CUISINEDEPROVENCE IS BACK ONLINE!

And the good news is: the website for my cooking classes Cuisinedeprovence is back online.

Celebrating Lemons

Remember my rant about unreliable recipes?   Well, here is a new one! Returning from the Côte d'Azur my neighbor brought me this:

Lovely, ripe and juicy lemons from Menton where the annual Lemon Festival is in full swing right now. Imagine, they use 140 tonnes of oranges and lemons there every year to decorate the huge floats! To do my bit of celebrating I decided to try out a new recipe for Tarte au Citron - Lemon Tart I had just found  in one of my cookbooks. All went well until the last step that asked for decorating the already baked tart with lemon slices, powdering it with confectioner's sugar and passing the tart under the grill "for 3 to 5 minutes". Now hold your breath - this is the before picture.

Trusting soul that I am I put the tart under the grill and went just around the corner to empty the washing machine. Came back after no more than two minutes and had this: 

DO NOT EVER TRUST A RECIPE !!!

Today I tried again. Only this time I stood right by the oven and guess what? It did take exactly one minute to caramelize the sugar! And tasted just like a Tarte au Citron should: tart and lemony and with just a hint of sweetness! And that cookbook? Went into the trash can, just like that first Tarte. 

Somewhat Fishy Good Luck Charms

Whenever I go to Marseille I never miss going to see the fishmongers at the Vieux Port. Not only because you get to see real interesting species there but also because the Vieux Port is one of the most picturesque and beautiful places in this much (and undeservedly) maligned town.

When I recently went again I found a tiny stall selling this:

Claiming they were porte bonheurs (good luck charms) and telling me to always carry one in my money bag, the old lady selling them then showed me a little sign telling the story behind these "Eyes of St. Lucie".

In the fourth century Lucie sees her mother overcome a serious illness thanks to her prayers to the Virgin Mary. In order to give thanks she rips out her eyes and throws them into the sea. Moved by her devotion the Virgin Mary returns the eyesight to Lucie and makes her eyes even more beautiful and luminous than before. Ever since, these brightly orange tinted mussel gill covers are being associated with good luck and prosperity. This being most certainly true for the vendor who sells these somewhat fishy charms at one Euro a piece.....

The Big Freeze

All but deserted - Cours Taulignan

Vaison la Romaine's Tuesday market is one of the biggest and best known Provençal markets but this morning I hardly trusted my eyes. In Cours Taulignan, usually the busiest street of the market there was hardly a stallholder to be found. My trusted egg lady was one of the very very few who braved the cold, as was a butcher and an olive vendor but that was about it. And then I saw this interesting scene:

What is going on here?

What looked like a clandestine black market operation was but common sense of one of the fruit and vegetable sellers. Since all their produce would have been spoiled at this mornings icy -9°C/15.8°F they didn't even bother to unload but sold everything off the truck.

More than Tapas - a Weekend in Madrid

Back from a weekend in Madrid I just have to share my favorite tapas and a few foodie impressions with you:

Favorite tapa: deep fried little green peppers sprinkled with sea salt. So simple but so good!

Next best - big green olives stuffed with mussels and roasted red peppers. My secret and please don't tell on me: I much prefer Spanish olives to the ones we get here in Provence. 

What a beautiful advertisement - a bakery close to the Royal Palace 

The hands of the baker

and valet service for their client's best friends....

 Ice cold Fino Sherry served out of a kettle by the charming "patronne" of the "El Patio" tapas bar where we also ate

the freshest and very simply grilled fish and

melt in the mouth Jamon Iberico that we had already seen at one of Madrid's best foodie destinations the fabulous

San Miguel market hall

where the ceiling hangs full of this delicacy.

But take note of the price: € 18.50 for just 100 g - it is worth it though...

Tapas bar El Patio: 1 Calle Arlaban, Madrid - not only an excellent and informal place to eat (lunch and dinner) but also the place for bullfight aficionados. The place is like a bullfight museum (even the ceilings are full of bullfight posters) and the owners speak very good English in case your Spanish (like mine) isn't all that great.  

Bullfight memorabilia at "El Patio"

Roasted Butternut and Garlic Soup

Butternut Squash

We are lucky - this winter so far has been sunny and mild but we still leave it to the smokers to take their coffee (or pastis) on the terraces of the cafés on Vaison's Place Montfort. As far as I am concerned it is cold enough to cook hearty warming winter soups and this one has fast become a firm favorite.

All you need to serve 6 generous portions is a nice little butternut squash, a head of garlic, some vegetable stock and a dollop of cream. But first you have to drizzle the main ingredients with a little bit of olive oil and then roast them for about 30 minutes or so  in the oven to really bring out the flavor.

Roast for 30 minutes

Once cool enough to handle, just peel the skin off the squash (far easier now than if you try to peel it raw) and squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins, puree all in a cup or so of vegetable stock, season to taste with some chilli flakes and pepper fresh from the mill and stir in a bit of double cream. Because it is roasted, the garlic will not make you smell but give the soup  a wonderful earthy flavor.

Roasted Butternut & Garlic Soup

Springtime in Provence?

Would you believe what I found in my garden this morning? The first daffodil of the season! Although it has been unseasonally warm to have daffodils flowering on January 5th is ridiculous, even in Provence. But kind of nice, too!