Gastronomic products

It is not our intention to give you a complete list of Provencale recipes. We have chosen for you just a few very traditional dishes which are best known in our area.

 Provençal cooking has as basic ingredients olive oil, also very typical herbs which grow naturally in our soil, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, sage, basil and fennel, garlic, juniper berries, etc. All of these combine to produce a rich flavour. If certain recipes are current and familiar, there are others which are worthy of gracing the best tables.

 

BOUILLABAISSE The bouillabaisse, in order to do justice to it and following the prescribed rules, must have a large variety of fish, Mediterranean rock fish, to be precise. It is best to cook a large quantity in order to include the greatest possible range of fish: scorpion fish, weever, rainbow wrasse, monkfish, John Dory, whiting, sea perch, gurnard. Some crabs, mantis shrimps, Dublin Bay prawns, are optional. Although the choice of fish is important, it is however essential to include these herbs: fennel, bay leaf, thyme and saffron.

 Cook the firm fleshed fish in a fish stock (onions, garlic, tomatoes, peeled and without the seeds, thyme, fennel, bay leaf and orange peel, half a glass of olive oil) for five minutes, add the tender fleshed fish and continue to simmer five to ten minutes (it should never boil). Arrange the fish on a cork platter (typical of the district), serve the liquid in a soup dish, add grilled croutons, grated emmental cheese and Rouille.

 

ROUILLE In a pestle and mortar place garlic, bread dipped in the soup, red Spanish peppers, the inside eggs of a sea urchin. Grind these well and beat up into a mayonnaise type sauce with olive oil.

 

PISTOU SOUP This can only be made during the hot season as it requires fresh bean grains and basil as well as fresh sun-ripe tomatoes. This is an ancient recipe, because Apicius recommended already the use of basil in a pea soup. It consists of green beans, white beans, red bean grains, potatoes, carrots, baby marrows and tomatoes. All these ingredients are boiled up and at the end you add large vermicelli and the PISTOU. The Pistou: in a pestle and mortar, grind garlic, basil leaves and the pulp of a large tomato. Thin this down

with olive oil. This is served on top of the soup along with grated cheese.

 

L’AÏOLI This is one of the most famous dishes of the Midi (South of France). This name describes a mayonnaise generously laced with garlic. L’aïoli is destined to accompany a large amount of dishes , principally snails: also poached (desalted) salt-cod, potatoes boiled in their skins, carrots, French beans, hard boiled eggs, and small squids.

 

L’ANCHOÏADE This will bring sunshine to your starters or liven up the atmosphere of any gathering with friends. L’anchoïade consists of garlic and anchovies ground up with olive oil. This paste is spread on small warm toasts.

Rinse 250 grams of salted anchovies in cold running water and then into a mixer. Add 2 or 3 large garlic sections and mix, 1 or 2 spoons of vinegar and 2 dl of olive oil and carry on mixing with a wooden spoon. Add pepper and serve spread on warm toast or as a dip for small pieces of raw vegetables.

 

LA TAPENADE Place in mixer separately 200 gm of black olives, 100 gm anchovy fillets, 2 soup spoons of capers, mix well adding lemon juice. Keep in a cold place and spread on toast during the aperitif.

SOMMAIRE