Endive and Anchovy Salad; Fresh Cod Vinaigrette with Sea Salt

I don't go to France very often. Figuratively, that is, since the closest that I've come to really being there is the Spanish Basque Country on the other side of the Pyrenees. For me, the Mediterranean has always been about Italy and Spain. Once in a while, however, I force myself to pick up a French cookbook and learn more.

French cuisine, as anyone who has leafed through Escoffier will surely know, has a tendency to be mind-numbingly complex. I therefore gravitate to the south of France - places like Provence - where the preparations are simpler, seafood is more pronounced, and the use of butter in recipes can no longer be described as prodigious.

K has been clamoring for a trip to Paris for some time now. Personally, I'd rather go elsewhere. After reading The New Provencal Cuisine: Innovative Recipes from the South of France, however, I just might reconsider. Louisa Jones' nice little book draws its recipes from the kitchens of chefs working throughout Provence, like Christian Etienne of Avignon, who envisioned this endive salad and cod vinaigrette.

If we do wind up going to France, forget Paris... We're heading straight for Provence.

Endive and Anchovy Salad 

• 4 endives, trimmed
• 1 tsp butter (I left this out)
• 4 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp chopped chervil

Cut the tips off the endives about 2 inches from the top non-root end); mince finely and reserve, remove the bitter hearts from the stem ends and discard. Reserve leaves

In a small sauce pan, melt butter and add anchovy. Cook for 1-2 minutes over low heat; add garlic and vinegar and stir to make paste. Remove from heat and beat in 3 tbsp oilive oil, salt and pepper.

Mic 2 tbsp of anchovy mixture into the minced endive tips and make a mound in the center of each of 4 plates. Make a pattern of endive leaves around the mound in a petal design simulating a daisy. Drizzle the anchovy sauce on the petals and sprinkle with chopped chervil to serve.

Fresh Cod Vinaigrette with Sea Salt 

• 4 cod fillets
• Salt and ground pepper
• 1 ½ cups olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Small bunch chives
• 5 springs parsley
• 5 tarragon leaves
• 5 chervil leaves
• Sea salt
• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled seeded diced

Preheat oven to 400. Sprinkle cod with fine sea salt and pepper and place in oiled gratin dish just large enough to hold them. Bake until just barely forks 10 – 15 minutes. Check after 10.

In a small bowl, mix lemon juice salt and pepper and slowly beat in olive oil to make a vinaigrette.

Remove skin from cod. Transfer to a serving platter, spoon over the vinaigrette and sprinkle with herbs and sea salt. Arrange tomato as a garnish or sprinkle on top. I don't buy tomatoes in the winter - chances are you are getting one of those chemical-ridden ones from Florida - so I used roasted red pepper as the topping instead.

Serve hot or lukewarm.

Stuffed Piquillo Peppers

I've never contemplated running with the bulls. For one, it is ALWAYS the lone American who gets the horns. More importantly, I just can't imagine visiting Pamplona during San Fermin - the popular annual festival that culminates with the running of the bulls. Too many freaking tourists for my taste. And since it all unfolds in the height of summer, airfare costs to Spain are out of sight.

Our trip to Pamplona, therefore, came in the autumn months. The city has a lot to offer, including Bar Gaucho, one of the very best "tapas" bars in all of Spain. Just bear in mind that in Navarra, they don't call 'em tapas. They're pintxos.

On pintxos menus, one of the most pleasing and versatile ingredient is the piquillo pepper. It is a small, sweet pepper that roughly resembles the beak of a bird... hence the name piquillo. They are harvested and roasted in the autumn months, then peeled, seeded, and packed into tins. You see them hanging from balconies in the picturesque small towns of Navarra, especially Lodosa.

In the last few years, the piquillo has been making its way into American food stores. They are now my "roasted pepper" of choice. One simple preparation calls for them to be stuffed with cheese and served with a sherry vinaigrette. Simple. Delicious.

Stuffed Piquillo Peppers

•  3 tablespoons Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon sherry vinegar, preferably Pedro Ximenez
• 1/2 tablespoon minced shallot or red onion
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
• 8 piquillo peppers
• 1 ounces Roncal cheese (or Manchego)
• Fresh thyme sprigs
• Fresh parsley, minced 

Pat peppers dry with a cloth or paper towel and stuff with slices of roncal, a sheep's milk cheese from Navarra. If you can't fine roncal, Manchego works fine too. Combine oil, sherry vinegar, shallot, sea salt and pepper and whisk into a vinaigrette. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add the stuffed piquillos and cook, 2-3 minutes per side, turning with tongs, until the cheese has melted. Place on a serving plate and drizzle with vinaigrette; sprinkle with parsley and garnish with thyme sprig.