Provence fragrances escaping from the oven

A South French Sunday lunch. Think about a dinner, enjoyed slowly between noon and 5 p.m., talking and eating food cooked by the grandma.

The roast : A chicken baked inside a salty crust, with lots of perfumed herbs.

It gets very tender.

The zucchini that believed they were bananas.

Colorful Mediterranean Summer vegetables. They must be full of vitamins.

Layered, then baked. Tian is also the name of the pottery in which this dish is baked.

Teaser about the dessert (to be posted soon) :

Tarte automne-été aux trois fruits (Summer-Fall triple pie).

Mushroom ratatouille and mozuku

An autumnal ratatouille and a Japanese sea weed. モズクmozuku is a sea weed from Okinawa that looks like small leaves in a jelly. They are sold already prepared or with a sauce aside like here.

I had veggies to finish : onion, white aubergine, purple aubergine, sweet green peppers.

Mixed dry Italian mushrooms including porcini.

I soaked and stir-fried the mushrooms with garlic. Then cooked my veggies in the same oil.

I completed with tomato paste, thyme.

I mixed the mozuku sea weed with its sauce (sweet vinegar) and added a few pieces of ginger. That can be drunk like a little soup.

Cabbage, konnyaku and natto.

Brown rice.

My lunch.

Caramelized onion polentart

A golden version of the pissaladiere, the onion and anchovy tart from Provence.

I add a second polenta tart crust left from when I baked this tarte polenta.
I’ve painted it with olive oil, baked it.

Garnished with onions cooked till brown in the olive oil from a can of anchovies with a little garlic. Garnished the crust. Added red chili and a few anchovy filets. Re-baked briefly. Decorated with green olives and thyme. You can make it without anchovies if you add a little soy sauce to the onions.

Cut when it’s cooled. I eat it at room temperature, and in this season that means warm.

Le zoo de panisses et tapenade verte

I’m playing with animal cookie cutters and Provence’s classics.

Same recipe as these bunny panisses you’ve seen a few weeks ago.

Green olive tapenade.

Served with sticks of cucumbers and toothpicks. You have a nice Summer appetizer or light meal.

Bunny panisses

Panisses are chick pea based appetizers and street stall snacks from the South of France. They exist in different shapes but I guess the bunny style is rare. My recipe is also alternative. Normally you need chick pea flour that I didn’t have. So I found another way.

Soak a cup of dry chick peas. Put them in the blender with 2 tbs of olive oil. Add enough water to get a creamy sauce. Simmer on /medium low heat, stirring till you get a cooked thick paste. That takes 15 to 20 minutes. Add salt, and flavoring if you want. It has to be well dried.