Imagining Avignon

Joan over at Foodalogue has been hosting a wonderful food event titled, "A Culinary Tour Around the World".  Each week, she and participants travel virtually to other countries through the food.  They "meet" people along the way as they dine their way through the country.  Joan started this event not only to satisfy her traveling bug, but to bring awareness to organizations that help fight hunger such as BloggerAid and World Food Programme.  I am so honored that Joan asked me to join their group in France this week.  I had so much fun imagining myself bicycling through southern France and sitting at farmer's tables, that I plan on joining them again.

When Joan and the others caught up with me, I was in a little town in southern France called Avignon.  Avignon has a long history, however, it is probably most famous for the Palais des Papes.  In 1309, Pope Clement V declared Avignon to be the residence of the Papacy instead of Rome.  Seven popes eventually resided in Avignon, however when Gregory XI moved the papacy back to Rome in 1376, a schism occurred in the Catholic church and a small band of cardinals declared a second pope, an antipope, in Avignon.

The Palais des Papes

Today, Avignon is a beautiful town, perfect for wandering through, and a base for exploring Provence.  It was here that I "met" my wonderful guide, a gardener named Michel.  He was the caretaker of a small castle in a little town called Charmes sur l'Herbasse.  It was an hour or so drive to the north, so I settled into his little Peugeot and watched the countryside pass.  The fields of sunflowers and lavender were in bloom (in my imagination, it is always summer) so the time passed quickly and I used it to get to know Michel a little better.  Michel's castle was owned by a rich Parisian couple who spent two weeks in the summer and two weeks in the winter in Charmes sur l'Herbasse.  The rest of the year, Michel and his wife, Aurelie, cared for the castle and it's grounds.

When we arrived at Michel's home, Michel's brother, Benoit, and his family were also there for Sunday lunch.  Benoit gave me a two cheek kiss in greeting and invited me to join a game of petanque.  As he looked like he took it very seriously, and I am not really a sporty type, I politely declined to see what Aurelie was up to in the kitchen.  Aurelie was preparing a simple sandwich called Sardines Grillees Croutes on homemade baguettes.  I found an approximation of her recipe in Rick Stein's French Odyssey.

Grilled Sardine Croutes adapted from Rick Stein's French Odyssey

Serves 3

1 tin sardines, in olive oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 chunks of baguette

3 romaine lettuce leaves

1-2 nice tomatoes, cut into very thin slices

1 jar roasted red peppers

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered

6 anchovy fillets, in olive oil

Directions:  

1.  Open the sardine tin.  There should be three small chunks of sardines inside.  Open each chunk up by cutting down the middle.  Put the sardines on a cookie tray and broil for 3 minutes.

2.  Begin assembling sandwiches.

3.  Open up each chunk of baguette.  On the bottom halves of the baguette chunks, lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Lay romaine lettuce leaves, tomato slices, red onion slices and roasted red pepper pieces on in that order.  Top with sardines and anchovies.

4.  Serve top half of bread alongside.  Also serve with 4 hard boiled egg quarters.

5.  Eat with a fork and knife.

For dessert, Aurelie unwrapped a chunk of Saint Andre cheese, a triple creme cow's milk cheese, and placed it on a communal tray with some prunes.  We also had Aurelie's freshly made yogurt alongside.

After eating, we toured Aurelie's garden.  She had lots of raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, and even a bee hive from which Michel extracts honey in the fall.  It was a very pleasant day in the sun.  We eventually settled in watching Benoit and Michel play a couple of very serious rounds of petanque while sipping on a nice Burgundy.

All too soon, it was time to head to the big city of Grenoble for my flight out of France.  Joan and her travel buddies are off to Portugal next week.  I had been planning on meeting them in Ethiopia in three weeks, but I had so much fun on this adventure that they may see me before that.  If you are interested in joining Joan and crew yourself for their culinary tour, just click on the Foodalogue badge above.  Until then, A bientot!

Roasted Pepper Soup with Pork Meatballs

Our CSA basket currently overflows with peppers.  There is a bitter quality to peppers that is really not my favorite so I have been squirreling them away in the refrigerator behind things like cottage cheese and egg cartons trying to forget they are there.  However when we received yet more peppers in our basket this week, I knew I needed something that used them all up lest I feel guilty for not taking advantage of this bounty.  The following soup is what I came up with as a way to use all the peppers at once.  My husband fears that I'm going to soup myself out now and not want to make any during the cold months since I've recently been on a soup kick, but I doubt that.  Soup is so nurturing that I'll naturally want some come cold weather, plus, it gets my kids to eat their veggies especially when I puree it (and bribe them with dessert).  My husband really liked this soup.  The meatballs were light and the soup itself tasted like gravy.  Hearty and yummy.  Enjoy!

Roasted Pepper Soup with Pork Meatballs by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

5-6 sweet peppers of all colors (keep green peppers to no more than 2) roasted, and cut into thin strips  (see *note below if you don't know how to roast peppers)

1 Tbs. fresh oregano

4 3/4 cups Chicken Broth (divided)

salt

8 oz. ground pork

4 egg whites (or 2 whole eggs)

bread crumbs

1.  Over medium-low heat, add olive oil to heavy bottomed soup pot.  Add the sliced, roasted peppers, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.

2.  Add half the chicken broth to the soup pot with the peppers and bring to a simmer.  Add salt to taste and simmer for about 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, puree with an immersion blender or in small batches in the blender.  Return to the pot.

3.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, add the pork, the egg whites and enough bread crumbs so mixture will stick together.  Roll small meatballs out of entire mixture.  Add meatballs to another pot with the other half of the chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a gentle boil and cook meatballs for 10 minutes.

4.  Add meatballs and broth to the pureed pepper soup and simmer another 10 minutes.  

*To roast peppers:  Put the peppers directly over the flame on stove burner.  Turn with tongs occasionally, but the idea is to char the skin all over.  After the skin is charred, wrap the peppers up in a kitchen towel to "sweat" a few minutes.  Rub the peppers with the towel to remove most of the blackened skin.  Doing this really sweetens the peppers up and brings out their flavors while mellowing that bitter taste that green peppers have.