Monday, April 20, 2009

When Aioli is Not Just Aioli

Mon professeur de français, Arlette, et son mari Andrew sont les hôtes fantastiques. And last night was no different. Arlette is from Antibes, near Nice, and thus knows a thing or two about regional cooking, southern French style.

In Provence, an aioli is not just a home-made mayonnaise, deliciously heavy on the garlic, but an entire meal that honors the bounty of spring/summer. A room- temperature meal, the preparation happens before the heavy heat of the day turns cooking into a dreaded duty. Then you call friends. "J'ai fait un aioli. Allez plus." Or something like that (my class is tonight so I'll find out if that really is what they'd say).

Our aioli included cod that was poached most deliciously, langoustine and, well, here are a few pictures that convey the meal far better than my words.

The cod

Langoustine

Magnifique, n'est-ce pas?

The aioli

The location (the view, the view!), the home and the company conspired to make this a special evening.








2 Comments:

Anonymous Viellefemme said...

You know that look on Homer Simpson's face when he's thinking about donuts? Yeah, that's what I'm looking like while thinking, "a o i l i!" Oddly enough, I actually was served a plate over last weekend that, gasp, had too much aioli on it. I didn't think it was possible, but it overpowered the crab cake. Luckily, there was asparagus waiting! Love the photos of the hummingbirds. Such patience you have!

4:55 PM  
Blogger gwendomama said...

i am drooling over the crudites. seriously dangerously drooling for this old laptop.

11:36 PM  

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