Newyork Blog

Cuisine du Soleil: Provence Artichokes!

Just in time for the weekend, a recipe to try using those gorgeous spring artichokes we are seeing in all the markets right now! Be careful, though...artichokes make everything you taste after eating them a little sweet...including wine! So choose carefully the wine you will serve with them! You'll get lots of advice on CHOWHOUND!

Provence Style Artichokes with Bacon

4 large, bell-shaped artichokes

1/2 lemon

8 oz smoked bacon pieces

freshly ground black pepper (optional)

freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

1/2 cup dry white Provencal wine

4 fresh bay leaves

a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Serves 4

Tear off and discard the two outer base layers of leaves from the artichokes. Trim or peel the stems. Slice about 2 inches off the pointed tops of the leaves. Cut each globe in half lengthwise.

Use a spoon or a melon baller to dig out the fluffy choke. discard this and the tiny leaves around it. Rub the lemon over all the cut surfaces. Prepare all the artichokes in the same way.

Heat a large, heavy-based saucepan or flameproof casserole dish until very hot. Sizzle the bacon until the fat runs: about 3 minutes.

Add some pepper and nutmeg (if using), the wine, and bay leaves. Put the artichokes in the pan, cut side down. Cover tightly and cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Rearrange the artichokes so that the top layer is now at the bottom. Cover and cook over a medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes more. Test the top layer: the artichoke flesh must be easy to pierce with a fork. Continue cooking if necessary. Top up with extra wine if it looks sparse.

Serve the artichokes hot or warm, sprinkled with luscious reduced sauce and some chopped parsley.

Note: Quarter the artichokes, if necessary, to fit them in the pan

From France Today, originally published in Flavors of Provence by Clare Ferguson. Ryland Peters & Small, $21.95,

buy it here!

.........................................

in 2010, it's:

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

Will the {Real} Provence Home Please Stand Up?

Which one is it?

A. is it this traditional Robert Dallas design using old,

found materials in a modern way?

***

B. is it this very fresh and modern maison de vacances done in

every shade of green from minty to citrusy?

***

C. or is it this hip and chic maison, with pony skin chair and Buddha head and

Mondrian panels outside by the piscine, designed by Paris designer Gerard Faivre?

***

If you guessed A., B., or C.---you're right! See for yourself on this wonderful video produced by TV5 in France, about home decor on the Cote Sud! Don't speak French? No worries...the language of design is understood by all!

CLICK here to watch French TV (13 min)

Which one do you like the best? A, B, or C?

****

all images grabbed from TV5 video (thus their low quality, for which I apologize!)

.........................................

in 2010, it's:

Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

Now This is Chic {Provence}

The very cool mother-daughter team of Appley and Zoe Hoare perfectly articulated the Chic Provence look in the 18th century old wine and eau de vie factory they recently finished restoring in the south of France.

And why shouldn't they? The Pimlico Road, London antiquaires have been dealing in French country furniture for over 15 years and have created a perfectly rustic, elegant vacation home in Provence (don't we all want that feeling in our own homes..a sense that we are on vacation from the workaday world?)

Come take a peek inside La Bastide, The Gard, France. Shall we rendez-vous there?