Archives

Unquenchable: Natalie MacLean’s Terrific New Book on Wine

November 7, 2011 by Cynthia Bertelsen

If, like me – overwhelmed by the hundreds of possible choices in front of you at the grocery store or local wine shop – you’ve ever stood in front of the endless shelves of stunning wine bottles and felt like just closing your eyes and grabbing a bottle, any bottle (preferably one on the lower shelves where the price stickers read below $10 a bottle), then, you’re going to just love Canadian wine writer Natalie Maclean’s new book, Unquenchable: A […]

Categories: Africa, Book Reviews, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Germany, Italian Cooking, Italy, Wine • Tags: Book Reviews, Château de Roquefort, M.F.K. Fisher Award, M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, Natalie MacLean, Peter Mayle, Provence, Rosé, Unquenchable, Wine

Garlic, the Perfume of Provence

October 20, 2011 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Or is lavender really the perfume of Provence?

Categories: France, French Cooking, Garlic, Photography • Tags: France, Garlic, Photography, Provence

Potting About in Provence

October 19, 2011 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Rustic pottery always draws the eye …

Categories: Art, France, French Cooking, Photography • Tags: France, Photography, Pottery, Provence

Monkfish the Fish Market (Used by permission.)

Monkfish: A Little Love, French-Style

April 18, 2011 by Cynthia Bertelsen

I first gazed on his ugly mug in French-influenced Morocco, more precisely at the fish market in Rabat. And like Beauty with the Beast, I fell in love. Sea devil. Crapaud. Baudroie. Lotte. Goosefish. Anglerfish. Poor Man’s Lobster. … It seems his name is Legion (Nomen mihi Legio est, quia multi sumus) … . Monkfish (Lophius piscatorius). Two-thirds of the body is just skull. Tiny triangular-shaped teeth line the rounded jaws that some call “Jaws of Hell,” looking for all the […]

Categories: Fish, Food writing, French Cooking, Recipes, Tomatoes • Tags: Baudroie, Capers, Cuisine Francaise, Food, France, French Cooking, Monkfish, Morocco, Provence, Rabat

The Provençal Pantry in Poetry and Photos

March 6, 2011 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Readers of Gherkins & Tomatoes / Cornichons & Tomates will see something new in the coming weeks — tiny photo essays. A weekly showcasing of some of the basic components of the Provençal (and frankly French) pantry, enlivened with a blessedly small pinch of poetry, these meditative snippets incarnate my intense desire for fresh, nay primeval, ingredients.

Categories: Art, Cooking, French Cooking, Lit & Food, Photography, Poetry • Tags: France, French Cooking, Photo Essay, Photography, Poetry, Provence

Oreillettes, A Part of Provence’s Thirteen Desserts

December 13, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Fried dough, a universal love. Grease, sugar, what more could you dream of? In the south of France, when you want fried dough, you’ll get oreillettes. As with any traditional holiday dish, each cook has his or her version. The signature taste with these oreillettes is the orange flower water. In New Orleans, oreillettes come with a splash of rum, possibly because it was available and because orange flower water wasn’t. Oreillettes (English version) 3 eggs 2 T. orange flower […]

Categories: Christmas, Cooking, Desserts, France, French Cooking, Photography • Tags: Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Oreillettes, Provence, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts

The Provençal Thirteen: Fennel- and Cumin-Scented Sablés

December 10, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

In France, you’ll find sablés, buttery cookies that originated in Normandy. (You know they had all that butter to get rid of there.) Most sablés are sweet. But in Provence, for the famous Thirteen Desserts of Christmas Eve, cooks prefer savory little disks perfumed with fennel and cumin. Cumin? How did cumin get into mix? Apparently cumin arrived in Marseilles in spice shipments during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Originating in the eastern Mediterranean, cumin didn’t have to travel […]

Categories: Baking, Christmas, Cookies, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Spices • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Provence, Sablés, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts

Nougat Noir, or Black Nougat, Another of the Thirteen Desserts

December 9, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

A Provençal gros souper (Christmas Eve dinner) would not be correct without some nougat noir to challenge the skill of your dentist and possibly lay waste to your dental work. In other words, nougat noir can be a bête [bite!] noire*, if you’re not careful. For nougat noir is a hard candy, not the pillowy stuff you might be thinking of. Several types of nougat exist, thanks to the Arabs and the enterprising people of sixteenth- century Montélimar in France. You will […]

Categories: Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Honey • Tags: Black Nougat, Christmas, Cooking, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Nougat Noir, Provence, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts

Les Quatre Mendiants au Chocolat, A Candy Offshoot of Provence’s Thirteen Christmas Desserts

December 8, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Gorgeous, huh? Yummy? You bet! And the best part is that, with a quick flick of a switch and your wrist, you too can make these beauties, part of the Thirteen Desserts of a Provençal Christmas. Mendiants au Chocolat Noir ou Blanc Makes about 75 – 100 candies, depending on size of circles 1 pound dark bittersweet chocolate (60 – 70% cacao) or good-quality white chocolate Candied citron Dried figs, cut into small squares Almonds, shelled, blanched if desired, toasted* […]

Categories: Baking, Chocolate, Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Les Quatre Mendiants, Provence, Recipes, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts

Begging the Question: Les Quatre Mendiants and Provence’s Thirteen Christmas Desserts

December 7, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

The truth is, the dishes associated with Provence’s Thirteen Desserts abound with religious symbolism. Take the Four Beggars, or Les Quatre Mendiants, which symbolize something that we in the secular West have basically lost, a sense of awe and fear about the natural world and all that is in it. The Thirteen Desserts likely represented a way to ensure a righteous, blessed life, free from the challenges of living in times of strife and great uncertainty. Although today we might […]

Categories: Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Monasteries, Nuts • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Monasteries, Monks, Provence, Quatre Mendiants, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts

Idylls of Cuisine, #91

December 4, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

[A photograph, and nothing more, for silent contemplation.]

Categories: Bread, Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Photography • Tags: Bread, Food Photograohy, Fougasse, France, French Cooking, Provence, Thirteen Desserts

One of the Thirteen, the Tangerine

December 3, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

The color certainly captures your attention, doesn’t it? Such a glossy — almost neon — orange. When I was a kid, I always wondered if anyone else ever got a wrinkly tangerine bumping around in their Christmas stocking. At some point along the way, I found out that the Victorians were big on citrus fruit at Christmas and since my great-grandmother was obviously from that era, it all began to make some sense, why my mother seemed to be carrying […]

Categories: Christmas, Citrus, France, French Cooking • Tags: Christmas, Citrus, France, French Cooking, Provence, Tangerines, Thirteen Desserts

Lillet by Another Means: Vin d’Orange, or, French Christmas Spirit

December 1, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

As I watch the sun, feeble in the dark morning skies at this time of the year, I think of the sunflower-yellow oranges my parents just brought me from Florida. What can I do to preserve a little of that sunlight as we head toward the shortest day and longest night of the year? Why, obviously, I should make Vin d’Orange, perfect for the Thirteen Desserts I’m writing about for the Christmas season. As you might guess, a bit of […]

Categories: Christmas, France, French Cooking, Wine • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Provence, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts, Vin d'Orange

No Partridges, Just Thirteen Desserts: French Christmas Culinary Traditions

November 30, 2010 by Cynthia Bertelsen

I love culinary traditions … and usually I don’t mind cooking all the foods associated with upholding those traditions. Like Thanksgiving dinner, for example. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole (from scratch, mind you), pumpkin pie with whipped cream (crust handmade just prior to baking), and sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows). Mac and cheese, too, if you’re a true Southerner. Culinary traditions pin you to your past, or at least allow you to tie your apron […]

Categories: Christmas, France, French Cooking, Paintings • Tags: Advent, Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Provence, Réveillon, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts

Idylls of Cuisine #3

March 1, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

[A photograph and nothing else, for silent contemplation.]

Categories: France, Photography • Tags: Abbaye Notre Dame de Sénanque, France, Lavender, Provence

Italy in Provence

February 26, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Memories of Provençal food continuously whisper to me. And reflection forces me to draw the logical conclusion that the food of Piemonte, Liguria, and Provence share the same grandparents. Or even the same parents. Countless, interminable wars guaranteed both the emigration and immigration of people (and food) over the centuries. Walking cookbooks, I call those people. Like lovers’ lips touching lightly, Provence borders Liguria and Piemonte and drew (and still draws) denizens of light and lavender and life. Van Gogh, […]

Categories: France, French Cooking, Italian Cooking • Tags: Boeuf Daube à la Provençale, Cooking, Food, France, Italy, Provence

Gherkins & Tomatoes

Meditations and Photographs about Food, Cooking, and Life