Farewell Provence : a cocktail in Goult

I live in Goult ,a small village in the South  of France where I work as a personal chef and I do cooking classes on demande . Last  year Erica & Irwin took a sabbatical period and came to Goult , to try how's life in the countryside and abroad at the same time ( they live in Sidney ) They stayed 9 month here and they're leaving next wednesday so they wanted to organize a cocktail to say goodbye to the friends they made here and asked me if I was available to do it : I was very pleased to accept ! Yesterday morning I went to the market in Apt for shopping : I wanted to prepare a very typical Provençal buffet for this special occasion . I found the first melons and they were simply delicious ,  abricots , lots of vegetables to serve with anchoiade and another sauce with mustard , I prepared a pissaladière , a focaccia with seeds and oregano, a cold tomatoes soup and a choice of  local goat's cheeses and some  amazing Brie . This morning I met them at the ' Café de la Poste' they were so happy for their Party yet a little bit sad for leaving...

Goult

 

Parsnip velouté & Saturday's market

Last Saturday I went to the market in Apt  : it is one of the most beautiful markets of  France indeed but I hardly go on summer , because is full of people and I only need to buy food for my clients so I prefer to go to Petit Palais ,  a very small farmers market . So...now I have the time to go and enjoy myself. There's a farmer anyway who sells his organic production and were  I can also find oranges and lemons from Sicily . So I came back with my bag full of fresh, marvelous fruits and vegetables. I bought parsnips , small tender ones ( when they are big they are harder ) and I decided to cook a velouté that I served with some duck breast . Parsnips are very sweet and the duck goes very well with it , giving a bit of salty savor .

 

Parsnips

Ingredients for 4 servings

4 small parsnips

4 small potatoes

1 big onion or two small

1 liter of vegetable stock ( salted)

1 tsp of double cream

40 gr of smoked duck breast

2 tsp of chopped parsley ( or coriandrer )

Peel the parsnips ,the onion and the potatoes and cut them in pieces , put them in a pot with the stock , bring to boil and let cook 1/2 an hour , then mix to obtain a velouté , taste the salt , add the cream and mix again .Serve with some parsley and smoked duck breast chopped.

Italian version below

Coustellet farmer's market

Italian