Cold tomato soup : the taste of summer

Today I want to share with you a really easy recipe for summer days . I have to admit : I don't like so much gazpacho , it's very difficult to obtain the right balance between all the ingredients and the vinegar . Then I saw many recipes of tomato soups but I really wanted tofind  the pure taste of it so I tried once to make it very very simple and people told me it was amazing . Naturally you'll have to choose best quality ingredients . That's the difficult side of simple cooking ( not so simple....)

As you can see in the photos the color will change with the differents quality of tomatoes you use

You can serve it in small portions  for a cocktail  or bigger as a starter . Here in Provence we have tomatoes in so many different colors that I like to play with . My preferred for this recipe is the one called 'Ananas' : a bouncing , luxurious orange one with shades of red . The pulp is thick and sweet and the soup you'll obtain seems like mellon : what a surprise then for your guests when they discover a pure tomato savor ! You can see it in tthe photo below ( beet was for another recipe)

Velvety tomato soup

For 8 people (small portions for cocktail , as a starter makes for 4)

1 kg of ripe tomatoes like ‘Beef-heart’

3 tablespoons of very good extra-virgin olive oil

A bunch of basil

A pinch of chilli ( if you can find Piment d’espelette in some

French grocery it would be fine )

1 tablespoon of salt

Put a large pan full of water to boil , make a cross with a knife on the top of tomatoes , throw them into boiling water and leave some minutes till you see the skin begins to raise ,then take them out with a slotted spoon and peel them ( wait a while ,they are burning !) . Put them in a bowl while peeling , to keep the juice. Then assemble all the ingredients in a mixer , or use an immersion mixer otherwise , and mix very well till the soup becomes velvety . It’s the reaction between the water contained on tomatoes and the oil that gives that ‘smooth’ sensation. About the salt : don’t put  all , taste after you’ve mixed as the quantity depends so much of the quality of tomatoes you use.

Sweet life in Provence III & a Rhubarb & Cherries crumble

What I do really like here in Provence is that people take the time for living . So , you don't need to wait for the Weekend to be invited somewhere or to invite someone .It was just a thursday like any other and our neighbours invited us for lunch : a magnificent steak was cooking on the barbeque when we arrived ,about 4lb of meat for three .

It was a wonderful day and the view from their terrace looking towards the Luberon  and onto the village is great.

So we had tomatoes  and peppers with the steak , then came cheese. Time flewed sweetly ,eating & chatting .

I brought the dessert , a simple crumble with rhubarb and cherries . I made it very light , less butter and a small amount of sugar . Using rice and spelt flour instead of wheat ( I don't know why but wheat flour makes crumble rather heavy to digest for me ) and I used a special pepper to give a spicy touch .

Rhubarb & Cherries Crumble

For 6 servings

100 gr of rhubarb

350 gr of cherries

100 gr of spelt flour

50 gr of rice flour

a pinch of salt

75 gr of cane sugar

70 gr of butter diced

a pinch of black pepper freshly grounded ( I used a wild pepper from Madagascar called Voatsiperifery )

20 gr of flaked almonds

Preheat the oven at 180° or 375 F , butter a 20/22 cm baking dish ,or six single ones as I did and set aside. Wash the rhubarb and the cherries ,trim the top and the ends of the rhubarb and cut diagonally into 2 cm lenghts. Remove the stems and kernels from cherries . Sprinkle 1and 1/2  teaspoon of sugar on the dish ( or 1/4 on each if making individual portions) , spread the fruits evenly .

To make the crumble topping put the flours ,the salt and the butter in a bowl , rub the butter till the mixture seems like breadcrunch , stir in sugar , pepper and almonds . Sprinkle the crumble over the rhubarb and cherries , bake for about 25/30 minutes until the topping is golden brown .

You can eat it warm but I like it even cold . 

Cherries & Wine Spritzer

Cherries in Provence are simply wonderful ! Now we have the first ones , called " Burlat" : someone offered me a bag of them and as cherries don't last more then two or three days I thought to make some jam . So I rattled them off and put in a jar with sugar, a vanilla bean and left overnight : in this way the sugar makes a sort of "cold cooking" ,then I cook the syrup till almost caramelized and at the point I add the friuts and finish to cook . The jam in this way keeps all the flavour and taste of fresh fruits ,and the color also. Well.....while the cherries where waiting in the jar my partner began to taste them and he found that they were very very good .Then he put some cherries and syrup in a glass , added some rosé wine and ice cubes .....can you imagine the end? We finished half the cherries in one day . Simply addicting . It's the  drink  for June's parties !!

Strawberries and Nigel's burnt yoghurt

I found this recipe on here , the  beatiful blog of Ashley Rodriguez . A very very simple recipe though...so good  ! I made it with goat's milk yoghurt because here in Provence I can find it from some producers directly and it is far better than any other industrial one and used raw cane sugar instead of white for I love the taste that it gives . You can make the recipe with any berries you like and maybe with rhubarb , in this case you'll have to cook it slightly with a small amount of sugar .
It's perfect for breakfast or as a very light and quick dessert , the crunchiness of caramelized sugar with the cold yoghurt and the fresh berries :a bite of heaven !

Yoghurt brulé e fragole

1 vasetto di yogurt greco o yogurt di capra
1 cucchiaio di zucchero di canna
Fragole a piacere

lavate le fragole , scolatele e tagliatele a pezzi . Mettetele in una ciotola che sopporti il fuoco oppure una formina da creme caramel , ricopritele di yogurt ben freddo e cospargetelo di zucchero di canna .
Fate caramelizzare con il cannello ( io ne ho uno da idraulico...) e gustate  subito . Questa ricetta l'ho trovata qui  é un blog che amo molto e davvero interressante. Nell'originale lo yogurt é quello greco ma qui trovo uno yogurt di latte di capra davvero squisito , e lo zucchero era bianco : a me piace il sapore intenso di quello scuro di canna che inoltre caramellizza molto bene . E una ricetta facile facile e deliziosa per la colazione o quando avete voglia di un dessert leggero da farsi in due minuti .

Whole rice and peas purée

After a week of cold rain sun is shining all over Provence warm and delightful so we can eat outside again .Yesterday temperatures got higher , 25° in the shadow but when we put the  thermometer under the sun it touched 38° ( yes ,I know it is not the right temperature but just to say sun was very warm . As sudden changes of weather like this tends to make me feel " heavy" I prepared a dish that's nourishing but light and also nice to see , so if you're  vegetarian or even vegan here's a recipe easy to do and elegant in presentation . I added to the rice Sengiri Daikon ,Dried Lotus Roots and alguae Hijiki for a rich complement in vitamins, fibres and minerals wich helps to afford the heat.

Ingredients for 4 servings

250 gr of whole organic rice

Water

A pinch of sea salt

8 pieces of dried lotus root

Two tbsp of dried radish ( sengiri daïkon )

I tbsp of algae hijiki

For the peas purée

400 gr of little peas , the ones you can eat completely as they haven't the pea inside

2 cloves of fresh garlic

1 tsp of sea salt

An handful of tarragon

1 tbsp of double cream or sesame oil if you're vegan

Wash the rice , put in a cup to have the measure ( you'll have to use the double of water) pour it in a pot ,cover with the double quantity of water and bring to boil covered,it should be boil gently.In the meantime soak in water the daikon and the lotus ,like this

Wash the peas, put 1&1/2 liter of water to boil with the salt , then throw in the peas and let cook 2 minutes , drain them with a large slotted spoon in order to keep the broth . Put the peas and the garlic in a pan  and cover with the broth (you'll don't need all) ,let simmer covered till the peas becomes very soft ( the time depends on peas if they are very young and fresh it won't take more than 15 mn ) control and add some broth if it gets too dry. Taste for salt and keep warm.

Now we come back to the rice: whole rice takes about 40 minutes for cooking but as we can keep it in the frigidaire some days I always cook a double portion to make other recipes . After 20 minutes of cooking you can add the alguae , the lotus and daikon drained  and a pinch of sea salt ( keep in mind that alguae are salted already ) mix with the rice , cover and let cook completely. It's ready when water is  consumed and on the surface little holes appears .

Now you can re-warm a little the peas if they got cold , put in a mixer with the double cream or the oil and the bunch of tarragon ( if you don't find it you can use parsley or chervil instead) Mix till very smooth ,add some broth if it's too thick . It's incredible how velvety it comes ! To serve I used a ring of about 9cm of diameter , filled with the rice , put a slice of lotus on top and the purée all around . If you like it you can pour some drops of soy-sauce on the rice .

With this recipe I participate to this Italian contest about healthy food on this blog

May in Provence

The month of May is one of the more beautiful in the South of Europe .In Provence May is simply amazing , there is not still the most famous lavender but we can find  a surprising  variety of flowers .When I go walking in the countryside I always come back with something : today were acacia and elder flowers , I'll do some syrups with them to use on summertime: added to fresh water they do quite a refreshing,healthy and incredibly perfumed drink .

Acacia flowers

Iris & Lilacs

Poppies

Quince tree

Camargue/Aigues-Mortes and the 'Bac de Sauvage'

Last Weekend my son came from Italy with a friend and we went back to Aigues-Mortes : I wanted to take him to Papy-Moise for a nice lunch . We arrived very late because of an heavy traffic on the roads but the owners where so happy to see us that they served us an amazing lunch . I felt so hungry that I totally forgot to take some photos , next time...

My son

  Rue de la Republique , Hotel "Le Templiers"

 

Then when you leave Aigues-Mortes towards St.Marie de la Mére  at a certain moment there's a small road on the right  with a signal '  Le bac du Sauvage' : a tiny country road that leads to a small restaurant . Then there's the river and a boat that transports you to the other side for free . Last year we arrived at noon so we stopped and had lunch : fresh fish and a wonderful "crème brulée'" , I can stil remember.

Now we just had a coffee or a glass of wine while waiting the boat .

Having coffee

Pretty 70 ths

Waiting for the boat

We do love this place ,it's magical ....far from the madly crowd ,authenthic . A little corner of Paradise .

Camargue/ Aigues Mortes

I do adore Camargue ,it's amazing ! If you come to Provence I highly recommend you to have a trip there . It's wild , and strange ....not easy to get as a tourist :you'll have to be open-minded . The first time I went to Aigues-Mortes it was with my son and we just had a tour : it's a very small city , closed by stone-walls , and I can imagine as it would appear in the Middle-Age coming from the country-side or the sea-side ,emerging from nothing ..... a fortress, with the tower of Constance on one side,emerging powerful. 

The Constance Tower viewed from the Channel

Last year I went to Aigues -Mortes with my love and we discovered a wonderful place that's called 'Papy Moise' ,a sort of "bar à tapas' where the food is simply amazing . But it's not as simple to be accepted there , the first time we waited half an hour before to be served ....but we felt that it was a good place so we had patience and we were rewarded ! Fresh oysters , best quality butter and baguettes were served to us with cold white wine . Now we are friends so every time we go we are welcomed . That is what I love , people just taking care , not disposable to sell themselves just for money . I don't have photos of Papy Moise , but next month we are invited  the owner's birthday , I hope to take some snapshots !

Here's my son ....we were on the way to Aigues-Mortes , and he pretended to make auto-stop .

Still my son ...on the way to Aigues-Mortes

The Tower of Constance

Aigues-Mortes

The walls