Drowning in Zucchini

This summer our kitchen garden has not exactly been spoiling us - the cold and far too wet month of May and then nothing but fierce Mistral winds in June have seen to it that most of our lovingly planted beans just drowned, tomatoes are trying to turn red just now and the garlic  doesn't look too promising either. So we are real happy that at least our zucchini plants are not letting us down - actually we are kind of drowning in zucchini right now. So I have to figure out how to make the most of them. I wish I'd still remember and could give credit where I saw how to turn zucchini into pasta like strips but I don't (sorry!) because this has become my new favorite new trick of  of turning them into a très, très tasty zucchini side dish - perfect for BBQ's or with steamed fish.
Top and tail the zucchini,then finely slice them with a vegetable peeler. Peel and very finely chop a garlic clove or two. Finely chop five sundried tomatoes (the ones that come in oil). Add a generous handful of cherry tomatoes and toss all into a frying pan with a good slug of olive oil. Gently sweat over moderate heat until the cherry tomatoes begin to collapse, then add the zucchini and cook gently until just tender but still al dente. Season with a good pinch of  Herbes de Provence and a few rounds of pepper fresh from the mill.

"Herbes de Provence" my way

Lots of Provençal recipes ask for a good pinch or two of "Herbes de Provence". And Herbes de Provence are one of the most popular souvenirs tourists like to take home. Which makes me kind of sad. Because unless you live in the northern part of Finland or Alaska nothing is easier than producing your very own Herbes de Provence. As far as I am concerned, all you need is a chopping board, a good sharp chef's knife and a handful of thyme and rosemary. Now I do know that the "official" mixture often contains tarragon, sage, fennel, marjoram, oregano and even lavender. But when I look around my garden , the neighboring fields, or when I take a walk in the nearby forest - what grows wild and all over the place? Thyme and rosemary! And do you really think our grandmas went out of their way to search for herbs that didn't grow on their doorstep? I don't think so!

So whenever I need some "Herbes de Provence" I step out of my kitchen door to the "wild" part of the garden, kitchen scissors in hand and cut a branch or two of the wild rosemary and thyme. I strip off the rosemary needles and the tiny little thyme leaves, chop them furiously until powder fine et voilà - deliciously perfumed "Herbes de Provence". And if you have smelled my mixture and then go and smell what is being sold in those pretty little sachets - well I know which mixture I prefer. And if you then also know that most of those herbs originate in Albania, China or North Africa I really don't know what is so "Provençal" about them.....

 Herbes de Provence -  all you need is

Thym, Rosemary and a good chopping knife

Rain, Rain and Rain but Sunshine on my Plate

It has been raining, raining and raining here in Provence. I really can't remember ever having had such a cold and wet May and I feel especially sorry for all our visitors to Provence who came here looking for sunshine and poppy fields and landed in a total washout. The weather forecast promises sunshine and rising temperatures for tomorrow but taking into account how often they get it wrong I thought I'd better get myself some sunshine on a plate. This "Tian de Légumes de Soleil" (Tian of sunkissed vegetables) is just that and a perfect aside to some BBQ'd lambchops.

The word Tian in this Provençal recipe refers to the round earthenware dish it is prepared in. You need 4 zucchini, 2 eggplants, 6 tomatoes, one sweet onion, 3 cloves garlic, herbes de Provence, salt and pepper, olive oil and 300g or 1 cup of thick tomatoe sauce (coulis de tomate).
First of all you take two of the prettiest zucchini and two or three of the firmest tomatoes and cut them in even rounds.  Set aside. Take all the rest of the veg and cut them into smallish cubes. Finely chop the garlic. Add some olive oil to a pan and gently fry all the vegetable cubes, then add the tomato coulis. Leave to gently braise for about 10 minutes, then pour this mixture into the tian. Season well and cover with the tomato and zucchini rounds. Scatter with some Herbes de Provence and sprinkle with some olive oil. Bake in a preheated oven (180°C/356°F)
Talking about Herbes de Provence: As long as you have some needles of fresh rosemary and a few sprigs of fresh thyme all you need to do is pick the little leaves off the thyme and chop them together with the rosemary needles into a very fine powder - the idea is to have the taste but not to bite on rosemary. These "Herbes de Provence" are much better than any of the dried stuff you can buy.
Gotta go now and put my Tian into the oven - and I really hope to remember to take a picture of the baked Tian this time round....

Et voilà - Tian fresh out of the oven