France and Seafood, Elegant Simplicity

I have visions of trips to France dancing in my head this week, reflecting on memories of Christmases spent in France. One of them was almost three decades ago and particularly rich in seafood. I’m sure many of you can relate to having had a travel experience that you could never exactly replicate, which makes savoring its memory that much sweeter. This is one such trip.

We traveled that late December of 1996 with another couple, friends from college who are close friends still today. Forgoing our usual family holiday traditions, we opted for an adventure that included time in Paris, Tours, and Cancale. The latter, a town in Brittany, is where we spent Christmas. Our few days in that area included exploring the breathtaking Mont Saint-Michel, and a pilgrimage to La Mère Poulard for one of the famous omelets. We strolled the ramparts of the historic port city of St. Malo nearby. It was all glorious.

For me, the highlight of our stay in Brittany, and that whole trip really, was our Christmas Eve dinner. We drove in that late afternoon or evening from Tours and, being Christmas Eve, were not likely to have dining-out options in the small town. The innkeepers where we stayed (a beautiful old stone house, Les Rimains, even more elegant now; I’d love to one day return!) offered to provide us with a cold supper to enjoy at our leisure. We were the only guests at the inn, a spare room between ours became our dining room that evening.

On the cart was an array of divine, simple foods that created such a beautiful, celebratory meal. Seafood starred in that feast, with oysters from the bay just below us, cured salmon, and scallops in some chilled preparation I don’t quite remember. Fabulous bread and butter. Plus generous slices of foie gras terrine, for good measure. There was cheese on the cart, for later, and a dessert of some kind, maybe even a little bûche de Noël? Whatever the full menu, I know we appreciated every bite, understanding that that evening would be one we’d remember for quite some time.

The next day we walked down to the center of Cancale, by way of a path just behind where we stayed, with full view of oyster beds along the way. A simple Christmas Day lunch, likely some crêpes and hard cider, surely more oysters. What else to do when in such a stunning oyster-growing region?

Based a quick online search and my own experiences in France, it’s one of the top oyster-slurping countries in Europe, if not the world. Especially at the year-end holidays, and surely with a beautiful Champagne alongside. Other seafoods are definitely in the mix too, echoing our wonderful dinner above. I reached out to a friend from cooking-school days who has lived in France in the decades since then. He shared some of his holiday menu plans, which will include some halfshell oysters on Christmas Eve. There will likely be scallops sautéed in clarified butter, flambéed with Absinthe or Pernod, and finished with a sprinkle of pink peppercorns. Split lobster tails broiled, basting them with butter. He might serve that lobster with filet mignon for New Year’s Eve, in which case he’ll make béarnaise sauce to serve with both.

A couple touches of French culinary panache—a quick flambé, a luxurious sauce, plenty of butter. Otherwise the simplest of preparations using just a handful of outstanding ingredients are all it takes to create memorable, celebratory meals showcasing seafood.

The recipe below calls for half a pound of crabmeat to fill the choux puffs, so I bought a whole cooked crab at the store and got to cracking and picking. Sure, I could have grabbed some of the bulk meat that’s been picked already. But I find the meat freshly-picked from the shells often has better flavor and texture. Plus the important bonus: having the crab shells to save for making shellfish stock. If you’re curious about the price comparison between paying for bulk meat vs buying whole crab to pick meat from, I wrote this just for you: crab math.

I thought I’d share a quick pictorial review of cleaning the crab. Though many, if not most, stores that sell whole cooked Dungeness will clean the crab for you if you ask.

First I put a plastic bag in the sink where I can easily add parts of the crab to be discarded; it’s not hard to make this part tidy. After removing the apron flap from the bottom of the crab and pulling off the carapace (top shell), that all goes in the bag. Then I scoop the innards from the body cavity, and pluck away the feathery soft gills that are on both sides of the body portion. The discard bag is ready to tie up and toss in the trash. I then run cold water over the crab to rinse it well and it’s ready to crack and pick meat, or portion to enjoy as is, or prep for roasting or grilling. And I have a bag of shells that are now in the freezer to be simmered for stock before long, with whatever other shells may be added soon.

Choux pastry is such a wonderfully versatile dough, used for many preparations both savory and sweet. On the sweet side, choux puffs feature in one of my very favorite desserts: profiteroles, the puffs filled with ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce (which I made for myself this week using leftover puffs from testing the recipe below). And there’s the classic pâtisserie treat of éclairs, the dough baked in strips rather than mounds, usually with a sweet filling and a glaze on top. On the savory side, the quintessential choux recipe is gougères, an apéritif puff made with cheese-embellished (often Gruyère) choux dough, of which I made a batch for snacks on Thanksgiving. On a trip to France about eight years ago, strolling through the food store Fauchon, I saw that their pastry display included an intriguing array of very elegant savory éclairs, some of which included seafood.

For the less elegant but still delicious savory choux below, the golden puffs have a filling of crab with a bit of roasted garlic, green onion, and fresh thyme. Another great filling option would be the smoked salmon rillettes shared here, and there are countless other options to play around with.

Some choux recipes have you transfer the cooked water-butter-flour base to a mixer before adding the eggs. When I learned this recipe in cooking school ages ago, we just added the eggs to the dough in the saucepan, mixing quickly and vigorously so the egg melds smoothly with the warm dough. That’s worked well for me all this time, but you can use a mixer and paddle attachment if you prefer.

I have, however, dispensed with the piping bag that we used for forming tidy little mounds of the dough. Now, I simply grab a couple spoons, scoop up dough with one, and nudge it onto the baking sheet with the other. They may not all have the same shape, but I kind of like the distinct character they each end up with. And they taste just as good.

These are a great option for a party and hold up pretty well after being assembled, but the puffs will soften over time. You can make the choux puffs and filling ahead, then assemble shortly before serving. Be sure whatever filling you use isn’t too wet, to avoid sogginess, and is firm enough to hold its shape in the puffs.

The choux dough recipe here is half the amount of the recipe I usually use. It makes one tray of puffs, ideal for these crab-filled snacks. If you like the idea of having extra choux puffs for other uses, maybe profiteroles for dessert or to freeze for later, double the dough recipe quantities. If you do, I think the puffs bake much better and more evenly one tray at a time rather than baking both at once.

Crab Filling
3-4 unpeeled cloves garlic
8 ounces crab meat
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
Kosher salt

Choux Puffs
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

For the crab filling, wrap the whole unpeeled garlic cloves in a piece of foil and put them in the oven to roast until aromatic and tender, about 8 to 12 minutes. Set aside to cool; keep the oven set at 425.

For the choux puffs, combine the water, butter, and salt in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat until the butter is fully melted; the liquid should not boil, reduce the heat if needed. Add the flour all at once and stir gently with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until fully and evenly incorporated. Continue to stir the flour until the dough is very smooth and it pulls away from the sides of the pan, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Take the pan from the heat and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 of the eggs, immediately stirring it into the dough until evenly blended. Add the remaining egg and stir it in well, creating a smooth and glossy dough.

With one of two spoons, scoop up a generous tablespoon or so of the dough, using the other spoon to nudge it onto the prepared baking sheet. Continue with the remaining dough, leaving a good inch between the mounds. You can use the back of a spoon to press down or smooth any rough edges or pointy bits, but don’t worry about the mounds being super tidy. You’ll probably get 15 to 18 puffs. Bake until the dough is well puffed and nicely browned, about 25 minutes. If underbaked, the puffs may not hold their shape well when cooled. Transfer the choux puffs to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pick over the crab meat to remove any bits of shell or cartilage, breaking up any larger pieces. Peel the roasted garlic, put it in a medium bowl and mash well with the back of a spatula or spoon. Add the cream cheese and stir until well blended, then stir in the green onion, lemon juice, and thyme. Add the crab meat and stir to mix, seasoning to taste with salt. You can make the filling a few hours ahead and refrigerate.

Use a small serrated knife to halve the puffs and spoon a generous tablespoon of the crab filling into each. Top each puff with its lid and serve. You may have a few more puffs than needed, perfect for a cook’s snack!

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