Hiking and Cooking in the South of France

Picnic at la Colle 844 m

The main hiking artery from the village of St-Jeannet, also marked as GR51, ascends straight north in a valley called Vallon de Parriau between Baou St-Jeannet and Baou de la Gaude.

GR51 forks left at signpost #95 (about 1,5 km from the village), and the most popular trail to Baou St-Jeannet leaves the GR trail after 200 m or so.

To get some variation, we decided to hike up to the neighbouring mountain top on the opposite side. Baou de la Gaude and la Colle can be reached both from St-Jeannet and Gattieres.

Chemin des Lucioles in St-Jeannet

Baou de la Gaude seen from St-Jeannet

GR51 trail above St-Jeannet

GR51 trail higher above St-Jeannet

Wilde thyme in blossom

Trail to signpost 75

Dash8 Q400 low above Var River

From signpost 75 to la Colle

Starting from the village parking, we ascended along Chemin des Lucioles and soon joined the GR51. We hiked past signpost #95 and forked right at #96. The trail now marked yellow zigzagged in the incline to signpost #75 on a plateau. During the ascent, we found wild thyme in blossom and picked some for our dinner. We forked right (south), and ascended to la Colle which was the highest point at 844 m.

Baou St-Jeannet viewed from la Colle

Old oak tree near Baou de la Gaude

Baou St-Jeannet

St-Jeannet

La Colle is a great place for picnic. We have stopped here many times. It’s tranquil, and you have views down to the Var River Valley as well as to Baou St-Jeannet. After the break, we continued straight south as far as to the centuries-old oak tree, mentioned in many guides and marked in the maps. It was our turning point today. Baou de la Gaude nearby does not actually offer the same views as its western neighbour. At signpost #97, we took a shortcut to the trail we used on the way up, and descended back to our starting point.

Distance: 7 km

Elevation gain: 440 m

Duration: 2h 40

Map: « Cannes-Grasse » Côte d’Azur TOP 25 N°o 3643 ET

St-Jeannet to la Colle track

View from trail to Crête du Mont Macaron

Both the northern (806 m) and southern (797 m) summits of Mont Macaron, about 11 km northeast of Nice offer a magnificent 360° panorama in spite of their rather modest elevation. From both summits, one can admire the city of Nice, Baie des Anges as well as the Mercantour peaks in the north. Not surprisingly this is a very popular hiking area.

Both summits are situated on Crête du Mont Macaron, between the towns of Tourrette-Levens and Contes. There’s a vast parking at Col de Châteauneuf (626 m) by the D815 road. It’s here we headed after an almost two-month long COVID-19 lockdown.

From the parking, we started following a small road south and after 100 m forked left (signpost#741 indicating Crête du Mont Macaron) into the woods. We ascended along a path passing the ruins of medieval Châteauneuf, leaving them on our left-hand side. The ruins are perched on a hilltop (750 m) about 500 m south of the col.

We soon reached a clearing where the restored Chapel St. Joseph was located. The potholed road from the main road ended here.

From the chapel, we continued southeast then south, ascending gently towards the ridge, where both summits were visible. We took a small shortcut from the main path directly to the northern summit, then re-joined the path which lead to the southern summit just 400 m away.

After a break, we descended southwest to signpost #744 at Baisse du Macaron (666 m) where we turned north, and hiked back along the western flank of Crête du Mont Macaron along a good path first to Chapel St. Joseph then to our
starting point.

Climb: 280 m

Distance: 7 km

Duration: 2h 40 (active)

Map: “Nice-Menton Côte d’Azur TOP 25 n°0 3742 OT

Buckwheat pancakes with sardine fillets savoury tomato sauce and tapenade

Galettes de sarrasin, thin buckwheat pancakes are served in French creperie restaurants. They are savoury crepes usually filled with sausages or fried egg. You can make your own crepes if you have a crepe pan or a special crêpière, griddle pancake pan. My daughter- in- law is a specialist for this. But I opted the easy way and bought ready-made crepes from our supermarket in Nice.

The following recipe combines the buckwheat pancakes with tapenade, black olive purée, sardine fillets, and savoury tomato sauce. If you cannot buy ready-made buckwheat pancakes or tapenade, there are several recipes on the Internet. Tinned sardines can be used as a substitute for fresh sardine fillets.

2 servings

4 galettes de sarrasin, thin buckwheat pancakes
8 fresh sardine fillets
A small pot of tapenade noir, black olive purée

For the savoury tomato sauce:

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried Provençal herbs
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
200 ml tomato sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200° C.

In a small saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium heat and sauté garlic and herbs for a few minutes. Add the vinegar, tomato sauce, and black pepper. Reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer.

Clean the sardine fillets with kitchen paper. Place in an ovenproof oiled dish and roast for 10 minutes.

Spread some tapenade on the quarter of each pancake. Top with the tomato sauce and 2 sardine fillets. Fold the pancakes into quarters to make little triangular cones. Serve with some green salad for a carefree lunch or a light dinner.

Chicken is such a versatile ingredient; in this recipe chicken legs are first marinated and then simply roasted in the oven. Soya sauce, ginger, and lime juice in the marinade give the dish some Asian touch. Free-range organic chicken legs with skin are best for the recipe.

2 servings

2 free-range and organic chicken legs with skin

For the marinade:

1 tbsp. runny honey
1 tbsp. soya sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried mixed herbs
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lime

Make the marinade by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl. Place the chicken legs in an oven-proof dish and pour over the marinade. Cover with film and refrigerate for a few hours.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Roast the chicken legs for 45 minutes. Cover with foil if they get too dark.

Serve with brown rice and wilted Asia greens such as bok choy or chard.

After having hiked to Mont Cima and Mont Chauve several times from Aspremont (490m), we wanted to explore a new itinerary in this well-known hiking area. The village of Aspremont lies only about 10 km north of Nice as the crow flies.

Mont Inarte (801 m) is situated immediately northwest of Mont Cima (879 m). While you can’t quite beat the views from the summit of Mont Cima, this easy and leisurely hike follows good trails along Mont Cima’s western flank, offering views down to the Var River Valley and beyond.

We started along the GR 5 trail north, ascending through the Les Salettes neighbourhood (streets and footpaths) as far as to a dirt track marked “CDV 14 De La Croix du Cuor” where we forked left, leaving the GR trail, and continued along it, heading northwest. At the next hiking signpost, we forked left making a short detour to a viewing point at la Croix de Cuor (744 m), a cliff above Castagniers and the Var River Valley. The scenery from here was great, practically 360°.

We then headed northeast along a path to the nearby Collet de l’Eurier (736 m), then straight north following a wide dirt track that ran along the western flank of Mont Cima. After about 600 m, we forked right and continued along a footpath whereas the dirt track started to descend. Our goal, Mont Inarte, was visible all the time. There were no markings nor signposts, but the itinerary was easy to follow. We came to a crossroads of some trails in the woods, and took the one that went northwest to Mont Inarte.

We used the same itinerary back to Collet de l’Eurier, where we forked left and soon reached the GR5 which we followed back to Aspremont.

Climb: 350 m

Distance: 8.1 km

Duration: About 2h 30 active

Map: 3742 OT «Nice-Menton Côte d’Azur »

Braising is a cooking technique: the food is first fried at a higher temperature (medium- high), then covered, a little liquid added and the heat is reduced to medium- low. Braising carrots renders them sweet and tasty.

Serve the braised carrots with turkey or chicken escalopes or a piece of meat and green lentils for a healthy and colourful combination.

2 servings

2- 3 carrots, pref. organic
Olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1 orange
2 tbsp. black olives, pitted and sliced
Freshly ground black pepper

For the turkey escalopes:
2 thin turkey escalopes
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
Bread crumbs
Olive oil

For the lentils:
100 ml green lentils
About 400 ml water

Warm 2 tbsp. olive oil over medium- high heat in a heavy frying pan. Wash the carrots and either slice them or cut lengthwise into smaller pieces. Fry the carrots stirring frequently until golden brown. Reduce the heat to medium- low. Add the garlic, orange juice, black pepper, and olives. Cover and braise for about 40 minutes, stirring regularly, until the carrots are soft and almost caramelized.

Cook the green lentils for about 30- 40 minutes until soft. Cover and keep warm.

Brush a large oven-proof dish with olive oil. Spread a generous amount of bread crumbs on a large plate. Spread 1 tsp. Dijon mustard on a turkey escalope, then press the escalope against bread crumbs. Repeat the procedure on the other side and place the escalope in the oven- proof dish. Do the same with the other escalope. Drizzle a little olive oil over the escalopes and roast for 20 minutes.

Divide the escalopes, braised carrots, and green lentils on the plates. Enjoy the colours as well as the food!

Risotto is such an elegant and versatile dish. In the wonderful cookery book, the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins I found a recipe by an Italian chef: Risotto with pumpkins. Pumpkins and butternut squashes are great in autumn and winter, whereas zucchinis, courgettes, are true spring and summer vegetables.

The following recipe is my twist of the original Italian recipe. It goes very well with oven roasted salmon.

2 servings

2 nice pieces of salmon, pref. organic
120 ml risotto rice, carnaroli or arborio (not to be rinsed!)
A glass of white wine
About 600 ml vegetable stock (you may not need to use all of it)
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large zucchini, courgette
2 tsp. dried parsley
A good handful of grated parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper

In a large heavy casserole warm the olive oil over medium low heat.

Wash the zucchini well under running water with a brush. Chop it, add to the casserole and stir well to coat with olive oil. Add the shallot and garlic, stir and cover the casserole. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring a few times, until the zucchini is very soft. Purée the zucchini and add the dried parsley.

Preheat the oven to 200° C, roast.

Add the rice to the casserole and increase the heat to medium- medium high. Add ½ glass of white wine and stir. Keep stirring and as soon as the wine has evaporated add the rest of the wine. Then start adding the vegetable stock, a ladle or two at a time, stirring constantly. As soon as the rice has absorbed the liquid add more. It is this constant stirring and adding only a small amount of liquid at a time which gives the creaminess to the risotto, without any cream or butter.

The rice is done in about 25 minutes, give or take. It should be al dente, with a bit of bite in it.

When the rice is done, remove the casserole from the heat and stir in the parmesan and black pepper. The risotto should be thick enough to be eaten with a fork.

Meanwhile roast the salmon pieces in 200° C for about 10 minutes, depending the thickness of the slices and how well done you wish your salmon.

Divide the risotto on two plates and spread with a fork. Place the salmon on top of the risotto.

We have previously hiked along the coastal trail from Cap Camarat to l’Escalet and from Plage de Gigaro to Cap Lardier. The trail running along the shores of the southern St-Tropez peninsula is truly wonderful.

On a warm autumn day, we now drove to l’Escalet to explore the trail to Plage de Briande.

Soon after l’Escalet, it was possible to choose a narrower and rockier trail along the cliffs at Point du Canadel. This trail, marked difficile, was nevertheless quite easy to negotiate. We came near a small beach named Plage d’Amour after which we joined the easy upper trail.

We had Cap Taillat in front of us. After a devastating forest fire in 2017, the scenery had changed dramatically compared with our earlier visit. There were black, burned trees along the trail, and Cap Taillat was almost bare. We passed several small beaches, such as Plage de la Douane and Plage Taillat. From the Cap Taillat Isthmus, only a short stroll remained along some cliffs to Plage de Briande.

Plage de Briande is a magnificent sandy beach. We waded in the sea to the other end of the beach for a picnic. This was our turning point, as the trail which continued to Cap Lardier, looked scarred in the burnt landscape. Luckily in some places the nature was already recovering.

On the way back, we took the easy trail all the way back to l’Escalet.

Distance: 6 km

Climb: 110 m

Duration: 2 h 30

Hiking and Cooking in the South of France

St-Jeannet to la Colle

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Mont Macaron

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Buckwheat pancakes with sardine fillets, savoury tomato sauce, and tapenade

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Chicken legs with Asian twist

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Aspremont to Croix de Cuor and Mont Inarte

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Braised carrots with turkey escalopes

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Risotto alla zucchini and oven-roasted salmon

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L'Escalet to Plage de Briande

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