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!

It's almost Summer - Pistou de Roquette

Finger licking good: Pistou de Roquette

I wanted some rocket salad to spice up my usual mix of leaves and without thinking bought a real big bag of these pungent leaves. After eating the salad, then mixing the rocket leaves with Turkish yoghurt, a finely minced clove of garlic and some salt and pepper (an absolutely delicious recipe a Turkish lady once taught me and which we love as a side dish at BBQs) there was still a lot of rocket left. And I didn't have much time to fix dinner and was fishing around for a quick recipe when inspiration hit - Pistou de Roquette! The usual Pistou in Provence is prepared with lots of basil and a close sister to the Italian Pesto, except that it lacks the parmesan. But I just love the creaminess of the freshly grated cheese so here I took 150g (3 generous cups) of rocket, 50g (1/3 of a cup) of freshly grated parmesan, 50 g (1/3 of a cup) of powdered almonds, 2 cloves of minced garlic, pepper fresh from the mill and about four tbsp of our precious "Gold of Provence" - olive oil that is. All went into the mixer and out came this luscious, beautifully green concoction. Stirred into hot pasta - simple but oh so good! And I used the leftover pistou (the little there was) as a dressing with my lunch tomato salad. It tasted like summer. And out of my kitchen window right now it looks like summer, too....

Cuisine de Provence's Kitchen View

Villedieu - A City of God and Culinary Pleasures

Villedieu's Village Square

Before we found, bought, ripped apart and renovated our house in Vaison la Romaine we rented a house in Villedieu. Ever since we have been firm friends of this little "City of God", participating in their village fêtes that somehow always tend to circle around wine or culinary themes. There is the big fête of the "Soupe au Pistou" (a vegetable soup made fragrant and delicious by adding a basil, garlic and olive oil pesto), the annual Church fête around a huge Paëlla, on Bastille Day the "Méchoui" a spit roasted lamb and of course "La Fête des Vignerons" right after the wine harvest when you get to taste the new wines. In Villedieu they know how to live!
The most popular food festival  in Villedieu however takes place every Sunday night between March and October in the shade under the plane trees of Villedieu's beautiful village square around a simple pizza van.

Mumu's Pizza Van

In order to take part you have to come well prepared. First step: get hold of Mumu's phone number. Second step: Phone him well in advance (best: already on Saturday) to place your order. Third: take a roll of kitchen paper and make your way to Villedieu by 6.30 pm latest if you want to find a place to park. If you want to come later, take your bike. Take a seat on one of the long benches opposite the "Café du Centre", order a bottle of wine, talk to the people around you and when Mumu is ready (he will have given you a time to collect your order) go and get the best pizza ever. This being a no frills extravaganza, everybody eats their pizza right out of the box, washes it down with the local red or rosé wine, wipes their hands on kitchen roll and a great time is had by all.

Pizza and wine - all you need to be happy

Funnily enough, there is another pizzeria on the other side of the square, but Mumu is where people go - even when, like last night, the Mistral blows full force we all prefer to sit outside to share Mumu's pizza. Mumu is where the action is, Mumu is summer in Provence.

Mumu's youngest fan (18 months)

Soupe au Pistou

This heart and body warming soup is named after an ingredient that is added at the very last moment before you serve the soup: "Pistou" which is more or less the same thing as pesto, except that in pistou you leave out the pine nuts and the parmesan. So in summer, when I have an abundance of basil in my kitchen garden, I take a big bunch of basil, pick off the leaves, peel two or three cloves of garlic and, together with some salt mix it all up, adding a bit of olive oil. Purists would do this in a mortar of course, but I believe that life is too short and anyhow, what are modern kitchen gadgets for? You end up with a beautifully green and pungent paste that I fill into ice cube trays until frozen and then keep in plastic bags in the freezer for days like these when you are snowed in and need some sunshine in you soup bowl.
And although the season for Soupe au pistou really is early summer when all ingredients are availalble at our beautiful Provençal market, the cheat's version can easily be cooked in winter - just use frozen vegetables.
Boil green beans, cannelini beans, borlotti beans, some diced carrots, diced white leek, diced potatoes, a tomato or two until tender in a litre and a half of good beef or vegetable stock, add a handful of very small pasta and when tender, stir in a generous tablespoon of pistou and serve with crunchy baguette. Voilà: instant sunshine, even at minus 2°C!