Red mullet, early summer

I’m at the boats in Golfe-Juan by eight. If the mullet isn’t good I don’t buy it, and you get a line on the card that says what I bought instead. That has happened twice in four summers.

This is the menu I cook most in June. It works outside, it works for fourteen, and nothing on it needs to be plated in the kitchen while your guests wait. The bream is cracked at the table; somebody always wants to do it, and I let them.

The socca needs an oven that reaches 280°. Most villa ovens do. If yours doesn’t, I’ll tell you in the call and we swap it for panisse.