Food in Provence (and elsewhere)

That’s conflating the titles of our two demo sessions today, but first I had no qualms about the garden walk this morning: it was bright and sunny. (But, Ireland being Ireland, that didn’t last…) It wasn’t so much a garden walk today as a herb garden tour with Sonya, a herbalist. She certainly knew a lot about looking after herbs but, sadly, not much is applicable as most of the ones we discussed won’t grow in Provence (and probably not the Pays de Gex, either). One interesting point, Sonya being a herbalist, is that you have to see a rose bush as either something to produce attractive flowers you can enjoy looking at or as something to produce rose petals you can use as a produce. By the time a rose has stopped looking pretty, the petals are no use to a herbalist.

After a demonstration of some biscuits and a discussion of various cheddars (all of which could be tasted at our morning coffee break), we started the main topic for the morning, dynamic vegetarian cooking. Now, I’m not sure how other vegetarian cooking is lethargic (or static), but as usual, the recipes demonstrated ranged in attractiveness to me regardless. Rory did somewhat give the game away, though, when he prepared a tomato and chilli jam which included fish sauce—saying you could leave that out but that it was key to the flavour of the relish! That was to accompany a scotch egg with a cheese-based wrapping; the scotch egg and the relish both got a vote of approval at my table at lunch; polenta chips, a spiced chickpea stew, roast aubergines with ricotta and spanakopitta were also appreciated.

After lunch we had another alumnus as a guest chef: Tom Hayes who now runs Almost Anywhere but has worked at various places, including River Café, since his time at the school. His recipes included a tasty Bouillabaisse, a rabbit and borlotti bean recipe that I think would be worth trying and, not surprisingly, a couple of dishes showcasing seasonal fruit and vegetables from the farm.

Back at Pennywort cottage in the evening there was some amusement at the direction the pop up dinner is taking. Discussion yesterday on the course Telegram group after my madeleine comment suggested dishes should mean something to course members to match the nostalgia theme. The main course, though—based around lamb—doesn’t seem to match anyone’s memory as there’s a bunch of things that although they might go well with lamb individually don’t seem (at least as far as us oldies think…) to go together as an ensemble. And one of us, JB, suggested a ricotta stuffed raviolo with a nasturtium pesto as a starter (practical and having a memory for her) which lost out to a Winnie-the-Pooh salad! No, I don’t know what that is either, but probably not honey, haycorns, thistles and extract of malt!

And finally this evening, SB and I managed to finish the cannelés. Not my best ever, but a couple of people who know how they should taste were appreciative and SB seems keen to try making them again herself at home to see if they could work as part of her café idea, so job done, really.