Around My French Table (56 page)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

If you're using the bouillon cubes, drop them into a medium bowl and pour over the boiling water; stir to dissolve. If you're using chicken broth, bring it to a boil, then pour it into a bowl. Add the apricots to the bowl and let them soak and plump while you prepare the rest of the tagine.

Put the base of a tagine, a high-sided heavy skillet, or a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and pour in 3 tablespoons of the oil. Pat the pieces of lamb dry between paper towels, then drop them into the hot oil (don't crowd the pan—work in batches if necessary) and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes. With a slotted spoon, lift the meat out of the pan and onto a plate. Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Pour out the fat in the pan, leaving whatever bits may have stuck.

Return the pan to the stove, reduce the heat to low, and add 2 more tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is warm, stir in the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, just to get them started on the road to softening. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, adding a little more oil if needed.

Drain the apricots and add the chicken bouillon/broth to the pan, along with the chile(s), coriander, saffron—crush it between your fingers as you sprinkle it in—ginger, cumin, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of the cilantro. Stir to mix and dissolve the spices, then season with salt and pepper. Spoon the meat and any juices on the plate over the vegetables and top with the apricots. Seal the pan with aluminum foil, clap on the lid, and slide it into the oven.

Bake the tagine for 1 hour. Carefully lift the lid and foil and scatter the almonds over the meat. Re-cover the pan and bake the tagine for 15 minutes more. (Sometimes I skip this step and just save the toasted almonds to sprinkle over the tagine at serving time.)

If you cooked the braise in a tagine, sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro over the meat, bring the tagine to the table, and serve directly from the pan. If you used a skillet or Dutch oven, transfer the tagine to a warm large serving platter and dust with the cilantro. Serve with couscous or rice, if you like.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SERVING
While you could serve the tagine solo, it would be a shame not to offer something to go with the wonderful sauce. I serve either couscous (cooked without spices in chicken broth or water) or white rice.

STORING
Like most braised dishes, this is a good keeper. You can make it a day or two ahead and, when it's cool, cover it well and keep it in the refrigerator. If you make the dish ahead, refrain from adding the toasted almonds until you reheat the tagine for serving, and hold off on the last dusting of cilantro until ready to serve.

Almond Flounder Meunière
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Skate with Capers, Cornichons, and Brown Butter Sauce
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Cod and Spinach Roulades
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Monkfish and Double Carrots
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Mediterranean Swordfish with Frilly Herb Salad
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Salmon with Basil Tapenade
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Roasted Salmon and Lentils
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Salmon and Tomatoes en Papillote
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Spice-Crusted Tuna
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Tuna Confit with Black Olive Tapenade and Tomato Salsa
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Seafood Pot-au-Feu
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Moules Marinière
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Curried Mussels
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Mussels and Chorizo with or without Pasta
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Scallops with Caramel-Orange Sauce
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Warm Scallop Salad with Corn, Nectarines, and Basil
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Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles
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Vanilla-Butter-Braised Lobster
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T
HIS DISH IS AN INVENTIVE
crossbreeding of two classic dishes: sole amandine, in which the fish is finished with sautéed sliced almonds, and sole meunière, in which the fish, often whole, is sautéed in browned butter. In my version, I use baby flounder (easier to find in the market here than true sole), lightly coat the fillets with ground almonds, sauté them in browned butter, and serve them with toasted almonds and a sprinkling of parsley (borrowed from the meunière). It's a marriage of equal partners and one that I think would easily win familial approval on both sides of the aisle.

A word on quantity: Since I usually make this for my husband and myself, I've given you a recipe that serves two, but of course the recipe can be multiplied. If you have to prepare the fillets in batches, though, it's best to lightly cover the sautéed fillets and keep them in a 300-degree-F oven while you fry the remaining fish.

Whisk the ground almonds, flour, and zest together, then season the mix with salt and pepper. Pat the fish fillets dry and, using a pastry brush, lightly coat one side of each fillet with a little of the beaten yolk. (I coat the side that would have had skin.) Dip the coated side of each fillet into the nut mixture.

Put a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and a small pinch of salt, if your butter isn't salted, and cook the butter until it turns light brown, about 3 minutes. Slip the fillets into the skillet nut side down, without crowding, lower the heat, and cook for 3 minutes or so, until the coating is golden and the fish is cooked halfway through. Season the exposed side of each fillet with salt and pepper, add another ½ tablespoon cold butter to the pan, and very gently turn the fillets over. Cook, spooning some of the browned butter over the fillets once or twice, until the fish is opaque throughout, about 2 minutes more. If it looks like the pan is dry, add a little more butter. (If you weren't able to cook all the fillets in one pan, keep the cooked fish warm while you sauté the remaining fillets; see headnote.)

Give each fillet a squirt of lemon juice, then scatter over some toasted almonds and parsley. Have more lemon wedges at the table so you can give the fish another squeeze or two if needed.

MAKES 2 SERVINGS

SERVING
The flounder is good with simple sides, like boiled potatoes—roll them around in a little butter and sprinkle them with chives before serving—steamed spinach (
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), or broccoli. I often pair the fish with braised fennel (see Bonne Idée,
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), or as untraditional a match as it is, Matafan (
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).

STORING
Although you could make the nut mixture earlier in the day or even the day before, the fillets should be enjoyed as soon as they're cooked. These portions are small, so it's doubtful you'll have leftovers, but if you do, you'll be surprised how good the fish is when you make it into a sandwich with sliced tomatoes on toasted white or egg bread spread with mayonnaise, Rouille (see Bonne Idée,
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), or mayo mixed with a dab of Sriracha.

S
HAPED LIKE A RUFFLE-EDGED FAN
and tufted like a quilt, skate looks like an art school project. In French, skate is called
rate
(pronounced "ray"), and it is, indeed, a member of the stingray family, which explains why the edible part, the wing, has that beautiful triangular shape. Skate's most usual companion is black butter, a misnomer really, since the butter is cooked until it's a toasty brown and smells vaguely of hazelnuts before it gets a splash of vinegar and is poured over the fish. It's a terrific dish (see Bonne Idée), one often served with capers, and it inspired me to create this sassier version in which the golden butter and capers team up with cornichons and mustard.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Have a heatproof platter at hand.

Put about ½ cup flour on a plate or sheet of wax paper and season with salt and pepper. Run both sides of the skate wings through the flour and tap off the excess.

Place a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and drop in 2 tablespoons of the butter. When it melts and the bubbles calm down, slip in the skate. (If your pan can't comfortably hold all the wings at one time, do them in batches.) Cook the wings for about 3 minutes on a side, adding a little more butter if needed—the wings should be browned and opaque all the way through. Carefully transfer them to the heatproof platter, cover them with a foil tent, and keep warm in the oven while you make the sauce.