Artichoke paste

Rich and nutty

This paste reminds me the luxurious bounty of the Provence. Rather simple to make too. Sauté canned artichoke hearts with shallots and garlic.
Make a paste with the sautéed mix and walnuts, lemon juice and olive oil. Nutty and creamy. Ready to be scooped onto a cracker or slice of bread.

Sauté artichokes, onion and garlic …

… and Add lemon juice and walnuts to the sautéed mix.

Asparagus with prosciutto

A great starter and very simple. Boil asparagus and add salt and pepper.
Layer on a dish and decorate with sliced roasted almonds and thin prosciutto.
Bon Appetit!

White bean salad with Charmoula sauce

Charmoula sauce (original recipe: Mediterranean Fresh – Joyce Goldstein) is this eclectic and versatile sauce with fresh parsley, cilantro, ground cumin, paprika, garlic, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and olive oil. I use fresh white beans that are slow cooked and add fresh parsley, garlic and lemon juice to them and finally the green goddess paste, Charumula. The flavor of cumin and cilantro soak into the beans and a few day old beans taste even better. Charmoula is classic Moroccan but I found their influence to be strong in the Provencal markets and foods. The aromatic cumin and paprika combination with the lemon juice reminds me of the bright sunflowers which Van Gogh loved.

This salad reminds me of Van Gogh’s bright sunflowers

Start with cilantro…

chopped parsley,

and roasted cumin

Paprika from Budapest

soaked ancho chilies

sautéed onion and garlic

walnuts

all the above go in with olive oil

squeeze of lemon juice

Add above sauce to cooked white beans

add fresh parsley

Anchovies, olive and tomato salad

This recipe is from Greatest Ever Salads, which Ms. Tofu gave me.
I used a combination of lettuce, with baby spinach and small delicate and colorful Swiss chard leaves. Add to them plump sweet small tomatoes, diced canned black olives and chopped canned anchovies.
The dressing was olive oil, fresh chopped parsley, and oregano with light white wine vinegar, and salt and pepper. Salty, earthy and smoky with the sweet crunch of tomatoes.
Like Van Gogh's wheat fields.

This simple salad that reminded me of Van Gogh wheat fields.

Start with lettuce…

…baby swiss chard and baby spinach…

and oregano.

Add little plump sweet tomatoes,

chopped anchovies…

… and sliced black olives.

Make a dressing with olive oil, white wine vinegar, fresh parsley and fresh oregano.

Provençal salad

I bought an all-purpose salad mix from the Avignon market which I now throw into everything except my morning coffee. It is a mixture of dried parsley, marjoram, oregano, chives, red peppers and cardamom. To go with salad mix I combined spicy dandelion greens and arugula with diced celery, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers and radish that evoke summer's riotous colors and perhaps Van Gogh's too.

Colors of summer

The dressing is olive oil, a light sweet vinegar such as Trader Joe's champagne Muscat vinaigrette, Dijon mustard, and honey whisked together. The end result is crunchy and sweet summer salad with a dash of spice from the dried herbs and peppers.

Salad mix from the Avignon market

Dried parsley, marjoram., oregano, chives, peppers and cardamom

Tokaji vinegar from Budapest, mild and sweet – you can use any sweet vinaigrette

Dressing with olive oil, Dijon mustard, tokaji vinegar, honey

Peppers, cucumber, radish, celery, dandelion greens, arugula.