BISTRO COOKING

Please, let's not over-glamorize the bistro! Most of the time, it's a smoky dive where dubious characters cultivate their red noses. The word bistro itself comes from the 1810's, when Russian soldiers invaded Paris - not exactly the stuff of gastronomical legend.

A parisian bistro is a café/bar, often owned by a family originally from the country. All day, customers walk in and out, for coffee and croissants in the morning, and later for wine and aperitifs. Occasionally you will also meet a grandmother treating children to ice cream or cronies playing cards. At lunch time, the place gets very busy, especially if their special - the Plat Du Jour - has a good reputation in the neighborhood.

Like many other symbols of the sweet life in France, bistros are disappearing, victims of the Journée Continue (no more two hour break for lunch) and fast food. I'm not saying that as a French
protectionniste. Au contraire, it is only common sense that many people would choose predictable fast food over possibly slow and sordid bistro fare.

Bistro cooking has been celebrated by francophile Patricia Wells . An author of cookbooks and guides, she has investigated and adapted bistro cooking in her best book Bistro Cooking . To give you an idea of the cooking style you may encounter in a good bistro, I have selected a flavorful chicken, fennel and saffron stew from Patricia Wells' book. For dessert, I chose the legendary upside-down French apple pie Tarte Tatin , a dessert with its own home page! There are many versions of this recipe. Mine is simple and delicious.

Before moving on to the recipes, I wish the best of luck and all the happiness in the world to my evening chef Anthony Roselli, who is getting married this labor day weekend.

RECIPES

Chicken, Fennel and Saffron Bouillabaisse (serves 4) 4 tomatoes, diced 2 onions, quartered 4 garlic cloves, crushed 2 or 3 fennel bulbs, chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup Pernod or Sambucca liqueur about 20 saffron threads 2 teaspoons thyme leaves (more if fresh) 4 bay leaves 1 chicken cut into 8 pieces and skinned 1  1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed 2 cups chicken broth

On the day of your dinner, pour the contents of the bowl in a large dutch oven or brazier (don't ask me how to pronounce that. It's a heavy wide pot with a lid.)
Bring to an honest simmer, and cook, covered, for 30 minutes.
Add the broth and the potatoes. Bring again to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, between 20 and 30 more minutes. Adjust seasonings and serve in deep soup plates, with homemade bread.

Tarte Tatin (8 - 10 slices) 7 tablespoons butter not too hard 1 tablespoon sugar 1 cup + 6 tablespoons flour 1 egg 6 big apples 3 tablespoons butter 6 tablespoons sugar

In a stand mixer, with the paddle, mix  7 tbs butter, sugar and flour until mealy.
Add egg and stop mixer when bowl rattles (can also be all done by hand). Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400F.
Peel and core the apples. Cut them as you wish, in thick wedges or cubes.
Heat an empty frying pan on a high fire.
Quickly throw in the 3 tbs butter, the apples and the sugar.
Sauté on the high fire, stirring pretty often but not constantly, until nicely colored. You don't want to make apple sauce, just to caramelize the outside of the apple pieces.
Pour contents of the frying pan in an ungreased 10" Pyrex pie plate.

Dust your surface with flour. Roll the dough until it is about the same size as the plate.
Place the dough over the apples. Tuck a little bit around the fruit.
Bake on the top rack for 15 minutes. Give it a half turn. Bake for 15 minutes more.

As soon as you take the pie out of the oven, place a large platter upside-down over it. With two pot holders and nerves of steel, invert everything: pie, pie plate and platter. Don't burn yourself.
With a fork, lift an edge of the pie plate. Watch out for scalding steam. Remove pie plate. Take care of any stray apple chunks.

Serve warm.