Le Petit Nicolas

I feel like this is one of those old-school traditional French recipes. I don't actually know, but I feel like its one of those dishes you prepare for guests...like the "Homard Mayonnaise" in Le Petit Nicolas...but better. 

Le Petit Nicolas, by the way, is one of my favorite book series. I used to read it with my dad growing up. Its written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé. It's about a boy's adventures with his friends. It's hard to explain. Just read it. 

Anyways, back to this Skate. Doesn't it look just scrumptious. Soaking in beurre noir? Yummy. I served it with a side of Lemon Risotto. I just added some lemon zest and some lemon juice to the basic recipe and it paired wonderfully well. 

Ingredients:

1 large skate (you can buy this at a fish market - or even the fish counter of your local store. The fresher the better of course)

1 jar of capers

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4 cups fish stock

Preparation:

In a large pot, heat the fish stock until boiling. Gently lay the Skate in and cover. Turn down the heat and cook until done - 15-20 minutes. 

While the Skate is cooking, clarify the butter. Heat the butter until melted. The fat will separate from the proteins. Skim the foam off the top (the proteins) and turn down heat, stirring gently until butter becomes a brown color. This is beurre noisette. You can either set this aside or continue cooking until the butter is a darker color, almost black - but in recent years, there has been worry over the burnt butter being a carcinogen (kind of like the burnt stuff you scrape off on toast). 

On a serving plate, display the skate and spoon beurre noisette/beurre noir over it. Sprinkle generously with capers. 

Eat immediately. 

Il est trop terrible le terrain vague!

Simple Tomato Sauce

photo borrowed from Mary Cooks because I added ground pork to mine before taking the photo (see below) turning it into a makeshift Bolognese.

Ingredients:

1 cup tomato sauce

1 small can peeled whole tomatoes
1 cup sliced mushrooms, cooked
1 T herbes de provence
pinch of salt
1 T olive oil

Preparation:
In a saucepan, heat oil and cook sliced mushrooms, until slightly browned. They should reduce by about half. Meanwhile, chop the canned peeled whole tomatoes
In a pot, heat tomato sauce. When just bubbling, add chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, and herbes de provence. Let simmer 5-10 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Optional: Add ground meat cooked separately to make a quick version of Bolognese.

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with parmesan shavings.
(I used buckwheat pasta and didn't add cheese, but you get the point)