A Wedding in Provence

A Wedding in Provence

September seems to be the month for weddings, and a few weeks ago we were invited to our first French wedding.  Well it wasn't entirely French as the bride was Peruvian and the groom was half Norwegian, (half French) and the guests a mixture of all of the above including English (us, the Photographer and his Son who were staying with us).
The invitation stated that the dress code was to be 'tenue de soirée' (black tie or evening wear) which caused quite a lot of anxiety on the Artist's part.  Did he even own a dinner jacket and when was the last time he wore it?   Finally he managed to unearth it and inspected it for moth holes and stains from its last outing and checked that it still fitted him which luckily it did.  Meanwhile, I couldn't find the dress I had planned to wear anywhere!  Was its last foray that good?  I wondered.  I found something else to wear last minute, topped it with a hat, which a friend assured me was what people wore to French weddings (some friend!) and we set off in our finery into the hot midday sun.  It wasn't long before the Artist looked like he'd just come, fully dressed, out of the shower as he sweltered in his wool jacket more suited to English country weddings and I remained the only person wearing a hat besides the groom's mother, who was wearing a headpiece!
The wedding took place in a deconsecrated chapel, which dates back to the 12th century. 
The bride and groom sat in two armchairs facing the altar (or where the altar would have been) with the rest of us sitting behind them on chairs and benches which had been brought in for the occasion. The priest was from the Ivory Coast, and even though there were prayers and blessings, this was not your conventional French Catholic Service.  He encouraged audience participation, throwing questions to the congregation and encouraging clapping and cheering.   It did however go on for quite a long time, and we couldn't understand a word, which we put down to bad acoustics and our bad under standing (the groom's brother however later said he couldn't understand a thing either).  There was much relief, especially from the children who had already wondered out of the chapel, when the rings were exchanged and the register signed to the singing of Ave Maria by the woman soloist.
Everyone filed out of the cool chapel and onto the sun drenched courtyard set amongst the olive and pine trees.  The children threw rose petals over the married couple and everyone else cones of lavender that had been handed out earlier.  A table had been set up on one side of the courtyard and champagne was served whilst the couple posed for photographs and were congratulated with hugs and kisses.  Both the bride and groom were beaming with happiness. 
After half an hour or so, the couple set off in a MG Midget trailing tin cans, with the photographer and his son sitting on the back and all the guests driving behind through the hills of the Allpilles, horns blaring and lights flashing.   Cars driving towards the cavalcade slowed down and hooted back.  After taking the road to Les Baux, the 13th Century city perched on top of a hill, we turned onto the road to Paradou, where we parked our cars outside the family mas and walked through the gates and into the gardens.
We were greeted with champagne and draught beer.  There was a Cuban band playing to one side of the patio; appetisers were passed round, ceviche, prawn cocktail and octopus and the Peruvian cocktail, Pisco Sour.
In the late afternoon sun, with the olive groves to one side and the marquee sitting in the middle of the lawn, the lamb cooking on a spit over an open fire, the band, dressed in white playing their acoustic instruments and people dancing with children weaving in and out amongst them in party dresses, it looked a scene straight out of The Godfather.
As it was getting dark, the Cuban Band put down their instruments and a couple of Djs took over.  We were asked to find our seats under the awning of the marquee.  Once seated, we watched as the bride and groom danced to 'Time of my Life', from 'Dirty Dancing'.  Then a singer, well known in Denmark, apparently, sang Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' and dinner was served.
It started with a selection of cold meats and foie gras and was followed by mechoui lamb, which is slow roasted with Moroccan spices and herbs over an open fire.
After eating, the speeches began. The best man gave a speech, the bride, the groom, mother of the groom and friends.  Then the father of the groom got up and started to make a speech in English about how he had eloped with the groom's mother when they were both 19, but as it was well into the evening by then, he wasn't making much sense and was dragged off by his ex-wife and daughter before he got to the end of the story.  He had however been telling it to everyone earlier, so most people had already heard it.
Next, just before midnight, we were each handed a silver mask that we were asked to put on as the Hora Loca, (Crazy Hour) was about to begin.  The Danish singer sang 'Wilkom, Bien Venue, Welcome' from Cabaret and then the groom's 5 year old nephew did a Michael Jackson routine to Billy Jean.  After this some more singing and 'Phantom of the Opera' was sung, accompanied by someone doing a routine with a mask on a stick and a long cape and someone in a bird costume encouraging everyone to come up and dance.  This was about when I snuggled down on a nice comfy armchair under the stars, the champagne, wine, good food and sun, having finally got the better of me.  My last memories were of the Artist and the Photographer waving their shirt-sleeved arms to Dancing Queen by ABBA.

The next day we went back to the mas to pick up our car.  We joined other wedding guests sitting round the pool; everyone was very relaxed, out of their party gear and skinny dipping and splashing in the water.   Gossip was exchanged over draught beer and food form the night before.  Apparently the brother of the groom had had his way with the 17-year-old baby-sitter in the pool house, whilst she was meant to be minding the babies.  Meanwhile the mother of the babysitter, allegedly, had been playing footsy with the Photographer under the table!
The wedding had definitely been a good one and had all the ingredients of one the world over; love, joy, inebriation and bad behaviour!

Mechoui Lamb
1 whole lamb 20 - 25 kg
For the marinade
10-12 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
3 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
5 tablespoons coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons finely ground pepper
1 bunch coriander leaves (cilantro) chopped
250 grams butter or olive oil.
Grind the coriander seeds in a pestle and morter or coffee grinder, mix with the other spices and add coriander seeds and buter or oil. Rub over the lamb.
Light a wood fire in a pit and burn for about 3 hours until it is reduced to hot glowing embers.   Tie the lamb to your spit and cook high above the embers, turning the spit handle and basting regularly with the remaining marinade and/or olive oil.
It should be cooked after about 3 hours.
Feeds 40 - 50 people.

Up-Market in September

It’s September.  The kids are back at school, the holidaymakers have gone home and French is once again the predominant language in the market place.  The sun is no longer burning quite so fiercely, the fiery heat of July and August has abated and everything seems to be a bit more mellow.  Even though the summer has not yet altogether gone, there is a sense that autumn will soon be here and we’ll be putting our duvets back onto our beds.   

Meanwhile, what can we do to prolong the tastes and smells of the summer months? It is with this in mind that I head off to the market, with my Scotty dog, Ralph.  

I go to my usual favourite stalls.  I talk to the man from St.Remy and he tells me that he still has plenty of tomatoes on the vine.  They will be good until about November.  I buy some of his large knobbly Tomates Russes. They are large and quite misshapen but absolutely delicious in a salad or even eaten on their own with a scattering of coarse Camargue sea salt, torn basil leaves and a good pouring of your best olive oil.  It may be my imagination, but I feel as though I have never tasted tomatoes as sweet and juicy as these.  I have become quite obsessed with them and serve them with just about every meal.  

I also buy a large quantity of his more traditionally shaped tomatoes.  I quite fancy making some tomato sauce and bottling it for the winter months.  It takes me back to when I was a teenager and spent my summer holidays learning French with a family who had an organic fruit and vegetable farm just outside Grasse.  Some time, towards the end of August, when they had a glut of tomatoes, they placed a huge black cauldron over a fire built in an open shed round the back of the house, next to the pig sty. They filled the cauldron with chopped tomatoes, basil, onions and garlic and let it slowly bubble for hours, if not days.  The wood fire added smokiness to the final taste and when it was finally ready, it was ladled into Kilner jars and stored in rows in the larder, to be used in the winter months when fresh tomatoes (then) were not available.  Even though tomatoes can now be bought all the year round, thanks to the acres of polytunnels all around us, I don’t believe they have as sweet or as full a flavour as those ripened by the sun. 

Of course, I have neither a cauldron, nor a backyard, but decide I will make a quantity of tomato sauce to put in the freezer. 

I buy my basil from another woman in the market who sells bunches of basil that she has grown herself.  The flavour is far more intense than the basil pots that you can buy all the year round.   The leaves are large and firm and the stalks straight and strong, they will last more than a week in a jug of water in the kitchen.  I also buy courgettes from her, red and green peppers and small purple aubergines.  Having written in a previous article, that I was looking for something to cook that was not ratatouille, I have discovered that cooking the same ingredients in the oven with plenty of olive oil and parsley creates a very useful standby dish.  It can be served as a meal, eaten hot over couscous with added chickpeas and harissa, or served cold as a side dish with salad or cold meat. 

I move on to the stall where the man is only selling figs.  He has got two cartons left, and almost before I have agreed to buy them, he is tipping them into a bag onto a fig leaf.  The artist has talked about wanting to make fig jam, but I am going to eat these just as they are, maybe with some Parma ham, but probably just on their own. 

Another stall is selling locally grown grapes, they are small and green, tinged with yellow and taste very sweet.  I am tempted to buy them just for the way they look, but instead I buy a paper bag full of Mirabelles, they look like perfectly formed yellow miniature plums, I decide that they will make up the top and final layer of my Rumtopf.  Next to these are some apples, small, red and perfectly formed.  The idea of biting into a crisp, tart apple after the past two months of eating soft, juicy peaches, apricots and melons, seems very tempting.  Maybe I am, after all, ready to move on with the seasons.

Ralph, for sure is ready to move on, he has seen a bitch he fancies over the other side of the market and is straining at his lead.  Carrying a large basket of food whilst trying to restrain a dog is not one of the easiest things to do and just as I am about to drop everything, I spot the Artist striding towards me. “Just in time,” I say as I hand over the bag and use both hands to reign in my dog.

The Artist is already carrying a small plastic bag with a baguette sticking out of it.

“What’s in there?”  I ask.

“I bought some roast pork.  I’m going to have sandwiches for lunch in the studio from now on.  I’ve decided that lunch just takes up too much time.”

I nod in agreement and we make our way to the Rallye bar where he orders a beer.

FIGS WITH PARMA HAM

3 figs per person

2 slices Parma ham per person

This makes a tasty starter or a light lunch.   The saltiness of the ham compliments the sweetness of the figs.   Just serve together on a plate as you  with a fresh crusty baguette.

ROASTED SUMMER VEGETABLES

2 large onions peeled and cut into thick wedges

1 large or two small aubergines, cut into cubes

1 large red pepper, deseeded and cut into cubes

3 courgettes cut into cubes

1 large handful of parsley leaves, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

6 tbsp olive oil

425g tinned tomato

Salt and pepper

These ingredients are really just a guide, I use whatever I have in the fridge that needs using up including fresh tomatoes.

Put all the vegetables onto a large baking dish, add the garlic and parsley and pour over the oil and tinned tomatoes.  Combine all, making sure that the vegetables are all coated with oil – I do this with my hands.

Put into an oven at 160c/325f/gas mark 3 and bake until cooked, approx 2 hrs.

Tomato Sauce

800g tomatoes, chopped

1/2 medium onion

1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped

1 small bunch of basil leaves, cut into strips

2 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil and add the garlic and onions.

Cook for a few minutes, until they are transparent, then add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook on a low heat for about 30 minutes.  Stir in the basil and cook for another five minutes.  Use immediately or leave it to cool and freeze in zip-lock bags or plastic containers.

Le Spectacle

Every town and village in France has its fête which takes place in the summer months.
Where we live, being near the Camargue, this usually includes bulls running through the streets; Guardiens (Camargue Cowboys) riding round the town on white horses in colourful shirts; a procession of children and adults dressed in Provencal costume and lots of eating and drinking and dancing to live music. Each town has its own theme; some more obscure than others; for instance Fête des Pois chiches, (chick peas) Fête du riz (rice) Fête de l'ail (garlic) and Fête
de la Vannerie (basket making).
In Tarason we have the Fête du Tarasque; the Tarasque being a legendary sea-monster, part beast, part fish, that lived in the Rhône River and terrorised the nearby towns and villages in times gone by. It was finally tamed and vanquished by Sainte Marthe.

Sainte Marthe, or Martha who, along with the three Mary's, Magdelene, Jacobé, and Salomé and various other apostles with their servant Sara, (the Black Madonna now venerated by the Gypsies) arrived at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, having been expelled and set adrift in a boat without sail or rudder, from Palestine. On arrival in Provence, they set about spreading the Word amongst the locals in the towns and villages and that's how Marthe ended up in Tarascon.  They were all deified in the Middle Ages when their relics were discovered in numerous locations and churches built in their honour.  I tell you, those Girls got around!

In commemoration of the slaying of the Tarasque, we have a fête every year, when a model of the monster with its lion's face and turtle body is hauled around town by eight men dressed in white frilly shirts, feathered hats and pink knickerbockers; last year they were a bit too enthusiastic going round a roundabout and the poor monster ended up on his back having lost a wheel, its headlamp eyes
flashing in distress!

The three day festival culminates with a dinner and a Spectacle (cabaret). Tables and chairs are laid out in rows under the stars in front of a big stage; food is served, usually something local like paella, taureau or aioli, and after that the live music and dancing begins.
This year, the Spectacle, was provided by L'Orchestre Cocktail de Nuit et ses Danceurs and they came on at 10.30 and played until 2 in the morning. There was a full live band, with male and female singers and dancers; at any given time, there were between 12 and 18 performers on stage.  They played a repertoire of hits from the Beatles, James Brown, Prince, Motown, Ray Charles, Queen and Lady Gaga, with a few French Chansons thrown in along the way. The songs were tightly choreographed with different themes and costume changes; long fish-netted legs in thigh-high boots or heels kicked their way through an array of sequins, satin and feathers accessorized with hats, wigs, masks and gloves. During the course of the song, pieces of clothing were discarded, leaving the dancers flashing their buttocks and cleavages in ruffled knickers and bustiers.
The male singers also had numerous costume changes with different coloured satin trousers, shiny shirts undone to the waist or buttoned up with ties, jackets, waistcoats tophats and trilbys, bits of which were also discarded to reveal a bare chest or thigh.
So depending on your preferences, there was something for everyone!
We went along thinking we would stand on the sidelines and have a giggle at the campness of it all, but the sheer energy and professionalism of the show meant I was soon singing and dancing at the front with the rest of them.  France, of course, has a long tradition of cabaret and they know how to do it!
And thinking about it, it wasn't that different from what Madonna, Kylie, Britney etc. do, except that it was completely free, laid on by the Marie for the whole town to enjoy, young, old and middle aged.

 And here's a picture of the Plat we had at the Mausanne  Fête last week, Snails, boiled potatoes, boiled carrots, beans, hard boiled egg, salt cod and the all important Aioli, (garlic mayonnaise) its not to everyone's liking, but the taste seems to grow on you when you live down here.  Included with the meal was 1/2 bottle of Rosé, a bottle of water (which the locals seemed to think was for chucking at each other), a piece of camembert and a peach! All for €20!

Finding your Culinary Path

I read an article the other day about English people living in France and buying their food at Asda on the internet and getting it delivered cross-channel and that even with the 15% surcharge, they're still better off than if they shopped in a supermarket in France.
Now I'm not disputing the value of euro to pounds; the surge of the euro over the last few years, has left those living in the euro zone and reliant on sterling, a lot poorer than they were before, (ourselves included); but it struck me as being rather sad that you should move to another country and send home for all your groceries.
If you really miss your sausages and bacon that much, maybe you're not the sort of person that should be living in a foreign country. I can understand relishing the odd treat; I myself always have a jar of Marmite and home made marmalade on the go, and always travel back with a large box of Yorkshire Tea and Nairn's Oatcakes; but surely part of the joys of living in another country is exploring it's un-known culinary paths?
Well, it is for me anyway, and one of those paths takes me to the village of Flaux, which is near Uzes. To get there I drive down a narrow twisting road in la Garrigue, (gently rolling scrubland) with its scents of wild thyme, sage and rosemary and, if the myriad of chasseurs seen on a winter's evening dressed in their camouflage outfits are anything to go by, teaming with sangliers (wild boar). Once every two weeks, M.Elena, a retired chef, gives a cookery class in the old Mairie (town hall), a grand decaying building in a large gravel courtyard with shady trees and iron railings, telling of a richer past. He has converted one of the upstairs rooms into a kitchen, complete with two cookers, a fridge a sink and a store cupboard, with two long tables and chairs.
There are 10 people in total with Chef, 6 women and 4 men. The average age is 60+ (which is of course radically reduced when myself and another English woman, who told me about the class, attend!) Whilst laying out the ingredients onto the tables M.Elena tells us what we are going to cook tonight. Everyone takes part in the cleaning and chopping of vegetables, cleaning pans etc. as well as the cooking process itself and all are local, bar myself and a Dutch man. I suspect that the evening is more about having a social soirée away from their spouses than learning how to cook. The women spend most of the time swapping recipes and discussing where to get the best tomatoes, the freshest fish or the best knives. When not sharing gossip about who has had a stroke and is in hospital in Montpelier, or who has tragically died from some rare disease, they are telling lewd jokes and falling about in fits of giggles (why does the female courgette flower have the tail, and not the male? Rocks of laughter!).
The class is from 5.30 - 9 and once everything is cooked we sit down at the dinner table; the wine is poured (organic rosé from the region) and the food is passed around. First we have lettuce and rocket from Chef's own garden, served with Panisse de Nice, which are deep fried batons made from chickpea flour (might not bother with that one at home) followed by courgette flowers stuffed with cod and egg white, a coulis of red and yellow pepper and quick fried grated courgettes with garlic and parsley. As we pass the food round for seconds, more tales are told of family secrets, (seems everyone has one, either a sister or aunt who was born out of wedlock, or a father who is not their real father etc.) and Chef tells us tales about when he had his restaurant. Finally the last of the courgette flowers and coulis are mopped up with the tasty bread (everything is bought locally and bio, organic, where possible) and the plates collected. The women get stuck into the dish-washing and drying, to which the men make no attempt to join in; learning to cook is one thing, but doing the washing-up is obviously going a step too far.
When all is cleared and put away and M.Elena's bags packed with his various saucepans and cooking accoutrements, we each pay him €10, the fee for the evening's lesson, food and wine. Now that's what I call value for money in any currency and way more entertaining than eating bangers and chips with tomato ketchup at home.
Just imagine what our English cuisine would be like today if Elizabeth David had traveled all those years ago through France with a suitcase of tins of baked beans, sliced bread, and sausages.

Now, I have always been of the mind that life is too short for stuffing courgette flowers, but having now tried it, I have changed my mind and though undeniably fiddly, I found them quite satisfying to make. You would not want to cook them for a dinner party for 10, but for a romantic dinner a deux, three flowers each, it is quite do-able and very impressive.
You will need:
6 Courgette flowers, the best and freshest you can find. The males have no courgette attached and the females may have a small courgette attached, you can use either.
150g of cod or white fish (sustainably fished)
1 egg white
100g cream
Salt and pepper.
First whip the egg-white until it is stiff.
Mix the fish and the cream, salt and pepper
Fold the egg-white into the fish mixture.
You will need a large saucepan with a steamer, M Elena used a couscous steamer!
Cut off the stalks of the courgette flowers to about 2cms and take carefully take out the pistil (had to look that one up!)
Then carefully spread open the flower, gently separating the petals.
Spoon in 2 1/2 teaspoons of the fish mixture and then close the leaves around the filling, twisting at the top like a sweet wrapper.
If you have a female flower with a small courgette flower attached, slice this into three so that it will fan out.
When you have filled all six flowers (there may be stuffing left over, if so, you can roll it into balls and cook alongside the flowers) place the flowers in the top of a steamer.
Put a large saucepan of water on to boil and when it is boiling put the steamer over the water and steam the courgettes for approximately 6 - 8 minutes.
To make a pepper coulis boil two red peppers and two yellow peppers for about 45 minutes. They take them out of the water and peel them and whiz in the liquidiser with salt and pepper, the red peppers in one batch and the yellow in another. Then put them in separate saucepan and heat up when the flowers are ready and serve each one on the plate alongside the flowers.

Oh and another topic of conversation was on erotic cooking......

Searching for a low stress-life

It's a fact, according to today's newspaper, that if you live in the country you will live on average two years longer than your city counterparts. We already know that drinking wine in moderation is good for you along with eating plenty of fruit and veg.; we can go back to eating eggs now and using olive oil rather than butter, eating plenty of fish and exercising moderately is all good; but the real clincher to living a long and happy life, is to minimise the amount of stress you have. Or in the words of that great 90's songster, Bobby McFerrin, "Don't Worry be Happy!"
Living in France, definitely gives you a heads up on the healthy bit; lots of wine, easily accessible fresh produce, sunshine and plenty of open spaces to roam. But living a low stress life? I wondered how I might find that.
Last Monday I went to the yearly fete of the Transhumance in St Remy. This is when the sheep are paraded around the town before heading off into the mountains to cooler pastures where they spend the summer months (throughout the year, most things are paraded round the towns in France, bulls, horses, cyclists, brass bands, veteran cars, paintings etc.).
The fete is very picturesque, pastoral even; the shepherds are dressed in Provencal costume, faded printed shirts, waistcoats and old-fashioned button and braces trousers and wearing hats. At the head of the procession are a couple of donkeys which no doubt originally carried provisions for the shepherds during their 6 month sojourn in the hills, (helicopters have now taken their place, apologies for killing the Romance) these are followed by women in Provencal dress carrying baskets (sandwiches for the journey perhaps?) and then behind them come the sheep; a sea of sheep, or rather a river of sheep, snaking its way around the town, I don't think I've ever seen so many sheep in one place before, it is quite a sight to behold. Interspersed amongst the sheep are billy goats with horns and bells around their necks and keeping them all in order are sheep dogs, which look like smaller versions of the Dulux dog.
As they passed by I got to thinking about the life of the shepherd living half the year in the open countryside with little more to worry about than whether a sheep has got a stone in its hoof or been at the clover again (sharp stab to the stomach apparently). They have their basic needs catered for and presumably have few cares about the state of the stock market. They don't have possessions to worry about and have all the time in the World to sit and think or meditate. (For all I know they live in Winnebagos with satellite phones and Internet access and watch the World News every night). Of course you would have to be OK with your own company as you'd be spending half the year on your own and I guess you'd have to like sheep quite a lot. But in terms of living a stress free life, I think it must rank quite far up there.
I wondered what other professions might be good for a stress free life. Before the sheep parade, a couple of municipal police circled the town on motorbikes, and I thought that maybe their job might be a good one. Whenever there is a fete you see them on the street corner, chatting with their mates giving the bises to acquaintances that they no doubt went to school with. Other times they drive round the town in cars, stopping occasionally to pass the time with people they know. I remember once, when we used to drink in a certain bar (before our life of healthy moderation) and we saw a police car pull up outside. We asked the owner of the bar what he had done to deserve a visit from the police, was he being booked for something?
"Not at all," he said, "He's my cousin and was dropping off my brother".
They do have to direct traffic from time to time and give the odd traffic ticket, and they sometimes do spot checks on cars after lunch, but they probably earn reasonably well and get lots of free coffee and don't have to pay for their petrol and they get a free uniform which already takes the stress out of what to wear every morning!
Next, as the street cleaners arrived to clear up the mess left behind by the sheep, I got to thinking about their job.
I am always amazed how quickly and efficiently they clean up the streets after any fete or market. As the last white van pulls away from the Place du Marché, the street cleaners are already hard at work. They work swiftly and as a team. Some chucking the cardboard boxes into a refuse truck, others sweeping the rubbish, bits of rejected fruit and vegetables into the path of the little van, which sucks it all up with its brushes. In about 20 minutes the square is absolutely spick and span with no signs of the bustling market that was there half an hour earlier. Other times they drive round the town in their trucks picking up bits of rubbish. They are always friendly and helpful and seem to be happy in their work. Could this be a contender for most stress free job I wondered?
But then the other day, the Artist and I were having lunch in the pretty town of Mausannne in the Alpilles when I noticed a small truck come by carrying a large water tank. Every now and then, the man driving the truck would stop and get out of his truck, disconnect a hose from the side of the tank and water the plants at the side of the street.
I jumped out of my seat, "That's the best job," I said pointing with excitement.
Imagine spending the day watering plants and being paid for it, receiving six weeks holidays a year, or whatever it is they get, full healthcare, job security and a pension to boot! And if you got too hot at any time, working in the noonday sun, you could always give yourself a quick dousing with the water hose! The Artist agreed with me and it was decided that this was the crème de la crème of stressfree jobs.

Its the Asparagus season right now and I buy them with abandon, but it always upsets me to throw away half the stalk and so I decided to experiment and was excited to find out that they make a delicious soup. Heres what I did.
Ingredients
The discarded stalks from approx. 500 gms of Asparagus
A small onion chopped.
A clove of garlic.
A pat of butter
A small slug of olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 a litre of stock, vegetable or chicken

Melt the butter and add a bit of oil, as this will stop the butter from burning.
Add the onions and garlic and cook gently for about 10 minutes, when they should be soft and translucent. Meanwhile peel the Asparagus stalks (not entirely necessary, but will lessen the amount of woody fibre you have to deal with later) and add them to the onions. Let them soften for a few minutes and then add the hot stock. Stir, then cover and simmer for about 25 minutes. Then whiz the soup up with a hand whiz and then push it through a sieve. This will remove the woody outer layer (of which there will be less if you peeled the stalks).
Either serve hot with some lovely crusty baguette, or leave to cool and refrigerate and eat on a hot summers day with some chopped chives sprinkled on top. The soup tastes surprisingly creamy, even though no cream has been added. My sister Sabrina suggested adding the rind of that old piece of Parmesan that has been lurking in the depths of the fridge.
This is my version of making the most of what you've got and the beginning to low stress living!

The Dinner Party

The other day, as I was feeling sorry for myself that I didn't have a social life, there was a ping in my inbox and an invitation to dinner forced me to abandon my sulk.
Sylvie, a friend of ours from 'les filles de Mardi' was having a dinner party on Easter Sunday. Les filles de Mardi is a group of women who used to meet every Tuesday night at the Theatre Restaurant and who we befriended over time, gradually moving from our table for two to join their table and eventually becoming fully integrated into the group.
It got me thinking about how different a dinner party in France is to a dinner party in England. For a start, you are rarely invited to dinner in a French house, this is normally reserved for family celebrations. Maybe that is why a French dinner party resembles that of a family table. There is little small talk, people don't do one to one chit chat with the person sitting next to them; one person holds forth with their point of view and everyone else comments, agrees, disagrees or takes over the baton for their say. It’s very competitive and is often down to he or she who shouts loudest. If you're not up for the game, or feel self-conscious about your French speaking skills or your ability to shout loud enough, you will find yourself out in the cold, conversationally speaking.
To begin the evening there is always the apero! This is the most important drink of the day, and is either pastis or whisky, but more often than not whiskey.
The French love whiskey, Scottish, American, Irish, blended or single malt, it makes no difference. They usually drink it with coke or neat with ice; I've never seen it served with water, though someone told me that they had recently had it with Schweppes (I presume tonic) and it was quite good! Well you learn something new every day.
Aperos can go on for quite a long time and are always generous (none of your stingy English pub measures), so by the time everyone sits down to eat, everyone is more than merry.
Sylvie's party was much the same. We had picked up Papou and Fabrice at the agreed time of just after 8 from the quay where they keep their boat in Beaucaire. We then drove up to Sylvie’s house, a villa in a lottissement (posh housing estate) above Beaucaire. The French like to live in these new purpose built houses, leaving the old crumbling stone buildings to immigrants like us. When we got there we were the first. The TV was on and there was an identified boy lounging on the sofa watching an old Zorro film. The rest of the guests didn’t arrive for another hour and a half, by then we had had quite a few drinks and numerous olives and peanuts. We were 15 altogether and Sylvie had a chair crises, so various people arrived carrying chairs, which was quite convenient, as they could sit down on their own chairs as soon as they arrived.
Sylvie thought a little ambient music might go down well, but one of her friends, D, a tax inspector (always good to know one!) told her to turn it off as it clashed with the TV which was still on. As more aperos were poured, the Artist and I (sticking to white wine) were wondering if we were ever going to eat.
‘I can’t see any sign of cooking’ he whispered sotto voce to me.
Finally around 10.30 we sat down. After singing Happy Birthday (in English; it was Sylvie's birthday, though she had omitted to tell us so) and done various hip hip horray's (in French) the first course was unveiled; two whole poached salmon garnished with watercress, Blinis spread with Brondade a la Mourue, tomatoes, radishes and a Salad Russe, (tinned vegetables in mayonnaise),and two types of mayonnaise, and bread, of course.
The conversation started with the evils of mass consumerism, then moved on to Le Canard the French sytirical weekly paper and apparently the only dependable source for political information, to politics in general and how everyone in the government is a 'con'.
Then came the main course, frankly I was already quite full from the first course, (not to mention apero nibbles).
Two large plates of pommes dauphinois, two legs of lamb and their 'jus' and a large portion of aubergines were placed on the table. As soon as everyone was served, the discussions continued. Every now and then Fabrice, who seemed to be doing most of the talking would aplogise to me and the Artists for talking too fast, adding that we wouldn’t be able to understand or follow the conversation. After a couple of these announcements, I pointed out that it wasn't because we didn't understand what he was saying, but rather that it was difficult to get a word in edgeways - (sadly there isn't such a wonderfully descriptive word as edgeways). So he then asked me what I thought about the Iraq Enquiry, I was about to answer, when the conversation moved on to the ‘special’ relationship between Blair and Bush, and I hadn’t even opened my mouth!
For dessert there was a tart of strawberries and cream, (I was pleased to note that the pastry 'fait a la maison' was no better than mine, I loath making pastry and have recently served up various inedible pastry dishes in an attempt to master it, don't ask me why, you can buy perfectly decent ready made pastry in every supermarket and most french cooks do!)
Then someone put on 'Hotel California' at full blast. D immediately got up to turn it down and in so doing turned it off.
Papou turned it back on again, at a lower volume and half the diners got up and danced.
At around 12.30 the Artist and I got up from the table and said it was time for us to go.
Cries, of 'pourquoi,' and the party's only just begun and we must have a dance before we go, regaled us, as we took our leave.
When we did the rounds of bisous, our friend apologised for not giving us any one on one attention and hoped we hadn't been bored, 'Of course not,' we said.
We drove back home.
“Well that was very French,” I said as we drove down the hill back to Tarascon.
"And you say you don't have a social life," the Artist replied.
“O.K.” I conceded, “it’s just a different kind of social life.”

At the market this week they were selling a large bunch of chard for €1! I was shown how to make this Tarte aux Blettes (Chard tart) by an ex restaurateur who gives cookery classes in the Marie in Flaux, a tiny village near Uzes. I particularly like this pastry which is made with olive oil.

For the pastry:
250g flour (I like wholemeal)
1 glass of cold water
5 tbls. Olive Oil
1 pinch salt
A sprig of rosemary

For the filling:
1 kilo Chard
2 eggs
2 tbls. single cream
Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 180 c.
Wash and cut the stalks of the chard and cook together with the leaves in a small amout of water for 20 minutes, then drain and leave to cool.
To make the pastry: mix the flour with the salt and chopped rosemary, oil and water. I do this in my ancient Robot Chef, but you can also do it by hand. When the pastry forms into a ball, put it onto a floured board and roll out to line your tart tin (you can also leave it to rest, wrapped in clingfilm in the fridge for 40 mins which makes it less sticky).
Bake blind for 10 mins. the fill with the chard
Meanwhile whisk the eggs with the cream (or milk) and add salt and pepper, pour this over the chard.
Bake for about 45 minutes. Can be eaten hot or cold!

Snow and Corruption

I am told, for a successful blog, you need to send out posts on a regular basis. Something, which I have failed to do, as my followers will know (I have 13 to date, which is one more than You know Who, but I need more!). My excuse is that I have been away for all of February and the beginning of March and being a stickler for the truth; I cannot pretend to be in France when I’m not.
On my return to Provence in early March, I was hoping to see bright skies and brilliant sunshine, but instead what I saw on landing at Nimes airport was a blanket of snow! There had been blizzards the night before. In Provence? In March? My friend who was supposed to pick me up was snowed-in and I had to make my own chilly way from Nimes airport to Tarascon (navette from the airport to Nimes and then train to Tarascon FYI). When I finally got home, the gas boiler had gone out, and the house was freezing cold and the two trees in our courtyard had split in half due to the weight of the snow (actually I was quite happy about that, I never really liked them and now I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about being a tree murderer!) I’ve never heard so much blamed on the weight of the snow before, but maybe trees are less robust here. .
Also on everyone's lips, on my return, was the demise of our Mayor. It seems that whilst I was away, he had been held for questioning at Marseilles Police Headquarters on allegations of corruption for 24 hours! Our Mayor, who always looks so chic with his chapeau and silk tie, always friendly with a smile and a bonjour; always present at any function, ready with a speech and a toast and always obliging for any photo-op.
When I first heard the story, I had a ‘lost in translation’ moment and understood that he had been arrested on charges of accepting backhanders from the market holders, ‘sur les conditions d’attribution du marché public…’ Well, I thought to myself, how lucrative could that be? Taking a few euros from each stallholder in the Tuesday Market to guarantee them a good spot? Certainly not enough to risk your job and reputation? Then I actually read up on it and realised that it concerned allegations that the €4 million contract to transform the old military base of Tarascon into the new Law Courts had gone to a company favoured by the Mayor. A little more profitable, I’m sure if the allegations were true. Of course it is the company that didn't get the job that has made the allegations and the local regional elections at which the Mayor was going to stand were coming up.
We once visited the old Barracks, the Marie had invited us to a vernissage – (art opening) there of equestrian paintings. It was held in a huge 19th Century hall, which used to be the stables for the barracks for which, besides the book Le Tartarin de Tarascon, which apparently every school child in France has read, Tarascon is best known. Before the end of conscription (2001), huge numbers of young men passed through the barracks of Tarascon. All the buildings now lie empty like a ghost town within a town (or on the edge of town to be precise). Anyway, it turned out that besides being there to view the equestrian paintings, we were also going to be treated to the spectacle of performing horses, as the hall was now going to be their home. There were six white horses and six black horses, they were very beautiful and groomed to a shine with patent leather harnesses and they did all sorts of clever things around the ring, galloping round one way, then the other, then passing each other in a figure of eight and walking backwards out of the ring. All the while the ringmaster stood in the middle coolly cracking a long whip every now and then to make them go faster or slow down. He was dressed in black evening suit with a white shirt, you could almost imagine a Gauloise hanging from his lips he looked so cool. With the grand finale each horse reared on its hind legs and pawed at the air. One horse actually walked on its hind legs and then did a sort of curtsy. Now, as fun as it was to watch a horse balance on two legs, there was part of me that couldn't help think that it wasn't all together natural or necessary.
However the evening got us thinking about what the Marie was going to do with all those empty buildings and as the Artist is always on the look out for a studio space, he decided to ask someone at the Marie if they had any empty buildings to rent . Anyway, they said they didn’t know of any, which we thought strange at the time as we were standing in a whole enclave of empty buildings. But now I realise that they were all already allocated – that or we’re just not good enough friends with the Mayor!
During my research on this story, I found that the two Mayors previous to the one we have now had been arrested, jailed and or fined. Seems getting arrested for being Mayor comes with the territory, or rather the job.
I was musing on this whole affair as I walked past the present Law Courts, which are still in the centre of town, on my way to the weekly market. As I saw them huddled outside having a smoke, (I’m talking about the barristers in their black gowns, clutching their wigs) I thought about how I was going to miss them being there. They give the town a sense of drama. Sometimes you see a police car arriving at the back of the courts with a prisoner under guard, and the large iron gates clanking shut behind them and you wonder what the person is being accused of. A few years ago a film about the life of Camus came to town, they were doubling our Law Courts for one in Algeria, I don’t know if it was because the building is typical of a French municipal building of that time, or because of the easy availability of Algerian and Moroccans to work as extras.
The market this week was rather a desultory affair, the man from St Remy told me that the snow had ruined much of his produce and that the vegetable season was at least 3 weeks behind because of the cold weather. All he had for sale were leeks, cabbages and cauliflowers along with dandelion leaves, which I wasn’t in the mood to experiment with or get exited about. Instead I bought a big bag of carrots and oranges and called it a day.
Luckily we had covered up our lemon tree, which I had bought the year before for the Artist’s birthday and so I picked these and made confit de citrons, to be used in later dishes of chicken and couscous.

Carrot and lentil with Coriander Soup
Its still cold enough to warrant a warming soup, and here’s one to make you feel really toasty!
1 kilo Carrots
1 stick celery
I onion
Tops of 2 leeks, removing the tough outer leaves
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, roughly ground in a pestle and mortar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teapson chilli flakes
1 cup of lentils (any type just make sure they don’t need pre soaking)
1.5 litres of stock, made with powdered bouillon
handful of fresh coriander
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons of oil or butter
Heat the oil or butter in a large pot and add the onions and garlic. Then add the chilli flakes ground coriander seeds, and the cumin powder. Stir this around until the onions are soft and the gentle aroma of the spices reach the nostrils of your loved one in the next room. Then add the rest of the vegetables and the lentils, stirring from time to time so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan, over a gentle flame for ten minutes or until they are soft. Lastly add the stock made with boiling water and add salt and pepper, to taste. Remember that some of the stocks have quite a lot of salt in them, so maybe taste before you salt. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are cooked. Then liquidise and add the chopped fresh coriander and serve.
This makes quite a large amount of soup and I often freeze some for a later day. You could also halve the quantities.

Carrot and Orange salad
This is very yummy and will last a couple of days. Its best made a few hours before you want to eat it so the juices of the carrots mix with the orange juice.
500g/ carrots, peeled and coarsely gratedk
1 oranged, unsprayed, juice and zest
1/2 juice of lemon
2 tbsp Moroccan Argon Oil, Olive Oil is fine if you don’t have any
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp poppy or mustard seeds, toasted in a frying pan until the pop
1 tsp. Mustard
Chopped fresh coriander or parsley
Chopped endive (optional)
Grate the carrots and the orange peel.
Stir the mustard into the orange and lemon juice. Add the oil, salt and pepper and whisk together and pour over the carrots. Add the poppy seeds (I sometimes use mustard seeds for a stronger sharper flavour), the endive, if using, and chopped coriander. Serve!

Confit de Citron
Ok this one is for my L.A. friends with lemon trees – if you’re stealing them from your neighbour, make sure you don’t get caught or make extra as a peace offering
As many lemons as you can fit into a jar (use a large jar)
Rock salt.
First cut off the stems, then cut the lemons vertically, without cutting all the way through. Then cut from the other side, stopping before you get to the end. Then fill each cut with a tablespoon of salt, or as much as you can cram in, then put it in the jar. When you have filled the jar, shake it and put the lid on. The salt will extract the juice from the lemons. And after a day or two of turning the jar, top up with water and leave with the lid on. They will be ready to use in about 3 weeks.