Autumn in Provence

Sights, Scenes & Sounds from the Change of Seasons.

As late Summer gives way to early Fall with the wine harvest, the scene starts to change all around Provence.  November 1^st is the Feast of Toussaint (All Saint's Day)  – a holiday in France and it marks the mid point in Autumn.  In Provence, the warm, bright and sunny days of October have given way to misty mornings and  more frequent Mistrals and much cooler although very often sunny days.  The short but spectacular thunderstorms become a little more regular.

Vines being trimmed, bonfires and smoke rising into the air from the trimmings bonfires.

Olive harvest and olive mills hard at work.  Last year, Pere Pierre (our next door neighbor) picked the olives on our tree and put some in the freezer for us.  He cured some, and one of our other neighbors cured another batch. Yum! Our own olives!

The leaves of the Virginia Creeper on the arbor outside Maison des Pelerins and at the front climbing the old walls have started to change from a fresh deep green to bright red. The wisteria creeper is bright yellow before the leaves start falling and it goes to rest for the winter.

In the Fields - Champignon hunters venture out into the woods to forage for campignons and the heading off to a local pharmacie for confirmation that their harvest is edible.

In the markets       -       All kinds of potimaron (squash) and champignons (mushrooms).

-          Truffle markets start up – Carpentras early on Friday morning and the more well known Truffle market at Richeranches.

-          The first cardoons, a popular cool weather vegetable that looks  like celery ribs at the center of  very light green leaves  and tastes like artichoke hearts are showing up on the market stands.

The hunting season is in full swing. It is not unusual to hear shots from the hunter’s in the countryside around Sablet.  The stores and markets also offer game for those rich cool weather meals.

Restaurant menus feature menus of rich lamb or game stews (Provencal Daube), often  with wild mushrooms, wild mushroom tartes, rabbit, pintade (guinea fowl), pigeon, tartes made from the new season’s champignons, fig tartes or figs with fresh goat cheese.

The official "Affiche" (poster) for the 2010 Festival des Soupes,
expertly drawn by local Cartoonist Jean Marcellintion

In Sablet and the surrounding villages, the Festival des Soupes is in full swing.  Each Fall for the past 20 years, cooks and budding cooks from 17 villages in the Haut Vaucluse (the area surrounding Sablet), have displayed their creativity in preparing soups to be judged firstly in their village, with the winners from each village progressing to the finals in Vaison la Romaine.  The school children of the village also participate with a team entry.  The recipes are compiled into a cookbook which can be purchased.

The River Ouveze begins to flow more freely after the dry weather of summer. Soon the scene will change again with lights going up in towns and villages, signaling the beginning of the Christmas season and all the fun that goes along with the Winter season.

One of Life's True Pleasures ......

One of our life's true pleasures....... is meeting and even for a short time, sharing 
"les Pelerins" with an incredible group of people who are our guests. I am constantly amazed by that group - their kindness and consideration, their observations and insights, which make the experience of  "the Provencal Dream" a much richer one.
Our blog below is written by Paul Baxter, who with his lovely and talented wife Diane recently visited "les Pelerins" and Sablet once more, with their family.  Paul is an Archeologist, at the State Museum of Anthropology, of the University of Oregon in the USA. It was so enjoyable to read his observations of our village, which he has kindly allowed me to share.  A big thanks to Paul and Diane.

"It is one of life’s true pleasures to go to a place that is the essence of its surroundings and become enveloped in that gestalt.  Whether that place is a bustling street in Mombasa, a fishing village in Alaska, a coal mining town in England, a train stop in Kenya, or a wine producing village in Provence, becoming for a moment a citizen of that place, reveals our universal heritage and common humanity.  And there is no better place for that to happen than at a table in the little café in Sablet.   

Patrons of the Cafe des Sports in Sablet, enjoying "un verre"* and a game of cards.

Pleasure can be defined as doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time, and having a cold beer or glass of wine served with gusto by the smiling proprietor, who no doubt represents generations of smiling proprietors at this very spot, certainly qualifies.

Bruno, the owner of the Cafe des Sports in Sablet - always welcoming and friendly.

The interesting, and telling thing about this exercise, is that it is virtually unchanging, like Sablet itself. Except for the faces of a few participant observers such as us,  the cast and the experience takes place daily, as it clearly has since the 11th century.  And further, exchange the cassis and the Affligem beer, and the old men gathered at the table near the door of the bar could be in Kansas or Cairo. But they are not.  These old men have spent their lives producing the best wine in the world – there is no arguing about it – and now they are relaxing with very old friends, to laugh at the world and all in it, particularly themselves and by gracious extension, us.

The trail to Seguret lies along the cleared edge of fields, their grape vines heavy with fruit.  Somehow the greens of the trees are different, the soil is uncommon, the air is unusual, the little lizard, not quite the gecko of other trips. Travel, done well, changes one’s perspective on the world, on oneself.  Thoughtful introspection has space to occur,  a more difficult task at home.  This time, this place, for you, will not happen again. The phrase carpe diem, no doubt spoken in this place by some well-travelled Roman, floats in one’s mind.  The Britisher, he seemed British as we sidled by, seated in the midst of the trail sketching studiously, if not well, an overhanging tree, will be part of this diem for the rest of my life.  I did not sketch it, but because of him, I will remember it, and I thank him for that, although I would not have bothered him with my appreciation.

And then you return to the little apartment, with its views of the vineyards, underlined by the tiled roofs of this old, old village.  Eleventh century roof beams, wholly preserved, partner perfectly with the rough quarried limestone to create and continue this little town.  What can this mean in a world of international travel, instant texting, and scattered, scattered, families?  It is at the very least, a symbol of stability.  Those old men, the wine makers, are the sons of wine makers, the grandsons of wine makers, the great grandsons and so on,  for 50 generations, for 1000 years.   The depth of human-time is palpable. If one listens to these beams, to these stones, one can see the people down through time, in the streets, in the fields, growing the grapes, making the wine, sitting at the little café, telling the stories, and laughing."

Please Note:  The pictures were taken by another of our very talented guests!   Loran List - a Professional Photographer from Monterey California.
I have shown pictures  of Loren's pictures, as the originals are 24" x 18" and too big for my scanner.
The Originals are far superior in photo quality, but the composition is so wonderful
that I wanted to share them on this blog. 

* un verre - literally - a glass - or as common usage - "a drink". 

Nougat noir

Just found this great blog about Nougat Noir at  http://blog.unmomentenprovence.com/
Nougat noir

Entertaining ….. Provençal style ……. Mise en Place!

“….. and there we are Marianne, mise en place!”

Those were the words that finished my first session of cooking with Johannis, our friend, neighbor and Chef extraordinaire at Restaurant Les Abeilles in Sablet.  We had just finished a session in which he taught me how to make puff pastry.  But we didn’t just stop at learning how to make puff pastry, he also showed me how to turn that puff pastry in to ready made hors d’ouvres to always have in the freezer for those times when unexpected guests pop in, or when you are entertaining and want to concentrate on dinner and not have to worry about what happens before.  Since that time, he has shown me how to make Gougères – small savoury puffs made using a base of Choux pastry, and Grissini – the crisp, savory Italian breadsticks that you so often see in gourmet grocery stores.  This was always in addition to whatever it was that  I went there to learn,  All easy to make ahead and have ready in the freezer to just pop in the oven and serve!

Johannis’s  motto  “mise en place”, really came into its own a few weeks ago.  My husband heard from an old friend he had worked with many years  ago, that he and his wife were going  to be in town for the weekend. He invited them for dinner, along with a few of other friends who all  wanted  to see them.  Seventeen to be exact!  It was great fun to have everyone together  again.    As far as dinner was concerned  ………..“don’t worry, we’ll have a barbecue….”  

Fortunately, the hors d’ouvres were already done…….. and ….. very, very  fortunately …… I had two batches of Johannis’s  Nougat Glacé  - a fantastic, creamy nougat ice-cream that I had learned to make last year in Sablet).  That was two courses, which only left  the main course to take care of …… not so hard.  I must say though,  that the Dessert was the star of the show!  Eating  Nougat Glacé is like eating a creamy cool version of one of my favorite candies.  I almost always order it when we visit Les Abeilles.  It is made from a combination of Nougat Noir, confit fruits, rich whipped cream and  Meringue Italienne.   I decided that this should be a truly Provençal dessert, so I  made Tuile cookies to serve with it. The cookies were  filled with raspberries and blueberries coated with a shiny glaze of reduced Beaumes de Venise (from Domaine de la Pigeade), and a Raspberry Coulis drizzled around.    

 ……….  Heaven!               ……….. Can’t wait to get back to Sablet!

         Bubbling sugar, on its way to the golden rich caramel for Nougat Noir

 

Rich, golden caramel - packed with whole almonds - ready to spread on a cookie sheet - Nougat  Noir!

The Meringue Italienne glistens as the hot sugar and honey syrup is added while the egg whites are whipped.

Voila!  les Abeilles Nougat Glace!  I was busy serving desert and didn't take a picture of my Nougat Glace - so here's a picture of  the delicious desert I  had at Les Abeilles!

Bon Apetit!

Gougeres - start with a base of a quantity of Choux pastry - then add your favorite savory flavors - Dijon mustard, Parmesan Cheese, herbs, toasted caraway seeds or cumin seeds, crumbled bacon bits, chopped olives, small shrimp etc., etc.  Scoop into small balls and place on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze.  when frozen, place them in zip lock bags and there we are ..... mis en place!  When you want to serve, preheat oven to 425 degrees, place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, glaze with an egg wash and if you wish sprinkle with a favorite topping. Bake for 10 minutes or until they are golden brown and puffed!  No need to defrost.


Nougat Noir - a rich dark caramel, choc full of whole toasted almonds (unpeeled) spread on a cookie sheet.  When cool, break into bite sized pieces.


Meringue Italienne - stiffly beaten egg whites into which is poured hot sugar syrup whilst beating.  This action cooks the meringue, and is used for recipes that do not call for any further cooking of the meringue.


Tuile Cookies - "tuile" is the French work for tile and these delicate cookies are still pliable when cooked.  The traditional recipe calls for them to be draped over a rolling pin to make the shape of a roof tile, although they are often shaped as cones or draped over a small cup or bowl to make a pretty and delicate cookie container.


Glazes for fruit - in this case, I used Muscat Beaumes de Venise which was gently simmered to reduce it to a thick syrupy glaze - delicious.   I have however, used other "left over" white or rose wines in the same way - especially if you have a sparkling wine that the bubble has gone out of.  Once the glaze is made, it will be last for quite some time in an airthight jar in the refrigerator.