ProvencalTapenade

For 4 people:

- 1 jar of black pitted black olives, Crespo or Tramier
- 2 teaspoons of capers
- 2 anchovies in oil
- 1 clove of garlic
Seasoning: Herbes de Provence (3 pinches), pepper, olive oil. Put all the ingredients in a mixer, slowly adding the olive oil. Stop short of complete puree and stop adding oil once the mixture of thick. It is preferable to prepare the mixture 24 hours in advance, and put it in the fridge so that it can harden. Spread on thin slices of toasted bread.

Eggplant caviar

For 4 people:
- 1 tomato
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 onion
- Juice of one lemon
- Salt, pepper
- Basil
- Parsley
- Olive oil

Take off the green stems of the eggplants, Put them in the oven at thermostat 5/6 until they are soft. Cut in two and turn over to drain. Take off the skin. Crush the flesh or put in a mixer with the lemon, garlic, onion, chopped herbs, tomato, salt and pepper. Add olive oil little by little until the consistency is like mayonnaise.

Eat chilled on toast with for cocktails.

Aïoli

Ingredients for 4 people:

5 garlic cloves, 1 egg yoke, 25cl of olive oil, ½ a lemon, salt.

Peel the garlic cloves. Crush them with salt in a mortar and pestle. Add in an egg yoke and one spoon of olive oil. Crush the mixture until you have a thick syrup, then beat the sauce until it is like mayonnaise. To do this, slowly pour in a little olive oil without stopping the pounding of the pestel in the mortar. To finish, add a couple of drops of lemon juice.

For a really good Aioli, the ingredients must be room temperature, and the stirring very regular.

Arrange the following on a large platter: potatoes, carrots, small pieces of cauliflower, green beans, zucchini, 4 peeled hard boiled eggs. All of these must still be warm, and presented with some cod filets quickly cooked in a bouillon. Present the aioli in the pestle.

La Bouillabaisse

Ingredients for 6 people:

- 2kg of firm fish such as red mullet, eel, sea bass, grondin, vive
- 1kg of tender fish such as monk fish, marlin, and sea trout
- 1 kg of rock fish for the bouillon
- 2 leeks, 2 onions, 3 garlic cloves, parsley, several potatoes, 2 tomatoes, olive oil, safran, fennel, bay laurel, thyme.

Chop up the whites of the leeks, the onions, garlic and parsley. Put aside half of this mixture for the bouillabaisse, and put the rest to fry in a pan with a little oil, with the rock fish. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, safran, bay laurel, fennel, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover with 2 1/2 liters of water and let boil 20 minutes. Put the mixture through a food mill.

Meanwhile you will have put the rest of the fish to marinate with the remaining ingredients: 2 chopped tomatoes, the sliced potatoes, olive oil, safran and fennel. 20 minutes before serving, spread the sliced potatoes over the boiling fish. Midway in the cooking add the firm fleshed fish, which cook very quickly.

Arrange the whole mixture on a platter decorated with the potatoes.

Serve with very hot bouillon, grilled croutons rubbed with garlic, and the rouille sauce. Traditional rouille is made thus: bread crumbs soaked in milk, 3 hot red peppers, 3 garlic cloves, a cooked potato, safran, all blended with olive oil until smooth.

Fish soup

Ingredients for 6 people:

1.5kg of rock fish: red snapper, eel, gurnet, ), 1 leek, 1 onion, 3 tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves, olive oil, safran, fennel, bay laurel, tomato paste.

Quickly fry up the onion, leek, garlic, crushed tomatoes in a bit of olive oil. Add pieces of the fish, a bay laurel leaf, 1 table spoon of tomatoe paste, a pinch of safrn and several branches of fennel; salt and pepper.

Once the fish is soft, let the mixture simmer in 11/2 litres of water. Then put through a food mill or Cuisinart until fine. Bring back to the boil, and serve hot with aioli sauce, shredded gruyere, and croutons rubbed with garlic.

How to drink pastis?

1) The Classic: pour in 2 cl of pastis in a glass, then about 10-14 cl of cold water. Add two ice cubes (always after adding the water). Marcel Pagnol liked his well diluted, me too!
2) The Old-Fashioned way: in a chilled glass, pour in very cold water, without ice, then add 1/6-1/10 of pastis—ideally use a doser. The abbot Jean Boyer (the inventor of Pastis Boyer) recommended putting in the water first, then the pastis, which avoids a slightly soapey taste, and favors the aroma development. Stir, and drink

3) A la “Marcel” For 4 cl of pastis and drink. This is called a “Yellow”, or a “Flan” or a “Momie” (a half dose or 2cl of pastis). Without adding water, the pastis does not develop its agreeable aromas and this is certainly not a way to drink in moderation!!
4) A la Parisienne” For 2 cl of pastis, add two ices cubes (or vice versa), then add cold water! And why not put the pastis bottle in the freezer an hour before serving? This method is highly ill-advised. At the contact with the ice cubes, the aromas freeze and form crystals. This way of serving a pastis is never suggested by the manufacturers. It is unfortunately bad habit so keep an eye out for it at your friends house or in bars!

Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health.