{"id":12931,"date":"2013-08-17T11:14:01","date_gmt":"2013-08-17T18:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/?p=12931"},"modified":"2013-08-25T14:10:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T21:10:35","slug":"a-o-c-olives-a-castle-and-a-beautiful-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/a-o-c-olives-a-castle-and-a-beautiful-village","title":{"rendered":"A.O.C. olives, a castle, and a beautiful village"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chef<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Les Baux-de-Provence<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

green olive tapenade (with steamed cod)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Provence is full of olive trees but there is only one area in Provence where the olives and olive oil are certified \u201cA.O.C.\u201d\u00a0 It is the \u00a0Vall\u00e9e\u00a0<\/i>des<\/em> Les Baux de Provence.<\/i> <\/span>When I discovered this piece of culinary trivia, the day trip was planned. The olives seduced me, but the history and culture kept me there. So come with me – venez avec moi – \u00e0 Les Baux-de-Provence <\/i><\/span>(which inspired this week\u2019s recipe: green olive tapenade with steamed cod)<\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Allez-y<\/i>\u00a0 (let\u2019s go)<\/i>\u00a0!<\/i><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

LM<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"chef<\/span><\/p>\n

Les Baux-de-Provence<\/i> is a commune in the south of France classified as one of the \u201cmost beautiful villages in Frances\u201d in 1999.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For reasons of weather, shelter and constant unrest, throughout Provence the villages were built of stone on top of hills. Today they are commonly called “perched” villages or \u201changing villages\u201d (at least that is how my French friends refer to them).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Les Baux<\/i> is one example. Les Baux <\/i>was the surname of a family in Provence. The fortress was reportedly built in the 13th century. The hill gave its inhabitants protection from invaders as well as an advantage from the weather and a natural \u201clookout.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The fortress was used in the Middle Ages, demolished, partially rebuilt in the Renaissance, and destroyed again.<\/span><\/p>\n

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While Les Baux<\/i> could have settled into common hanging village-dome (if there is really such a thing in Provence)…the village had a revival with Oustau de Baumaniere<\/i> (which translates to “beautiful manners” …I feel more elegant just uttering the phrase). Oustau de Baumaniere<\/i>\u00a0is a five star hotel with a devotion to the culinary arts. It became an ambassador for gourmet food and made Les Baux<\/i> internationally famous (and yes, the hotel alone deserves its own post).<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you visit Les Baux <\/i>you can see the well-worn remains of the Ch\u00e2teau des Baux<\/i> (former feudal home of Monaco\u2019s Grimaldi family), Chapel of Saint Blaise,<\/i>\u00a0the private mansions (which are now museums), and the h\u00f4pital quiqu\u00e9ran<\/i>. All of this sits above the Alpilles<\/i> valley.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In addition to the history and beauty as well as shops and restaurants, it is a good family trip because there are all kinds of things that appeal to children including three types of catapults – trebucets, couillards <\/i>and bricole <\/i>-to hurl things,\u00a0<\/i>a windmill, and watch towers (tour sarrine – trou de l\u2019auro<\/i>). Did I mention the village stocks where every sibling in the area rushed toward to finally \u201cget even\u201d with the other.<\/span><\/p>\n

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From April through September there are daily catapult demonstrations launching things through the air. There is also a medieval dual with audience participation as well as cross-bow shooting (although my girls were not particularity interested in the midieval aspect and just wanted a 2 euro<\/em> frozen drink to cool them off).<\/span><\/p>\n

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A few minutes north of the village and castle is the Carri\u00e8res de Lumi\u00e8res<\/i>. The stone taken out of these quarries built the village.\u00a0 I have to say that I was overwhelmingly inspired (and surprisingly it had nothing to do with food).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Images are projected on the wall, floor and celling of the quarry moving and set to music.<\/span><\/p>\n

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It is a wonderful human expression of \u00a0creativity through art and music.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Although it was chilly, we remained in the quarry for quite some time.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I am not sure how anyone can look at Chagall\u2019s embracing, whimsical figures sweeping through the air and not be inspired. I was.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So I had interrupt this food journey with a little art and share these photographs with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Coming back to the reason I wanted to visit Les Baux <\/i>in the first place: olives.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Three products in Les Baux<\/i> are entitled to A.O.C. protection: the olive oil; cracked olives; and black olives. This is the only area in Provence that is entitled to A.O.C. protection for these products. (For more information about the A.O.C. \/A.O.P. designations click here<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"chef<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes Les Baux<\/i> olive oils unique is that they are made from a combination of a variety of olives – la salonenque, la verdale de Fontvielle, la b\u00e9ruguette, <\/i>and la grossane<\/i>. Other varieties may be added (such as la picholine<\/i> or cailletier<\/i>) but these additions cannot exceed 5%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just a word about la salonenque <\/i>olives…MIAM<\/i> ! (that is the official French work for \u201cyum\u201d).\u00a0 La salonenque<\/i> olives from Les Baux <\/i>are sold also as cracked olives. They are rare to the world but account for approximately 60% of the trees in Les Baux <\/i>valley. They are bright green (the color of avocado flesh for my fellow Californians), meaty and lush with a hint of fennel. The\u00a0 meat separates from the pit easily. They also discolor quickly. They are precious and savored as table olives or \u201ccracked olives\u201d (which means they were slit or slightly bruised during the curing process to quickly absorb curing materials).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Back in Paris, I was already missing Provence so I made some\u00a0tapenade. Tapenade is one of those things that is Proven\u00e7al to its core. In Provence<\/i>, tapenade is offered on most tables with croutons<\/i> (what we think of a crostini). A bowl of olives is routinely served with ap\u00e9ritifs<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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At dinner that evening we heaped the green tapenade, flecked with dark green fresh herbs, over steamed fish. The fresh market tomatoes sliced and layered with basil and mozzarella and served with crispy bread did not miss the tapenade either.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"chef<\/span><\/p>\n

Over dinner, we talked about Les Baux<\/i> and the fortress with its hurling contraptions. My youngest, while mimicking the trebuchet<\/i> with her ficelle <\/i>and pointer finger jokingly posed the question,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if they used tapenade to fling instead of stones?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps if people fed one another rather than throw stones they would have been more at peace,” I responded, pulling\u00a0<\/span>away the piece of the morning\u2019s ficelle<\/em> she held in her hand as a launcher aimed at her sister (and the newly painted ebony wall behind).<\/span><\/p>\n

Life is delicious…<\/span><\/p>\n

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Because this post is entirely too long already, I have posted this week\u2019s recipe in a companion post.\u00a0 You can find it here<\/a> as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e0 table<\/span> <\/i>!<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0LM<\/strong><\/p>\n

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To visit Les Baux<\/i>\u00a0here are some sites to get you started<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Office de Tourisme<\/strong>
\n<\/i>Maison du Roy<\/span>
\n 13520 Les Baux-de-Provence<\/span>
\n 33 (0)4 90 54 34 99<\/span>
\n www.lesbauxdeprovence.com<\/span>
\n This site has an excellent list of restaurants in\u00a0Les Baux-de-Provence<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ousau de Baumaniere<\/strong>
\n<\/i>Relais & Chateux<\/span>
\n Jean-Andre CHARIAL<\/span>
\n Vallon de la Fontaine<\/span>
\n 13520 Les Baux-de-Provence<\/span>
\n 33 (0)4 90 54 33 07<\/span>
\n www.oustaudebaumaniere.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

olive groves in the Vall\u00e9e des Baux de Provence
\n<\/i>Appellation d\u2019Origine Prot\u00e9g\u00e9e (AOP) area<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

You can visit \u00a0these olive groves.\u00a0Contact their web sites directly for times and tours. In the interim, many of their products can be purchased online.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.castelas.com
\n<\/span><\/a>*Mas de l\u2019Olivier, D27<\/span>
\n13520 Les Baux-de-Provence<\/span>
\n33 (0)4 90 54 50 86<\/span><\/p>\n

www.moulinsaintmichel.com
\n<\/span><\/a>cours Paul Revoli<\/span>
\n 13890 Mouries, Provence<\/span>
\n 33 (0)4 90 47 50 40<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.masdesbarres.com
\n<\/span><\/a>13520 Maussane-les-Alpilles<\/span>
\n 33 (0)4 90 54 44 32<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"chef<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Les Baux-de-Provence green olive tapenade (with steamed cod) Provence is full of olive trees but there is only one area in Provence where the olives and olive oil are certified \u201cA.O.C.\u201d\u00a0 It is the \u00a0Vall\u00e9e\u00a0des Les Baux de Provence. When I discovered this piece of culinary trivia, the day trip was planned. The olives seduced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,18],"tags":[1271,1025,1272],"class_list":["post-12931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-france","category-recipes","tag-les-baux-de-provence","tag-olives","tag-tapenade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12931"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12996,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12931\/revisions\/12996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chefmorgan.com\/engine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}