Food in Provence (and elsewhere)

… there’s a howling mistral outside. The change to cold weather after the warm early March is a bit of a shock. This weather may be more seasonable but the switch is nevertheless a shock—to us as much as to all the vignerons worried about frost damage to their vines. J. & I set out on our planned-during-a-warm-spell road trip to the Gorges du Loup & Canyon de Verdon but the roof of our cabriolet stayed up for pretty much all of the journey to Grasse via Vence and (thanks S.!) Rick Steves’ alternative route thence there via Gourdon. Highlights of the day included, of course, Matisse’s Chapel of the Rosary but also the menu du jour at Les Petits Tabliers where our waitress demonstrated her multi-tasking skills by serving whilst carrying a ~6 month-old baby on one arm. The roof was down for our return trip via Aiguines, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie & Banon but that’s mostly thanks to the efficient heating & neck warmers of the trusty TT. Even so, J. needed a warm bath on our return…

An advantage of the Mistral, of course, is the clear blue skies which so help our wisteria to shine…

… but notice the lack of outdoor furniture: it’s warm in the sun but just a little too cold with the wind despite our relatively sheltered terrace.

Anyway, food. Perhaps luckily, the Observer seems to have irretrievably put their Everyman, Gemelo & Azed crosswords behind a paywall so, despite the hour change, I have plenty of time to prepare the planned menu of …

… prawn cocktail with home cooked prawns and Marie Rose sauce prepared with mayonnaise made with prawn-shell flavoured oil followed by…

… reverse seared entrecôte with sauté potatoes, charred baby gems & spring onions and sauce au poivre followed, after cheese, by…

… strawberry frangipane tart with strawberry ice cream. The frangipane tart should have had a dusting of icing sugar but I don’t, sadly, have a useful “tea ball” here in Valréas to ensure an even dusting. And I have to admit that only two of the four tarts I made could be plated; I rather overfilled them with the frangipane mix. Still, two was enough and J. encourages me to practice!

Wine? Domaine des Bosquets 2024 rosé then 2020 Gigondas and a Rasteau doux by Elodie Balme with the dessert.