Cuisine de Provence meets The Café Sucré Farine

I know, I know - not too long ago that I said I wouldn't blog anymore, but I guess I will just have to eat my words. Because something great happened and I just have to share it!
A little while ago I got a mail from a blogger I have followed for a long time and always very much admired. Chris Scheuer and her husband Scott of the absolutely fabulous The Café Sucré Farine were planning a trip to Provence and wanted to visit Cuisine de Provence. 
To cut a long story short - we met, we clicked, we had great fun and Chris' husband Scott who is a more than excellent photographer (check out his work on the blog) took loads of photos.
Plus a got to try out a state of the art KitchenAid Turbo Mixer. Which, and this now I really have to share with you, is the the giveaway on Chris' blog. So go on over to http://thecafesucrefarine.com/ and try your luck to win this très chic mixer that I can vouch makes soups and smoothies just silkily smooth. Good luck!

Summer Market Bounty - Heirloom Tomatoes

Who could resist? Every Tuesday I get one of these crates full of the most beautiful assortment of heirloom tomatoes at Vaison's Provençal market. We are suffering a real heat wave here in Provence right now so this is the perfect summer food - cut up into a colorful summer salad, served with mozzarella or burrata, black basil cut into a chiffonnade, our own, very best olive oil, some sea salt and pepper fresh from the mill. Summer bliss!

Perfect Summer Lunch

Bold and Adventurous: Marrow Bone Appetizer

Even when we were still real young our parents took me and my sister and brother travelling. One of our first foreign trips was to a farm in Denmark, where we played with little piglets and the lady of the house treated us to wonderful thick hot chocolate. I remember fabulous sauerkraut stuffed and brined red peppers in Austria, huge piles of then to us very foreign watermelons in Yugoslavia,where we also got our first taste of Slivovitz simply because the fruit salad was generously perfumed with it.

Later we graduated to the real good things in life: the first lobster which we went to pick out in the market and boiled ourselves. And then oysters. I still admire how our parents taught us to eat all these things by making it a great adventure. So all three of us are the probably most unfussy eaters there are. There are things we like better or less, but nothing we won't at least try once. Saying that I do draw the line at snakes and dogs - a very firm line that is.

Deliciously roasted Marrow Bone at L'Epicurien restaurant in Crestet

So when the other day I found something on the menu at our friend's Eric and Nana's restaurant L'Epicurien that I had never eaten before I just had to try it. Now I have encountered marrow bones before - Osso Bucco is only worthy if served on the bone, but I never had it "raw" so to speak. Raw in the sense of it being served no frills style. Just the bone, beautifully roasted with good bread on the side and some sea salt. What can I say? It is wonderful.
And, unfortunately, very rich - I rather not tell you about its fat content as otherwise you will never try it. Which would be a shame because half the fun of of finding new culinary adventures is throwing yourself into them wholeheartedly. And what can be wrong about something so delicious that is even said to cure inflammatory conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease and gluten intolerance? So be bold and adventurous and bon appétit!
Restaurant L'Epicurien, Quartier Glacière, 84110 Crestet, Tel: 0490419982, www.epicurienvaison.fr

Culinary Snapshots from Provence

What a busy month of May this has been! In May the tourist season starts to really pick up in Vaison la Romaine. This is the month when friends who know when Provence is at its best start to appear on your doorstep. There are birthdays to be celebrated, tomatoes to be planted, it is the month of asparagus which we now eat about every other day and I even cooked the first twelve jars of cherry jam yesterday! My cooking classes had to be prepared, new recipes were tested and cooked by my lovely guests. So in between our private lunches or dinners tend to be fast and improvised. Have a look at what we ate lately:

 Beef capaccio with lemon vinaigrette, shaved parmesan and a little side salad

Tomato-Mozzarella revisited - I let the cherry tomatoes wilt with a little lug of olive oil over moderate heat, deglazed them with a splash of balsamico. Served lukewarm with baguette on the side.

Round zucchini stuffed with onion, garlic, sausage meat and some grated cheese, served in a very light tomato sauce

A wonderful dinner at my blogger friend Michel and Shirley Augsburger's beautiful Sablet house who served us

the best ever leek Risotto with steamed cod on a delicious fava bean puree

These two cuties visited Cuisine de Provence

Spring Leeks with a Fishy Twist

Even in deepest winter it is a pleasure to visit Provence's beautiful farmer's markets but now that nature empties its horn of plenty full of fresh spring produce on all those stalls I can hardly contain my excitement. Today's bounty was white asparagus, skinny sweet leeks, the first fat, juicy bulbs of pink garlic, some basil and a huge bunch flat leaf parsley.
So tonight's dinner will be the asparagus. Steamed and served with a little Sauce Hollandaise, new potatoes and a slice of cooked ham. This is the traditional way white asparagus is served in Germany where they know a thing or two about this noble vegetable what with all those acres and acres of asparagus fields that you find all over the country.
After peeling the asparagus (that is the downside if you eat the white instead of the green) I tackled the leeks - just topped and tailed them, washed them thoroughly (they love to hide lots of sand) and very gently poached them for about 5 minutes in some vegetable stock.
Now you have to dry them real well - paper towels are good for this. Then I just melted about 50 g butter and three anchovy fillets, finely chopped up a handful of basil and parsley leaves, added a few generous turns of the peppermill and the juice of half a lemon. Stir all ingredients together and pour over the still warm leeks. Eat toute de suite with a slice of baguette or, if left for later, warm up for about 15 seconds in the microwave or a few minutes in a hot oven. Très, très bon!

Freezer Soup - Sunshine in the Kitchen

Somehow I always buy too many vegetables. So there is the odd zucchini left, two carrots, half a red or yellow pepper, a celery stalk - you know how it is. But since I think it is kind of sinful to just discard these leftovers, I am forever chopping and freezing them. And then one day the freezer is so stuffed with little bags I don't find anything else in there anymore.
That is the day of what has become known as the "Freezer Soup" in our house, to which, I am happy to report, my OH is always very much looking forward to.
I just empty all those little bags into a big pot, add water and vegetable stock and bring everything to the boil, then let simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes. If there is a sausage lying around (think Saucisse de Morteau or Kielbasa) I cut it into chunks and add it to the soup. Even better,  if there is still some Pistou left over in the freezer from last summer, it is added just before serving the soup. Pistou is the Provençal version of Pesto, but without the pine nuts and even the addition of cheese is optional here.
But the smell! Pistou is the quintessential perfume of summer in Provence, so no matter when I serve this soup there is sunshine in the kitchen!

The first Sign of Summer in Provence

It has been real sunny for last last two weeks here in our corner of Provence but since the Mistral has been very busy too, we still have the central heating on and cannot plant all those beautiful little tomato, eggplant or zucchini plants you find in the markets now.
But today I spotted the very first sign of summer to come! What from afar looks like just another tree still dreaming the last dreams of its wintery sleep -

sprouts, if you look closely, the tiniest, very first baby figs!

It is the sign that summer lurks around the corner. I can't wait for these little beauties to grown into juicy, fat and fragrant fruits that we eat fresh from the tree, cook jam from or transform into sweet or savoury tarts. Maybe I will be courageous and plant my tomatoes this weekend....

Rachel Khoo's Little Paris Kitchen

When in Paris we always make it a point to visit all the English language bookshops. Until recently this used to be WH Smith on Rue Rivoli and the wonderful and rightly famous "Shakespeare & Company" on the Left Bank. But during our last visit while strolling along Rue Rivoli we discovered Galignani, which is not only the oldest English language bookshop in Paris but also on the continent. And the most beautiful and elegant bookstore you can imagine with maybe not the most comprehensive choice of books but certainly the most select - any bibliophile's dream.

 Lentil Salad with red beets, Goat Cheese and Dill Vinaigrette

Which is not where I bought Rachel Khoo's "The Little Paris Kitchen" a book that has been sitting on my kitchen bookshelf for a while until I now finally started "cooking it". My nephew and his wife along with my darling OH aka guinea pig No.1 tried "Puy lentils with goat cheese and red beets with dill vinaigrette" and guess what? They liked it! And so did I. All of it, but totally and especially the dill vinaigrette. Dill is hard to come by in Provence so now we planted it in our kitchen garden as this is a vinaigrette you will want to serve with steamed fish, chicken breast or just lick off a spoon, so good it is. So look up the recipe which I am not supposed to give you here because of copyright reasons. And if you only make the vinaigrette (which involves a bunch of dill, some sunflower oil, white wine vinegar, some sugar and salt)  you will be one happy bunny. Talking of bunnies:

Happy Easter!

Parisian Priorities

 

We would say "Eat & Drink", wouldn't we? But it seems the Parisians have different priorities. "Drink & Eat" this clever poster says. Found in a brasserie on Rue des Abesses in Montmartre.

Rustic Goat Cheese Lasagne

If you would just look at the view from my study into the garden and over the vineyard next door you'd be jealous: brilliant sunshine, blue sky, the first daffodil is blooming - it looks just like Provence is supposed to look this time of the year. What you don't see however is that our "beloved" Mistral, the icy wind from the north is slapping nature and us around. Our fireplace is working overtime, no one feels like going outside unless we absolutely have to. Which for me meant getting fresh vegetables to try out some new winter warming recipes.

 

For the filling of this melt in your mouth delicious Rustic Goat Cheese Lasagne (serves 6) you need:
1big red onion, sliced
2 zucchini, diced,
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
4 herby, spicy sausages (think chipolata, salsiccia)
1 can chooped tomatoes
1 soft, mild goat cheese
2 cups bechamel sauce
8 lasagne sheets - I use ready made Barilla sheets that don't need precooking
 

Put to the side 1 cup of the halved cherry tomaotes. Mix all the other sliced and diced veg with a bit of olive oil and some freshly ground black pepper and let roast in the oven (180 C/ 350 F) for 30 minutes. Meanwhile skin the sausages and break up the filling, then fry over medium heat until cooked through. Degrease over some layers of paper towels. Mix the sausage meat into the roasted vegetables and add the can of chopped tomatoes. Either prepare or use a ready made bechamel sauce.
In an ovenproof dish start with one layer of the vegetable/sausage filling, cover with lasagne sheets, evenly distribute one layer of bechamel sauce and crumble some goat cheese on top. Repeat this layering process once more, ending with pasta sheets generously covered with bechamel sauce onto which you now crumble all the rest of the goat cheese and decorate with the halved cherry tomatoes.
Bake at 180C/ 350 F for 30 minutes.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

As found in "Azucar" the very best ice cream parlor in Little Havanna, Miami

My Top Three Provence Cookbooks

Guests at my Cuisine de Provence cooking classes often ask me to tell them about my favorite Provençal cookbooks. Although I am a self confessed cookbook junkie, the books I turn to again and again when checking out Provençal specialities have stayed the same throughout the years.
My alltime favorite is Gui Gedda's "Cooking School of Provence"

Written by a true Provençal chef and beautifully illustrated, this book covers all the Provence classics from Aïoli, Bouillabaisse and its Rouille, Ratatouille, Pan Bagna, Tapenade and Anchoiade but also includes some French Classics such as the Poule au Pot, Lapin Chasseur or a Tarte Tatin.
Very useful: the glossary where you find explanations for what I call "kitchen latin" such as "écumoire" - a flat perforated spoon used for skimming foam from cooking liquids. Or did you know that a "beurre composé" is a butter mixed with herbs, anchovies or other aromatics? And if ever the urge strikes you to prepare "ketchup à la provençale" - this is where to find the recipe!

Patricia Well's "Provence Cookbook"

I bought after I had seen it displayed at my local cheesemonger's. Patricia Wells, the famous doyenne of cooking class instructors, had of course included Josianne Déal in her book, just as Vaison la Romaine's butcher, the fishmonger and truffle king, the honey vendor and best restaurant chef are featured. Although this book came out 10 years ago and needs some updating as far as the people featured or adresses go the recipes stand the test of time. Very often authentic homecooking recipes of friends of Patricia Wells these are simple and delicious true Provençal dishes prepared with love and the sundrenched produce of Provence. You also get stories of everyday life and the histroy of Provence and I bet your copy with soon look as dogeared and well thumped as mine!

Alex Mackay's Cooking in Provence

After having cooked at Britain's most famous French restaurant, the "Manoir aux Quat'Saisons", Alex Mackay ran a Provence cooking school - sadly now closed, because the chef went on to even greater things and now teaches in Britain. This book, where he tells the story of his school is dotted with the most succulent recipes. Zucchini flowers stuffed with tomatoes, roasted pigeons with ceps or orange and chocolate tart, anyone? Mackay teaches you how to stock a Provençal pantry, tells you about the hunt, the harvest and the winter in Provence and tempts you to recreate your very own little Provence with beautiful photos of our little corner of the world. This is probably the most beautiful book of my favorite Provençal cookbooks - it makes me want to try each and every recipe and a lot I already have!

I am Charlie, you are Charlie, we all are Charlie

A heartfelt thank you to all my wonderful Cuisine de Provence guests who sent very moving messages of support during these trying times in France. All of you said: We are Charlie!
Last night we took part in a silent march through Vaison la Romaine.
I am proud of my town and happy to see how many, regardless of their faith, political conviction or nationality took part.