Autumn - Taste the Seasonal Dishes
When the weather turns cooler, hot dishes are welcome on Provençal tables. September greedily welcomes butternut squash soup, stuffed cabbage, jugged hare and a recipe with a curious name: headless larks.
Our beautiful region offers an exceptional range of rich and delicious dishes based on olive oil, fragrant herbs, garlic and spices. Provençal cuisine is characterised by the abundant use of vegetables. It is extremely inventive! Some preparations are known throughout the world, others a little less so.
Of course, the dishes proposed here can be enjoyed all year round! However, the specialities recommended in this section are recommended because they reflect tradition or because the vegetables used have reached maturity in autumn. Today, it is important to favour seasonal fruit and vegetables: they taste better, meet our nutritional needs, are richer in antioxidants, are less processed and less expensive! Bon appétit to all!
Butternut Squash Soup
What is it exactly?
This soup is particularly popular in autumn. Butternut squash is grown in the south of France, as it needs warmth to flourish. Its orange flesh is tasty. This preparation, made from squash, smoked bacon and Emmental cheese, is an evening dish in itself.
Origin
The butternut squash originates from South America. It was only introduced to Europe after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. As for the soup, it has been eaten since the dawn of time, although it has been improved over the years to become a hearty dish.
A Recipe
Butternut Squash Soup:
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Serves 4 Preparation time: 20 mins Cooking time: 25 mins |
Ingredients
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- Chop the onion.
- Peel the squash and cut it into pieces.
- In a casserole dish, fry the chopped onion and the pieces of squash.
- Add the nutmeg, cover with the stock and cook for 15 minutes.
- Fry the bacon in a pan and set aside.
- Blend the soup.
- Add the bacon, cream, grated Emmental cheese, croutons and nuts.
- Enjoy!
Incredible but true!
The term "soup" originally comes from the Latin suppa meaning "slice of bread on which the broth is poured". It was not until the 17th century that the word was used to refer to soup, whether or not it was made with bread.
Hare Stew
What is it exactly?
Hare Stew/Civet de lièvre is a dish based on hare meat cooked with red wine, lardons, onions, shallots and herbes de Provence. The term "civet" is derived from "cive" and "civette" and refers to a dish prepared with onions, garlic or chives. For the preparation to be called civet, it must be cooked with red wine and finished with the animal's blood. Otherwise, it is called stew.
Origin
Civet de lièvre is an emblematic dish of French cuisine. The recipe appeared at the end of the Middle Ages, but will continue to evolve before being fixed at the beginning of the 21st century.
A Recipe
Hare Stew:
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Serves 6 Preparation time: 20 mins Cooking time: 2 hours |
Ingredients
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- Skin the hare, drain it, and collect the blood in a bowl containing a dash of vinegar.
- Reserve the liver without forgetting to remove the gall.
- Cut the hare into pieces. Brown them in very hot oil with the bacon and the quartered onions.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- When everything is well coloured, moisten with the cognac, 1 glass of red wine and flambé.
- Sprinkle with a good pinch of flour and let it take colour by putting your casserole in the oven.
- Remove the fat and cover with the remaining red wine and water.
- Add a nice bouquet garni, the garlic, a pinch of spices and bring to the boil over a full fire.
- As soon as it boils, reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, making sure that the pot is tightly closed.
- When the cooking is finished, remove the pieces of hare and keep them warm.
- Reduce the sauce, bind it with the chopped liver and blood.
- Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
- Add the butter and strain the sauce over the hare pieces.
- Add fried croutons.
- Enjoy!
Incredible but true!
For a long time the hare was considered unclean meat. In the Bible, it is written: "You shall not eat the hare, which chews but does not have a split hoof; you shall consider it unclean. (Leviticus 11:1-47).
Sou Fassum or Stuffed Cabbage
What is it exactly?
Stuffed cabbage is a culinary speciality known as sou fassum in Nice and lou fassum in Grasse. The cabbage is stuffed with a mixture of meat, vegetables, especially chard, rice and stale bread soaked in milk. It is held in a net, the "fassumier", and cooked in a chicken stock.
Origin
Stuffed cabbage is said to have been imported by the Greeks at the time of the foundation of Antibes.
A Recipe
Sou Fassum or Stuffed Cabbage:
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Serves 4 Preparation time: 30 min Cooking time: 1 h 30 min |
Ingredients:
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- Peel the cabbage, wash it and blanch the leaves for 3 minutes in a pan of boiling salted water.
- Refresh in ice water.
- Cut the pork shoulder into cubes, season with salt and pepper and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Cut the dried bacon and the bacon into cubes.
- Scald the peas and cook them for 30 seconds in a pan of boiling salted water. Refresh them and peel them.
- Cook the chard greens in the same way for 1 minute, then drain and press them into a cloth and chop them finely.
- Cook the finely chopped onion in olive oil until translucent.
- Chop the shoulder pieces.
- Mix all the ingredients together. Add the egg to bind the mixture and season with pepper.
- Set this filling aside in the refrigerator.
- Line a baking tin with cling film.
- Place a layer of cabbage leaves and then a little of the filling, packing well.
- Repeat the operation as many times as necessary.
- Finish with the cabbage leaves.
- Fold the cling film over the top to close the whole thing.
- Cook the whole thing in vegetable stock, making a few holes in the cling film.
- Leave overnight.
- Remove the cling film and place on a baking tray.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees. The cabbage can also be eaten cold.
- Enjoy!
Incredible but true!
Legend has it that in the past, the people of Grasse were not very sharing! When they were eating fassum at home, if someone knocked on the door, they would quickly hide the dish in their table drawer. "Too bad you didn't arrive earlier, we would have shared the fassum," they would say hypocritically to the visitor.
Headless Larks
What is it exactly?
Headless larks are a Provençal dish consisting of minced meat wrapped in a thin slice of beef and cooked in a sauce of wine, mushrooms, Provençal herbs and tomatoes.
Origin
In the 19th century, this dish was only prepared by butchers. Even today, each butcher has his own recipe. Little by little, each household started to cook it by preparing a stuffing in its own way. There are many different ways to prepare it!
A Recipe
Headless Larks:
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Preparation time: 2 hours Cooking time: 2 hours |
Ingredients :
For the sauce :
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- Place the slices of meat between 2 sheets of baking paper and hit them with a pan.
- Lay them flat and cut them into 3 or 4 equal portions, season with salt and pepper.
- Place 3 or 4 lardons of salt pork, slices of garlic and 6 parsley leaves in the middle of each piece.
- Roll up the piece of meat, compressing the stuffing.
- Close with a wooden pick or string.
- Fry the meat in olive oil in a casserole dish and set aside.
- Add the chopped onions and shallots. Fry for 3 minutes.
- Add the finely chopped carrots and mix.
- Put the meat back in and add the quartered orange.
- Moisten with the white wine, add the tomato purée, a pinch of sugar and a splash of water so that the food is covered.
- Add the bouquet garni, salt and pepper.
- Leave to simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Rinse the olives and the stemmed mushrooms and add them to the sauce.
- Continue cooking for 10 minutes and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
- Enjoy!
Incredible but true!
What a funny name for a meat dish! The reason is that these kinds of paupiettes look like a bird with its head cut off!
