Cooking and sharing nostalgic family recipes with a lovely group of French loving food and culture

👨‍🍳A few weeks ago we had a great evening of French cooking

We travelled to Provence for a great taste of the appearing summer garden bounty.

Starter was the famous nicoise salade - and like many traditional recipes there are as many versions as there are families.

I grew up eating this, because my grand father was from the South of France, where he grew up in Vallauris - the city of potters, glass blowing, home to Picasso, the actor Jean Marais and the poet and film maker Jean Cocteau to only name a few things . My grand father was from a very humble background and had Italian roots-his father, was a cobbler and came from the North of Italy, The Piedmont.

So we had a very simple version of it at my grand parents: Tomatoes chopped roughly, onions, anchovies and or tuna fish, dried black olives and a vinaigrette, it was made a little in advance so that the sauce will build up with the juices of the tomatoes. We used to soak this delicious sauce with fresh crusty bread and it was incredibly satisfying- there is a verb for it in French: it is called "saucer".

On the night, I showed / told about my recipe and one team made their own take on it- negotiating hard with their cooking partners- garlic or mustard dressing? Garlic please...

We had a delicious ratatouille aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes, peppers onions and garlic combined with olive oil- No herbs!!...(but do what you want...)!!

This was accompanied by some herby roasted chicken on a soft bed of onions🥞

A little rose wine, with pamplemousse for apero, helped us to have a merry time, also sharing the meal around the table ( some red 🍷sneaked it's way in though).

And more titbits came too along the way.. tapenade with🧅 olives, 🌿 baguettes🥖🥖🥖and we eended with an apricots🍑 and almond tarte.

Very 😊 we shared that special moment.

Looking forward to another cooking together French family recipes, ther may be one in the summer but surely around September-the beginning of the autumn will bring another bounty to explore....Loire Valley/Normandie? Apple season🍏🍎🍏🍎!!

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