Salad Nicoise

My mom made a very basic version of this with canned tuna when I was growing up. I had it in France in the 90's and this very version, but incredibly fresh, in Bed-Stuy in 2008. Made it last night (halved) without anchovies or capers (my mom will not finish the jar or cans of that). The directions on boiling the veggies is perfect. I intend to make this for entertaining guests since you can make it ahead. Thanks Tyler Florence. (You can make it without the eggs, anchovies, and tuna, and it's still tasty).

Ingredients
Vinaigrette:
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salad:
1 pound small red new potatoes, scrubbed and halved
8 large eggs
1/2 pound haricots verts or French green beans, stems trimmed
2 pounds fresh sushi-quality tuna
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pint teardrop or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup nicoise olives
16 anchovy fillets
16 caper berries with stems
1/2 bunch fresh chives, snipped in 1/2
Directions
To make the vinaigrette: combine all ingredients in a mason jar. Screw the cap on the jar and shake the vinaigrette vigorously to emulsify. Set the dressing aside while preparing the salad so the flavors can marry.

Cooking the potatoes, eggs, and green beans in the same pot cuts down on prep time and clean up. To do this, put the potatoes in a large saucepan, add water to cover and a nice pinch of salt; bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer the potatoes for 12 minutes to give them a head start, and then add the eggs. Place a steamer basket or colander on top of the simmering water. Put the green beans in the steamer and cover with a lid. Steam the beans for 5 minutes until crisp-tender while continuing to cook the potatoes until fork tender. Drain out the water and put the potatoes, eggs, and green beans in a colander; rinse briefly under cold water. Peel the shells off the eggs and cut them in 1/2 lengthwise.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Rub the tuna on all sides with olive oil, and a bit of the vinaigrette; season with a fair amount of salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot pan and sear for approximately 2 minutes on each side; as the tuna cooks, the red meat will become whiter. Transfer the tuna to a cutting board and slice.

To assemble the salad: combine the potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, olives, anchovies, capers, and chives in a large mixing bowl. Take the vinaigrette and give it another good shake to recombine. Drizzle the salad with enough vinaigrette to fully moisten and toss gently to coat; season with salt and pepper. Take care not to mush up the ingredients - the important thing about salad nicoise is that it is arranged nicely on a platter with all the elements keeping their individual integrity. Put the tossed salad down the center of a serving platter and lay the seared tuna attractively across the top and the eggs around the rim. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and serve.

Plum Tart

Plums. Good to eat plain. A bowl of purple and yellow ones looks so pretty. But then I had a pie attack and made three pies with what was around and this was one of those things. I would make sure to let the juice run off the plums before setting the plums on the tart. Also, not a good thing to make ahead.


Ingredients
2-1/2 lbs firm dark purple plums (Friar or Italian Prune Plums), washed, pitted, and quartered
1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 14-inch circle of Pate Brisee (Basic Pie Crust) , chilled
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Confectioners' sugar
Milk or cream (optional)
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Put the plum quarters in a large mixing bowl and toss with the flour, granulated sugar, nutmeg, and lemon juice.

Place the chilled pastry in an 8-inch pie plate and mound the plums on top. Dot with butter and fold the pastry overhang up over the fruit. Brush the pastry with milk or cream, if desired. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until the plums are tender, the juices in the center of the pie are bubbling, and the pastry is golden brown. Let cool slightly before dusting with confectioners' sugar and serving.

Cherry Clafoutis

My mom got this recipe from Monique Menard for cherry clafouti. The original card says "Flan Monique" on it. Mom always made it with frozen cherries and it was gone in a few hours, maybe two. Dave always plucked out the cherries first and saved the doughy part for last, as with all recipes. He will be really excited if you make this, I think. Might be a nice surprise.

1 and 1/4 cups flour
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
250 mg milk (look on the metric side, y'all)
Big bag frozen cherries, thawed, drained.

Butter a 9-13 baking pan. Heat oven to 350.

Place the cherries in the pan without the liquid, making sure to space them out. There should be about 8-10 cherries per 3 inches square. That's kinda random, but I was thinking that bags of cherries might be a different size now.

Mix all the rest of the ingredients together just until the batter is smooth.

Pour it over the cherries. Reposition any displaced cherries. I can't believe I just wrote that sentence.

Bake on the middle rack for 45 minutes or until the custard is firm, but not too dry. It should be kind of gummy. Trust me, it's good.