By David Tanis, The New York Times
This meal looks to dishes that know no season but are particularly well suited to a crisp autumn evening.
We begin with a beet and cucumber salad. With its sharp mustard vinaigrette and a shower of tarragon and dill, this is a most invigorating and refreshing first course. Hothouse cucumbers — the small Persian ones or the long slender English kind — are a boon when summer produce is but a memory, but salads still a necessity.
Beets, however, are pretty much always available, either the long-keeping clip-topped beets or freshly harvested bunch beets from California with their green tops attached. Medium-size beets, slightly smaller than a tennis ball, are easiest to cook. But they do take a while, upward of one hour whether baked or boiled.
Cooking beets a day in advance or early in the day guarantees they’ll be ready when you need them. Poke them with the point of a paring knife to check if they’re tender, then let them cool a bit before rubbing off the outer skins. Dress the beets and cucumbers separately to keep the ruby juices from staining the cucumber slices. They look beautiful served side-by-side, lounging on a lettuce leaf.
Our main course is a simple and warming French fish stew. Fish stew knows no season, but a chilly night makes a good excuse to have it.
On the North Atlantic coast of France, back in the day, this kind of stew would be a meal made by fishermen with whatever was left after selling the choice fish. This could mean very small soup fish or off cuts from trimming, maybe a few mussels, an assortment of odds and ends. With a bottle of wine and a few herbs, they could quickly create a hearty fish stew. It became known as “la chaudrée,” so named for the iron pot it cooked in, called a chaudière.
From France it was adopted by fishermen in Quebec, Nova Scotia and beyond. By the time it reached the East Coast it was called “chowder,” often made with cod and a bit of salted pork. Subsequently cod chowder morphed into the heartier thickened milky (and sometimes tomato-y) version that is well-known today, usually made with canned clams.
La chaudrée is still quite popular in northern France. Typically, it begins with a bottle of white wine and contains generous amounts of butter and cream. (In the south, France’s other well-known fish stew, bouillabaisse, depends on olive oil and somewhat more robust seasoning.) Modern recipes for la chaudrée call for four types of fish fillets, some cuttlefish and some kind of bivalve or crustacean.
Start with slowly cooked alliums — onion, leek, shallot, garlic. (A little carrot or celery could also make an appearance.) Then the wine, an aromatic bouquet of thyme, parsley and bay leaves, and a quantity of plain water. Simmering them together produces a quick and flavorful vegetable stock into which the fish is lowered. Our version uses firm rockfish, tender cod, mussels and squid. The fish breaks down a bit, the mussels and squid impart their briny perfume and the resulting broth is light but extremely flavorful.
Many cooks include potatoes in the stew, while others prefer to serve boiled potatoes alongside, passed around the table. Some add cream at the end, but our version gets a dollop of crème fraîche in each bowl. And lots of chopped parsley. Crisp buttery croutons made from baguette slices are de rigueur. Who would refuse?
As for dessert, I’ll confess here: In a former life, I worked at a French bakery. One standard autumn offering was a kind of walnut tart, a traditional Swiss confection from the Engadine region of Switzerland.
For this tart, nuts — my adaptation is made with pecans — are folded into a creamy caramel, then encased in buttery dough and baked, resulting in a golden, burnished and flaky pastry in a 10-inch fluted tart pan.
It tastes best a day or two after baking and keeps well, in theory. Our bakery’s tart was rich, so we advised it should be served in rather thin slices, to have with tea or for a holiday buffet. In truth, it is so addictive that it’s impossible not to consume at least one more slice.
Recipe: Beet and Cucumber Salad
By David Tanis
With its mustard vinaigrette and a shower of tarragon and dill, this is a most refreshing salad. Dress the beets and cucumber separately to keep the ruby juices from staining the cucumber slices. You can cook the beets a day in advance. Poke them with the point of a paring knife to check if they’re tender, then let them cool a bit before rubbing off the outer skins. To make a more substantial salad, add a hard cooked egg and some soft goat cheese.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Total time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 large shallot, finely diced
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Salt and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 English cucumber, or 6 Persian, peeled
- 4 or 5 small beets, boiled until tender and peeled (see Tip)
- 1 small head of butter lettuce (optional)
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped dill
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped tarragon, plus some whole leaves
Preparation
1. Make the vinaigrette: Put shallot and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir in the Dijon mustard until it dissolves. Whisk in olive oil.
2. Halve cucumbers lengthwise, then cut each half into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Halve the beets and cut into 1/4-inch-thick half-moon slices and place in a separate bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add half the dressing to each bowl, and toss both to coat well. Let sit for 10 minutes or up to 1 hour at room temperature (you can also refrigerate, if desired).
4. Line individual plates with a few leaves of butter lettuce, if you like. Put a spoonful of beets and a spoonful of cucumber on each plate. Sprinkle each plate with dill, followed by the tarragon.
Tips
To cook the beets, place them in a medium pot, and add water to cover by several inches. Bring to boil, then cook at brisk simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until easily pierced with a paring knife. Drain and let cool slightly. While still warm, the skins can be easily rubbed off.
Recipe: French Fisherman Stew (La Chaudrée)
By David Tanis
On the North Atlantic coast of France, back in the day, this would be a meal made by fishermen, with whatever was left after selling the choice fish. This could mean very small soup fish or off cuts from trimming, maybe a few mussels, whatever they had. With a bottle of wine and a few herbs, they could quickly create a tasty fish stew. It became known as “la chaudrée,” so named for the iron pot it cooked in, called a chaudière. From France it went to Nova Scotia, and by the time it reached the East Coast it was called chowder. Still quite popular in France, most modern recipes call for four types of fish, a small cuttlefish and some kind of bivalve. This version simplifies things slightly, calling for firm rockfish, tender cod, mussels and squid. Crisp buttery croutons are de rigueur for many.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Total time: About 1 hour
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 small leeks, white and tender green parts, halved and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces, rinsed and drained
- Salt and black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 bottle dry white wine
- Several thyme sprigs, parsley sprigs and a bay leaf, tied together
- 1/2 baguette, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, barely melted
- 3/4 pound rockfish or snapper, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 3/4 pound cod or flounder, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 pound mussels, scrubbed
- 1/2 pound calamari, in half-inch rings, plus chopped tentacles
- Crème fraîche, for garnish (optional)
- Zest of 1 lemon, for garnish
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Set a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cover the bottom of the pot with the olive oil. Add leeks, and season with salt and pepper, then cook until softened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic.
3. Add wine and bouquet garni of thyme, parsley and bay. Turn heat to high and let simmer to reduce wine by half, about 5 minutes. Add 6 cups water, and bring to a boil.
4. As water comes to a boil, lay baguette slices on top of a baking sheet in one layer. Paint the tops of each slice with butter. Turn slices over and repeat. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Now, they are croutons. Set aside.
5. Season the fish chunks generously with salt and pepper, then add to the pot. Turn heat down to a brisk simmer. Cook fish until firm and opaque, 3 to 5 minutes. Add mussels and simmer until open, another 3 to 5 minutes, then add calamari and cook for 2 more minutes. Taste broth and adjust.
6. Divide fish and shellfish among individual bowls, then ladle broth into each. Add a tablespoon of optional crème fraîche to each.
7. Mix lemon zest and parsley together, then sprinkle generously into each bowl. Serve with croutons on top or to the side.
Recipe: Pecan Caramel Tart
By David Tanis
Modeled after Engadiner nusstorte, a traditional Swiss walnut confection from the Engadine region of Switzerland, this version is made with pecans. The nuts are folded into a creamy caramel, then encased in buttery flaky pastry.
Yield: About 10 servings
Total time: 2 hours 30 minutes, plus cooling time
Ingredients
For the Pastry:
- 2-3/4 cups/350 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1 cup/227 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- Ice water, as necessary
For the Filling:
- 1 cup/200 grams sugar
- /2 cup/120 milliliters heavy cream
- ¼1/4 cup honey/85 grams honey
- 3 cups/300 grams pecan halves
For the Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Preparation
1. Make the pastry: Put flour, butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse briefly until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add egg and pulse to incorporate. You should have a soft dough. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water and pulse until dough comes together. Divide pastry in half, squash each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, make the filling: Put sugar in a medium saucepan, preferably stainless-steel, over medium-high heat. Sugar will begin to melt and caramelize. Swirl the pan to help it along. When you have a nice dark brown color and all the sugar is melted, take the pan off the heat.
3. Carefully stir cream and honey into hot caramel until it incorporates (set back on heat if necessary). Carefully add the pecans and fold in to coat well. Set filling aside at room temperature to cool. It should remain soft and pliable.
4. When ready to bake, place a rack in the middle of the oven, and heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly flour a rolling pin and work surface, and then roll out a piece of dough to about 12 inches in diameter. (Brush away any excess flour.) Lay it into a 10-inch fluted French tart pan or low-sided springform pan. Place filling on pastry and gently press the filling to the edges of the pan.
5. Roll out the other piece of dough so that it can easily cover the pie, and place over filling. Crimp top and bottom dough together at the outer edge, and trim away any excess dough.
6. For the egg wash, mix egg yolk and cream together with a pastry brush. Generously paint the top of the tart with egg wash.
7. Place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the tart is well browned, about 1 hour.
8. Cool completely, then unmold. If possible, cover and leave on the counter overnight before serving. Serve small slices at room temperature.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.