Un pique-nique sur les côtes du Rhône

Firstly I would like to apologise for my poor French in the title, I'm not at all sure it's correct, but I try to get better with the language. Any tips from you, my readers? Anyway what I wanted to say in the title was something like a picnic by the Rhône, as that is what I did the other day. I didn't come around posting anything yet from this holiday, I've been just too busy admiring the wonderful sites and there are plenty of those in Avignon alone. So an update for those of you who missed my subtle hints of my upcoming Provence holiday. I'm currently based in Avignon for a week and take trips to the surrounding towns and enjoy the local vegetables, veggie food and views. I'm sure there will be a few posts more, as I'm already totally in love with this place.

Already before the trip I had listed a picnic by Rhône as a must-do, so one day I gathered nice bread, crisps, cheeses and of course wine from the shops (there are plenty of beautiful shops for local produce!) and headed to the opposite shore of le pont d'Avignon, Pont Saint-Bénézet (listen to the song here), to enjoy these products. It was a truly lovely outing in that hot weather but with a gentle breeze coming from the river and large trees offering shade. As a dessert I had very tasty lemon and apple tarts from a nearby bakery.

Here are a few impressions from my small afternoon picnic and the river Rhône in Avignon.

 

 

 

Tomato tart

I needed a quick snack in between for my guests, and as I am a fan of savoury pies, I made this one up as I went along. It was very well received, which is always nice, and I feel like I should've made more. That's how quickly it disappeared.

This is a great tart for the summer, and you can even use some colourful heirloom tomatoes on this to make it look more interesting. This also is a very basic tart and doesn't require much effort at all. Here are my instructions.

Ingredients

4 shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp salt

½ tsp Herbes de Provence

400 g shortcrust pastry

150 g extra mature Cheddar

100 g cherry tomatoes

Method

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and cook them in olive oil until soft. Season them with black pepper, salt and Provençal herbs. Allow the mix to cool.

Roll out the pastry thinly and place it into a Ø 25cm pie tin that has been lined with baking parchment. It's even easier, if you buy are a readily rolled pastry.

Chop the tomatoes into halves and grate the cheese. Mix the shallots with the grated cheese and spread on the pastry base and place the tomato halves on the top.

Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes. This tart is best to be served warm, but we also took some slices on a New Forest picnic and they were perfectly fine as a cold snack as well. Maybe anything tastes really nice in these wonderful New Forest sceneries, though.

Your VegHog