Provençal produce

People really take pride in their produce in Provence, and they have every right to do so, as the quality of the products is very high. I found all the local shopkeepers and market vendors to be very nice and wanting to talk about their products. Sometimes there was a slight language barrier, but I'm determined to improve my French to be able to understand more. 

I shopped for several different vegetarian food items and drinks there and here is a short overview of some of the lovely stuff you can get in Provence. The quality of the products is normally exquisite, so it was worth a bit of carrying on the Eurostar. You will see me using these products in my cooking now, and I hope that's okay for you. There are always ways to replace stuff, if you can't get the exact thing in a recipe, and this goes for all my dishes!

Wine – Well, what can I say to this subject on French wines that hasn't already been said a million times? I went to the Rhône area, which is a very large wine region with fields and fields of vineyards where ever you look. I sampled many of these wines, both whites and reds while I was there and also brought a few bottles back with me, which shall be saved for special occasions.  

 

Olive oil – Olive trees are everywhere in Provence, hence the quality offer on olive oil as well. We got a recommendation in a friendly wine shop for this local huile d'olive by Bernard Trazic, and indeed it is the most fragrant and flavoursome olive oil you could imagine. I shall only use it for special drizzles on very good dishes only. Then I also purchased a couple of infused olive oils, mandarin and chilli pepper variations. They should be very good in cooking as well and the flasks just look too cute!

Bread – The quality of bread in France is amazing and you can find so many bakeries everywhere. Many days I survived just on baguette and cheese with a little wine. Well, maybe that's not such a balanced diet, but I didn't get tired of it yet.

Vegetables – As I already wrote previously, I did some serious vegetable inspecting and a little bit of buying in Les Halles in Avignon. Particularly the different tomato variations look and taste great. There seem to be fresh vegetables on offer everywhere you go in Provence, most fascinating are maybe those small stalls at roundabouts that sell vegetables and fruits. The French cook a lot with their vegetables, but only rarely make fully vegetarian dishes. That sometimes complicates things for eating out, but when you do a bit of research beforehand, you can find lovely veggie and veggie-friendly places.

Herbs – Herbes de Provence is a widely known dried spice mix typically consisting of marjoram, rosemary, thyme, oregano and savory. It is a great spice mix for vegetarian cooking and I use it quite often for spicing dishes and salads.

Lavender – When you see pictures from Provence, there's probably a lavender field somewhere on there. Now the lavender had already been harvested in the valleys and was only still growing in the mountains, where I unfortunately didn't have time to go to. In any case I got a bouquet of dried lavender for my home to bring a lovely scent. Have you ever cooked anything with lavender?

Tapenades – Tapenades are mainly olive based spreads that you can eat with bread. Here you have to be careful as a vegetarian and always read the ingredient listing as anchovies are often used as an ingredient. I decided not to buy an olive tapenade, but to make one myself soon (watch this space!), and got aubergine caviar instead. 

Beer – Normally people wouldn't associate southern France much as a beer producing region, but there actually are some good local beers available. I'm most probably going to write a beer review of one local product later on.

This is a really quick overview what products can be enjoyed in Provence, but of course there are loads more. Have you been to Provence? What are your recommendations or favourite local products?

Your VegHog

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.

 

 

 

Spring risotto

I already posted the cider review today, but since I had time to write more, I'll give you this spring risotto recipe. Spring and risotto go together for me almost better than anything. I just love to detect the first local asparagus and add it to a light and colourful risotto that melts in your mouth. To this risotto I also added an onion squash, red pepper and shallots. The onion squash is representing more the winter side of things meeting spring vegetables in this dish. Here are the instructions for making it.

Ingredients

1 onion squash

1 red pepper

100g green asparagus

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1l vegetable stock

1 onion stock cube

1tbsp olive oil

25g butter

1dl white wine

300g arborio rice

2tsp salt

1tsp ground black pepper

70g Sussex Charmer vegetarian hard cheese

Method

Peel the onion squash and remove the seeds, then cut it into small cubes. Chop the red pepper, shallots and garlic, and cut about 2cm long pieces of the asparagus. Prepare a vegetable stock and heat it up. The onion stock cube can either be added to the stock, or just to the risotto later.

Then start cooking the shallots and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the squash cubes and pepper and cook for further 10 minutes at medium heat. Keep in mind for the further process that you have to be able to stir the risotto quite often.

Add the butter to the vegetables and let it melt, then add the arborio rice. Once the rice is translucent, pour in the white wine and let it evaporate. Then start making vegetable stock additions. Add a few ladles of it and let the risotto simmer under the lid. The heat can be quite low now, but the pan contents should still be able to simmer. Make sure it doesn't dry up and also stir often.

Keep adding the vegetable stock as long as it's needed until the rice and vegetables have cooked. About five minutes before the end also add the asparagus into the pan and get it cooked al dente. Season with salt and black pepper, and add the grated hard cheese. Add more butter or wine to taste.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Pearl barley mushroom risotto

This risotto can be made very much like a regular risotto. The only difference is that we'll use pearl barley instead of arborio rice. Pearl barley is nutritious, healthy and it tastes brilliant. So it's definitely always a winner and delightful with mushrooms. I think pearl barley needs to simmer slightly longer than arborio rice, but otherwise I'm using my normal risotto method. Let's start cooking!

Ingredients

1 cup of pearl barley

250g chestnut mushrooms

1 large shallot

2 cloves of garlic

100ml white wine

A few dried procini mushrooms

Vegetable stock powder

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Parsley

Thyme

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

Butter

Method

Chop the shallot, garlic and chestnut mushrooms. Prepare a vegetable stock by mixing the vegetable stock powder with water, adding parsley and warming it up. Crush a few porcini mushrooms and soak them in water for about 10 minutes. Later you can add this mushroomy soaking water to the vegetable stock. Remember that we want to make this whole risotto extremely shroomy!

Heat olive oil in a pan and lightly fry the chopped shallot. Then add the chestnut mushrooms to the pan and keep frying for about 5 minutes. Finally add the garlic and the soaked porcini.

Add small butter bits to the pan and let them melt. Then add the pearl barley and stir everything on the pan for a couple of minutes.

Pour the white wine in and let it evaporate. Then add a cup or two of the hot vegetable stock to the pan and let simmer under a lid. Stir often and add more vegetable stock after a while. Keep this up until the barley is cooked.

Grate some vegetarian pasta cheese (vegetarian parmigiano) and add it to the risotto. Season with salt and black pepper. Add more wine, butter or parsley if needed.

Garnish with parsley, cheese and some thyme and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Spring forest picnic

What could be nicer than to pack a few fresh fruits and veg for a picnic and then have a stroll in the forest. I chose the New Forest as my picnic destination and got lucky with a sunny day even though this spring's weather hasn't been ideal. I think that there's no need to write a lot about this, you know what I'm talking about! I'd rather let the photos to speak for themselves.

I love my beautiful new hand painted Nkuku tiffin that was convenient to transport as it's small enough, it kept the food fresh and it's nice to look at.

I took only a few snacks with me: Tomato, mozzarella and basil sticks, strawberries, grapes, cheese focaccia and white wine.

There were also some curious friends trying to join me.

Have fun at your picnics and tell me where you went!

Your VegHog

Gnocchi and spinach bake

Let's continue with the green vegetables in an Italian style setting also today. I have previously shown how to make homemade gnocchi, which are Italian potato dumplings, and now I'm going to make a tasty oven bake with them. You can read my basic gnocchi making tips here.

This recipe makes a huge portion that would serve around four people. For this bake I would start by making the gnocchi first.

The gnocchi:

½ kg Potatoes

1 dl Wheat flour

1 tsp Salt

These amounts are approximate and flour should be added carefully while checking the texture of the dough. It's important to get a texture that holds together at the boiling stage and is neither too soggy nor floury. After a couple of times making gnocchi you'll know what I'm talking about.

Peel the potatoes and boil them for about 30 minutes until they are soft and let them cool down. Then mash the potatoes. Pressing through a potato ricer avoids lumps. Add a pinch of salt and some flour into the bowl and mix and knead until you have a bouncy firm paste that can easily be shaped.

Shape the dough into small balls and boil them in water until they float on the surface.

The sauce:

200g Spinach

A few pine nuts

2 Cloves of garlic

1 Red onion

A glass of white wine

Vegetable stock cube or powder

Nutmeg

Basil leaves

Olive oil

Chop the onion and fry it in olive oil until translucent. Chop the garlic and add it to the pan along with the pine nuts and spinach and fry them for a couple of minutes. Then pour in the wine and dissolve a little stock powder (or a cube) into the wine as it comes to the boil. Grate nutmeg into the sauce and let it simmer for further 10 minutes. Add a little chopped basil towards the end.

The bake:

Grated mozzarella

Mix the gnocchi with the sauce and put everything into an oven dish. Cover with grated mozzarella and bake at 180C until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog