Food & Drink
Take yourself off to the South of France with these recipes full of evocative flavours
Recipes from the South of France by Neil Forbes, plus Rose Murray Brown on great autumn reds
Idon’t have a very large front garden but a lot grows there. As I look out, I see lavender waving in our gloriously wet late summer. The bees still devour the pollen, even in the rain. Two years ago I planted a fig tree and cherished its first fruit last year. This year we have almost two dozen. At the base of the tree, I grow nasturtiums that are pretty and delicious in a salad, or for pickling the wee buds like a caper.
To escape the rain, my mind drifts to the South of France where I’m sitting at a harbourside restaurant gazing at the day boats bobbing up and down on the lapis lazuli sea with a sunbleached awning shielding me from the full glare of the sun. My nostrils fill with the aromas of bouillabaisse and cooking shellfish as I sip a glass of very cold, crisp white wine, while the occasional waft of saffron, garlic and good bread baking fills the air.
It’s busy, the way a restaurant should be, and it’s the perfect place to eat a simply grilled fish served with peppery olive oil, salt, lemon, a sprinkling of capers, a few boiled potatoes and a salad, perhaps with nasturtiums. Then a piece of creamy cheese with a ripe fruit, a peach perhaps, and a very strong coffee.
Wake up Neil I hear you say! But at Cafe St Honoré we always strive to recreate that kind of joyful, sensory memory. And we can do the same at home using our incredible produce, either home- grown or market bought.
Panzanella
A really simple and easy way to use up leftover sourdough in a delicious salad with summer herbs. Mint, basil, and capers are the essential ingredients. The juice from the tomatoes softens the crusty bread just enough, and the sharp, sweet vinegar cuts through the oil’s richness. I adore it on its own as a main course, or with a whole chicken roasted with lots of lemon and salt.
Makes two portions
1 handful of mini plum and/ or cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp diced cucumber
1 tbsp sliced red onion
1 tbsp diced red pepper, optional 1 small handful sourdough crusts 1 tsp capers
1 tbsp red wine or bramble vinegar 1 tsp ripped mint leaves
2 basil leaves, ripped
3 tbsp extra- virgin olive oil
2 tbsp cold- pressed rapeseed oil good salt and pepper
1 Heat the oven to 120C/ Gas Mark ¼ . Wash the tomatoes and pat dry. Place in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and dry in the oven for about an hour.
2 Cut the sourdough crusts into 1- inch cubes and fry in the rapeseed oil until golden.
3 It’s now a case of assembling the dish in a bowl as all the work has been done. Add the dried tomatoes and croutons to a big bowl, then add the cucumber, red onion, pepper, capers, vinegar, mint and basil. Season with salt and pepper then add the remaining olive oil.
4 Give all the ingredients a good mix and divide between 2 small bowls or serve as a big bowl in the centre of the table. Eat on its own or serve with fish or roast meats.
Red mullet with fennel
When you make this dish it will make you feel as if you are in the South of France. It’s a classic way to cook vegetables called à la grecque. I use a splash of lemon and a good white wine or cider vinegar to lend acidity to the richness of the olive oil, together with coriander seeds, garlic and a tiny pinch of saffron and bay. Served with the crispy- skinned fish, it is just delicious.
Serves two
2 fillets fresh red mullet, skin on, pinboned and scaled
1 good- sized fennel bulb, peeled and quartered
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped ½ carrot, peeled and diced small ½ stick celery, peeled and diced small 1 shallot, peeled and diced small 6 coriander seeds, lightly crushed in a pestle and mortar a few strands of saffron juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp good white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
100ml extra- virgin olive oil
1 tbsp olive oil for cooking the fish good salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tsp chopped parsley or chives
1 Blanch the fennel until just soft ( 4 to 5 minutes) in a pot of boiling, salted water.
2 Heat a tablespoon of extra- virgin olive oil in a clean pan on a moderate hob. Fry the shallots, carrots, garlic and celery for 2 to 3 minutes until all the veg are starting to soften and just about to colour. Then stir in the fennel, coriander seeds and add the bay leaf, saffron, vinegar, lemon juice and the remaining extra- virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and leave to simmer with a lid on for 30 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked and flavoursome. Be careful not to overcook and dry the vegetables out.
3 Add the oil for frying to a hot, nonstick frying pan. Ensure the fish is dry and the surface of the pan is covered with oil before gently placing the fish into the pan. Do this slowly, laying the fish skin- side- down, away from you so as not to splash. Cook with a little salt and pepper for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn the fish over, remove the pan from the heat and season again. 4 To serve, season the fennel dish and stir through the fresh herbs. Arrange onto plates, spooning the sauce over the fennel before placing the fish alongside. Dress with a squeeze of lemon and serve at once.
Peach Melba
I fondly remember my parents’ peach tree when they lived in France. It was out by the wood shed and used to produce a huge amount of incredibly sweet fruit. It is sometimes difficult to find good peaches and nectarines here, but search about and you will be pleasantly surprised. The combination of raspberries and peach with vanilla ice cream is just heavenly.
Serves two
1 really lovely, not- too- ripe peach 1 star anise
1 bay leaf
150g caster sugar
750ml water
1 punnet of good raspberries, I like Leadketty Farm fruit just now squeeze of lemon
2 scoops vanilla ice- cream
1 Make a stock syrup by combining the water with 125g sugar, star anise and bay in a small pot. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer.
2 Cut the peach in half, add it to the syrup ( including the stone) and leave to poach for 45 minutes to 1 hour. To make the raspberry coulis, bring half the raspberries and the remaining sugar to the boil in a pot with 2 tablespoons of the stock syrup. Then blitz in a liquidiser for 1 minute and add lemon juice to taste. Pass through a fine sieve and allow to cool.
3 Remove the peaches from the stock syrup and pinch the skin gently to remove it. Or use the tip of a knife, being careful not to damage the fruit. 4 To serve, spoon the coulis into the centre of two plates. Place a scoop of ice- cream in the centre of the coulis and arrange a few raspberries. Place the peach half on top of the ice cream, serve and enjoy the just- warm fruit with the cool ice- cream.