Food & Place
Spring salads in France celebrate the fresh, crisp leaves that appearat the start of the growing season. The bright green lettuce leaves ofthe ever-popular salade verte still hold a hallowed place in many Frenchmeals, either at home or in a restaurant. Yet, a few changes may beafoot. A fortnight ago, when lunching with French friends…
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The forty species of mint is just one branch of the vast labiataefamily with its 2000 members. Fortunately just a handful of mints aremore than adequate for most culinary purposes. The most valuable is spearmint, Mentha spicata, with smooth, pointedleaves. Some cooks reckon the best mint sauce is made with a mixture ofspearmint and the…
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I spend a fortune when the catalogue from Burncoose Nursery arrives. An hour passes as I’m lost in the bewitching pages of growing requirements, different varieties and photographs of hundreds of plants, shrubs and trees. Then reality breaks in. For I don’t have the funds or the space for such luxurious choices in my small…
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A reader has asked for my recipe for Shortbread Biscuits. These are the slim buttery discs that are perfect for serving with espresso coffee or afternoon tea. And although I always enjoy them in their classic version the recipe is capable of endless variation depending on the time of year. When I baked for my…
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In January, when Sir David Attenborough urged us to recognise that “The moment of crisis has come” in our efforts to tackle climate change, the achievements of two of my heroines came to mind. Five decades ahead of Greta Thunberg’s admirable campaign, two women gave an early warning of the serious environmental damage to our…
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Whenever I spend February in Saint Montan I’m reminded of so many chilly, winter days in Devon where I gardened for 20 years. Saint Montan is often described as sitting at ‘les portes de Provence’ and the summers do indeed feel Mediterranean; but the season of short days often feels far from the warm weather…
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After the excesses of festive eating, I long for simple food – plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables plus the delicate flavours of fish with its gentle, soothing texture. Fish soups come high on my list of desirable dishes at this time of year when the cold seas surrounding the British Isles produce some of…
Read MoreI gave up making new year resolutions decades ago. By February memories of what I’d promised to do – or not to do – had faded due to the urgent pressures of the moment and life in general. But this year will be different: I resolve to wage war on unwelcome visitors to the garden.…
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I gave up growing box, Buxus, following the devastation caused by the Asian box tree caterpillar, Diaphania perspectalis, when it arrived in Saint Montan. The sight of both cultivated box, clipped into attractive shapes, and wild box bushes that were growing freely on the hillside, reduced to dry, shrivelled skeletons was sad and ugly. So…
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Why do we shred potatoes, I ask myself. After all there are so many other excellent ways of preparing, cooking and serving this popular tuber. Yet, throughout Europe, potatoes are grated, either raw when making an Ardèchois-style crique or half-cooked for a Swiss rösti. Both these types of potato pancake are fried, so perhaps it’s…
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GERALDENE HOLT 