Marita van der Vyver’s Summer Food in Provence is really a great read.
This book is full of recipes which revolve around family eating and everyday cooking.
As Marita says herself; “We don’t have the time, money and energy to make complicated and pretentious dishes using expensive ingredients”.
That’s where the beauty of this book lies.
There is a down to earth quality about the recipes, the writing and even the photography.
Vegetables at a Provencal market.
Marita is a well known South African writer who married a Frenchman and spends a lot of the year living in Provence, France.
So here’s a peek at some of the recipes; chicken with 40 cloves of garlic; warm chorizo salad; ratatouille; leek tart; cheat’s tiramisu; fennel salad with blue cheese; and a luscious chocolate mousse and finally, easy tomato tart.
There’s nothing experimental here, just good, old fashioned, traditional French cooking.
Each chapter starts with a quirky quote and there are even a few South African recipes thrown into the mix.
There are a few cookery books where the recipes seem out of reach, or far too complicated, and you don’t feel inclined to try out the dishes. But Summer Food in Provence just begs you to get stuck in and have a go.
Summer Food in Provence
by Marita van der Vyver R250
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Visually beautiful, I agree- but: nothing in it has not been done better, with more class & finesse, in many other “French” cookbooks. My shelves are overflowing allready, Think I’ll give this one a miss.
Hi Johan,
So what’s your favourite French cookbook then??
Tough one, Clare. Due to the diversity of what we call “French” cooking, it ’s impossible to have an all-time favorite. I love the authenticity and ease of Patricia Wells- Bistro cooking, the Paris Cookbook and Cooking in Provence are all well-worn an fat-splattered on my shelves. When it comes to old-school recipes I’m fond of “The bonne cusine of madame E. de Saint Ange”, Richard Olney’s “the French menu cookbook”, as well as Julia Child’s classics. Child’s cassoulet recipe remains a knock-out. When aiming for something more stylish, I love the translation of “Ducasse made simple, by Sophie”- easily achievable by the home cook.
Looking for coffeetable book with pure visual attraction? Tough choice again, because I hate buying cookbooks for their pictures and would much rather stick to books you can cook from, thus either Anne Willan’s “The country cooking of France” or Olney again- “Provence, the beautiful cookbook.” Speaking of Provence and wanting something lighter? Try Alex Mackay’s “Cooking in Provence”- the provencal chicken in red wine is a far superior dish to most coq au vins I know.
If you’re looking for a new release, try Dorie Greenspan’s “Around my french table” – my newest aquisition via loot.co.za (not yet on any bookshelves in SA because the local stockists are a bunch of ill-read and incompetent buggers…) I’m slowly cooking my way through this tome of French homecooks’ recipes and enjoying all the anecdotes and tales with it. Pure french cusine it’s not- this is family recipes from France as modified and changed by both time and circumstance. Madame van der Vyfer would do better to stick to Griet and her sprokies.