A day in Provence : cooking class in Gordes

I work as personal chef in the Luberon and there's a house where I'm oftenly called . It's name is Fontblanche , just near the village of Gordes Last week I went there for a cooking class and even more : I organized a full day experience in Provence beginning with a café & croissant at the Café de la Poste in Goult the village where I live.

We met at 8:30 am and took the time for coffee.....then we left towards Isle sur la Sorgue
for shopping at the market ( on thurdays the market is smaller than on sundays when you  have also antiques but easier if you want to buy food )

We had not a fixed menu : everybody said that we'll improvise with what we'll find on the market ,so we bought :Zucchini ,salads, radishes,beans, potatoes,garlic, onions, fish,cheese,rhubarb and strawberries.

 Shooting at the market is not so easy : Veronique didn't want ,then I talked with her  and she explained me that so much people just takes pics and go , without buying nor caring of what she does . And she does magnificent pulp of fruits slowly cooked with raw cane sugar and much love .Then she  agreed to be photographed....if you go to the market look for her and try her products : they are absolutely marvellous . I bought some caramel au beurre salé that I used to make the icing for a chocolate cake .

Walking in Isle sur la sorgue

It was funny to see how they propose a typical venitian aperitif ! ( I come from Venice)

Then we went to the restaurant : I choose "Le vieux bistrot"  in Cabriéres d'Avignon , a charming village on the road to home . The owner , Vincent , is very agreeable and the rapport quality-price one of the best of Luberon . We had lunch under the pergola ,the light was amazing !

They brought us some delicatessen while waiting for the main course.

The presentation doesn't need to be commented , the flan of carrotes was very very good  (normally I don't eat flans as they have not much  taste and mostly too salted )

And then came dessert , a Café gourmand composed of various types but I succeed to shot only one ; they've been eaten in one bite . 

Happy moments.....

We left the reasturant at 3pm then I came home to prepare everything I needed for the cooking-class .We started at 5pm , the menu was :

Entrée : La tourte de courgettes ( an ancient recipe of Nice) and a green salad with radishes and fresh garlic

Plat : Poisson à la marseillase ( another typical recipe not very well known ) and a green beans , white beans and small potatoes salad

Dessert : Rhubarb and Strawberries crumble

Making the tourte

We cooked all together like a family , it was so funny!

 And finally everything was ready for dinner .

The night was sweet and warm....we had a wonderful dinner.

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 .