Sunday in Provence - Garlic Festival and a new War Memorial

We just love to go to local food festivals and village fêtes and although we had already been to the Garlic Festival in Piolenc having visitors was reason enough to go again. Arriving there we were astonished to see quite a few American Flags beside our French BleuBlancRouge and respectfully joined the crowd of spectators to find out what this was all about.

 

Alongside local dignitaries and highly decorated military men members of the "Confrerie d'Ail" (Garlic Brotherhood) were watching the inauguration of a memorial commemorating the liberation of Piolenc on this very day 68 years ago by the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division of the US Army. A very touching ceremony!

 Confrerie d'Ail

 

 Commemorating the liberation of Piolenc

 

But then  of course we concentrated on the garlic - the displays were so tempting that my kitchen is well stocked now. And I paid close attention when one of my culinary heroes - the Michelin starred Chef  Christian Etienne  from Avignon gave a cooking demonstration. I was quite flattered when he asked me to come up onto the stage to have a closer look. And best of all, my brother was real quick and took a photo!

 

Beautifully presented: garlic, garlic and more garlic

 Cute but maybe a bit heavy: Garlic Earrings

 

Chef Christian Etienne and me

Master of the Mussels

Moules Frîtes - steamed mussels and french fries being something close to a national dish in France, I am more often than not surprised how it is  sloppily thrown together not very well prepared. Just pouring some white wine over the mussels, adding a few onions and a bay leaf just doesn't cut it and then the fries are lukewarm and pale - well, you get the picture.

But there are exceptions. I think we ate the very best mussels ever (à la plancha and marinated in a garlicky herby mustard sauce) on a bull farm in Camargue - a dish we still dream of and never found as good again.

But now we were invited to the Master of the Moules. Moules Marinières - cooked by our friend and neighbor Claude on his BBQ. 15 kilos of fresher than fresh, big, fat and juicy mussels. What a feast! And I was so fascinated by the slow and very precise preparation I never got around taking photos of the fries - dark, crunchy, home made proper french fries. How come we never get them like that in restaurants? Would you believe it - 11 people managed to eat all 15 kilos of mussels. La vie est belle - life is good!

Mussels on the BBQ - Ice and all

Claude  - the Master of the Mussels

15 kilos of fresh mussels cooked on the BBQ in a custom made pan

with lots of chopped flat leaf parsley and shallots and white wine

Yum!

Later there was a bit of trouble with a cork that went into the bottle and had to be filtered....

.... before our host presented the digestif - his home made herb liquor

 Santé!

Carrots need Butter

Our "potager" (kitchen garden) is spoiling us this year - not only are the tomatoes ripening almost faster than we can eat them, we also have plenty of herbs and salads. And now carrots. Many carrots. Some I peel and chop and freeze for winter soups but for tonight I peeled some that I am going to prepare as a side dish to some roasted chicken.
Years ago I used to cook carrots as our mothers used to - in plenty of water to which a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar was added. Cooked them until soft - and bland.
Then I read an article by one of my favorite cooks Lea Linster who taught me that carrots need butter but not water or just a few drops to be precise. I have never looked back and this is how I always cook my carrots now:
Peel and cut carrots diagonally, then very finely slice a clove of garlic.

 Melt a generous dollop of butter, add the carrots and garlic slices, a pinch or two of kosher salt plus a little slug of water. Put lid on pan and let simmer over moderate heat for about 15 minutes, stirring once in a while.

When cooked nicely al dente add a few turns of the pepper mill and plenty of freshly chopped Italian (flat leaf) parsley. Simple but delicious!

Artichauts en Barigoule

Petits Violets

I have always loved artichokes. They have such beautiful colors, they taste great and  are great detoxifiers - if you don't eat them with buttersauce that is....

But I had never heard of artichoke ragout or "Artichauts en Barrigoule"  - a very Provençal recipe that Laurent (see pic below) told me about when I met him at Vaison's Tuesday market with a basket full of "petits violets". Laurent is not only a great chef but he also comes from Bretagne, the land of artichokes, so no wonder he knows everything about them. The recipe he told me about sounded rather complicated so to my great delight, Laurent offered to give me a private artichoke cooking class in my very own kitchen.

Chef Laurent

The ingredients

But first, I had to get: A bunch or two or three (depending on how many you want to feed) of "les petits violets" - small artichokes, two or three carrots, a few cloves of garlic, a laurel leaf, two or three small mild onions, olive oil and a bottle of dry white wine.

 

 First you have to trim the artichokes: remove the tough outer leaves

 

trim and peel the stalk

to prevent oxydation, soak in lemon water

finely chop all other ingredients 

take out the "straw"with a melon baller

When all your artichokes are evenly  and prettily trimmed

softly fry all ingredients in a splash of olive oil



Then, after a little while add two quarters of the bottle of white wine and let simmer gently until the artichokes are soft but still al dente. Artichauts en Barigoule, served at room temperature with baguette on the side make a great starter. They are also a wonderful side dish to roasted lamb.

Artichauts en Barigoule

Love it or Hate it: Andouilette

Whenever I have to do some serious shopping I go to Avignon, or, to be more precise to Le Pontet, a big shopping center in the northern part of Avignon. Just about every time I am there I meet a man I really do consider to almost be a friend now: the charming Mr. Raki who works at in the meat department  of Auchan. Blessed with an enormous sense of humour, a fabulous gift of the gab and just plain Gallic charm, Mr. Raki is usually to be found manning a small BBQ station. If the delicious smells wafting all over the place don't draft you towards him, some quirky remarks almost certainly will. And then he makes you taste: little morsels of tender lamb, delicious sausages, tiny strips of beef fillet. And he succeeds everytime:  I just can't help but add whatever he is promoting into my shopping basket.

The charming Mr. Raki

Except last Wednesday. For this time Mr.Raki was grilling Andouilettes. And if there is one thing in the whole big world of French culinary wonders I will not eat it is Andouillettes. Not because they are made of tripe. I do eat tripe if it is well prepared - Tripe à la Florentine can be delicious.

But I draw the line at Andouilettes. Because they smell. They smell in a way that turns my stomach. Most French people love them. There is no BBQ where you don't find a few of those stinkers happily sizzling away. But this is one of those things you either love to eat or hate to even have to smell. Even Mr. Raki couldn't tempt me into tasting them. And that means something.

Andouilettes - tripe sausages

Festival de la Figue in Caromb - great Festival but no Figs

By now you probably know that we just love to go to all the local festivals. As long as they are culinary off we go and usually come home tired, stuffed and happy, laden with delicacies. So when Radio Bleu Vaucluse told me yesterday morning not to miss the Fig Festival in Caromb I thought yes! here we go again! I had even one more reason to go as I had just seen a sinfully rich but rather fabulous fig dessert being prepared on TV and the juicy black figs for which Caromb is famous were just what I needed to try and replicate it.

In Caromb everything was perfect:  happy crowds and blue skies

Provençal costumes

This lady sold raffle tickets and we won a bottle of Rosé!

 

Another Provençal beauty

  But where, where were the famous Caromb figs?

The only ones we saw were these ones at the cooking demonstration. I even went to ask at the Tourist Office and learned that because of the long and hard winter we had the harvest was very small this year and the figs they had for sale all went within the first hour of the festival. If they hadn't disappeared into the jam pots of the local ladies who presented their "confitures" to be voted on.  As far as I am concerned pot No 1 deserved to win, but I didn't wait for the voting results to come in. And I promise to share the sinful fig desert with you as soon as I can find some figs to prepare it with.

Mr. S diligently testing fig jams before voting

Tomatoes, Tomatoes and more Tomatoes

Aren't they beautiful? Last Tuesday's market in Vaison was like a horn of plenty full of tomatoes. Tomatoes in every shape and colour and beautifully named -  just have a look at the list above!

Colourful Cherry Tomatoes

 These are called Pineapple Tomatoes

Coeur de Boeuf or

"Heart of the Bull"

 

Roma

 And these are the ones in my Kitchen Garden

they still need a bit of sun...

... but see, we are getting there - this afternoon's harvest.

Tomato Salad anyone?