Gherkins & Tomatoes

Gherkins & Tomatoes

Meditations and Photographs about Food, Cooking, and Life

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Category Archives: Olives

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A Taste Sweeter Than Meat, More Ancient Than Wine

March 7, 2011 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Olives, pungent, demanding, a taste acquired. Their beauty belying their bitterness, their hardness. Sunshine and human hands transform tartness into fragrant fruit and nectared oil — fare of  peasants, armies, kings, and saints. From ancient, twisted roots comes timeless provender, oily, meaty, food until long journeys’ end. Spread out under the vast sky, waiting for the signs That signal harvest, a reaping of first fruits Beaten with sticks or prodded with hooks, the branches weep their bounty, tumbled to earth, […]

Categories: Agriculture, Arab cooking, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Local foods, Olives, Photography, Poetry • Tags: France, French Cooking, Kalamata, Olive, Olive oil, Photography, Tagines, Tapenade

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Panis focacius, la Gibacié, and la Pompe à l’huîle, Kin Under the Crust, One of the Thirteen

December 6, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Christmas cakes were baking, the famous pompou and fougasse, as they were called, dear to the hearts of the children of old Provence. ~~ Christmas in Legend and Story A Book for Boys and Girls I’ve always loved the “Jacob’s Ladder” look of fougasse. The lacy leaf-like lattice reminds me of the connection between bread and art, with that unspoken tie to pagan sacrifice, manifested in people- and animal-shaped holiday breads and sweets. And, not surprisingly, fougasse is one of the […]

Categories: Bread, Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Olives • Tags: Bread, Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, Fougasse, France, French Cooking, La pompe à l'huîle, Pain, Treize Desserts

Mediterranean Olive Grove

Olive Sauce

August 1, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Add Olive Sauce to ragu or marinara for a different layer of flavor. Use on crostini or bruschetta. Roast beef, pork, and chicken taste extra special with a dollop of Olive Sauce on the side. Black Olive Tapenade Makes 2 cups ¾ cup oil-cured black olives 6 canned flat anchovy fillets 2 T. shredded fresh basil leaves 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and mashed 1 t. crushed fennel seeds 1 T. grated orange zest ¼-1/2 t. hot red pepper flakes […]

Categories: Fish, Italian Cooking, Olives, Recipes • Tags: Anchovies, Capers, Food, Italian Cooking, Olives, Recipes, Sauces

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Food forms the very essence of life, from the fruit fly to the elephant, with humans in between. So much of what we do revolves around cooking, eating, and the finding of food. Here you'll discover stories, meditations, and photographs celebrating the places that we call home. And, of course, the food that garnishes it all.

My book, due out September 15, 2013

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What’s Cookin’ Here

  • Moonstruck, a Meditation on Earth’s Moon
  • The Grocery List: Color, Primates, and Food Selection
  • A Bare Table is Like an Artist’s Canvas
  • “Stew’s so comforting on a rainy day.” *

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