If you try one recipe from this blog, let it be this Provencal Seafood Stew. It’s a wonder of elegant simplicity. The deep fragrance and perfectly balanced flavors deliver the goods with every mouthful. So frenchy and fabulous is this stew that one bite magically transports me to a sidewalk table at a French bistro, where my understated outfit is offset by the perfect scarf, earrings, and heels. (I have a rich fantasy life. I’ve never had a talent for accessorizing. How do Parisian women do it?)

Not only is this soup drop-dead delicious, it’s also a blue-ribbon work-night recipe. By this I mean your soup is done fifteen minutes from the time you start chopping the onion. I do not exaggerate. The stew is sort of a simple riff on bouillabaisse. (Bouillabaisse purists can just relax. I’m not saying it IS bouillabaisse, I’m just saying it borrows some of the complicated flavors to truly excellent effect.)

The only remotely fussy thing about this recipe is that it calls for two things you may not have on hand. Since I discovered this recipe many years ago, I am never without them. They keep. One is saffron. (It’s cheap at Trader Joe’s.) The other is Pernod, which is an anise-flavored liqueur.

Pernod is the key ingredient that elevates this soup into something really special. If you buy Pernod and don’t like this soup, I will personally refund your money. I’m kidding. But I am truly confident that you won’t regret your purchase, even if you’re not a fan of anise, and even if it seems excessive to buy a whole bottle of booze when the recipe calls for two tablespoons. This is one of those times in life when you must make a leap of faith. Trust me. Your taste buds will thank you. Your loved ones will thank you. Your neighbor who gets a whiff of the soup out the kitchen window will thank you.

I think this stew is best served with a baguette, a flowery French white wine, and a soft, smelly French cheese. And maybe a suave French waiter, if you’ve got one of those handy. You can substitute any kind of fish and shellfish you like. Mussels are a nice addition.

PROVENCAL SEAFOOD STEW – serves four
adapted from a recipe in Cuisine Rapide by Pierre Franey

3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
½ cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons minced garlic
½ teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups canned diced tomatoes, with their juice
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
¾ pound snapper or other fish filet, cut into one-inch cubes
½ pound sea scallops, quartered or bay scallops, whole
2 tablespoons Pernod (or Ricard)
¼ cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic and saffron and sauté for about three minutes.

Add wine, tomatoes, thyme, pepper flakes, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook for five minutes.

Add seafood. Cover and cook for five minutes.

Add Pernod and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.

We shrugged off late-summer produce on Saturday.  Crazy.  I know.  Summer is nearly over. But it was pouring rain, and it didn’t feel much like summer. There were no tomatoes in our dinner. Not even one. No zucchini, pepper, or eggplant. A few months from now, I’ll wonder what I was thinking. But that day I just wondered: How can I indulge my craving for salty and sweet together?

For reasons I can’t explain, I landed on peas, harbinger of spring. And cured pork, harbinger of overeating. And scallops, harbinger of….I don’t know what. Omega fatty acids? Global warming? Scallops are billed as the main attraction here, but they were really just a vehicle for the peas and pork I couldn’t live without.

Scallops. Peas. Prosciutto. You could make this in any season (if your peas and scallops come to you frozen, as mine did). It requires little time and no finesse. Unless you’re also trying to cook a hot-dog (sigh) for your child, and feed your dog so she’ll stop staring at you, and answer the phone, and engage in the sundry mundane tasks which always seem to crop up at two-minute intervals during the dinner hour.

 I burned TWO pans of pinenuts. I also dropped a hot scallop on my bare foot. Nice trick. Oh, and dinner got stone cold in the time I spent trying to take a picture of it. (I got a new tripod. There are many adjustments.) By the time we ate I was sweating, and cursing, and stabbing my scallops vindictively with a fork. Bet you’re sorry you missed it.

Regardless, it was a nice presentation, if I do say so.  The minted peas pranced and cheered sporting their zany green, while the scallops presided, subtle and dignified in classic white and brown.  The confetti of prosciutto and pinenuts lent just-right toasty and smoky notes. Not bad, all in all. I don’t expect you to forego the September tomato and zucchini bounty in favor of this. I recommend you set the recipe aside for a rainy day. They’ll be here soon enough. And if, say, you’re eating with a crazy fork-wielding maniac who bumbles and futzes furiously with her tripod in order to photograph your dinner: it reheats pretty well in the microwave.

SCALLOPS ON MINTED PEA PUREE WITH PROSCUITTO

4 cups peas, fresh, or frozen and thawed
8 large mint leaves
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½  cup pine nuts
4 slices prosciutto (I used speck, which is smoked and delicious. You could also use pancetta. Yum.)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½  pounds sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry, sprinkled with salt and pepper
salt and pepper
lemon wedges

Puree peas, mint, melted butter, and salt in food processor.

Spread pea puree on four plates.

In a large skillet on medium high heat, toast pine nuts, shaking pan occasionally, until browned, about three minutes. Set pine nuts aside.

In the same skillet, place prosciutto in a single layer. Turn slices over after one minute. Cook until it starts to crisp, about two minutes more. Chop prosciutto and set it aside.

In the same skillet, still over medium-high heat, heat one tablespoon of butter with one tablespoon olive oil. When the oil is hot brown the scallops in one layer for two to three minutes per side.  This will likely require two batches. Keep the first pan-load warm, and add the second tablespoons of butter and oil to the pan before sautéing the second half of the scallops.

Place scallops on pea puree.

Sprinkle with chopped prosciutto and pine nuts.

Serve with lemon wedges.