A late St David’s day and a return to the Mediterranean

Last night we invited our Occitan friends in the village to a meal to celebrate (a few days late) St David’s day, as we usually do around 1st March.

We served toast with laver bread and bacon with apéritifs (laver bread is seaweed boiled for hours into a sort of purée, a south Wales delicacy which you either love or you hate – fortunately our friends here love it).  For the first course we had leeks (from our garden) with salmon baked in the oven with white sauce and grated cheese.  The main course was a lamb stew (which I couldn’t resist putting some very Mediterranean thyme into) with stiwnts (mashed carrots and parsnips).   Parsnips have only recently appeared in the shops here and it was the first time our friends had tasted them.  We grew a few tiny ones last year, but it wasn’t a success as it’s too dry for them.  For dessert we had apple tart and cream.  And then a wonderful Italian cake which one of our friends had brought as a contribution to the meal.  So it was a variation on a Welsh meal and we left Wales altogether with the coffee (Italian) and digestifs from Catalunya (Ratafia, a wonderful liqueur made with herbs from the garrigue) and Navarra (Pacharan, sloe liqueur, also wonderful).  Everyone enjoyed it all very much.

Today, though, I had a strong craving for our more usual Mediterranean style of food, so for lunch we had mussels with aioli (garlic mayonnaise –my recipe is here).  The mussels in the Bassin de Thau aren’t at their best at this time of the year – after the winter (when we usually have very little rain and this year have had even less than usual) they need the spring rains to dilute the salinity of the lagoon so they can fatten up a bit.  So we bought some of the larger size (sold for cooking moules farcies).  While I made the aioli Lo Jardinièr cooked the mussels in a little white wine then removed the mussels from their shells, dipped them in beaten egg white and then in breadcrumbs and fried them in olive oil.  They were really good with a squeeze of lemon and the aioli.

We’ve had some more cold nights, although not freezing, but the days are sunny and warm.  Walking around the village this afternoon we spotted this beautiful mimosa still in flower.

Sunday lunch in the garden / le diner de dimanche au jardin

For the past few weeks it’s been too hot to do much work in the garden, just watering (a lot), tying up the tomato plants and harvesting the produce. In a couple of weeks’ time we’ll have to start sowing the autumn and winter vegetables – lettuce, turnips, carrots – but it’s too hot now.

Depuis quelques semaines il fait trop chaud pour faire beaucoup de travail au jardin – on ne fait que l’arrosage (beaucoup) et la récolte de légumes. Dans deux ou trois semaines on commencera à semer les légumes d'automne et d'hiver – les salades, les carrots, les navets – mais en ce moment il fait trop chaud.

The garden is still a good place to entertain friends for a meal, though, as we did yesterday. / Le jardin est toujours un bon endroit pour inviter des amis pour manger, comme on a fait hier.

plenty of shade and a paddling pool borrowed from a neighbour / beaucoup d’ombre et une piscine qu’un voisin nous a preté.

We started the meal with prawns and aioli (I posted the recipe for this when I made it last summer – here). The only difference is that now I make it with an electric whisk – much easier!

Nous avons commencé par des crevettes accompagnées d’un aioli – voir la recette ici.

Grilled quail / les cailles grillées

For the main course we cooked something I’ve wanted to try for a long time: quails wrapped in vine leaves and cooked on the barbecue.

I put a garlic clove and a sprig of time inside each one, rolled them in olive oil, salt and pepper, wrapped them in vine leaves and tied the parcels with thread. Lo Jardinièr cooked them for about 20 minutes over a wood and charcoal fire. The vine leaves blackened, as you can see, but inside the quail were tender and delicious.

With the quail we had baked vegetables – aubergines, courgettes, peppers, onions and tomatoes – garnished with basil and a squeeze of lemon juice and served cold, and Marseillette rice with coriander, cumin, onion, raisins and pine nuts.

We had a Roquefort and St Nectaire cheese and then a mirabelle (small plum) tart made with our neighbours’ fruit and recipe. The recipe will be on the Mediterranean cuisine blog.

At the end of the afternoon, after a long lunch, we visited our friends’ garden where there is a beautiful old mill building which has been converted into a garden shed. And back in our garden to clear up, I noticed this butterfly on the dahlia. Another perfect Sunday!

More tomatoes / encore de tomates

Another way of bottling tomatoes /

Une nouvelle façon de conserver les tomates

Halve 1 kilo of Roma tomatoes and put them on a baking tray with salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Bake in the oven at 170°C for 45 - 60 minutes. Put the tomatoes in a sterilised jar and cover with olive oil.

Coupez en deux 1 kilo de tomates Roma et mettez-les sur un plaque de four avec du sel, de l'huile d'olive et du vinaigre balsamique. Faites-les cuire au four à 170°C pour 45 - 60 minutes. Mettez les tomates dans un bocal sterilisé et couvrez-les de l'huile d'olive.

We had a few tomatoes left over that wouldn't fit in the jar. I arranged them on plates with little goats' cheeses, added some oregano leaves, salt an pepper and a little olive oil. It made a delicious first course.

Il y avait quelques tomates qui restaient. Je les ai mis sur des plats avec des petits pelardons de chèvre, des feuilles d'origan, sel et poivre et un peu de l'huile d'olive. C'était une entrée delicieuse.

It was market day today and as usual we went to the fish stall. We bought pageot (pink bream) for Lo Jardinièr and squid (encornet) for me. I made aïoli (garlic mayonnaise) to go with them.

Mercredi, c'est le jour du marché à Gabian et nous sommes allés comme d'habitude au marchand de poisson. Nous avons acheté des petits pageots (dorades roses) pour Lo Jardinièr et des petits encornets pour moi. J'ai préparé l'aïoli pour les accompagner.

Aïoli

1 egg yolk / 1 jaune d'œuf

2 large cloves garlic, peeled / 2 grosses gousses d'ail épluchées

salt and pepper / sel et poivre

a squeeze of lemon juice / un peu de jus de citron

300 ml olive oil / huile d'olive

Crush the garlic with the salt. Add the egg yolk and lemon juice. Pour the olive oil very slowly onto it while whisking until it has all emulsified.

Pilez l'ail avec le sel. Ajoutez le jaune d'œuf et le jus de citron. Versez l'huile d'olive peu à peu, très doucement, en le battant au fouet pour émulsionner l'œuf et l'huile.

pageots - encornet - aïoli

And some friends had given us some lovely fresh figs -

Et des amis nous ont donné des belles figues fraîches -