Provençal Cuisine
Dinner Menu

Potage Paysanne
Hake Scallops with Tomatoes
New Potatoes
New Duckling with Peas
Endives with Brown Butter
Fruit Salad with Kirsch
Shortbread Cookies

Spring is here, a time of renewal. If we want to maintain our health, it's time to enjoy the fresh vegetables that nature has provided to purify our blood, which has become a little too heavy due to the perhaps excessive use of truffle pâtés, foie gras, game of all kinds, etc.

Potage Paysanne
Serves 4 to 5: Slice and steam in butter over low heat the white parts of 2 leeks, 6 to 8 carrots, 4 new turnips, and a sprig of celery. Add 1.5 liters of boiling water; Add 3 to 4 medium potatoes, quartered and sliced, and 10 grams of salt. Cover the pot and cook for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add a spoonful of fresh butter to the soup.
Serve a plate of oven-dried bread slices at the same time.
NOTE: In addition to the vegetables listed, you can also add peas, flageolet beans, green beans, zucchini, etc. to the soup.
You can also, when serving, add a mixture of two egg yolks diluted with a few spoonfuls of hot milk or cream.

Hake Scallops with Tomatoes
Serves 4 to 5: Cut 8 to 900 grams of hake, preferably fresh, into escalopes; season with salt and pepper and coat in flour. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Arrange the cutlets in the pan, turning them over occasionally to brown them on both sides.
Select 5 to 6 medium tomatoes; cut them in half and press them lightly to remove the seeds. Rub the bottom of the pan sparingly with garlic, add a few tablespoons of oil, and add the tomatoes, cut-side down. Turn them over after 6 to 7 minutes, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with a pinch of chopped parsley, and finish cooking, taking your time. Then slide them onto a round platter and arrange the cutlets in a ring on top of the tomatoes. Serve with plain, boiled potatoes, or baked potatoes.

New Duckling with Peas à la Bonne Femme
Sauté about fifteen small onions and 200 grams of large diced bacon in butter and boil them for a few minutes. As soon as the onions and bacon have turned a light golden brown, remove them to a plate and brown the duckling in the same butter. As soon as they are browned, add a third of a liter of boiling water, half a liter of fresh peas, a bouquet of fresh parsley, half a bay leaf, thyme sprigs, the onions and bacon, season with salt and pepper; cook gently. When cooked to the desired temperature, thicken the sauce with a tablespoon of flour dissolved in a little cold water.

Endives with Brown Butter
After washing and drying, place them in a heavily buttered flat saucepan or sauté pan. Lightly salt them, cover the pan, and cook them over low heat. When cooked through, the butter should be clarified, nutty brown, and the top leaves should be slightly browned.

Fruit Salad with Kirsch
In a bowl, combine four oranges, peeled and sliced ​​crosswise, four bananas, peeled and sliced, and 250 grams of strawberries. Sprinkle the fruit with sugar and drizzle with 2 or 3 small glasses of kirsch.
You can also add 2 small glasses of maraschino to the kirsch. These liqueurs can also be replaced with dry curaçao.

A. Escoffier.