The Provence Cookbook by Patricia Wells

Emily Buchanan August 26, 2009

The Provence cookbook by Patricia Wells

Soon my husband Walter and I will celebrate our 20th year as owners – I should really say caretakers – of our rewarding little farmhouse in northern Provence. The property is known as Chanteduc – the song of the owl – and is made up of a splendid spread of vines, oaks, pines, and olive trees, as well an endless blue-sky view of the Provençal countryside. I cannot imagine a patch of land that could offer more happiness. Much of the reward comes from the precious bounty the earth here provides. It is one of paradox, for I can speak the word “earth” but barely the word “soil.” How can this rocky, seemingly forsaken land give us such richness? Bold and fruity red wine with a touch of wild cherry, plump black olives, precious figs that seem to drip with honey, and all manner of herbs and vegetables, from my prized Russian variety of tomatoes, and on to my cherished caper bush.

But that’s just home ground. This book is more than a scrapbook of our 20 years huddled around the fire in winter and beneath the oak tree in summer. It is the story of farmers and winemakers, tradesmen, shopkeepers, and restaurateurs, the men and the women who bake our bread, age our cheese, press our olives, unearth our truffles. It is a window into My Provence, a very specific part of northern Provence, a world filled with lavender fields, fruit orchards, olive groves, and endless stretches of vines. It is home to some of the finest vineyards in the world, those of the Southern Rhône, including the famed Châteauneuf-du-Pape, as well as my favorite Vacqueyras and Gigondas, and the lesser known Tavel and Lirac.

I live more than half of each year here, much of it spent touring markets, shops, restaurants, farms, in search of the freshest and finest of the season, sniffing out a new variety of potato, a just-released variety of strawberry, making friends with almost everyone I meet, snatching recipes and sharing a few of my own. Vendors laugh as I gasp when I see the first-of-season fresh white shell beans -- cocos blancs – a signal that I can add Provençal vegetable soup, or pistou, to my weekly repertoire. And when the fishmonger sees me coming, he is sure to point out the rarity of a special Mediterranean species. Chefs bring me into the kitchen to sniff a freshly unearthed truffle, and my winemakers delight in squeezing a perfectly ripe grape, its juice running free and fragrant.

In ways that only people who share a special passion can, we feed upon one another, understanding that we will all become equally excited and grateful for a perfectly ripe and flawlessly grape harvest, about a particularly successful truffle hunt, a second season’s crop of figs, or the beauty of an olive tree laden with a record bounty of ripe fruit. I know that we all feel equally fortunate to reap such harvests, and share mutual disappointment when the rains, excessive heat or drought, even hail, derail plans for a perfect season.

In this book I have tried to share the fruits of my own labors, both in touring the region as well as in the kitchen. This is a volume of Provençal customs and lore, of personal tips on kitchen organization, talk of cheese as well as wine. Market life plays a huge role in final enjoyment and so I have tried to shed a glimpse of light on that welcome ritual.

Food is nothing if it only looked upon as an ingredient or a crop. It must be appreciated in its natural state, savored and sometimes transformed – with minimal intervention – until it arrives at our table to be shared and appreciated by family and friends. As I have been taught by experience, the ingredient is best enjoyed when the least has been done to it. Over the years my food has become simpler and simpler. I want a pear cake to taste of pears, not of sugar or honey. I like tomatoes to star in a tomato salad and for nothing to overwhelm the sweet flavor of fresh red tuna. Chicken should be meaty and not camouflaged with creams or butters, and nothing can beat the flavor of sweet fresh almonds baked into a crispy giant cookie-cake. Each recipe is here for a reason, has a personal story, and is connected to a human being. Please, come into my kitchen and share with me the sunshine of Provence, the fruits of many labors. Appreciate and enjoy.

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>> The Provence Cookbook Reviewed in the Press

>> Reader Reviews of The Provence Cookbook

Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells

Emily Buchanan August 26, 2009

Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells

It was an August morning of abundant Provençal sunshine, and I was putting the finishing touches on my last book — The Provence Cookbook. I had spent the morning testing a quartet of vegetable recipes, and as I placed the completed dishes on the table under the oak tree for lunch, a light bulb went on. The dishes all looked so natural and so perfect, and I had so enjoyed creating them that I simply knew that vegetables would be the topic of my next book.

Every book changes an author in some ways. But Vegetable Harvest has totally altered the way I look at markets, menus and seasons, and the role of vegetables in the diet and in the menu. Rather than creating a meal around the fish, the poultry or the meat, I found that I began putting the vegetables first.

With vegetables no longer afterthoughts, I began trying to see how many I could pack into our diet each day. Even classic combinations were altered to give vegetables a bigger role. So beef with carrots became carrots and beef, and a newly created spring lamb couscous soon found its way to our dinner table as a generous blend of zucchini, chickpeas and couscous. Flanked of course by tender morsels of gigot. Instead of meat or poultry or fish and a side of vegetables, I tripled the number of vegetables in each meal.

As cooks, we all get stuck in a rut. Asparagus is cooked one way, zucchini another, eggplant another. To break out, I tried to find all the ways of serving a single vegetable, and to include not just one, but three different preparations of zucchini (or green bean, or eggplant) in a single meal. Likewise, we tend to steam, braise, roast, blanch vegetables the same way time and again. Again, the routine became a challenge to experiment, looking for the best tasting and most wholesome way of cooking each ingredient and found there was always a better or even a best way.

The students in my cooking classes, both in Paris and Provence, responded with enthusiasm, happy to go back home knowing how delicious steamed peas with herbs could taste, or to know that the stem of the artichoke is one of the tenderest, most delicious parts of that regal vegetable.

As I photographed in markets, I also found myself more and more connected to each and every vegetable. They were not just food to me, but little wonders of life. I marveled over the veins of the perfect winter cabbage, noticed the colors of the soil that clung to the carrots fresh from the earth, sighed with pleasure at the kaleidoscope of colors of the heirloom tomatoes in my garden, smiled as I spied through the lens the classic color wheel pairing of vegetables side by side: The French almost make a ritual of it, with deep purple beets and wintergreen mâche always teamed up, as are alabaster cauliflower and ruby radishes. And is there anything more beautiful than first-of-season white or green or purple tipped asparagus, gently gnarled fava beans, or the pert honeycomb of a perfect, spring morel?

With each season, vegetables seem to speak of hope. Their colors, the aromas as they cook, the intense flavors, are all there as simple, pure pleasures.

In this book, I have chosen to include nutritional information for each recipe. Not to make us slaves to calories or fat, protein, or carbohydrates. But to let us know what we are consuming. As well as pleasure, food is fuel, so let’s put the best fuel we can into our bodies. As one who cooks and eats for a living, I find that I need to pay careful attention to portion-size as well as nutritional balance. I want every bit of my food to count, so there is simply no room for empty calories or food that needs to be more caloric than need be. So as one who values flavor above all, I have worked hard to make the food as tasty, and nutritious as it can be.

As cooks today, we are all looking for shortcuts and convenience. To me, shopping every day is not just a necessity but a joy. But like everyone, there are days there is not much time to think about the dinner table, and on those days I do appreciate some convenience. Prewashed and packaged greens, frozen peas and canned chickpeas or artichoke hearts are a godsend.

In Vegetable Harvest I have taken a very personal approach to defining the vegetable world. The ingredients here include nuts and seeds as well as fruits we consider vegetables, like rhubarb, tomatoes, and avocado. In truth, I decided to include anything that would grow in my garden in Provence. That’s very personal indeed.

The greatest character of a vegetable is that it gives so much of itself while asking so little of us who prepare it. For example, some of the recipes here that I find most sublime are the simplest ones, like steamed creamy cabbage, cauliflower purée, and heirloom tomato broth with fresh tarragon. These are dishes that come together on their own, as the French say, “se mangent tout seul,” meaning they go down easily, with no need of embellishment.

Finally, this book brings a fervent wish: May all our tables be forever laden with fresh, gorgeous, fragrant vegetables!

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We've Always Had Paris...and Provence by Patricia and Walter Wells

Emily Buchanan August 26, 2009

“Patricia Wells, long recognized as the leading American authority on French food, and her husband, Walter, live the life in France that many of us have often fantasized about. After more than a quarter of a century, they are as close to being accepted as “French” as any non-natives can be. In this delightful memoir they share in two voices their experiences – the good, the bad, and the funny – offering a charming and evocative account of their beloved home and some of the wonderful people they have met along the way. Full of the flavor and the color the couple’s adopted country, this tandem memoir reflects on the life that France has made possible for them and explores how living abroad has shaped their relationship.

Written in lyrical, sensual prose and filled with anecdotes, insights, and endearing snapshots of Walter and Patricia over the years, We’ve Always Had Paris…and Provence beautifully conveys the nuances of the French and their culture as only a practiced observer can. Literally a moveable feast to be savored and shared, including more than thirty recipes that will delight readers and cooks alike, the couple’s valentine to France and to each other is delicious in every way.

Advance Praise for the Book:

“Two wonderful people accidentally found their destinies in another world, experiencing the enthusiasms and frustrations of a never-ending stream of adventures. The result is a charming, moving, and deliciously entertaining insider’s view of the people, the places, the gardens, the food and the wine that will forever change the way you look at Paris and Provence.”

Jeffrey and Ina Garten

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Now also available in paperback