The Provence Cookbook [Hardcover]

Patricia Wells (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 13, 2004

No matter where you live, or how gloomy it may be outside, Patricia Wells will brighten your kitchen with the sunny flavors of France's bountiful south with The Provence Cookbook. A French-food expert and longtime Provence resident, Patricia offers readers an intimate guide to the culinary treasures of this sun-drenched landscape and dishes that will transport you and your guests with every flavorful bite.

The Provence Cookbook's 175 enticing recipes reflect Patricia's long and close ties with the farmers and purveyors who provide her and her neighbors in Provence with a kaleidoscope of high-quality foods. Their year-round bounty is the inspiration for these exciting, healthful Mediterranean-French dishes,which Patricia shares with home cooks everywhere. Over the past twenty years, it is Patricia who has often been the student, learning Provencal ways and regional recipes directly from the locals. With The Provence Cookbook, her readers benefit from this rich inheritance, as she passes along such recipes as My Vegetable Man's Asparagus Flan, or Maussane Potter's Spaghetti.

Along side authentic and flavorful dishes for every course from hors d'oeuvre to dessert, as wellas pantry staples, The Provence Cookbook features eighty-eight of Patricia's artful black-and-white photographs of Provence's farmers, shopkeepers, and delightful products. More than a cookbook, this is also a complete guide and handbook to Provencal dining, with vendor profiles, restaurant and food shop recommendations and contact information, and twelve tempting menus -- delight in An August Dinner at Sunset or perhaps A Winter Truffle Feast.

Whether you are a home cook, a traveler, or an armchair adventurer, enjoy Provence as the locals do, with Patricia Wells and The Provence Cookbook as your guides.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In books including The Paris Cookbook and Bistro Cooking Patricia Wells offered personal takes on delicious French fare. The Provence Cookbook finds Wells, a resident of the region, evoking the terroir in over 200 recipes culled form chefs, home cooks, farmers, and more. Like her other collections, Provence yields easy but elegant fare--modern, light-on-their-feet dishes like Six-Minute Cod Braised in Spicy Tomato Sauce and Francks's Roasted Duck Breasts with Green Olives. While the recipes are truly French (with an occasional cross-cultural contribution), Wells has done her usual trick of translating them for relaxed American cooking; she's also provided enticing vignettes on local markets; on ingredients, like the nutty camargue rice; and on other culinary suppliers such as Hervé Poron, "The Truffle King." In themselves, the listings make a useful guide.

In addition to the expected categories, the large recipe range includes breads, pasta, and egg and cheese dishes, such as Quick Polenta Bread with Rosemary, Linguini with Saffron, and Baked Arugula Omelet. Desserts are hardly neglected, and include evocative specialties like Fresh Fig and Homemade Apricot Jam Tart, Three Pear Cake, and Individual Cherry-Hazelnut Gratins. Tips like "On Peeling Tomatoes," menus, and photos further distinguish a book that will delight both Wells's fans and those fortunate to discover her culinary France. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

Wells is one of the most famous American culinary expats living in France, and she's carved out quite a niche for herself as the voice of France for American home cooks. Provence, a sunny region in the hills above the Riviera, is not a new subject for Wells; although her last book focused on Paris, she authored Patricia Wells at Home in Provence in 1996. For this lively volume, she seems to have combed the villages surrounding her and her husband's "rewarding little farmhouse" in northern Provence to come up with recipes and culinary tips from farmers, winemakers, tradesmen, shopkeepers and restaurateurs. It's a robust collection (with over 200 recipes), encompassing all manner of food, wine and preparation techniques, and a highly personal one too. For example, in the Salads section, the recipe for Mireille's Tomato, Green Pepper, Olive, and Anchovy Salad prompts Wells to expound on her favorite olive oil; while the recipe for the Maussane Potter's Spaghetti, which comes from some of the author's potter friends in the village of Maussane-les-Alpilles, leads Wells to write about her favorite pottery shops in Provence. This could be bothersome if Wells were not so instructive, but her personal digressions serve as important lessons to cooks and to those planning a trip to the area. To that end, Wells includes plenty of travel information, giving the various locations and hours of Provence's many markets and contact information for restaurants and shops. Altogether, this is a lovely cookbook, a celebration of simple, delectable cuisine.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (April 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060507829
• ISBN-13: 978-0060507824
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 1.5 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia Wells is a journalist, author, and teacher who runs a popular cooking school--At Home with Patricia Wells--in Paris and Provence. Salad As A Meal is her twelfth book. She won the James Beard Award for The Provence Cookbook, Patricia Wells at Home in Provence, and Simply French. Also nominated for Beard Awards were Vegetable Harvest and The Paris Cookbook. With her husband, Walter, she is also the author of We've Always Had Paris . . . and Provence. The French government has honored her as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, recognizing her contribution to French culture. A former New York Times reporter, she is the only foreigner and only woman to serve as restaurant critic for a major French publication, L'Express. For more than twenty-five years she was the global restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

134 of 146 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A better book on Provencal Home Cooking April 14, 2004

By B. Marold HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The cookbooks of `cuisine Provence' just keep coming. The latest is the new book by Patricia Wells, whose credentials for doing a cookbook on a cuisine of France are impeccable, as she has already written seven (7), including an earlier book on Provence entitled `Patricia Wells at Home in Provence'. I made a point of reviewing the earlier book (as well as four (4) of Wells' other books) when I saw the notice of the new book's being published.

Madame Wells gives no clue in this book to distinguish it from the earlier title. She does indicate that it marks the occasion of her living at the farmhouse, Chanteduc, with her husband for the last twenty years. My biggest question about the current volume is, after all the books which have already been published, what new can be said about the cuisine of this singularly fecund culinary terroir? The answer in this book is `A lot'.

Like Wells' earlier Provence book, this book does not dwell on standards such as Bouillabaisse or Salad Nicoise. It presents recipes of local restaurants and bistros and recipes invented by the author herself. There are still lots of references to friends and acquaintances such as Joel Robuchon who happens to be great French chef, but the emphasis in this book, unlike the earlier title, is much more on the restaurants and food producers and vendors of her neighborhood in Provence than it is about Madame Wells and her contacts to the greats of French cuisine. This concentration on contacts in Provence sometimes seems a bit absurd to 99% of Madame Wells' potential audience. What reader / cook in Duluth will have any interest whatsoever in the telephone and fax numbers of `Restaurant Le Mimosa' just outside of Montpellier in Provence? Only that reader who will happen to be traveling to Provence within the next year, I gather.... This doesn't mean there are no such contacts of value to the general reader. There are names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses (of course) to many local vintners, truffle merchants, and olive oil producers. I'm certain that if someone were absolutely determined to obtain a bottle of primo olive oil from Provence, they could use this information to track down a source. Note that the references to these merchants is certainly not an afterthought. The subtitle of the book states that it is a book of both recipes and a guide to markets, shops, and restaurants. I will chalk this up as a plus, as 175 good recipes for a list price of less than $30 is a bargain. Throw in first rate intelligence on Provencal merchants and I think the interested buyer will be getting their money's worth.

In addition to addresses and other contacts to Provencal restaurants, the book contains a three-page presentation of major market days in Provence, by day and by department. The end of the book also has three solid pages of sources gathered from the body of the book.

Regarding the recipes, I will not verify that she did not duplicate any recipes from the earlier book other than recipes for aioli, vinaigrettes, stocks, and pistu. Actually, I did check and find that Mme. Wells does not even duplicate her aioli or pistu recipes. That doesn't mean aioli and pistu are not used in the book. They are so ubiquitous that they even appear together in the `Spaghetti a l'Aioli au Pistou' dish. There are chicken stock recipes in both books and they are very similar, yet the one in the current volume is `homemade' and somewhat simpler than the earlier recipe.

The older and newer books are almost exactly the same length. The older book has eleven very traditional chapters. The newer book has thirteen chapters. It has the same eleven titles as the older book plus chapters on `Potatoes' and `Eggs and Cheese'.

I compared the recipes in the `Breads' chapter and found no overlap. Both books contained recipes for Fougasse (French focaccia-like flatbread), but the older book's treatment was a general treatment of this type of bread while the newer book deals only with a single recipe incorporating black olives. Treatment of bread in the older book more thorough in general.

I compared the salad recipes in the two books and found one overlapping title for a `winter salad', yet the two recipes were for two different winter salads.

I compared the potato recipes from the index of the older book to the potato recipes in the new book and again found no overlap. I did, however, find support for Madame Wells' statement in her introduction that her cooking has gotten simpler over the years. As interesting and diverse as the potato recipes are, they are all utterly simple, but not without a clever technique to two. The placing of a bay leaf in a thin slit in new potatoes is certainly new to me.

This book includes wine recommendations for every dish where a recommendation seems appropriate. As with all of her earlier books, the wine recommendations can be pretty arcane and may only be for very general guidance. No apology is made for the obscure references. If wine is not your thing, just ignore them. If you are as fond of wine as are the fictional Drs. Crane, then enjoy yourself.

If you are a fan of Provencal cooking, then you want both books. If you feel the need for at least one book on Provencal cooking and don't want to spring for Richard Olney's oversize tome, then get this newer volume. It's index and table of contents are superior to the earlier book and I do believe the recipes are simpler. If you are traveling to Provence, this book is a terrific find.

Highly recommended. Many simple recipes (not necessarily fast) and lots of panache. Read more ›

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Oversimplified but useful January 4, 2006

By J. V. Lewis VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

In lieu of a Paula Wolfert book on Provence, for which I've long waited, I settled for Wells', and am more or less content with it. I am wholeheartedly devoted to Richard Olney's books on the cooking of the region, and I have to admit that my opinions about Provencal food have become rather ossified orthodoxies under his cantankerous influence. Nonetheless, many of Wells' recipes are so simple in ingredients and preparation compared to Olney's more archly traditional recipes that I have had to approach them with reservations, even trepidation. Is this cookbook for impatient, taste-blind American "ten-minute gourmets"? Well, not really. But I do believe it cuts too many corners. Even some of Wells' more complex recipes lack many refinements of ingredients and technique that make Provencal food what it is: bright, fresh, subtle, and surprisingly nuanced. For example, her recipe for Soupe au Pistou, that mainstay of the Sothern French summer table, lacks six ingredients listed in Richard Olney's transcription of Lulu Peyraud's recipe. Having followed both recipes, the omissions feel serious: Lulu's recipe produces a light, summery soup that is also velvety and complex. Wells' recipe is nice enough, but the results are rather too herby, and the broth is watery and acidic. There isn't nearly enough olive oil, there's too much tomato, and the results just don't taste Provencal to me. But maybe I'm whining. Let me say something nice.

I think Wells hits her stride with the meats. Her recipe for the red wine-marinated leg of lamb is truly great, and her recipe for a simple red wine daube is very good. I did not like the results of her recipe for pork daube with sweet and hot peppers.... It would have been far better, I think, had it called for a fattier cut than the tenderloin [my least favorite part of the pig] and if the olive oil were doubled or tripled. Anyway, the short stretch of meat recipes is the high point of the book for me.

But my favorite feature is the wine notes that accompany most of the recipes. They are well conceived, well written, and constitute a clear window on a little-known wine region. Provencal wine is food wine, first and last, and Wells does a very nice job as matchmaker and inspiring partisan. Grand Aioli with Domaine Tempier Rose... THIS is Provence, and should be the touchstone of any cookbook on the region. Read more ›

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple preparations, wonderful flavors June 11, 2004

By Cynthia S. Froning VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I was so impressed with The Paris Cookbook that I bought this one as soon as I saw it. It is similar in look and feel to the Paris cookbook, but each has its own spirit. The Paris cookbook focuses on the use of produce and meat from city markets as well as recipes from chefs with whom Wells has worked. The Provence cookbook has recipes that highlight fresh food taken directly from the land, simply prepared. I will rely heavily on it this summer, especially for preparation of fresh vegetables from the garden.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Patricia Wells does it again! June 8, 2004

By Marsha Wood Wirtel

Format:Hardcover

It seems as though there wouldn't be much left to say regarding the cuisine of southern France. Scores of volumes have covered the territory but that has not stopped Patricia Wells from venturing yet again into the cooking of Provence. And for that we can be thankful, for no one writes more lovingly about the people, ingredients and techniques of Provence than she.

Among the best recipes included in this volume are those that Wells admits she made up on the spur of the moment using whatever fresh ingredients were available at the time. In the text accompanying the recipe for roasted cherry tomatoes she notes that she was seeking something to fill space in the oven, noticed that her cherry tomatoes were ripening wildly and created a recipe right then that has since become a favorite. There is no better lesson in the spirit of Provencal cooking than this - use what is around, treat it well and you will be well fed.

Perhaps more fun that the recipes themselves, if possible, are the profiles of Wells' favorite producers, vendors and restaurantors. These are the people who inspire Wells herself - the farmers and fisherman, the cooks and the market stal owners. Her nod to their dedication and professionalism is lovely and shows the many strands that are woven together to eat well in the classical sense.

Technically, the book is well organized and the instructions are clear. Wells also includes source and contact information for those lucky enough to visit Wells' territory in person. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys true, fresh flavors cooked simply in season. That Patricia Wells has managed to cover new ground is a wonder, but she has, in fact, done it again!