Cauliflower and Fennel Soup

I have to admit - I am partial to pretty soups. A bright red pepper soup or a pale orange carrot soup served on a white plate is as pleasing to the eye as it is delicious. Sadly with this soup you will have to work on the presentation, as pretty it is not. But its grey paleness hides masses of flavour and the Pastis gives it  a certain something très Provençal! Ladle the soup into a brightly coloured plate, sprinkle lots of parsley on top - et voilà - one more delicious soup to chase away the cold and winterblues.

 

Peel and chop 2 cloves of garlic and one half of a big white onion. Gently fry in a good slug of olive oil until soft.

 

Chop one fennel bulb (discard the hard core) and add to the pot. Sprinkle one tsp of tarragon leaves and keep on stirring until the vegetables are softening.

 

Add the florets of half a cauliflower, 1/2 liter (2 cups) of vegetable stock and let simmer until the cauliflower is soft. Season to taste with salt and pepper, a good slug of Pastis and some crème fraîche and mix until smooth. Serves 4

 

I'd like to give credit for the inspiration of this soup to Tim Vidra of E.A.T. whose Halloween post made me buy the cauliflower of which I only used half (and very good it was roasted according to Tim's recipe, too!) and to Claudia of A Seasonal Cook in Turkey whose delicious Cauliflower Soup recipe reminded me of this one that I had all but forgotten about. Thank you!

Does it ever snow in Provence?

 

Does it ever snow in Provence? I am often asked this by my lovely guests who come to cook with me at  Cuisine de Provence . Well, here is the answer - this is the view that greeted me this morning when I opened the window. After having had lunch outside until just two days ago now we are experiencing a real bad cold spell - icy Mistral winds and probably the earliest snow in Provençal history!

All those pretty Bottles and Boxes

No matter where I travel to there is always one point on the agenda that I never miss - a visit to a local store, supermarket, souk, bazaar - you name it, I go there. I can spend hours there sniffing out the local produce and sometimes buy something not even knowing what it is, just because the vintage style packaging appeals. This little box started the trend. I found it at my local greengrocers and still have no idea what to use this spice mix for (it smells a bit like allspice) but isn't the box pretty?

 

Spice mix

 

This was brought to us from Germany - a tin box containing 12 little bottles of after dinner digestive herbal liquor. Now used to store vanilla sugar.

 

I will have to use this pretty soon - great excuse to whip up a Tiramisu...

 

Found in Spain: Paella Spice Mix

 

Tuna Fish Spread from the Côte d'Azur

 

My all time favorite: Bovril beef extract as found in Spain, don't you just love the bottle?

Marianne doing her bit for the French Wine Industry

 

I found this at a winery. It says:
Marianne (the French national symbol) is born in 1792, but of all that Blue, White and Red (the French national colours) she has kept only the red....

Aigo Boulido - How to treat a Hangover or prevent a Cold

Now what did I need all that garlic for that I showed you how to speed peel in my last post? To cook some "Boiled Water". That is what Aigo Boulido translates into, a very traditional Provençal peasant soup which serves as a famous hangover cure and an at least even contender to chicken soup when fighting the beginnings of a cold. Here below you see what you need: 2 leeks, a head of garlic, 2 or 3 tomatoes, some sprigs of flat leaf parsley and a generous sprig of sage, plus 1 big or 2 to 3 small potatoes and some chicken or vegetable stock.

Ingredients for Aigo Boulido

 

Break up the head of garlic and peel the cloves, clean and chop up the leeks, pick the parsley and sage leaves off the stalks, peel and halve the potatoes. With not too much water and some chicken or vegetable stock (I use powdered) bring everything to the boil and let simmer until the garlic cloves are real soft. Fish out the potatoes and set aside. Strain all the rest through a fine sieve, pushing with a spatula so you get all the garlic puree into the broth. Let cool a bit then in a mixer blitz the potatoes into the broth. Drink.

 

All chopped up and ready to cook

 

It might not look like much and the consistency is indeed more or less like boiled water but the taste is fabulous and your hangover will be history within minutes. Plus all microbes hate garlic just as much as vampires!  And have no fear: since the garlic is cooked you won't even smell. Santé!

 

Aigo Boulido

How to peel a lot of Garlic real quick

Reading recipes online I stumbled upon a more than useful method of how to peel a lot of garlic real quick. So simple, so useful!

 

Separate a head of garlic into individual cloves

Pour boiling water over the cloves, let sit for one minute, rinse with cold water

 

You will have those cloves peeled in no time at all - great!

Autumn in Provence

We did our best to pretend it didn't happen, but when this sight greeted me this morning when opening the windows I knew there is no denying anymore: autumn has arrived in Provence. Our Mulberry tree dropping its leaves is always the first sign that summer is officially over. We can still have lunch outside, but the mornings are real cold crisp and actually I should have been warned when I found this at last weeks market - one of the perks of autumn is that it is mushroom season, right? 

 

Girolles and Ceps at Vaison's Tuesday Market