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Provence

Food & Cuisine While there are markets all over France in Provence you will find exciting markets in every town. Some towns have farmers markets with farm produce being the main feature while other markets will feature clothing, bags and belts, antiques. In fact anything that can be sold will be available somewhere.

In the Luberon you must visit the bustling farmer's market in Coustellet (Sunday morning). This is a true farmers market with couples with the Renault van backed in, a couple of trestle tables and selling fruit, vegetables, preserves, honey and wine, direct from the farm. This is the place to buy your fresh tomatoes, aubergines, zucchinis, peppers, onions and garlic plus a big bunch of Herbs de Provence for the Ratatouille recipe below. Then with a Baguette under your arm you are off home to prepare lunch. The real flavours of Provence! And if this sounds like hard work then I’m sure you will find your Ratatouille and heaps of other local dishes already prepared in the market! And the larger markets of Apt (Saturdays), Cavaillon (Monday morning), and Aix en Provence (Thursday and Saturday mornings) and perhaps best of all, Isle sur la Sorgue (Sunday morning).

Hand-made Chocolates Most towns will have a Chocolatier. Shops with wonderful displays of tempting delights. In L’Isle sur la Sorgue, a very pleasant town with a huge range of interesting shops and places to eat plus a couple of good wine caves, we discovered an outstanding Chocolatier. The products were all made in the shop and we got to taste much of the range. The nougats were something special!

Ratatouille This Nicoise dish captures the flavours of the markets of Provence—fresh tomatoes, aubergines, zucchinis, and peppers along with onions and garlic. Ratatouille is good served with couscous or rice. Recipe (4 servings makes about 4.5 litres) 0.6 kg tomato 250 g eggplant (2) 200 g zucchini (2) 250 g bell pepper (2-3) 0.4 kg onion 2 cloves garlic Herbs de Provence (basil, thyme, parsley) olive oil salt, pepper 50 g tomato paste Cooking time - 65 minutes Remove the stem cores; drop the whole tomatoes into boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove into a colander. Peel off the skin. Chop the onion and garlic. Clean the bell pepper, cut into small strips. In a large cooking pot with thick bottom, put in olive oil, onions and chopped garlic. Add in the bell pepper. Cover to keep in the moisture. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, and add olive oil as necessary to prevent burning. Add tomatoes and herbs de Provence. Add a small can of tomato paste. Stir well and cook for another 15 minutes. Cut the eggplant into rounds. Cut the un-peeled zucchini into rounds. Add the eggplant and zucchini to the pot. Cook for about 30 minutes.