Politically Correct Fig Chutney

"Le Météo" as the weather forecast is called in France gave us a rather stern warning yesterday: Thunderstorms and torrential rains was what they promised us for today and guess what we woke up to? Torrential rains and thunderstorms. Good thing that for once I believed what was said and harvested the last of our figs. I don't think we ever had such good and many figs as this year. We have been eating them straight from the tree, on fig tarts and I must have about 15 pots of fig jam stashed away in a corner of the wine cellar. This time I tried my hand at something I'd never done before - fig chutney to go with foie gras.

 

 The last figs of the season

 

The inspiration to this was my friend Theda who told me about a recipe one of her friends had given her and which she generously shared with me. Not entirely happy I searched the Internet for alternatives and ended up combining Theda's friends' recipe with one I found on chefkoch.de .

Having two ingredients missing and doing this on a Sunday (where shops around here are only open until noon) meant that I had to wait until the rain this morning subsided to go and get fresh ginger and raisins.

So I already cut up my kilo and a bit (1200 g) of figs, added 150g red pepper, cut into very small cubes,  one finely chopped white onion (150g), 150 g chopped prunes, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 400 g brown sugar and stirred it all together with 3/4 cup of red wine vinegar plus 3/4 cup of red wine. All this was left to macerate overnight.

 Left to macerate overnight - Figs, prunes, red wine, brown sugar, spices and red wine vinegar

 

This morning I added a walnut sized piece of very finely chopped ginger and 120 g of raisins, brought the mixture to the boil and over moderate heat and frequently stirring let it patiently simmer until most of the moisture was evaporated. This took about 90 minutes before I could fill my newly acquired jam pots. Which made me laugh. Because even on jam pots the Academie Française reigns supreme! See, whenever a foreign word is used in France the Academie Française, a very honorable institution that was founded in 1635 makes sure there is an astrisk added and the word translated. So zealously the Academie guards French against foreign influence that French radio stations are not allowed to play more that 30 per cent foreign music and "homemade" on the lids of my jam pots had an asterisk added and the translation "Fait Maison" on the side of the lid. Politically correct Fig Chutney.....

 

Fig Chutney

 

Home made of course

See the asterisk? Translated to make the Academie Française happy

Poichichade - Chickpeas go Provençal

Until recently chickpeas to me were synonymous with houmous. Until I met "le Roi des Pois Chiches"  and then tried and tried again to recreate his wonderful chickpea dip that is so different to houmous but just as addictive. Finally I now think I've got it licked: Poichichade à la Provençale!

You can of course start by soaking dried chickpeas overnight but as I always think that life is short enough I simply start but unscrewing a jar of chickpeas and then - and this is important - rinse them thoroughly under cold water. Into a food processor they go together with 3 peeled and crushed garlic cloves, the juice of half a lemon, a good splash of olive oil, a good pinch or two of powdered cumin and sweet paprika powder. Then it is pulse and scrape down, pulse and scrape etc. so all ingredients get nicely crushed and mixed. To get a real nice smooth consistency and round the taste I then add some highly concentrated chicken stock. Pulse again and let the mixture "sit" for at least an hour for the flavors to come together. Serve sprinkled with some sesame seeds. To be eaten as a dip with vegetable sticks or on crackers.

Poichichade Provençale

It's a Dog's life: Public Transport in Provence

 

Public transport in Provence is hard to come by. From Vaison there is a bus in the morning to Orange and Avignon that takes forever because it stops at every little village along the way and that is about it. I always warn over optimistic tourists to better rent a car if they want to explore Provence. So you can imagine my enchantment when I went to the farmer's market this morning and saw that things are getting better - at least for dogs, that is.....

Roasting Garlic in the Microwave

Having bought a huge bunch of garlic at the Garlic Festival in Piolenc I  now tend to use these deliciously pungent bulbs even more generously than I normally do. For tonight I have a Côte de Boeuf, panroasted cherry tomatoes and potatoe & garlic mash on the menu. For this absolutely divine mash the garlic has to be roasted. But to turn on the oven for at least half an hour to roast a single bulb of garlic? I don't think so. Plus it so happens I have just read an article by the three starred Michelin chef  Heston Blumenthal on microwave cooking. If he can cook fennel in the microwave I can roast garlic, right? So I wrapped the bulb tighly in plastic wrap, gave it 3 minutes full power -  eh voilà - perfectly "roasted" soft garlic to be squeezed out of its skin into the steamed potaoes to be then happily mashed up with some of our very best olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Can't wait....

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!