add an even layer of one quarter of the salmon. At this point, the mixture has probably topped the ring—that's fine. Carefully lay one quarter of the tomatoes over the salmon, pressing them gently so they stay put. It's okay if the top of the tartare is rounded—it's pretty like that. Carefully remove the ring (if you don't have enough rings to go around), and construct the next plate. Continue until you've constructed all 4 tartares (lift off the rings if necessary).

If you're using ramekins or bowls lined with plastic wrap, put the tomatoes in first, then the salmon, and then the avocado. Tamp the layers down very, very gently, then invert each ramekin or bowl onto a plate, lift it off, and remove the plastic.

If you're using glasses, just layer the ingredients as you would with a ring.

Drizzle a few drops—really, just drops—of pistachio oil over and around the tartares, if you'd like, and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SERVING
This is a dish unto itself; it needs nothing else.

STORING
You can get the salmon and tomatoes ready a few hours ahead of time, but the tartare depends on freshness, and the closer to serving time that you prepare things, the better it will be.

S
TRADDLING A SPACE BETWEEN GRAVLAX AND TARTARE,
this dish is a never-fail knockout, even when you serve it, as I often do, to savvy Parisians who know it's a modern version of a humble bistro classic, herring and potatoes. Packed into canning jars or crocks, which look great when you bring them to the table, this is really two dishes in one: there are boiled potatoes marinated in aromatic oil and chunks of salmon cured in sugar and salt, just like gravlax, then marinated. The dish is simple in every way—the only cooking involves boiling the potatoes. But you must have patience, since you have to wait a day or two before you can dig in. However, the duo is always surprising, especially to people who know the original from restaurants; they'll invariably give you cheers for serving something most people think can only be made by a chef.

The recipe will work with any cut of salmon, but it's best (and looks best) if you use a piece cut from the thick center portion of the fillet. With a center cut, you can slice meaty chunks of salmon that will all cure evenly.

Finally, don't be frightened by the amount of olive oil in the recipe—it's a lot, but you won't be eating it all. Although you need a large quantity of oil to cover both the salmon and potatoes, neither of them will absorb much. You can use the leftover potato oil to season or cook other vegetables or to make a vinaigrette, and the salmon oil to make a vinaigrette or even a mayonnaise for other fish dishes or salads.

BE PREPARED:
You'll need to start at least 1 day ahead.

AT LEAST 1 DAY BEFORE SERVING:
Stir the salt and sugar together in a bowl. Slice the salmon into 12 equal pieces, toss the pieces into the bowl, and gently turn the salmon around to coat it evenly. (It's easiest to use your hands for this.) Arrange the salmon snugly in a bowl or terrine (you can layer it), cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or for up to 18 hours.

THE FOLLOWING DAY:
Have two quart-sized canning jars or crocks ready. (If you've got really small fingerling potatoes, they might fit into a pint jar.)
Alternatively, you can use terrines, bowls, or even heavy-duty zipper-lock plastic bags.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Toss the potatoes into the pot and cook until they can be pierced easily with the point of a knife, 10 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Drain the potatoes and, if you'd like, peel them. (I usually leave the skin on.)

Rinse the salmon under cold water (discard the brine) and pat dry.

Divide the spices, herbs, carrots, and onions in half. Start packing the salmon into one of the canning jars, using half the aromatics. Make a layer of salmon and cover it with some of the coriander and peppercorns, a piece of bay leaf, a little thyme, and some carrot and onion; continue until all the salmon is in the jar. If you can arrange it, it's nice to finish with a layer of spices, herbs, carrot, and onion. Pour in enough of the olive oil to cover the ingredients and seal the jar.

Pack the potatoes, whole or cut into chunks, into the second jar following the same method, but this time adding a pinch of salt to each layer (potatoes have a way of gobbling up salt). When the potatoes are packed and you've added the oil, pour in the vinegar, seal the jar, and shake it gently a couple of times to mix the vinegar into the oil. (If you've packed your potatoes in another kind of container, just swish the ingredients around as best you can.)

Put both jars in the refrigerator and chill for at least 6 hours, or for up to 3 days.

Serve, directly from the jars if you like, with lemon or lime wedges.

MAKES 6 APPETIZER SERVINGS OR 4 LUNCH MAIN-COURSE SERVINGS

SERVING
I like to bring the jars to the table and pass them around with lemon or lime wedges—the salmon is nice with a squirt of juice—along with some rye, pumpernickel, or other dark bread and a hunk of butter. You could pass around a lightly dressed green salad too.

BONNE IDÉE
Roasted Cured Salmon.
Rather than marinating the salt-sugar-cured salmon, you can roast it. The salmon will be firm on the outside, rosy pink and satiny inside. To serve 4, use 4 pieces of center-cut salmon fillet, each 5 to 6 ounces, and cure them for 12 to 18 hours in a mix of 3 tablespoons coarse salt and 2 tablespoons sugar. When you're ready to cook the salmon, rinse the pieces well and pat them dry. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the salmon on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 5 to 7 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the fillets reveals flesh that is set but still very pink. Serve the salmon with a gloss of melted butter or olive oil and, if you'd like, a salsa (
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I
F EVER A DISH TOOK A COUNTRY
by storm, this was it. It comes from chef Pascal Barbot of L'Astrance, in Paris, and it was on his menu when the restaurant opened in 2001. These days, L'Astrance has three Michelin stars and all of France has this "ravioli" (you find variations of it everywhere).

There isn't a sheet of pasta to be found in this dish; instead, you've got two very thin slices of avocado cradling a zesty crab salad. I'm crazy about the way Barbot cuts an avocado: he uses a mandoline to get thin, even slices, and he neither peels nor pits the fruit before he cuts, a nifty technique that ensures that the slices will keep their shape. If you don't have a mandoline or a Benriner slicer, you can do this by hand.

At L'Astrance, the crab salad is mixed with lime zest and juice, chives, and almond oil. I make the salad with the lime, but I add minced shallot and cilantro. The playful ravioli construction is so good that it'll stand up to just about any kind of variation that suits your taste.

Put the crab in a bowl and, using a fork (or your fingers), toss it lightly with a pinch or two of sea salt and the lime zest. Mix in the shallot and cilantro and then a little of the lime juice. Taste for salt and lime juice. If you like, gently stir in a little of the almond or olive oil.

Without peeling or pitting them, slice 2 of the avocados on a mandoline. If you're working with a mandoline or a Benriner slicer, you'll be slicing right through the pits. Ideally, you'll get 12 slices with pit and 12 without from the 2 avocados; if you can't (and this might be the case if you're hand slicing), slice another. Use a paring knife or your fingers to remove the peel and pit from each slice. If you're cutting the avocados by hand, peel and halve them, remove the pit, and slice.

It's best to build the ravioli on individual plates, 3 ravioli per person. Choose one of the large slices of avocado—the ones with holes from the pit—for the base of each one, and fill the holes with a scoop of crab salad. Top with a smaller slice of avocado, season with salt, a little white pepper, and a tiny drizzle of lime juice, and finish with a drizzle of almond or olive oil, if you like.

Serve the ravioli the instant you've finished making them, since avocados blacken unattractively if they're left exposed to the air for even a few minutes.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SERVING
These need nothing as an accompaniment or garnish.

STORING
You can make the crab salad about an hour in advance—but don't add the lime juice until you're ready for the salad. The avocado must be used as soon as it's sliced.

W
E WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF LUNCH
when the chef started delivering a little extra surprise to each of his eight or so tables. The restaurant was the former Spring, in Paris; the chef was the super-talented Daniel Rose, one of the very few American chefs to win accolades in France; and the surprise was beautiful zucchini blossom beignets, or fritters, coated with tempura batter and filled with langoustine, a luxe crustacean that Americans know as crayfish or Dublin prawns. The fritters were burn-your-fingers hot, having just emerged from their fry, fabulous and simple in the extreme.

I loved them, but I knew I wouldn't be serving these bonbons often if I had to fill them with langoustine. I've been making them with shrimp, and they've been playing to cheers. (See Bonne Idées for other good fillings.)

These were served without additions at Spring, but they could be served with mayonnaise or even tartar sauce. Or you could serve them the way similar zucchini fritters were presented at Ostapé in Basque Country—accompanied by a little tomato salad consisting of diced tomatoes (peeled and seeded) seasoned with fleur de sel and tossed with fruity olive oil.

A note on the tempura batter: You can buy tempura-batter mix in a box, but the batter is simplicity itself to make. While the traditional French recipe for tempura usually includes cold water and ice cubes, I've found that club soda or seltzer makes a terrific batter, so I'm giving you my recipe.