Lulu's Provencal Table : The Food and Wine from Domaine Tempier Vineyard

Description: Lulu's Provençal TableRichard Olney, Grub Street, Hardcover 2013The Forward by Alice Waters:I met the Peyrauds, the proprietors of Domaine Tempier, for the first time in the mid-seventies. I was introduced by Richard Olney, a mentor, who by then had been a neighbor and a friend of the family for years, and who had been a welcome guest at Domaine Tempier long before that. I felt as if I had walked into a Marcel Pagnol film come to life. Lucien and Lulu's warmhearted enthusiasm for life, their love for the pleasures of the table, their deep connection to the beautiful earth of the South of France - these were things I had seen at the movies. But this was for real. I felt immediately as if I had come home to a second family.I'm not sure what they saw in me. I could barely speak passable French, and I had no credentials as a restaurateur or wine expert, but they embraced me and seated me at Lucien's right hand, opposite Lulu. I remember the whole family was there and that Lucien, as he has done ever since, fed me the very best bits. (If there are sea urchins, for example, he will butter a piece of bread and make me a little sandwich piled with their roe.) I tried to stutter in French my thanks and feelings of unworthiness, and Lulu leaned sympathetically toward me and said, "Don't worry. I understand everything."Ever since, every time I have arrived at Domaine Tempier, the entire Peyraud family has understood everything and has made me feel totally at ease. There was the summer we showed up on the first day that a fierce mistral had started to blow. How had Lulu foreseen the change in the weather and before the boats all had to be tied up, managed to get together the fish for the bouillabaisse I had been dreaming of? There was the sweltering afternoon in the summer of '93 when my husband, ten-year-old daughter, and I arrived exhausted, to be revived after a few hours of privacy and napping by an open air supper of soupe au pistou, fresh figs and cheese, and an apricot and green almond compote. The first glass of rosé (and second and third) could not have been more refreshing if it had been the coolest mountain spring water. Always we are treated like long-lost children home for a visit, and always we are immersed in the same hospitality and the luxurious feeling of being at home. Lulu assures me that my French is very much improved. Lucien offers a wise toast at table that reminds us of the transcendental virtue of wine and food and friendship united. Jean-Marle, the son who vinifies the Domaine's incomparable wines, predictably waxes poetic about the gratifyingly high degree of alcohol in this year's vintage. And Lucien, just as predictably, reminds us that wine is nothing without balance and finesse.The wines of Domaine Tempier were on the wine list at Chez Panisse long before I met their makers. Gerald Asher was the first to import them, and he has written eloquently about Bandol and the Peyrauds. Robert Parker, the wine writer and critic, has called Bandol “the most privileged of Provence's appellations," and ranks Tempier as its sole "outstanding" producer. However, it is thanks to my friend the wine importer Kermit Lynch that the red and rosé wines of Domaine Tempier are now probably more famous and more beloved in America than in France. Because of his passion for the flavors and sensations of Bandol, Kermit now makes his home there half the year. Because of his enthusiastic promotion of Bandol and the influence of its flavors, a new generation of talented wine makers in California has planted many new vineyards of Mourvèdre (the grape that is the essence of Bandol) and are also happily harvesting fruit from recently rediscovered venerable plantings of Mataro (the state's legal name for Mourvèdre). I think this is as exciting a change in direction for California wine making as the shift to Cabernet and Chardonnay was a generation ago, and not only because these wines go so well with the kind of simple, garlicky food I love to cook at Chez Panisse.How wonderful to have Lulu and her daughter-in-law Paule as our guests in Berkeley a few years ago, and how gratifying and heartwarming to see her greeted by wine makers and wine lovers with great outpourings of affection and recognition. We served a week of Provençal dinners in their honor with menus inspired by the cuisine of Domaine Tempier. At every dinner, Lulu graciously accepted the homage aimed her way. And every afternoon, she and Paule could not be talked out of helping us peel garlic, bone sardines, and shell peas and broad beans.Lulu's indefatigable spirit in the kitchen and her recipes transcribed here so lovingly and accurately by Richard Olney represent to me the apotheosis of what is often called in France "la cuisine de bonne femme". Lulu always seems to know precisely what to do, effortlessly, without ever overdoing it. It amazes me how she is always present at the table, whether she's cooking for a party of twenty or a party of three. I remember one late evening when Lulu had not expected us for supper but nevertheless insisted on cooking us a little something. She had a basket of wild mushrooms that she proceeded to quickly brush off and then sauté with garlic and lots of herbs. Although she seemed to be cooking them almost unconsciously, chatting away with us over a welcoming glass of rosé, they were probably the most flavorful wild mushrooms I have ever eaten. Her food is often earthy, always delicious, and always appropriate to the moment.In part it has to do with the impeccable ingredients she chooses. She goes to the fish market in town just as the boats are coming in and the fishermen dump their catch onto outdoor tables under a canopy of plane trees. The fish are still jumping around and the crabs are trying to crawl back to the sea. Lulu never knows what she's going to make until she's been to the market. There may not be much choice, but if she finds the right fish she might stuff it with the fish liver, herbs, breadcrumbs, and fennel and bake it in the oven. The extra-virgin olive oil she uses comes from the olives that grow at the Domaine, the herbs and fennel from the garden behind the house or growing wild on the hillsides. There may be green almonds from the property or figs from Jean-Marie and Catherine's house; the squash blossoms may come from the neighbor's little farm stand at the bottom of the hill. If the guests are very lucky, François will have been diving for sea urchins. Lulu searches for what is alive, knowing that that is always what tastes best. This is her particular sensibility about food - a sensitivity that seems to come to her instinctively.The Peyraud family's example has been helping us find our balance at Chez Panisse for years. Like them, we try to live close to the earth and treat it with respect; always look first to the garden and the vineyard for inspiration; rejoice in our families and friends; and let the food and wine speak for themselves at the table.

Price: 16.99 USD

Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

End Time: 2024-10-22T22:59:01.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD