Page 4C
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 5, 2017
AP Photo/Sally Carpenter Hale
AP Photo/Sally Carpenter Hale
This Sept. 2016 photo shows the view of vineyards and mountains from Domaine
Terre de Mistral in France, 20 minutes outside Aix-en-Provence.
This Sept. 2016 photo shows the view of the Mediterranean Ocean from an open-air
beachside restaurant in Bandol, France.
Never mind April in Paris.
Autumn in Provence is perfect
By SALLY CARPENTER HALE
Associated Press
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France
— You can keep Paris in April.
For me, the allure is Provence in
September.
Sure, the lavender fields are past
their bloom. But the flowers are
freshly dried and ready for you to
take home in bundles or sachets.
The hordes of tourists are gone,
and the weather is glorious, mostly
sunny with highs in the 70s F (20s
C).
The ubiquitous open-air markets
are brimming with local produce and
herbs, and the wine grape harvest
is in full swing. Tractors pulling
trailers piled with grapes creep from
vineyard to winery, where you can
watch the crushing begin as the first
step in transforming grape to rose
wines.
My husband Rick and I flew
to Paris, then took the TGV train
south to Aix-en-Provence, about
a 3½ -hour trip. There we met our
traveling companions, Janice Miller
and Tom Belden, for a cab ride into
town.
We stayed in old town at a
three-bedroom flat we found online.
We didn’t expect the three flights of
steps leading up to our flat, but the
location was perfect for exploring
Vieil Aix, which dates back to
Roman times. The narrow streets
are lined with boutiques, restau-
rants, medieval churches, fountains
and piazzas.
The
majestic
Cathedrale
Saint-Sauveur, which dates to the
sixth century, stands atop a hill that
reportedly once was the site of a
pagan temple. Admission to the
Roman Catholic cathedral is free
AP Photo/Sally Carpenter Hale
This Sept. 2016 photo shows a winery worker in the Provence region of France transferring ripe
grapes into a bin as the harvest gets underway.
and it is open daily from 9 a.m.-
noon and 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (Be sure to
cover your shoulders when visiting
the church.)
Cours Mirabeau, a boulevard
through the heart of Aix, has wide
sidewalks for strolling past cafes and
grand old houses with wrought-iron
balconies and intricate stonework,
and is home to a large open-air
clothing market.
We found the street markets were
open most days except for Sunday.
Some specialize in clothing, linens
and crafts; others offer meats,
cheeses, produce, dried fruit, flowers
and, of course, lavender products.
Post-impressionist artist Paul
Cezanne made his home in Aix, and
we took an Uber to his studio, Atelier
Cezanne, where the objects he used
for his still lifes are on display and
where he made his famous painting
of Montagne Sainte-Victoire, which
rises above the city.
The highlight of our trip was
a wine-tasting tour with Michael
Ippolito, a native New Yorker who
married a French woman and now
owns Wine in Provence Tours. He
drove us through the picturesque
Provencal countryside to small
family-owned wineries we never
Summer treat: Hot fruit crisp
topped with vanilla ice cream
By ELIZABETH KARMEL
Associated Press
The crisp, cobbler, crumble, grunt,
slump or buckle. What do these all
have in common? They are all fruit
desserts baked with a sweet “pastry”
topping.
They’re also the epitome of a
fresh summer dessert — although I
have been known to turn apples and
pears into crisps in the fall. Still, a
hot summer fruit dessert topped with
vanilla ice cream is the essence of
summer.
I am partial to a crisp which is fruit
topped with a combination of “crisp”
oatmeal, flour, butter and sugar
and sometimes nuts. The topping
ranges from streusel to granola and
completely covers the fruit. Since the
topping is everyone’s favorite part of
the dessert, I add pecans to make the
crisp topping even more crunchy and
substantial. I think of it as the dessert
version of granola. The crisp is
sometimes referred to as a crumble or
a buckle when a more classic streusel
topping is used.
Cobblers are generally topped with
batters or biscuits and the topping is
spooned on to the fruit leaving space
that the fruit can bubble up and show
through. Grunts or slumps are like
cobblers and the name is purported
to come from the sound that the fruit
makes as it cooks and emits steam
through the spaces between the
biscuits.
No matter how it is topped, I love
to grill this dessert. Even though the
process is similar to baking it in the
oven, it is much more dramatic and
you will surely impress your friends
and family.
In the summer, I make a crisp
almost every week. Right now, I
am making it with strawberries and
AP Photo/Richard Drew
Strawberry-rhubarb crisp.
rhubarb, but it is good with whatever
fruit you find at the market. Make sure
that the fruit is ripe, and mix it with a
little bit of sugar, citrus and cinnamon.
The addition of Grand Marnier is
optional but one that I always opt for
as it makes a big difference in the
depth of flavor, and marrying all the
ingredients. If you don’t have Grand
Marnier, add a bit of bourbon or your
favorite citrus or nut liqueur.
When you toss the fruit with the
sugar and cornstarch, be sure to mix
well and let the fruit sit for 5 minutes
to bring out the natural juices and mix
again.
When baking, make sure that you
bake long enough for the cornstarch
and fruit juices to bubble up and turn
opaque or your crisp will taste slightly
raw and gritty instead of silky smooth
and fruit tart. The tale-tell sign of a
crisp that is done cooking is the drips
of this juice running down the side of
the dish.
The dessert is made for easy
entertaining since you can assemble
it early in the day and bake it just
before you want to eat it and serve it
hot-off-the grill, or bake it in advance
and serve it at room temperature.
If I am baking it while we eat, I
put the crisp on the grill over indirect
medium heat when I take the meat
off the grill. That way, it is bubbling
and hot when everyone is ready for
dessert. I love the drama of lifting
the lid of the grill in front of my
guests and seeing their eyes light
up with the thought of a grilled fruit
crisp. Either way, it is enhanced by
a scoop of best-quality vanilla ice
cream!
———
Elizabeth Karmel is a barbecue
and Southern foods expert. She is
the chef and pit master at online
retailer CarolinaCueToGo.com and
the author of three books, including
“Taming the Flame.”
would have found on our own, all
of which produce spectacular dry
roses, as well as excellent whites
and reds. Prices were reasonable,
generally less than 20 euros per
bottle.
We had such a great time that
we hired Mike again the next day
to take us to Cassis and Bandol, on
the Mediterranean coast. We had a
lovely beachside lunch and stopped
at more wineries on the way back.
Dining in Aix runs the gamut
from small cafes to upscale restau-
rants. In addition to traditional
French fare, Aix is full of Italian
restaurants. And we saw a couple of
cafes advertising the puzzling “hand
burgers.”
We especially liked Le Poivre
d’Ane, where the food was delicious
and service impeccable. (The staff
thoughtfully provided lap blankets
for cool evenings on the square.)
Le Petit Verdot is a cozy restaurant
that creates wonderful meals with
locally sourced ingredients. Reser-
vations are strongly recommended
at both restaurants.
After 10 days, it was time to go
home. But how to fit seven bottles
of wine in our luggage? (Adults
can bring one liter of alcohol from
Europe back to the United States
duty free. Additional bottles are
allowed, but are subject to duty and
federal taxes.)
We packed and repacked,
dividing the bottles between our two
suitcases. When we arrived at the
Paris airport hotel, we were relieved
to find a luggage scale. We just
made it under the 50-pound (22 kg)
limit per suitcase and didn’t have to
pay an extra charge.
Fortunately, all that lavender
didn’t weigh much.
STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB CRISP
Servings: 10
Start to finish: 110 minutes (20 minutes active)
Topping:
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup regular oatmeal (not instant)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, small pieces
Filling:
• 3 pounds strawberries, cleaned and halved
• 2 cups chopped rhubarb, about 3 stalks
• ⅓ cup granulated white sugar
• 1 orange, zested and juiced (about ½ cup total)
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced (about ½ cup total)
• 2/3cup sugar in the raw
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier, optional
Build a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill. Or preheat
oven to 350 F.
Make the topping: In a large bowl, combine all the
topping ingredients except the butter. Work in the butter
with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles
large, coarse bread crumbs. Set aside.
Make the filling: In another large bowl, place the
strawberries. In a smaller bowl, toss the chopped rhubarb.
Add the orange juice, lemon juice, orange and lemon
zests, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon; mix lightly. Add
the Grand Marnier, if using. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Place the fruit mixture in a deep round baking dish or
souffle dish. Top it evenly with the streusel mixture.
In a grill, place the dish in the center of the cooking
grate over indirect medium heat, cover the grill, and bake.
In the oven, set the dish on a sheet pan and place in
the center of the oven. Bake for 60-90 minutes, or until
the juices bubble over the baking dish, and are clear, and
the top is browned.
Chef’s Note: For those of you used to making fruit
crisps, you may be surprised by the longer cooking time,
but the rhubarb takes longer than most fruit to cook. I
made this twice, and the first time that I took out the
crisp at 60 minutes, the rhubarb was still crunchy. Ninety
minutes resulted in a perfect texture.
Transfer the baking dish to a cooling rack. Serve
warm with ice cream, if desired.
Nutrition information per serving: 444 calories; 160
calories from fat; 18 g fat (7 g saturated; 0 g trans fats);
24 mg cholesterol; 107 mg sodium; 72 g carbohydrate; 5
g fiber; 50 g sugar; 4 g protein.