As a child in Europe I grew up on the classics including the Count of Monte Cristo, and it was when I was working on "Brave Goose", a private yacht based in Jual-les-Pins, South of France, that I got the chance to not only see the Isle but also to swim by it.
(Back story, I am not a strong swimmer and I had just seen "Dents de la Mer" ( JAWS) 3 times in Antibes prior to us sailing to Rome to get the yacht's stablizers fixed.)
I had learned not to swim using a mask & snorkle as that allowed me to see all the big fish swimming under me..which scared me to death.
The Captain had slowed the ship to an almost stop and most of the crew decided to go for a "dip" as it was almost 80f and a very calm sea (1 month previous we had sailed through a massive storm and almost flipped over, plus got tangled with a USA nuclear submarine but that's another story).
Everyone else dived in from the decks, I slowly eased myself into the water from the ships ladder.
Paddling around a bit to get my confidence up, then swam around with everyone else.
After about 30 mins, the Captain yelled for us all to
get back on ship, as we had to make our way back to France.
We had just got on board and were drying off when Jean-Paul, the deckhand, called to us that there was something big up ahead, in the water.
The thing turned out to be a 20ft shark that lazily swam across the surface before opening it's jaws as it disappeared below our wake.
I did not go in the Ocean for another 3 years! ( and then I was unknowingly swimming with sharks again, this time in The Persian Gulf!).
The South Of France is where I learned a big appreciation of simply prepared fresh vegetables, and my favorite snack while I was out shopping was a roasted red pepper tart ( these were also available on Ibiza in Spain) with the pastry being made with yeast.They are popular where ever the bell peppers are grown, along the Mediterranean shores.
Simply roast the peppers, skin and slice thinly, then bake in a the pastry shell topped with sea salt, pepper, fresh herbs ( in Spain they added pine nuts), bake and then serve, maybe adding more olive oil.
Fabulous...tomorrow I am making a free-form tart with roasted red bell peppers, fresh thyme flowers and Tomatoes, a cashew "Paella"; Falafal ( made with my own sprouts and cooked chickpeas) & potato skins with a red bean and sweet potato bruschetta; gnocchi with a robust eggplant and fennel sauce;and 3 smooth soups, cauliflower, broccolli& asparagus; tomato with parsnip, and Green split pea with fresh mint.
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| The cauliflower, broccoli & asparagus soup |
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| preparing the tomatoes and red peppers of roasting with own grown rosemary |
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| Robust Eggplant Sauce |
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| The coconut cream finished cauliflower-broccoli soup |
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| side view of the tomato parsnip and the pea and mint soups |
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| the bright & summery parsnip and tomato soup |
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| fresh mint topped split pea soup |
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| these will be roasted again in the pie tomorrow |
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| the yeast pastry for the pie..allow to rise, then "knock back" and refrigerate for 24 hours |
The rustic tart is one of my client's favorites & is loved by everyone who tried it,
ReplyDeleteI will be making a Winter vegetable version in the later months