Les Petits Farcis

Today was one of the most enjoyable experiences ever! Thanks to Keith for retiring and to our wine club members for their generous gift of a cooking class with Rosa Jackson. When we saw her website and blog, we all decided to attend and booked a market tour, cooking class and lunch.

To give you a bit of history, Rosa was born in Canada although she spent time in France as a child. She actually lived and worked in Edmonton as the food writer for the Edmonton Journal until she moved to France in 1995. She lived in Paris for 10 years and founded the Paris market tours, the first of its kind to offer tours of that city's markets. She then relocated to Nice where she has combined her love of market tours and cooking classes under the name of Les Petits Farcis. She is a published author of 3 cookbooks in French and continues to write food columns and articles for a variety of publications. Presently, she is also studying nutrition part-time in Ireland. She is fluent in both languages, but teaches her classes in English.

The lovely Rosa...

The weather is miserable and it has been pouring most of the day. However it did not dampen our enthusiam. We first met Rosa at the far end of the Cours Saleya market. We were also joined by a lovely young woman from Poland named Paula who is writing a travel guide about Nice. Rosa began the tour with a brief, but interesting history of Nice and the Italian influence on local cuisine. As we walked along the market corridor, Rosa impressed upon us the importance of looking for the local, fresh and seasonal produce. She is most interested in the small producers' stalls where the fruits and vegetables may not be as uniformly shaped or the variety may not be as great, but where you can be assured that the food is local/regional and much of it organic. Most of the produce for our meal was purchased from farmers who have small, terraced plots in the mountains and bring their goods to the market on Saturdays. 

Among today's purchases included fresh artichokes, arugula and water cress, lemons from Menton, onions and purple and chartreuse cauliflower. We were also treated to a number of food samples from a variety of vendors. The first was a sample of a torte with a swiss chard filling. It was surprisingly good. There were tastes of salts including the gray salt that we used extensively on our cod. More about that in a minute, but we will definitely be taking some of that home.

We tried persimmons and a couple of varieties of nougat. Normally we are not fans, but this was exceptional - local honey mixed with almonds. We landed up purchasing some.

Once we had all the fresh produce, we were met by Rosa's assistant, Karine Brun, who took the food home to prepare it for our arrival. In the meantime, we made our way to Rosa's second favourite boulangerie, Du Palais, (her favourite is closed for the month of November) where she bought the bread for the meal. Not all baguettes are equal as we quickly learned. She told us how to differentiate between baguettes that are made on the premise and those manufactured elsewhere and brought in frozen. She also convinced us that it is worth paying 20 or 30 centimes more to buy some of the artisanal varieties and we think she's right. On a side note, Keith, who is somewhat of a bread aficionado, found this bakery shortly after we arrived and has frequently walked to the old city to buy our daily loaf. 

Next stop was the wine cave. I believe she said this cave opened in 1910 and has been run by the same family ever since. The place is quite large and the wines are arranged by region rather than by grape varietals. Once again, we had previously found this cave shortly after we arrived and have subsequently purchased many bottles there. We have even refilled bottles with wine from the wall spigots and it is pretty decent

Last stop was the fromagerie.

 

Again, we had been in that particular store once prior and I had picked up some delicious Roquefort. However, this time she pointed out the goat cheese, sheep cheese  and those made with cow's milk. All of them looked marvellous and she purchased a nice variety. 

Now it was time to head back to her apartment to begin cooking. She lives in a beautiful 400 year old apartment on the top floor. I know why she is so trim. Besides eating extremely well, walking up those stairs several times a day would keep anyone fit. When we entered her place, there was a large table set up with aprons which we got to keep,  cutting boards, knives etc. 

Before we started the meal, we had a chance to try three different kinds of olive oil. All were different, but delicious. They take their olive oil very seriously and Rosa and her colleagues offer a class on the subject. The first two were quite light and floral and we used them in the salad and the dessert. No doubt, we will have to purchase a bottle or two to take  home. 

Our luncheon menu consisted of an entree which was a mixture of artichoke hearts, ham, carrots, onions and fresh herbs topped with fresh arugula and fresh artichokes dressed with cherry vinaigrette and parmesan shavings. None of us have cooked artichokes before so it was a real learning experience. Artichokes turn brown quickly so once peeled we kept them in a bowl of fresh lemon juice and water until they were ready to be cooked. 

The main course or plat was a bed of mashed potatoes and celery root topped with seared cod and salsa made with fresh lemons, capers and chiles. It was garnished with caulflower fleurets, watercress and garlic confit. The celery root was huge. 

Rosa does not like to cook her vegetables in a lot of water. She prefers to steam them or as in this dish use less water and let it evaporate as it cooks so the small amount that remains is added to the dish for additional flavour and nutritional value. Sometimes she adds butter to the water as well as in the case of the potatoes. Instead of using a lid, she taught us a cool trick to make a lid out of parchment paper. This keeps the celery root from browning yet it allows the water to evaporate. The other advantage is that allows you to see what you are cooking and how it is progressing.

Once both the celery root and potatoes were cooked, we put them through a food mill and seasoned to taste.

The secret to the maintaining the shape of the cod during cooking is the get it as dry as possible.

 

We began by placing the cod on a bed of gray salt and then completely covering it with the rest. After 30 minutes, the fish was washed well and then dried.

Greg washing the cod.

It was then seared in a very hot pan for about 4 miinutes on one side and 3 on the other - it was done perfectly! Below is a photo of the garli confit. Confit literally means cooked in fat, in this case olive oil.

The main course was fabulous!

The third course was a board of fresh cheese purchased from the fromagerie. Rosa served us individual plates starting with the mildest cheese and then moving to the strongest. All were superb!

The dessert was one of my favourites - a lemon tart. The crust and the filling were to die for.

Here is Keith preparing the dough. 

I lined the tart pan with the dough which had oil added the the mixture. Apparently the oil helps to prevent the dough from shrinking. 

The crust is cooked until it is golden brown.

Meanwhile we prepared the lemon curd and Greg did a masterful job of whisking the mixture. 

Whisking constantly create small air bubbles which add to the texture of the filling.

 Voilà - la pièce de résistance !

I forgot to mention that we were sipping on a lovely rosé purchased from the cave as we prepared the meal.

Our happy and satisfied crew after the meal - Karine, Rosa, Keith and I and Greg in the background. Paula took the photo for us. 

Unfortunately Brian was just too ill to join us and spent the day in bed. However, we were able to bring him a piece of the llemon curd tart which is his favourite too. Rosa also said that she would save a space for him in her class on December 5. He was thrilled when he told him and we can hardly wait to hear about it!