Summer in Provence at The Paris!

Amazing produce is in season here in Utah and at The Paris we are celebrating our local agricultural wonders with the cuisine of Provence. What cuisine could be more befitting to showcase our local produce than the cooking of the most beloved region of France, with its striking and fertile landscape and its abundant offerings.  As such, the cuisine of Provence is ingredient driven, simple, fragrant, flavorful, and soul satisfying.

 

From the Chef/Owner Eric DeBonis:

Provence's landscape:

Provence is a place that appeals to all the senses with its warm and bright light from a seemingly ever present sun, blue skies and picturesque landscape. Provence has a gentle wildness with mountainous rocky outcroppings and towering cliff-top villages giving way to valleys of rolling countryside carpeted with vines, olive trees and fields of grass, vegetables and flowers. Vibrant colors of yellow sunflowers, red poppies and purple lavender are bordered in a frame of silvery green  shimmering  olive leaves and evergreen cypresses.

Olive trees with yellow sky and sun - Vincent Van Gogh - 1889

The Wines of Provence:

The wines of Provence, like the food, resonate of the native landscape. Vines have been cultivated in Provence for over 2,500 years, originally grown along the banks up and down the Rhône River.
Today, most of the land in Provence is planted in vines with the highest concentration of top quality wine being produced in the department of Vaucluse, located in the North East corner of Provence.  It is bordered by the Rhône on the West, the foothills of the Alps to the East, the Durance River in the South, and by Mont Ventoux to the North. The region includes several appellations including Côtes du rhône (Villages), Chateauneuf du Pape, Gigondas, Tavel, 

Côtes du Ventoux, Lirac and Côtes du Lubéron.
The wines are made from a blend of mainly three grapes-Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. These wines are naturally ripe and voluptuous with the radiant smell and taste of Provence-aromas and flavors of fresh berries, citrus, olives, minerals, leather, wild herbs, and oriental spices.

 

Provence's Native Ingredients:
Olives, honey, lavender, herbs de Provence (thyme, rosemary, summer savory, marjoram), saffron, basil, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, artichokes, fennel, carrots, turnips, beets, fingerling potatoes, zucchini flowers & summer squash, haricots verts, spinach, arugula and wild greens, wild mushrooms, goat cheese, lamb, Mediterranean seafood, dried anchovies, 

citrus, apricots, cherries and peaches.

Provençal Menu of the Moment
The Paris

•Fried zucchini blossoms, stuffed with goat cheese and sweet basil.

•Provençal vegetable sampler – grilled zucchini, fire-charred artichoke, roasted red peppers, eggplant and tomato relish, Niçoise olive tapenade, buffalo mozzarella, arugula, olive oil.

•Flatbread Provençal – heirloom tomato sauce, local hard neck garlic, roasted eggplant, grilled red peppers, zucchini, Niçoise olives, goat cheese, herbs de Provence.

•Tuna Niçoise – wild greens, haricots verts, fennel, fingerling potato, carrot, turnip, beet, radish, fire-charred artichoke, heirloom tomatoes, free-range egg, & basil, mustard vinaigrette.

•Pan-seared fresh day-boat scallops, artichoke and spinach nage, sunchoke confit, oven-roasted tomato, olive fennel brunoise.

•Bouillabaisse – Seasonal fish and shellfish, halibut and saffron soup, rouille croutons.

•Honey lavender glazed Mary’s chicken breast, roasted baby carrots, turnips, beets, onions, potatoes, green beans, arugula salad, lemon, olive oil.

•Grilled lamb chops, rubbed with herbs de Provence, white beans Provençal, grilled baby carrots, turnips, beets, fingerling potatoes, summer squash, & fennel.

•Beef Daube Niçoise – beef ragout, Provencal olives, tomato, fingerling potato, wild mushrooms, onion, papardelle pasta.

•Apricot tart minute – oven- baked individual apricot tart of Phyllo pastry, butter, sugar and Utah apricots, served with crème fraîche.