Joyous July news from Uzès
/My first Uzès tour in ten years was a wild success – it was hot but you know, we managed with lots of rosé and buckets of ice. We had a wonderful group who were helplessly enchanted by gorgeous Uzès itself, loved Hotel Entraigues in the centre of town and started shopping one minute after they arrived. Southern French food is colourful, tasty and seductive and the gastronomads enthusiastically embraced the cooking classes, restaurants, visits and opportunities to taste the local wine. Life is relaxed here, mostly because of the heat, but we bravely fluttered our fans, drank lots of water and took siestas. The final night do was hosted at my place, climbing up and down the stairs, sipping cocktails on my rooftop terrace, dancing to the live jazz musicians, singing in harmony (more or less) and eating paella.
Travel is definitely back on the menu in Europe and I'll be doing it all again next year, 7 – 13 July 2023 – full details are on the website and bookings are OPEN!
Speaking of business as usual, a couple of places have become available on my Puglia tour at the end of August – so what are you waiting for... ditch the endless rain and come and join us for sunshine, pasta, seafood and dancing. It's not too late!
Tours 2023
After a moderate start to the year, things are bustling and busy in France this summer, with 2023 predicted to be even bigger. Bookings for my 2023 tours are already rolling in, so don't miss your chance to escape winter and get back to travel. There's something for everyone next year.
Marrakech – 7 – 14 May 2023 – half full
Basque – 3 – 10 June 2023
Uzès – 7 – 13 July 2023
Puglia – 2 – 9 September 2023 – half full
Portugal – 17 – 23 September 2023 – half full
Uzès Cooking Classes 2022
As usual I'm teaching my market based cooking classes in my Uzès home on Wednesdays and Saturdays till I leave at the end of September – think fresh fig & goatcheese cake (recipe below), tapenade, pissaladiere, salade nicoise and stuffed courgette flowers. More info on my classes is HERE.
Goat Cheese & Fresh Fig Cake
This is a recipe I taught last week. It's basically an upside down pound cake. Fresh figs are in season here but you can successfully use dried figs soaked in something like cognac. The real beauty of it is the flavour of the goat cheese.
3tbsp caster sugar
5 fresh ripe figs, cut in half crosswise
175g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
175g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
200g creamy soft goat’s cheese
3 eggs
2 tbsp apricot jam
Preheat oven to 180oC. Butter a 24cm spring form cake tin and line the base with buttered baking paper. Sprinkle the paper with sugar and arrange the figs, cut side down, on top.
Sift the flour and baking powder together. Beat the butter, sugar and goat’s cheese together until white and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one. Add the dry ingredients and fold in. Spread the cake mixture evenly over the figs.
Bake for about 50 mins or till the sides of the cake have pulled away from the tin. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Run a knife around the sides of the tin to loosen the cake then invert onto a serving dish.
Melt the apricot jam in a little pot then push through a sieve. Brush the top of the cake with the jam. Top with fresh berries if you feel so inclined.
To Serve: Cut into wedges and dust lavishly with icing sugar.
I haven't been living in my Uzès home for 2 ½ years so am very happy to be back in my old life with friends, culinary colleagues and lovely neighbours. My home is a source of great joy and I am again getting used to closing everything up instead of opening windows and curtains in the heat (39 degrees today) like we do in NZ. The sun shines so much (300 days a year) and the skies are so unremittingly blue that it is almost monotonous .... but not quite. More like intoxicating. This stylish, well-heeled place seduces many and when I mention it, people seem to glaze over with dreamy smiles and sweet memories.
A bientot, Peta 🍷 💋