Sharing a shellfish platter in fond company is one of the great pleasures of life in France, particularly if you happen to be enjoying it by the sea. Add a bottle of crisp white and the sound of waves breaking against the shore, and you’re in for a romantic afternoon. This is of course not always possible. But with a little effort and ingenuity, you can create a shellfish platter at home. It makes a fine addition to a holiday meal.
Plateau de fruits de mer / Shellfish platter
But how to do it, and what to include? A French shellfish platter nearly always features oysters on the half-shell along with various other ‘fruits of the sea’. I was hoping to include lobster or crab on the platter pictured above, but by the time I got to the market on Sunday none were to be found. So I improvised, choosing instead gambas and two types of sea snail — bulots (whelks, the large ones) and bigorneaux (winkles, the small ones).
Improvisation is the name of the game here. Perhaps sea snails are not available where you live, or perhaps not to your taste (it took me several years of living in France before I deigned to try one). Not to worry. Many other types of shellfish typically feature on such a platter: langouste (rock lobster, which have large tails and are virtually clawless), langoustines (scampi), palourdes or praires (clams), moules (mussels) and oursins (sea urchins). Go for whatever’s local, or whatever you can find.
An opulent shellfish platter makes a perfect start to a Christmas or New Year’s feast. It’s convivial and very special. But serving shellfish at home need not be restricted to two days a year. If you’d like to keep it simple, make an oyster plate instead.
Assiette d’huîtres / Oyster plate
Opening oysters can be a challenge. I do it when I must, although if possible I let my fishmonger or a skilled friend do it for me. Here’s a bit of lore. 1) You do not need an oyster knife to open oysters. Any sharp, sturdy knife will do. 2) You don’t need to struggle to keep the oyster’s liquid intact. It’s best to throw it off, allowing the oyster to produce a new, fresher, sweeter liquid. This I learned only this summer, when enjoying oysters near Sète in the south of France.
Oysters in summer? This would seem to contravene the rule about eating oysters only in months containing an ‘R’ — i.e. from September to April. The rule was invented to prevent poisoning via oysters plucked from warm seas. But if you happen to be right beside the place where the oysters are produced and you eat them virtually straight out of the water, they do not pose a health risk.
Oysters are generally served here with lemon halves or a sauce made of red wine vinegar and minced shallots. Add some thinly sliced rye and salted butter, along with a good bottle of white, and you’re in business. An oyster plate is usually served as a first course in France, but oyster lovers may choose to make a meal of them, followed perhaps by a salad, cheese and fruit or dessert.
As for the full shellfish platter, it can stand alone as a main course, perhaps preceded by an elegant starter — for example, salmon terrine or blini with red caviar — and followed, again, by salad, cheese and a special dessert. Or it can launch the proceedings at a holiday meal, setting the stage for a roast bird with all the trimmings.
In my next post, I will revisit some of the holiday menus that have appeared here over the years. We are now entering into the bleakest months. It’s time to start thinking about how to add some sparkle to these long winter nights.
Happy cooking.
A guest was coming to dinner, a friend from the literary world. I didn’t want to have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen while he was here, yet wanted to produce a satisfying, palate-pleasing meal. What to do, what to do? After some considerable thinking, the solution appeared: 
Moving on to the sweet potatoes, this is an ultrasimple recipe for a classic dish that is served every year in the United States in late November. But this succulent purée marries well with many dishes other than turkey and can be served throughout the autumn, or even throughout the year.
You can find quiche lorraine in virtually any bakery or deli in France, but it is even better when made at home. The rich filling of eggs, milk cream, bacon and cheese fluffs up in the oven to marry delightfully with a buttery homemade crust. Served with a crisp white and a salad of tender leaves alongside, it makes a fine lunch dish or a great starter at suppertime. If you cut it into little squares, you can also serve it with drinks at cocktail hour.
A salad of smoked fish makes a delightful lunch as the days grow cooler. In the salad pictured here, I used smoked mackerel, which is sold in France covered in crushed black pepper. Its tawny hues contrast nicely with the deep green of lamb’s lettuce and pale Belgian endive. Other options for the fish include smoked trout, smoked salmon or the perennial French favorite, smoked herring, a bistro classic that is popular here in the winter months.
oil. In my salad version, the herring is chopped and accompanied by greens. It’s a bit lighter and brighter, and can make a proper lunchtime meal.
When the days draw shorter, a warming dish like finocchio purée provides comfort. Yet it is not one of your heavy comfort foods. Light, with a delicate flavor, this purée marries well with all sorts of autumn dishes — meat, fish or poultry, grilled or lovingly simmered — and makes a spectacular pairing with game. It also makes a fine addition to a vegetarian meal. And the beauty is that the finocchio growing season is … all year round.
Sauté d’agneau is one of those great French classics that used to feature frequently on bistro menus, especially when the weather turned cool. These days this succulent lamb dish is harder to find in Paris restaurants, where current culinary fashion favors small plates of designer food. Nonetheless, it has been a personal favorite since I first tasted it many years ago at l’Entrepôt, an airy, veranda-style restaurant tucked away behind Montparnasse.
This tangy omelet hails from the French Basque country and is filled with the regional veggie dish known as piperade, a mixture of green peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic and pepper slowly sautéed in olive oil until it reaches aromatic, spicy perfection. This is a good time of year to try it out, when peppers and tomatoes are at their prime. Unsuprisingly, the omelet is also known as omelette à la piperade. It makes a nice lunch or a light supper.
This is high season for French tomato tart, and the good news is that producing one is as easy as, well, pie. But there’s a secret ingredient without which this tart would lose its special French identity. No, I’m not talking about the garlic, thyme and olive oil that give French tomato tart the flavors of Provence. The secret ingredient from which the tart gets its zing is … Dijon mustard. Now as you may imagine there are many variations.
Fresh summer fruit piled into dessert cups with a splash of crème de cassis makes a lovely way to end a meal. Add a smattering of mint leaves, and you have a dish that is both sophisticated and simple to prepare. You can use whatever soft fruit happens to be available. For example, nectarines, fresh figs, raspberries and blueberries, as shown in the photo. Earlier this summer I used cherries, blueberries and peaches, and won applause.
This little gem of a recipe for chilled red pepper soup was inspired by a recent visit to one of my favorite Paris restaurants, Zebulon, where it was served as a surprise “palate teaser”, with a tiny savory biscuit and finely chopped black olives on top. There were only a few spoonfuls in the tiny soup cups, but — wow — did they pack a punch. The flavor is reminiscent of gazpacho, but more sophisticated. When I got home, I had to try to make it.
