Product Description

These authentic dishes from bestselling author Clare Ferguson, all bursting with the tastes and character of Provence, are beautifully photographed by Peter Cassidy. Snacks and Hors d'Oeuvres include simple recipes such as Aioli, Tapenade, and Fougasse breads. Explore salads, vegetables and grains, from Salade Nicoise to Camargue Red Rice Salad. Soups, Lighter Dishes and Seafood features the famous Bouillabaisse plus Clams Sauteed with Fennel. Meat, Game and Poultry dishes include a rich Estouffade (stew) of Wild Boar, Quails with Figs and the classic Sisteron-style Roasted Lamb. Luscious Desserts include Oreillettes (pastries) and Lavender Creams with Scented Syrup.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #186999 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Review
Sainsbury's Magazine, BBC Good Food, Olive, Waitrose Food Illustrated, Delicious

About the Author
Clare Ferguson is a much-published author, food stylist, editor and television presenter. She was food editor of Elle and She, and is now contributing food editor for Homes & Gardens. Her other books for Ryland Peters & Small include Mediterraneo and Antipasti. She lives in Notting Hill, west London.

Customer Reviews

Not just another book on Provençal cooking
this is 'Flavours of Provence - recipes from the south of France'........

and, for me, memories truly revisited!

'Provence, in southern France is a region of outstanding natural beauty. Its sunshine, luscious produce, nut and olive groves, picturesque hill towns and excellent wines have attracted and enthralled visitors for many centuries.
Travellers, cooks and gourmands curious to discover the real Provençal table will welcome Clare Ferguson's authentic recipes and fascinating essays on the region's unique produce and culinary traditions.'

A super book packed full of information from this popular region.
The on-location photography is simply breath-taking and it is easy to forgive the lack of finished 'dish recipes' for this very reason.
The dishes which are photographed are, well.... siply mouth-watering, e.g. 'Herbed Ceps with Brandy' on page 55, 'Scented Fruit Jelly' on page 136 and 'Marzipan Loaf in the Arles Style' on page 139!

The author shares her extensive knowledge with additional notes on the selecting and purchasing of ingredients, e.g.:-

'The wild mushroom season creates much excitement throughout Provence, but especially in the northern reaches of the Var.
The mushrooms, which include many boletus varieties, are often packed on pine needles for the trip to market.
When buying, check that the caps and stems, when cut open, are worm-free (or relatively so), that the aroma is fresh and sweet and the surface dense, but not damp........'

and geographical notes, e.g.:-

'Just south of Arles, the river Rhône splits in two: held in the 'embrace' of these twin waterways is the area known as 'Petite Carmargue' - a region of plains, dunes, rice paddies and reed-fringed swamps.
Here are found pink flamingos, white herons, white horses, black bulls and 'gardians' (the cow-boys who tend them).
Sinti and Roma (gypsy) people gather yearly in nearby Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, and event now world famous.
This beef stew echoes that fascinating locale.'

This knowledge precedes the recipe for 'Cowboy Beef Stew'.

Stunning cover, with different but equally enticing picture on the dust-jacket, opens to 160 pages high quality, shiny pages, spilt over 2 main sections:-

(1) The ingredients (the informative opening pages for each of the recipe chapters):-

Olives, walnuts and their oils
Market gardens (includes a seasonal guide to availability)
Provençal herbs, garlic and spices
Provençal fish and seafood
Provençal meat, game and poultry
Sweet confections and their rituals
Provençal sheep's and goat's milk cheeses
The wines of Provence

(2) The recipes

Starters and nibbles
Salads, vegetables and grains
Soups, seafood and lunch dishes
Poultry, meat and game
Sweet things and cheese
Preserves, drinks and treats

sandwiched between an introduction, entitled - 'The Flavours of Provence' and a full index.

Each recipe is clearly laid out with titles in both English and French, followed by a short paragraph of relevant information, e.g.:-

From 'Roasted two-pepper salad':-

'Sweet peppers abound in France.
They come in all shapes and sizes (often wildly irregular), and many colours, including pale green, emerald green, orange, red, yellow, tiger-striped and purple-black.
When char-grilled and eaten with country bread rubbed with garlic and herbs, they're simply heavenly.'

along with a list of ingredients, the method and the recommended 'To drink' - in this case New World Rosé or an off-dry Zinfandel.

A taste of the other recipes contained within:-

Stuffed Baby Vegetables
Tiny liver pates in pots
Chestnut-leek chowder
Pan-cooked red mullet
Provençal fish soup with `rust` sauce
Chicken sauté Provence-style
Quails with figs
Shoulder of lamb with mountain herbs
Classic Provençal beef daube with pasta
Veal parcels in lemon sauce
Peaches in rose syrup
White nougat ice cream
Crispy pastry shapes
Melon conserve
Lemon verbena tea

This magical book is completed with an emerald green ribbon marker to keep your place, if you can bear to put it down for long enough!

....And what fantastic flavours they are!
I agree completely with the first reviewer. The photographs are stunning but even they are eclipsed by what comes out of the oven if you follow the recipies! The Sisteron Lamb, which I made with Romney Marsh Lamb, was to go to heaven for! The Provencal Chicken was delicious and the soups brought back memories of lunches in village inns in the area.

If you have only one French Cookbook, make it this one.