Doing Jacques Pépin proud: Legendary chef’s passion for cooking comes out in these recipes

Earlier this month I had the most wonderful experience. I cooked alongside three other home cooks in the most perfect setting — Cook, Cork & Fork in Palatine — to raise funds for the Jacques Pépin Foundation.

We served a five-course dinner featuring a gooey onion soup; roasted beet and pear salad; cod topped with a sun-dried tomato and kalamata tapenade; braised short ribs with mashed potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts and carrots; and one of the most delicious apple tarts I have ever eaten. All recipes were either from a Jacques Pépin cookbook, or closely inspired by one of his recipes. Today I’m sharing several of them with you.

The dinner was the idea of former Daily Herald Food Editor Deb Pankey Gabriel, whom I met while participating in the first Cook of the Week challenge in 2011. We were joined by 2012 Cook of the Week Challenge winner Michael Pennisi and three-time Cook of the Week Challenge participant (two-time finalist) Mark Clemens. Together, we served 15 diners, including Tula Gogolak from the Jacques Pépin Foundation (JPF). Gogolak shared information about the foundation along with door prizes and raffle items, including a signed cookbook and print painted by Pépin himself!

Pépin is passionate about encouraging people to cook for themselves and others. With its mission of “enriching lives and strengthening communities through the power of culinary education,” his foundation helps to advance his love of culinary arts and teaching through video and recipe production and curriculum development. JPF also works to expand education and training for all by awarding grants that support free culinary and life skills training and help “individuals detached from the workforce gain confidence, skills, and employment in food service.”

My only previous exposure to Pépin had been through his television appearances and cookbooks, but after reading the stories accompanying his recipes, I began to feel like I knew him.

The Onion Soup Gratinee is the perfect example. Pépin writes about how his mother used to make this soup for their family and would prepare it on the stove and then pour it into a soup tureen filled with leftover toasted bread, top the mixture with lots of cheese and bake it for an hour before stirring everything together and serving. Who wouldn’t want to try this recipe after reading his description?

While Pépin’s recipe looked delicious, Deb had a favorite onion soup recipe from one of her mom’s cookbooks authored by, of all people, Vincent Price and his wife. So, we combined the best of both and came up with this recipe. It is everything you’d ever want and expect in an onion soup.

Michael told the story of meeting Pépin and sharing with him how much he liked his recipes in spite of not normally caring for French food. Pépin responded that his recipes were often more Italian than French, which is evident in his recipe for Cod in Olive-Tomato Crust.

We prepared this recipe exactly as written in Pépin’s cookbook “More Fast Food My Way.” Sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and a little Parmesan are combined in a food processor to create a bright and briny topping for the otherwise subdued flavor of cod. Pépin notes in his introduction to this recipe that you can be creative with the crust for this dish, saying he sometimes adds horseradish, bread crumbs, minced scallions, herbs, and/or garlic to the mixture. It was delicious and very easy to prep ahead of time then pop under the broiler for a quick and impressive entrée.

We finished our meal with a version of Pépin’s recipe for an apple tart, with ours using a layer of almond frangipane instead of hazelnut. The crust of this tart is almost more like a very sandy-textured cookie and is free formed instead of served in a pan, making it rustic while being oh so tasty.

The easy almond frangipane is made with almond flour, egg, a little butter and sugar, along with vanilla and almond extracts. Everything is mixed together and spread on top of the crust. Sliced apples arranged in a pretty design on top before the edges of the crust are folded in create a frame around the masterpiece, which is then sprinkled with sugar and baked.

Once out of the oven, the apples are brushed with a simple glaze made with apricot preserves. We served ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel, but the tart can easily be served alone. One recipe makes enough for six to eight slices, but you might want to double it in case people want a second slice — and they will!

To compliment the delicious food, Cook, Cork & Fork’s wine guru Jolene Allen used her expertise to provide perfect wine pairings for each course.

By the end of the evening, our guests were well-fed and seemed to have enjoyed the evening, with many having made donations to JPF. The four of us home cooks were glowing from the success of the evening and bonds created once again over food that we all value in our lives.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank John and Mica Mahler and the staff of Cook, Cork & Fork for their support and help in this endeavor. They provided all the groceries, wine and, most of all, their fantastic location and staff to help make the event a success, while also handling ticket sales. In addition, they have generously done all this at cost while donating additional proceeds to JPF. Thanks also to Gogolak and JPF for their support and generous donation of raffle and door prizes.

Lastly, to my fellow cooks — thank you for coming together for a great cause and making it such a fun thing to be part of, with special thanks to Deb Pankey Gabriel for including us and for equipping all of us with the gift of JPF aprons. We looked as good as we felt cooking together!

If you would like to know more about the Jacques Pépin Foundation, visit jp.foundation.

• Penny Kazmier, a wife and mother of four from South Barrington, won the 2011 Daily Herald Cook of the Week Challenge. Contact Penny at DhCulinaryAdventures@gmail.com.

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Onion Soup Gratinee

1 baguette

1 pound yellow onions

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

8 cups chicken stock

½ cup dry white wine

1 clove finely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 spring fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

¾ pound grated Emmenthaler or Gruyere cheese — or a combination of both

Fresh thyme for garnish

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut a baguette into ½-inch slices. Arrange slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in oven 8 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned.

Peel and slice onions. Brown in sturdy saucepan with butter and salt over fairly high heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Onions should be golden brown, soft and have a wonderful aroma.

Add chicken stock, garlic, Worcestershire, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a strong boil, then reduce heat and cook at a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Arrange 6 round onion soup crocks with about 1½ cup capacity on a cookie sheet.

Place 6 to 8 toasted baguette slices in each of the bowls and sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of the cheese on top.

Fill the bowls to the rim with the soup mixture, adding water or stock if you don’t have quite enough liquid, and sprinkle ½ cup grated cheese on each. Make sure the cheese adheres to the rim of each bowl, pressing it around the edge with your fingers so it will be firm and melt there while it cooks. Let some of the cheese hang over the edge; it will form a crust.

Place the tray in the oven and bake about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is golden, puffed and crusty, and the soup is very hot. Sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves.

Serves 6

— Adapted by Penny Kazmier

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Cod in Olive-Tomato Crust

You can take liberties with the crust for this dish: I sometimes add horseradish, bread crumbs, minced scallions, herbs, and garlic, for example. The assertive ingredients in this crust are just right for flaky and mild-flavored cod. Scrod and haddock also work well. In fact, any fresh fish fillets — the fresher the better — can be cooked this way.

I like to buy cod loin fillets, which are the thick ones from the back of the fish. About 1 inch thick, they will need 5 to 6 minutes under the broiler; adjust the timing if your fillets are thinner or thicker. The dish can be assembled a few hours ahead so it is ready to slide under the broiler at serving time. — Jacques Pépin

12 cherry tomatoes, multiple colors if possible

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

½ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained

½ cup pitted kalamata olives

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

4 cod loin fillets (6 to 8 ounces each)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle on at the table

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Preheat the broiler and line two baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Place cherry tomatoes on foil-lined sheet pan; drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place pan on low oven shelf under broiler until slightly blistered; about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and hold at room temperature.

Place sun-dried tomatoes in a food processor with the olives and cheese. Process until you have a rough puree that holds together.

Dry fish fillets with paper towels and rub with 1 tablespoon oil; sprinkle them with the salt and pepper. Arrange the fillets so there is space between them on the baking sheet. Cover fillets with the tomato-olive mixture and slide them under the broiler, so the fish is about 4 inches from the heat source. Broil for about 5 minutes, until the fillets are just tender but are still slightly undercooked inside. Garnish with roasted cherry tomatoes and parsley; serve. Pass the bottle of extra-virgin olive oil at the table.

4 servings

Note: We served our cod on top of sautéed spinach seasoned in olive oil with a little garlic and lemon.

— From “More Fast Food My Way” by Jacques Pépin

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Apple Tart With Almond Frangipane

Pastry:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, very cold and cut into thin slices

1 teaspoon sugar

A dash of salt

2 tablespoons ice water

Filling

1 cup almond flour*

¼ cup plus 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar, divided

1 large egg

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

Dash of vanilla

¼ teaspoon almond extract*

2 to 3 large apples — a variety that will hold its shape when cooked like Granny Smith, Braeburn or Golden Delicious

3 tablespoons apricot preserves

1 teaspoon water; you may need a little more depending on your preserves

If desired, vanilla ice cream and caramel for drizzling

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Using a food processor, or by hand, mix the flour, butter, sugar, and salt until the butter is in pieces about the size of dried beans. Add water and process to incorporate, being careful not to work the dough too much. Form into a 6-inch disc and wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour.

While dough is chilling, make frangipane. Place almond flour in a food processor, add ¼ cup sugar, egg, 1 tablespoon butter, and extracts; process until a creamy paste forms.

Line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle, with rough edges. I like to do this between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment, which helps when transferring to pan. Place on prepared pan.

Spread the frangipane on the dough, stopping about 1½ inches from the outer edge on all sides.

Peel apples, core, and cut apples into ½-inch thick slices. Arrange them attractively in a slightly overlapping pattern, like the tiles of a roof, on the pastry dough so the apples cover the frangipane.

Fold the edge of the dough back over the apples to make a 1- to 1½-inch border of dough. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar over the apples, letting a little of the sugar fall onto the border to help crystallize the dough. Break the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into pieces and scatter them over the top of apples. Bake for 1 hour. The dough should be nicely crystallized all over.

Remove tart from oven and cool on a rack until lukewarm. Dilute apricot preserves with the water and use a pastry brush or spoon to glaze the surface of the tart.

Serves 6 to 8

— Adapted from “Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook” by Jacques Pépin