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Eric Ripert, if you don’t know or if you haven’t lived on the east coast or if you’ve never seen Avec Eric or Top Chef, is the executive chef of Le Bernardin a four-star New York restaurant known for exceptional service and sublime French cuisine presenting exquisite foods from the sea or seafood. He is also proprieter and executive chef of three other restaurants and the author of many prized cookbooks.

His latest, my newest, is based on his show which offers simple recipes(admittedly, chef’s version of simple)with the mission to “cook from life.” When esteemed chefs, dumb it down for us regular folks, we get an chance to bolster our cooking and we get a few lessons along the way because the esteemed chefs recognize the value of explaining why and such is the case with Cod Basquaise.

Ripert was born in France near the border of the Basque region of Spain, so naturally there are influences in the book from his early food experiences.

Basquaise is a – you guessed it – Basque sauce or, in this case, a melange of vegetables, which includes tomatoes and bell peppers.

Cod Basquaise was easy to prepare and, although I didn’t wait to eat it, the sauce can be made ahead of time and kept, he says for a day, but I say for a week (it’s a wonder my family doesn’t get a seething case of botulism). Do not waste your cooked food people!

The tang and heat of this sauce elevated the mild flavor of cod. Ripert had said, “fish is the star of the dish,” on an episode of his show. You’ve had fish from restaurants and in your own home’s perhaps, where mild fish gets buried within the other concoction – maybe for some fringe fish eaters, that’s the point. Yet, here, despite the strength of the sauce, the fish, plain old cod, rose. Suddenly, cod moved from fish and chips status to something fancy. Get this – the kids liked it even though the ingredients would suggest otherwise. Granted, I starved mine for hours beforehand, but they would have held out if it truly repulsed them. And not repulsive is the bar I use for kid-approved.

Two things about this recipe: 1.It can be simple or more complicated; we offer two versions. 2. The more you cook the vegetables, the more they go from melange to sauce and will lose some of the nutrients along the way.

The recipe called for dry red wine, which I followed, but I found that wine overpowered even the strongest pepper flavors and you have to cook it longer to cook away the alcohol. I expanded the vegetables with chicken stock and thought it was better balanced for my taste – but I’m no Eric, nor a Basque, only a basquetcase with some cod to sell. You’ll see piment d’Espelette listed in the ingredients, which is dry seasoning drawn from a hot pepper indigenous to the Basque region. It’s available at Whole Foods, but use hot paprika, cayenne pepper, or chili powder, whatever you have on had, however, start with a scant amount and taste as you go.

Cod is cheap, so are the vegetables, and the recipe is easy and novel. What are you waiting for – basquaise tonight!

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