Weekend in Camargue and a fiesta

Last Sunday we were invited to a birthday party in Aigues Mortes (here) and as parties in Camargue are " very serious" we programmed to stay 2 days , that became eventually 3. We arrived at noon and met some friends in the centre of the town .They were drinking some chilly  rosé as everybody does here. Taking the time .....

We like so much Aigues Mortes because it's open-spirit and full of funny and original people . And women are charming , very feminine .



Claudia and her hands & feet , love them !!

Then we went to a home in the countryside nearby , were the party was.

An enormous pan full of extraordinary mussels , two rams on the barbeque , roasted potatoes , accras , and goat's cheese.

I brought some Prosecco and Aperol and made a venitian "Spritz" .

It was really a big party that lasted till morning ( but we went to bed before midnight , like Cinderella )



To continue.......

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.