Curious Provence

a Curious Canadian in Provence

Recipes from Provence as well as other parts of the world. Just because I live in Provence doesn't mean I can't make a mean curry...

Scallops with Cauliflower Purée Recipe

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scallops with cauliflower purée curiousprovence

After posting this on Instagram I received a few requests for the recipe. Alors, voila!

This is a recipe from Robin’s repertoire. I take no credit! This recipe is simple, looks stunning and it’s delicious. A great way to impress dinner guests. A lot of people stay away from cooking scallops at home but it’s honestly so easy!

Scallops and cauliflower are often paired together as the cauliflower doesn’t overpower the subtle taste of the scallops. The key to this simple recipe is using good quality scallops. Scallops with cauliflower purée is perfect appetizer or light meal.

Buying Good Quality Scallops

Hand-Dived on the Shell

Hand-dived scallops are a more sustainable way of fishing as there is no dredging of the sea floor involved. It’s also a hard, and admirable way to make a living. Image courtesy of The Weekly Times.

Here in France, we tend to buy our scallops at the fish monger. This could be either a market stall or a store. Either way, the scallops generally come in their shell. Many French people also eat the “coral”, or roe, of the scallops. This can only be eaten if they’re very fresh. Ask your fishmonger to separate the scallops from the shell for you. I like to keep the shells. They’re so beautiful!

Dry vs Soaked Scallops

I was in the States recently and at a good quality fishmonger we still didn’t see scallops on the shell, instead, we were offered dry scallops. “Dry” is the seafood industry term for natural scallops which have not been treated with phosphates. Natural scallops have a slightly tan, or “vanilla”-colour. Just ask your fishmonger for them.

According to Fishex, an online seafood provider, dry scallops are superior for the following reasons:

  • For searing purposes, dry scallops caramelize beautifully!
  • Dry scallops taste sweet & natural, where “wet” scallops can sometimes have a washed-out, or even slightly “soapy” or bitter flavor.
  • You are not paying for added water with dry scallops.
  • The idea of selling “soaked” scallops feels dishonest to us, here at FishEx – so we don’t sell them. Ever.

Unfortunately, “Soaked” scallops are very common, in fact, Most scallops on the market are soaked. Soaked (also known as wet or treated) scallops have been soaked in a bath of phosphates (or more precisely- sodium tripolyphosphate), for the purpose of adding water-weight as well as keeping them fresh for a longer period. When scallops are exposed to a phosphate bath, they absorb it and swell, gaining water-weight. When you buy soaked scallops, you are paying for this added water which is crazy considering you’re already paying a premium for this ingredient. The absorbed water evaporates when the scallops are cooked leaving them smaller, tougher and less-flavorful than their dry counterparts. It is generally easy to discern treated scallops as they will usually appear very white in color.

Scallops with Cauliflower Purée Recipe

Serves 4, with 3 scallops per person.

Ingredients

1 Head of Cauliflower, broken into small pieces
1 Liter of Milk (semi-skimmed or whole)
12 Dry Scallops (or the best quality you can find!)
4 Strips of Streaky Bacon Rashers
3 Sprigs of Parsley chipped finely for serving
Salt and Pepper
Butter for frying

Method

Heat the oven to 375°F and place the bacon rashers on a tray lined with baking parchment. Bake for about 15 minutes until very crispy. If your bacon is quite fatty, you may need to drain the fat halfway through. Reserve on kitchen paper towel.
Place the cauliflower into a saucepan with enough milk to just cover it. Bring the milk to a boil and simmer on a low heat for about 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft. Leave to cool.
Purée the mixture until smooth. Sieve for extra smoothness. Place back into the saucepan to reheat. Season liberally with salt and pepper to taste.

Pat the scallops dry with kitchen paper. This will allow them to become crispy. Place a frying pan on medium-high heat and add a generous tablespoon of butter. Allow the butter to melt and the pan to get hot. Fry the scallops for 1-2 minutes on each side depending on the size. The scallops above are quite large so they were 2 minutes each side. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your frying pan. Season the scallops while in the pan.
Squeeze the bacon rashers in the paper towel into bits. Chop the parsley.
Dish out the reheated cauliflower purée to just cover the bottom of your small plate. Next, place the scallops on the plate with the garnish. This helps with 2 people. Drizzle with good quality olive oil and serve with crisp white wine.

Tips*

  • Make sure you have the garnish (bacon and parsley) ready to dish up. Scallops don’t stay hot for long so they need to be eaten immediately.
  • It’s ok if the scallops are a bit translucent in the middle after frying. This is how a good restaurant would serve them. If you overcook them, they will become rubbery. Buy an extra scallop to cut into to check for cooking if you’re nervous.
  • Swap the bacon for pan-fried crispy chorizo for a little more oomph.

Provencal Fish Soup Recipe

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Provencal Fish Soup Recipe by Curious

provencal fish soup recipe curious provence

My Provencal Fish Soup.

A Dabble in Catering

Last summer I offered to cook a Provencal fish soup for a friend and their 12 friends…I like to make my life difficult…

Bouillabaisse

Fish soup is taken seriously here in Provence. Bouillabaisse is the king of the various types of fish soups. This often takes 2 days to make, is very expensive, and would require filleting various types of different fish at the table. Not something I would be good at!

Bouillabaisse was originally a fish stew made by Marseillaise fishermen using the small, and wide variety of rockfish that were too small to sell. It’s this wide variety of fish that gives the soup its flavour. I watched some fishermen making the traditional version of Bouillabaisse at the market and I couldn’t believe all the different types of fish being thrown into the pot!

These fish were simmered for some time most likely in a well-used pot on the beach or boat. Everyone seems to have their own opinion to which fish should be in a Bouillabaisse but the absolute musts, according to my local fishmonger, are the Rascasse and St Pierre. Otherwise, there can be crab, turbot, monkfish, mullet, conger, hake, shellfish etc. You’ll even see Bouillabaisse royal or sexy Bouillabaisse? with lobster.

Despite its humble origins, Bouillabaisse will always be unique due to the addition of saffron and Mediterranean spices as well as the way in which it is served.

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How to Brine your own Olives, Alpilles Style

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The Olive Culture of Les Alpilles

olive oil curiousprovence

One of the ladies on our street gave Robin this as a gift when he came to the rescue and changed her gas bottle. She even put the olive branch on. It was so delicious I could have drunk the stuff, I practically did…

I was in the village café yesterday and felt an intense pang of admiration and jealousy all at once. An elder gentleman came up to the person sitting next to me and presented him with a large bottle of viscous, deeply green liquid and said “happy new year!” (in French of course). It was the unlabelled newly pressed olive oil from his family’s olive trees. How wonderful. I couldn’t think of a better seasonal gift.

olives curious provence

The Capital of French Olive Oil

Here, in Les Baux de Provence, we claim that we’re the olive capital of France, along with neighbouring Mouriès of course. There is a small, healthy rivalry between us. We’re almost to the point of cheering when we see large trucks full of olives heading to our respective village mills at this time of the year.

That said, we have a rather lot of olives. And oh my, we do love them. You’ll rarely be given a glass of wine at someone’s house or a restaurant without the accompanying olives. Here in Les Alpilles region, we brine the green, young olives in a very simple brine with wild fennel. These olives, normally made with the Picholine variety, have a strong, fresh artichoke taste. Nothing like store bought, often chemically-treated olives.

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Tarragon Chicken Fricassée Recipe

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chicken fricassee

My Comfort Food

Chicken fricassée is my winter go-to when I want something comforting and delicious. The tarragon and chicken compliment each other so well in this rich delicious sauce.

A fricassée is a dish of stewed or fried pieces of meat served in a thick white sauce.

provence herbs

I use lots of fresh herbs in my cooking. I like everything to have that kick of fresh flavour!

Recipe: Chicken Fricassée

Serves 4

Ingredients

2oo g smoked bacon lardons/pancetta

1 free-range chicken (fermier chicken in France-tasty!) cut into 6 pieces*
Ask your butcher to do this for you.

3 leeks, green tops removed, sliced

3 large carrots, diced

2 shallots, sliced

250 g button mushrooms/baby bella mushrooms diced

1 tbsp flour

1 bunch of tarragon, chopped finely with stems removed

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of lemon thyme

300 ml dry cider (or dry white wine)

300 ml chicken stock

2 tbsp crème fraiche/sour cream

1 tbsp hot dijon mustard (or more if you like your mustard like me)

zest of one lemon

parsley, chopped finely, for garnish

*You can use de-boned chicken breasts and thighs instead of a whole chicken if you choose not to deal with the bones while eating. However, the recipe is more flavourful with a whole chicken.

Method

Prepare all your veggies so they’re ready to go. Place a large knob of butter into a heavy bottomed pan on medium-high heat. Brown the chicken pieces all over. Remove from the heat. Lower the heat to medium.

Place bacon, leeks, shallots and carrots into the pan. Soften for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the flour, cook for another minute. De-glaze with the cider, cook for another minute.

Add the bay leaf, thyme, tarragon, stock, and chicken to the pot. The chicken should be covered in liquid. Add more stock if necessary.

Cover and cook on a low simmer for 35 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms. Remove the lid from the pan if the sauce needs thickening. Add the mustard and cream. Stir well. Cook for another 15 minutes. The chicken should be falling off the bone.

Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Add the lemon zest and parsley.

Serve with steamed rice, fresh baguette or potatoes and a cold glass of white wine.

Yum.

chicken fricassée

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup Recipe

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foodie

Jerusalem artichokes have become one of my winter veggies that greatly add to my seasonal eating. In Canada, the Jerusalem artichokes that I used to buy were a beige colour. In Provence, I’ve often seen them as a beautiful magenta colour.

The French and Jerusalem Artichokes (Topinambour)

Topinambour was one of the few vegetables, if not one of the only ones, available during WWII in France. The misery associated with this time in history in a starving Europe gave Jerusalem artichokes a bad reputation. Their ability to get the digestive system working, and their consequential association with flatulence, didn’t really help either. The older generation that can still remember the war years often refuse to eat them. However, as all veggies almost forgotten, they’re experiencing a little renaissance.

It is time for the Jerusalem artichoke to rise again! For only the good reasons. This vegetable is unique in flavour. It adds welcome variety to the root veggies of winter. Also, when paired with potatoes, it doesn’t affect the digestive system with the same vigour.

I swear, they’re delicious.

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French Clafoutis Recipe

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cherry clafoutis

When we first moved to France, the property we lived on had a large, abandoned cherry orchard. Consequentially, we researched all the best French cherry recipes. Everyone kept telling us about cherry clafoutis!

Clafoutis, most often made with cherries, is one of the classic French grandma desserts. People are most likely to feel nostalgic about clafoutis. It was often eaten as an afternoon snack when kids got home from school.

It’s cheap and incredibly simple to make.

Personally, I like it for breakfast at either room temperature or just out of the fridge. As all French desserts, there is very little sugar and all the better for it.

Clafoutis is almost bordering on the healthy…

This dish is one of those rare dishes that don’t improve with more luxurious ingredients such as cream, chocolate or a fresh vanilla pod. The joy of clafoutis is the squidgy lovely texture.

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Homemade Pastry Recipe Test

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pastry making

Yes! Managed to get the pastry into the case.

A riverboat cruise company recently asked me to contribute recipes to some of their stops along the Rhône river. For the Macon stop, I decided instead of making a boeuf bourguignon recipe, I would make a prune tart.

Prunes are wonderful in France. If you’re familiar with my other recipes you’ll know that I’m a fan. Here, you can buy them in the market. They’re juicy rather than dried. Semi-dried. I used to work at a restaurant where people would often order the prunes rather than a chocolatey dessert. Though, to be fair, they were stewed in red wine and spices.

Pastry Making

Making your own pastry is messy, often tedious, and you need to do it a few times before you get the hang of it. When we first moved to France I planted blette (Swiss chard) in my garden. I had bushels of the stuff. A rather lot of quiche had to be consumed! In my effort to not waste, I was constantly experimenting with recipes. I tend to like the richer pastries with egg yolks.

It’s been a while since I’ve made homemade pastry. Despite this, Robin and I are still extremely sensitive to that moment when the other person is putting the pastry into the pie dish. It’s one of the essential rules of the relationship. Get out of the room at that moment.

I hope I’m not discouraging you.

I wanted to share here my absolute favourite recipe for pastry. It works. It’s easy. I still had to compare it though.

I still had to compare it though.

Operation Homemade Pastry

Homemade Pastry 1: Recipe by Keith Floyd from his book Floyd on France.

The recipe said things like: add milk until a pastry is formed. Ya. Thanks. Thankfully, I have an idea of what the pastry should be like.

The ingredients (I halved the recipe):

250g sifted flour, 125g butter, 1 egg, pinch of salt, 1/2 glass of cream

I added together the dry ingredients and slowly incorporated the butter and egg with my fingers. I mixed it well together and let it rest in the fridge for 2 hours.

Then, I rolled it out and placed in the pastry case with relative ease.

prune tarts

The workstation. You may notice I’ve used 2 recipes from British sources. You’ll have to forgive me.

homemade tart

Mmmmmmmmm…

Recipe 2: Homemade Pastry: Almond Flour by BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

  • 200g plain flour
  • 175g ground almonds
  • 175g golden caster sugar
  • 200g cold butter, diced, 1 egg yolk

This is incredibly easy. The dough is quite wet so there’s no rolling out to be done. You can even combine it in a food processor. You stuff the dough into the pastry case as thick or thin as you like it. Fingerprints and all. It will end up looking gloriously rustic. I baked the pastry, with the prunes, for 40 minutes at 190°C.

Go to the BBC Good Food website for the full recipe (their version with cherries).

homemade pastry

The verdict

Despite the elegance of the traditional pastry, the almond flour and extra sugar in the second recipe add so much more flavour. I now have my definitive sweet pastry recipe.

Share your best pastry recipe in the comments. What’s your secret? Have you mastered the transfer of the rolled dough to the pastry case? Do you use baking beans?

Above all, do you think it’s worth making your own pastry?

Tellines à la Persillade, a simple market dish

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Tellines (pronounced tellEEne)

tellines

There was a little commotion yesterday morning at Saint Remy de Provence market. Gilles, the oyster and mussel vendor, placed a large tub of tellines at the front of his stall. First to notice, with coffees in hand at 8 am, were the other foraines (market workers). Some even stopped in the middle of the bise* greetings to make their way over to Gilles’ stall. Threats were made to keep some for them. The lip-smacking in anticipation for dinner started particularly early.

tellines

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Spiced Version of Daube Provençal

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daube provencal

Daube à la Provençal

Since I’ve moved to France, I’ve made all kinds of slow cooked beef stews. The Provencal version of the more commonly known Boeuf Bourguignon is called Daube à la Provençal. I’ve heard men in cafés arguing over the inclusion of carrots or not, and which spices to use… Black or green olives? Everyone has their own recipe. As a rule, Southerners tend to add olives instead of mushrooms. Daube is served, like Italian ragu, with short pasta.

My Version

I have to admit that although French cooking is sophisticated and generally tasty, I prefer my food to be a true explosion of flavour. I often turn to middle eastern cooking for inspiration. Therefore, here is my succulent and tasty version of beef stew. Ottolenghi Style?

Ingredients

1,2 kg stewing beef (shoulder is great for this but any stewing beef with do, this will also work with veal and is the most delicious, if you ask your butcher in advance, with beef cheeks)
200 g bacon diced
8 prunes (I buy mine from the prune lady at the local market. You won’t believe how good French prunes are. Try to find prunes that are moist and without artificial preservatives. If you’re anxious about the taste of prunes don’t worry, they melt into the sauce)
1 Onion finely chopped
2 Leeks finely chopped
3 Garlic Cloves crushed
1 Cinnamon stick
tsp pepper
tsp chilli flakes
a bunch of thyme 
tbsp tomato paste
half bottle of red wine
a bunch of coriander chopped
half an orange peel
2 cups basmati rice

Recipe

Serves 4 

Take the meat out of the fridge so that it can come to room temperature while you’re chopping the veg. Finely chop the onion, leeks and crush the garlic. Add a knob of butter and a tbsp of vegetable oil to medium-high heat in a large heavy-bottomed pan. If you have a Le Creuset- now is the time to get it out! Brown the meat on all sides. You’ll have to do this in batches. When the meat is browned, remove from the pan and replace with the chopped bacon. Fry for a minute, deglaze the pan with a little water if necessary, then add the onion, leek, garlic, and spices. Cook these down on a medium-low heat for at least 6 minutes while stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Put the meat back in the pan. Cover with red wine, wait until you have a very low simmer, then cover. Leave on the stove for 4 hours. Check on it from time to time to make sure it isn’t boiling and that you have enough liquid. After 4 hours, put in the prunes. Cover again and wait 30 minutes. Uncover if you have too much liquid to thicken the stew while you prepare the rice.

Chop up half the removed orange peel and fry in 1 tbsp of vegetable oil on medium heat for 1 minute. Add your rice and fry for another 30 seconds. Add double the amount of water to rice and let simmer uncovered. Wait until most of the liquid has evaporated and you see holes appear on top of the rice. Now cover, take off the heat and wait for 15 minutes. Add the tomato paste to the stew and season with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve your rice and beefy deliciousness scattered with chopped coriander and devour!

Tips:

Spice: This is meant to be a lightly spiced meal. Don’t leave the cinnamon out- it really adds a wonderful element to the stew. Feel free to add more chilli and garlic though.

My rice: If you’ve never seen this technique- try it. It works every time. I put the orange in the rice one day when I forgot to put it in the stew- I think it adds nice colour to the finished dish.

Flour: You may wonder why I don’t flour my meat before I brown it. Honestly, it never seems to work for me. The cooking time should create a thick sauce. If you’re worried about it, I find it easier to add a tbsp of flour to the finely chopped veg while their being fried in the pan.

Cooking time: I’ve tried, don’t skimp on the cooking time. If possible, make the stew the day before. It’s always better the next day. I have a hard time waiting, though!

 

Try out the recipe and give me your notes!

Homemade Freezer Meals: The Best Gift for a Non-Cook

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The Homemade Freezer Meals Marathon

chinese noodles

Some of the many meals I filled the freezer with as a gift for my Mum. Mother’s day- done!

Let’s just say that my mother isn’t keen on cooking. The woman would be happy with crackers for supper.

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