I'm ready to leave on my culinary journey in Provence…hurray!! I’m so excited to meet my group of students in Avignon and as I put together the recipes for our cooking classes, I can hardly contain myself.
What I love about Provence in the South of France is the simplicity in cooking and the focus on great ingredients like tomatoes, eggplant, squash and olive oil as well the incredible quality of the poultry, eggs, seafood, lamb and let’s not forget the scrumptious cheese! I was thinking it might be fun to make a toasted goat cheese salad for the first night's welcome dinner and that's just for starters.
It's been a year since I've seen my dear friend and assistant Carla and I can't wait. We'll be taking the students to visit her village of Gordes- what a gorgeous hilltop village! Then we’ll take the group to see our friend Charly at his home outside Gordes where we’ll enjoy an al fresco lunch of grilled shrimp and mussels, grilled chicken, lamb and sausages, an apple tart and plenty of good Provencal wine. I hope that he makes his famous ratatouille!
And, of course, we’ll cook. I excited to get to the outdoor market in St. Remy because they have the best goat cheese, all kinds of olives and salt cod. One of my favorite things we'll make while in Provence is brandade. Students always love that. Have you ever had brandade? It's the most flavorful combination of salt cod, boiled potatoes, olive oil, cream, and garlic all puréed together and baked in the oven until it bubbles around the edges. Yummm! I can't wait!
Ready to join us? Pour a glass of wine and cook along:
Bon Appétit!
|
