Oven Sundried tomato puree. To make a standard sized jam jar (1 lb, 454 g) you will need 200g oven-dried tomatoes (from a kilo of fresh, plum tomatoes) baked with a sprinkling of herbes de provence.

Contributor blog post by Pesto & Pistou: Rather like the Moroccan tagine but without the lid, a tian is an earthenware dish used for baking a simple, local recipe that shares the same name. Tian, the recipe, is an excellent example of rustic provençal cooking using just a few ingredients …

Jackie shares her version of a Provencal classic soupe au pistou. In this variation, there is a heavier dose of tomatoes to give you a summery reminder as winter closes in. According to Jackie, All this tomato growing and preserving couldn’t go by without attempting a few new recipe ideas …

Contributor blog post by Pesto and Pistou: The last few days of summer have found me busily preserving tomatoes for use during the winter. Over in France the long, hot August days were perfect for my first attempt at sundried plum tomatoes which sat shrivelling in the garden sun for two …

Contributor blog post by PestoPistou: I’ve just returned to Burgundy after a blissful few days in the Var where we stayed on the Med in the town of Le Pradet, five miles to the east of Toulon. Having recently been introduced to the wines of a local Var estate in …

Contributor blog post by PestoPistou: Last summer on a wine-tasting visit to Bellet in the hills above Nice I tasted and bought some of Domaine de la Source’s delicious pâte d’olives made with the local cailletier black olives. The French term for this little treat in a jar translates into …

Contributor blog post by Pesto & Pistou: Just like last August’s post on a similar subject, I arrived in France, four days ago, with broad beans (fava beans) from the UK. This time, however, there was a recipe on my agenda that had been there for too long and I …

Contributor blog post by Pesto and Pistou As we start to come into the tomato season, more in the Mediterranean areas than here in the UK of course, I’ve been turning my attention to tomato recipes. When tomatoes first appeared in Italy in the 1600s they weren’t adopted by peasants …

By PestoPistou This is a very quick post for a very quick and easy canapé dish that showcases the abundant crop of green salad leaves and delicate herbs flourishing at this time of year. Here in Dorset, we have wild rocket, basil, chives, mint, peashoots, wild garlic and sage in …

By PestoPistou Barba Juan, or Barbagiuai if you’re over in Liguria translates as ‘Uncle John’ and the relevance of the name for this delicious, local dish remains a mystery for most. In his book ‘Flavours of the Riviera’, Colman Andrews offers one or two possible explanations, and the one that …