Hiking and Cooking in the South of France

Ratatouille, the traditional vegetable stew, originates in Nice. It is popular on the South of France coast in summer when tomatoes are at their best. Other vegetable ingredients are onions, garlic, bell peppers, aubergine/eggplant, courgette/zucchini, black olives, olive oil and Provençal herbs.

There are many different ratatouille recipes. Some are quite time-consuming as all the vegetables are first sautéed separately and then combined with tomato sauce. Some need a very long cooking time and the end result is more like a purée.

The vegetables need to be soft, but I like that the individual vegetables still are recognisable. I like ratatouille so much that I start making it already in February- March when the new vegetables start coming from Spain and Italy to our supermarket in Nice.

Ratatouille is a great accompaniment to meat and chicken and especially good with lamb. It can be gratinated with parmesan and bread crumbs and served as a vegetarian dish with white beans, good bread and a salad.

2-3 servings

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 small aubergine, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small courgette, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 black olives, pitted
1 tsp dried Provençal herbs
Fresh basil or other herb to decorate

In a large heavy casserole, cocotte, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Wash and chop the aubergine. Start sautéing first the aubergine, which takes the longest to cook. Then chop the red bell pepper and courgette and add into the casserole. Stir frequently.

Add the onion, garlic, tomato, black olives and Provençal herbs. Continue sautéing for about 10 minutes. Stir now and again.

Then reduce the heat, cover the casserole and let simmer for about 1 hour until the vegetables are soft. Stir occasionally. Decorate with basil/other fresh herb before serving.

Preparation time: about 20 min
Cooking time: about one hour

During the Aups truffle festival we stayed two nights in Hôtel Le Grand. One evening we had a delightful local red wine with our dinner, so on the way back we decided to stop by the nearby vineyard in Villecroze.

It was a grey Monday morning, but they were open. A nice young lady gave us an excellent description of the vineyard and their wines.

The farm “Domaine Saint-Jean” was bought by a French-American couple in 1973. At that time there were no vineyards on the property and the new owner had no plans to start producing wine. However, a visiting American oenologist made a major study of the land, and calculated that the soil, climate and environment would be beneficial to producing great wines similar to those of California. Under the guidance of French and American expertise, 30 hectares of vineyard were planted, and most modern wine making equipment was acquired.

The grape varieties were carefully selected. At the beginning Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault were grown, later Syrah and Grenache as well as some white wine grapes were added. The property later changed ownership, but the new owners carried on aiming to produce quality wines.

We tasted some of their reds that interested us. First, the same that we had at our hotel: La Petite Chapelle Rouge 2012. It was 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, and aged for at least one year in French oak barrels. For just 9€ per bottle it was just as delightful as we remembered from the hotel dinner.

Was also tasted Reserve Rouge that was 80% Syrah and 20% Cabernet, a darker and spicier wine to go with beef and fermented cheese.

Lastly, we tried their La Petite Chapelle Collection Rouge 2010 (17€) made only from very good vintages. We bought a few bottles of this in addition to La Petite Chapelle Rouge 2012. So our purchases were 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, perhaps a bit unusual in Provence where other grape varieties such as Grenache and Mourvèdre tend to dominate!

The hilltop village of Sainte-Agnès is situated high above Menton only about 4 km from the coast as the crow flies. At 700 m/2300ft, Sainte-Agnès claims to be the highest coastal village in Europe. The Saracens built their fortress here, and much later, in 1932 another fortress was built into the mountain, this time as part of the Maginot line.

Sainte-Agnès is at the crossroads of some interesting hiking trails. This time we hiked to Pointe Siricocca (1051 m or 3450 ft.) which offers extraordinary views over the Riviera coast, the neighbouring mountain tops as well as a glimpse of the snow-capped summits further north. The well-marked itinerary circles Pointe Siricocca clockwise, and makes a detour to the mountaintop from Col de Verroux .

We parked at the entrance (600 m) of Sainte-Agnès below the village. The trail first follows the paved road going to col des Blanquettes for about 300 m, then forks right and descends into a valley along a trail called Peyre Grosse, passing some houses and pastures. The route then follows a dirt track for about 500 m before turning left, and continues ascending in the woods. Signposts along the way guide you to the summit. Just before Col de Verroux (935 m), the trail widens as it connects with an ancient military route which continues as far as to the summit making the last push fast and easy.

Short term weather forecasts generally tend to be pretty accurate these days. We chose the day based on a very favourable forecast but unfortunately low coastal clouds started gathering at 1000+ m rapidly, probably because of the humid and warmer Mediterranean air hitting the coast after a cold night. Hence, the views down to the coast were limited as the video clip shows.

From the mountaintop, we walked back to Col de Verroux, then headed first east then south descending rapidly. The way back to Sainte-Agnès is well marked.

Elevation gain: 600 m/1970 ft.

Duration: 4 h

Distance: 9.5 km/5.9 miles

Map: IGN “Nice-Menton” Côte d’Azur No 3742 OT

The following tasty recipe: pork tenderloin with dried cèps, porcini mushrooms, is a perfect winter dish.

The recipe is inspired by a Martin Walker book in the Bruno, chief of police, series. In this recipe, the dried porcini mushrooms were simmered in red wine. Most of the recipes recommend first to soak the dried porcini mushrooms in hot water. Well, I don’t think that method gives any real mushroom taste to dried porcini, so I was eager to try Bruno’s method. After all, the traditional Italian methods to prepare fresh porcini involve simmering in red wine.

Bruno’s method worked very well with dried porcini mushrooms; they were tasty and had a nice consistence after being simmered for about half an hour in red wine. But they really absorbed red wine, a lot! In the book, Bruno added a glass of red wine per a package of dried porcini, but this was not enough even to soak all the mushrooms. I kept adding more and more, 3 glasses of red wine plus 200 ml chicken stock were needed to simmer them properly.

2 servings

Pork tenderloin, about 300 g
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small package of dried cèps, Italian porcini mushrooms
450 ml red wine
200 ml chicken stock
Freshly ground black pepper
Parsley to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180⁰ C.

Cook the pork tenderloin in the oven for 45 minutes per 300 g, and 60 minutes per 450- 500 g. Let it rest tented in foil for about 15 minutes before slicing.

Meanwhile prepare the porcini. In a large frying pan warm 1 tbsp rapeseed oil over medium heat. Gently cook the shallot and garlic for about 10 minutes until soft but not browned. Add the dried porcini mushrooms, red wine and chicken stock. Mix well. Reduce the heat to simmering, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the sliced pork tenderloin and black pepper.

Serve the pork tenderloin and porcini with steamed new potatoes and carrot slices. Decorate with parsley.

The trails above Tourrettes-sur-Loup and Vence are popular winter walks.

We started our hike from the spacious parking at the entrance of Tourrettes-sur-Loup (396 m). Heading to Col de Vence (962 m), we first followed the trail ascending to Chapel St-Raphael and Gué du Malvan. The trail marked with yellow signs first ascends in an affluent neighbourhood, and then continues in a beautiful small forest.

Chapel St-Raphael is reached in about 50 minutes. It is situated on top of a small hill on the right hand side of the trail. We made a short detour to the chapel (closed) before continuing to Gué du Malvan, a tributary of the River Cagnes. Soon after the crossing, we joined the GR51 trail (red/white signs), turned right at the signpost, and started to follow the GR51 heading to Plan de Noves.

At the western part of Plan de Noves(a plateau and a Parc Départemental), the trail to Col de Vence forks left, eventually crossing the RD2 road twice. This trail is well marked with yellow in addition to some cairns, heaps of stones. After the second road crossing, the trail continues a bit following the road, then joins the RD2 just before Col de Vence. We walked along the narrow road, crossed it for the third time and found ourselves on a rocky field. From this point, we admired the snow-capped Mercantour peaks.

All in all, this is a great winter hike on a clear day. Climbing up as far as to Col de Vence does not actually add much scenery wise, and you have to cross the narrow road with surprisingly much traffic. One option is to go as far as to Plan de Noves and turn there. There are no steep parts on this walk, and the trail is well marked.

We descended along the same trail.

Total hiking time: 4h 20

Ascent:About 600m

Map: IGN Cannes Grasse 3643ET
Image of trail courtesy of Google Maps

Science has shown that extra vitamin C shortens the number of sick days of the common cold. Instead of taking vitamin C tablets, I think that it is much nicer to increase the intake of vitamin C- rich foods.

Citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruit, clementines), kiwis, strawberries, red, yellow and green bell peppers are super sources of vitamin C. The antioxidants in fruit and vegetables may also protect against infections.

The following dessert recipe not only contains lots of vitamin C and antioxidants, but also tastes great and has much less calories than most traditional desserts.

2 servings

1 grapefruit
1 orange, pressed
2 clementines
2 star anises
2 tsp honey
2 sprigs of fresh mint to decorate

Press the orange into juice and pour it into a small saucepan. Add the star anises and bring to the boil. Let simmer for two minutes, then take the saucepan aside. Add the honey, cover the saucepan and let the star anises infuse.

Peel the grapefruit and clementines, cutting away all the white parts of the peel. Remove the fruit from the segments discarding all the membranes with a small sharp knife and your fingers. Place the fruit and all the juices they let out in dessert bowls. Pour the infused orange juice over the fruit and cover with film.

Keep the dessert bowls refrigerated for 1- 2 hours. Serve cold decorated with a sprig of mint.

This tasty and easy recipe works with any firm white fish fillets such as cod, haddock, sea bass or halibut. I recently made it in Miami using fresh tilapia fillets from Costa Rica, and it turned out super tasty. Here in Nice I might use whiting or pollock fillets, which benefit from extra flavours.

The Mediterranean flavours from tomato, onion, garlic, olives, extra virgin olive oil, and herbs work with even frozen white fish fillets. Just defrost the fillets first and pat dry with kitchen paper before using them.

2 servings

About 400 gram (14.1 oz) firm white fish fillets
1 shallot or ½ onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 black olives, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes or about 10- 12 cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp pesto rosso, red pesto (or 2 sundried tomatoes, minced)
1 tsp Provençal herbs
Freshly ground black pepper
4 tbsp breadcrumbs
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
Fresh parsley or basil to decorate
Lemon wedges to serve

Preheat the oven to 200⁰ C / 400⁰ F.

Butter a shallow baking dish which is large enough to hold the fish fillets in one layer. Place the fish in it.

Mince the shallot and garlic. Chop the tomatoes and olives. In a bowl mix the tomatoes, shallot, garlic, olives, pesto rosso, Provençal herbs and some black pepper. Spread this mixture evenly on top of the fish fillets.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top and drizzle on the olive oil.
Place the dish in the oven and bake for 25- 40 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish fillets. The fish is cooked when it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

Aups (500m above sea level) is situated deep in Provençe in the Var Department. It is also one of the gateways to the Grand Canyon of Verdon, 16 km north of Aups as the crow flies.

Aups specialty is truffles. Every Thursday between November and mid-March there’s a truffle market where you can also buy other local products such as honey and olive oil.

La Maison de la Truffe -the Truffle House-was opened in November 2015. In its modern surroundings you can learn practical things about truffles; how to use them as a spice in recipes, how to clean and preserve them (less than a week in the fridge) etc.

One of the biggest local attractions is Aups Black Truffle Festival held every 4th Sunday in January. Because we were absolute novices when it comes to truffles, we were looking forward to discovering things around this precious fungus, and of course to tasting the truffle menu prepared by those who master the local traditions.

The morning of the 23rd truffle festival was cold with clear skies. The stands were already erected in Place Frédéric Mistral in front of the Mairie. Bare plane trees adorned the square. As the market was not yet in full swing the timing was perfect to view the stands as well as to do some shopping.

We tasted and bought some excellent fruity local olive oil. It will go perfectly with different salads. We later discovered that they had recently won three gold medals in Paris, and that Aups also holds olive oil festivals every March.

The day’s program started with truffle hunting dogs’ competition followed by a demonstration by a truffle hunting pig. They said that this pig, “Pipetto”, was the last working pig in this area. She was a hard worker, sniffing and digging one truffle after another.

After this, it was time to visit Maison de la Truffe.The visit was free because of the event, normally it costs 5€.
Video from the festival can be viewed here

The morning’s program ended with a colourful folk dance show arranged by a local folklore group. At noon, most people started looking for a spot for lunch. Many restaurants had rather overpriced long Sunday truffle menus, and many were queuing for cheaper and more informal lunches. As we had already booked a truffle menu dinner at our hotel, we too opted for a simple lunch, sitting outside in the chilly shade as the tables in the sun were all taken. After this, we had time for a walk in the forest above Aups to discover some caves.

Our dinner menu comprised:

Bruillarde de Truffe Noir, scrambled eggs with grated truffle on the top

The first course was followed by Filet de Boeuf, steak, or Magret de Canard, duck breast. Both were served with the same truffle sauce, and quite a lot of truffle had been grated on top of the meat to get a good taste of it.

Cheese and dessert concluded the dinner.

From the wine list we chose an excellent local red, Le Château Thuerry 2010

The truffle menu was substantial, and we were happy that we had made a walk to the caves in the afternoon!
Is the truffle taste then worth all this effort and price? Try it and make up your own mind.

The village of Saint-Jeannet (420 m elev., 20 km from Nice) is a very popular starting point for hikes. Most people climb up to the Baou, and perhaps make a loop via the ruins of Castellet.

This time we made a different walk, forking from Grande Randonnée 51 (GR51) to explore the path along the eastern flank Mount Riorun (879 m). A site of ancient habitation and farming, the trail is today mostly used by sheep, shepherds and locals.

From the centre of St-Jeannet we ascended along the GR51 trail as far as to signpost #6. Just after the signpost, there’s a large cairn, heap of stones, and a clearly visible path heading north (picture above). The trail has been restored by the association “Sentiers et villages des baous”. They have also restored some of the ancient structures along the trail.

We stopped at a small cabane near the path. The small shelters built of stones were used in ancient farming during the summer season.

After about one hour from Saint-Jeannet we found ourselves in the calm nature so different from the busy coast. We even spotted a few deer that rapidly disappeared behind Riorun. We met two shepherds, and eventually heard the sheep somewhere ahead of us. The timing for a picnic in the surprisingly warm January sunshine was perfect.

We then continued a bit along the easy trail. After having passed a large oak tree, we came to a well-preserved threshing floor. After this, we spotted the flock of sheep and goats on the trail right in front of us. The shepherd was steering them slowly to north. We stopped for a while to let them pass to one of the sheep farms on the foot of Mouton D’Anou Mountain (1078 m). At the crossroads we turned sharply right (south) and started descending back towards the starting point along a good trail that eventually joined the GR51.

Total hiking time: 2h 30

Total ascent: 400 m

Map: IGN 3642 ET

The part of the trail forking from GR51 is not marked in the IGN Map. However, check this site (in French),click sentiers and you find a network of trails. GR 51 is the red one, signpost #6 is b6, and above this you can see the actual trail described here. You can even click red spots on the map and view images from around the trail. The turning point is roughly at Jas de Barrière, now in ruins.

The alternative itinerary would be to ascend first to the summit of Baou de Saint-Jeannet, then take the trail from there straight north to signpost #6, and continue as described above.

More information in the book (in French): Le Rando Malin by Roger Berio (Éditions Mémoires Millénaires)

The village of Lucéram about 27 km north of Nice has traditional links with Piedmont on the Italian side. The elderly people still speak an Occitan subdialect, and Lucéram’s gastronomy has strong Italian roots.

The following dish, caille à la polenta, quails with polenta, was served in winter after the hunting season The recipe is adapted from the wonderful cookery book A Table in Provence by Leslie Forbes.

The quails I used for this recipe were bought from our local supermarket in Nice. They were Label Rouge free-range quails from Landes. For convenience I used Chez Bernard ready-made polenta which was a rectangular sheet about 3 cm thick. This only needed slicing and warming in the oven.

For 2 servings:

4 quails
100 ml red wine
2 tbsp olive oil
10- 12 cherry tomatoes
Parsley to decorate

For the filling four 4 quails:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large tomato, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
Freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce for 2 servings:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
100 ml red wine
100 ml chicken stock
50 ml tomato purée
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 210⁰ C.

Cook the filling in a frying pan over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the shallots are soft. Fill the quails and place them in an oven-proof dish. Pour 100 ml red wine in the bottom of the dish and sprinkle 2 tbsp olive oil over the quails. Roast for 10 minutes in 210⁰ C. Then cover the quails with foil and continue roasting. The total roasting time will be 35-40 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the sauce in a small saucepan. Bring all the ingredients to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmering. Simmer until the sauce is reduced to about half. Cover and keep warm.

Slice the polenta and cover with foil. Place in the oven when 15 minutes of roasting the quails remains.

Remove the foil covering the quails when about 10 minutes of roasting time remains. Place the cherry tomatoes in the oven-proof dish. They will be nicely roasted in 10 minutes.

Serve the quails with the sliced polenta, the roasted cherry tomatoes and the sauce. Decorate with parsley.

Hiking and Cooking in the South of France

Carefree ratatouille recipe

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Provence vineyard with a Californian connection

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Another Riviera winter hike: Pointe Siricocca from Sainte-Agnès

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Pork tenderloin with dried porcini mushrooms

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February hike above Tourrettes-sur-Loup

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Dessert against winter colds

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Mediterranean fish fillet recipe

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Aups Truffle Festival 2016

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January hike above Saint-Jeannet

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Quail Lucéram style

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