A  traditional soft bread found in Provence – fougasse – is the inspiration for the walnut and blue cheese tarte soleil (a puff-pastry tart) recipe. The tart is best served hot or at room temperature. Petra Carter, the founder of le Pistou Cookery School in Uzès, made this version with cheese and walnuts. However, you can adjust the fillings to suit your taste, or what you have on hand.

This article was previously published on the French Quarter Magazine website. “Interview with Goût et Voyage, Spotlight on Travel and Cooking” Tell us a bit about Goût et Voyage. Goût et Voyage creates lasting memories through French (and Italian) gourmet travel adventures. Martine Bertin-Peterson serves as the escort for all …

This recipe for a baked ratatouille tian combines layers of summer (estival) vegetables in an earthenware dish. You can vary the ingredients depending on what is available. This version of a traditional, Provencal side-dish comes from the kitchen at le Pistou Cookery School in Uzès.

The Gift of a Town Perched on a hillside with its back to the Mistral wind, Ansouis is a gem of a village in the Luberon that definitely earns its status as one of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. With its tiny laneways, houses built into ancient ramparts, …

This recipe from the kitchen of Anne Challier is really a French cuisine classic. Pâté fois de volaille is easy to make in advance and perfect for an appetizer or a picnic.

Provence Love Stories A budding romance, a Provencal setting and voila – a love story. The following list of books only begins to scratch the surface of the popular women’s fiction genre. However, we recommend these authors as they write beautifully, inviting you into the lifestyle in the South of …

Navigating the streets of Uzès on a market day is not for the faint of heart, add some road construction to the mix, and it gets a bit spicier, but I was determined. On the agenda, was a hands-on cooking class at le Pistou Cookery School, and the promise of …

In Portugal, the culinary rumour is that there are 365 (or more) ways to cook salt-cod (bacalhau) – one for every day of the year. Cod is called morue in French. It is quite common to find this fish on menus, and it is often the “centre” of attention in the traditional Provencal aioli (recipe here). Gilles recipe for brandade a purée of salt cod, olive oil and other ingredients is below.

This article “Twenty Years Living in Aix-en-Provence”  was originally published on author M. L. Longworth’s website. The post is her reflective view of how the city of Aix-en-Provence has changed in the last two decades, and of those staples that make the city unique. Our decision to move to France …

Travel Guides for Provence Remember when we carried around hefty paperbacks to guide our travels? In the 1980s, long before smartphones, tourists faithfully checked these guidebooks for reviews on hotels, restaurants and must-see sights. Backpackers conscious of space and weight often discarded the pages for a city or region once …