Marine cornucopia: assiette de fruits de mer

t is my birthday, that is why I will write about my single most favourite dish. No it is not sushi, but its European equivalent, the French assiette de fruits de mer, seafood platter.



I discovered its pleasures on my first trips to Normandy. Unlike in Holland, where I lived then, the French do not feel compelled to deep-fry every bit of taste out of fish and seafood. Half is consumed raw or blanched. No heavy sauces are used so that one can enjoy the gentle fragrance of the gifts of the deep brine.


First year I would just go to France and order it in a restaurant, granted Amsterdam is just a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the French border. As my French improved and I learnt the names of seafood I started arranging my own platters, put them on ice and take them back home. You can by a ready-made one for 20 euros on Auchan but it takes the fun out of it.

If you are too intimidated to do your groceries at a French market (I used to be), go to the poissonnier section in Auchan and pick

• a lobster,
  
• a crab,
  
• a box of oysters,
  
• then shrimp,
• bulots (whelks) and amandes (cockles, aka poor man's oyster) half a kilo each,
  
• perhaps some crevettes grises (brown shrimp) and bigourneaux (periwinkles) if you like those (I do!)

Then get some lemons, baguettes, mayonnaise and a couple bottles of Muscadet or cidre brut and you have a slap-up seafood dîner for two. Drive on to a scenic location for an additional aesthetic kick.