Pistou & Pastis

An Edible Love Letter to the South of France

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You are here: Home / Archives for Provence

Ramp Pasta

April 18, 2018 by Francois

Ramp Pasta made like Pate Nicoise

One of my favorite springtime dishes is a classic daube of lamb, a Provencal lamb stew made from onctuous lamb cheeks slowly simmered in rose with lavender honey till impossibly tender. Traditionally daubes are served with something starchy, like pasta or gnocchi, to help stretch the meat out and serve as a vehicle to soak up the wonderful juices.

In Nice, they often make a green gnocchi (Pate Nicoise) that simmers in the broth for the last 30 minutes. This year I tried something new, I made a classic Pate Nicoise, using wild ramps in place of the more traditional Swiss chard, and the results were stunning.

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Filed Under: Bases, Pacific Northwest, Pasta, Provencal, Provence Tagged With: Daube, French Country Cooking, Geraldene Holt, lamb, Pasta, Pate Nicoise, Ramps

Cured Black Cod, Fried Chickpeas, Chorizo Croquette, Anchoiade

March 21, 2018 by Francois

This dish is the result of an unexpected collaboration between two chefs who never met, David Everitt-Matthias and my sous chef Keith Schneider. The flavors and scents spoke of Provence; freshly salted cod, wisps of the citrus, chickpeas and roasted red peppers. Each dish a reflection of a single moment, an edible photograph capturing a mere twinkling of time, locked forever.

I bought Chef Everitt-Matthias’s book ‘Essence’ years before, and had fawned and drooled over the lush photography and original inspiring recipes within. I couldn’t afford a trip to England to eat at his restaurant, so I started reproducing some of the dishes in my own restaurant. I cooked a verbatim copy of one of my favorites, home-salted cod with roasted tomatoes, chickpeas and anchovy dressing, for so long, I began thinking it was my own creation.

Keith Schneider was my last Sous Chef in the professional world who looked remarkably like a young Michael Douglas. He learned to make the best liquid center croquettes on the planet after spending five years sweating in Iron Chef Jose Garces’ kitchens. The first dish he ever cooked for me was a croqueta served with a saffron aioli, I loved it so much I immediately put it on the menu, eventually adding it to the cured cod set.

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Filed Under: Chef, Cooking Technique, French, Mediterranean, Provencal, Provence, Recipes, Seafood Tagged With: anchoiade, Chickpeas, Cured Black Cod, Everitt-Matthias, Jose Garces, Keith Schneider

Top 10 Provencal Dishes

March 5, 2018 by Francois

It is absolutely no secret to anyone that knows me well that I am in head over heels in love with Provence, land of my predecessors. It’s heaven on earth; land of the golden sunshine, peopled by a population that are joyous, defiant, independent with a playful spirit, and best of all, they really love to eat. The cuisine is simple and rustic, yet diversely reflects the seasons on every plate. Limiting my favorites to a select, top 10 list was hard, but this is what I came up with.

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Filed Under: Big Plates, France, French Soul Food, Provencal, Provence Tagged With: Daube, Marseille, Pistou, Provencal, Provence, Ratatouille, Roger Verge, Tian, Top Ten dishes

Halibut Tian with Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions and Just-Dug Potatoes

September 22, 2017 by Francois

A tian is an earthenware vessel of Provence used both for cooking and serving. It is also the name of the dish prepared in it and baked in an oven. – Wikipedia

A lot of friends had asked for this recipe shortly after posting a picture of it on Facebook two weeks ago. The dish was born of the moment, inspired partly by too much pastis and perhaps a memory not quite my own. We had just gotten back from France, and my garden was overgrown with weeds competing for the same limited resources that nourished my vegetables. I was doing everything to avoid tackling the tangled mess, so I started reading Roger Verge’s classic tome, ‘Cuisine of the Sun’ under the guise of research. I got to the pages where he delectably described in vivid detail a lunch with local fishermen in Cannes. They had just caught two beautiful John Dorys, and were preparing a large, festive tian for everyone to enjoy. Verge waxed on poetically about “potatoes gilded with saffron, ruddy tomatoes, pale onions, bluish thyme, green bayleaf and steel-grey fish” cooked in the local baker’s oven and served in the golden May sunlight. I was hooked.

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Filed Under: Family Food, Farmer's Markets, France, French Soul Food, Mediterranean, Provencal, Provence, Seafood Tagged With: Casseroles, Halibut, Provence, Roger Verge, Tian, Tians

Chez Fonfon and the Golden Bouillabaisse

September 10, 2017 by Francois

The eyes are the mirror of the soul and reflect everything that seems to be hidden; and like a mirror, they also reflect the person looking into them. – Paulo Coelho

No other dish in the world better captures the soul and spirit of a single region than bouillabaisse. The rich, often colorful history of Marseille floats sublimely with rascasse in its spicy golden hued broth. Some believe bouillabaisse got its start from the Greek mariners who founded Marseille as Massalia in 600 BC, while others claim its origins are strictly Italian because of a few shared ingredients. The absolute truth may be that no one can precisely pinpoint the exact single moment in time, whether on that fabled riverbed encampment of fishermen and their wives or not, that bouillabaisse was born. What really would be the point of trying to figure that out anyway? It won’t make it taste any better, and it certainly won’t change the fact that bouillabaisse is the mirror reflection of the cultural melting pot Marseille has become. And the deeper I look into it, the more I see my own story reflected in it.

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Filed Under: Big Plates, Classics, Family Food, France, French, French Soul Food, Mediterranean, Provencal, Provence, Restaurant Reviews, Seafood, Soup Tagged With: Alphonse Mounier, Bouillabaisse, Chez Fonfon, Clifford Wright, Jean-Noël Escudier, l'Epuisette, Marseille, Miramar, Pastis, Patricia Wells, Peter Mayle

Roasted Figs and Rose

September 1, 2017 by Francois

To eat figs off the tree in the very early morning, when they have been barely touched by the sun, is one of the exquisite pleasures of the Mediterranean.  Elizabeth David 

A few days ago, Lisa and I returned from an all too short vacation in France. We started up north in Puligny Montrachet then worked our way south to the golden sunshine of my family’s beloved Provence. When we arrived at our home in Cagnes sur Mer, near Nice (France), I only wanted to drink roses, pastis and red Bandols and eat Provencal food. The idea was solidified after I returned from the local farmer’s market armed with a beautiful wild sea bass caught that very morning and a basket of perfectly ripe figs….

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Filed Under: Family Food, Farmer's Markets, France, Mediterranean, Provencal, Provence, Small Plates and Nibbles, Uncategorized Tagged With: Cagnes sur Mer, figs, France, greg malouf, Iberico ham, Provence, Rose

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Burgundy by Bacchus

Recent Posts

  • Ramp Pasta
  • Rhubarb Tart
  • Slowing down to a Provencal Rhythm
  • Culinary Adventures: Eat France Like a Local
  • Cured Black Cod, Fried Chickpeas, Chorizo Croquette, Anchoiade

Why Pistou and Pastis?

Pistou is a very simple, rustic soup made with whatever is at hand, and evokes the very spirit of Provence in every bite. There is no one single recipe to adhere to, rather it is a joyous celebration of whatever is in season and inspires you to share your table with friends.

Pastis, on the other hand, is an integral part of daily life that encourages laughter and merriment, and fuels our imagination on dreary Pacific Northwest days when we are at home dreaming of lavender, laughter and golden sunsets.

We hope Pistou and Pastis acts as a metaphor to inspire home cooks to be more free and fearless in the kitchen, and to use the seasons like other people use cookbooks.

Week by week, we will share beautiful dishes made with what what we found at the farmers market. Sometimes the pastis will inspire a long dialogue, other times simply a great recipe quickly posted to share. Foods that profoundly touch your soul, are one of the many treasures of life.

Francois, Lisa et Beaumont

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Meet Chef Francois

François grew up in a very French household in Chicago. His earliest attempts at cookery began with the filleting of his sister’s goldfish at age two and braising his pet rabbit at age seven. Eventually he stopped cooking his pets and became a Chef. Read More…

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