Christmas Comes to Provence

Christmas sees the arrival of the Crèche de Provence, a nativity scene full of not only religious characters, but also assorted animals - I have an elephant and a camel for my crib - but also all sorts of local figures, such as the seller of aioli, the fisherman, the happy man with his arms raised, gypsies, and many others who make up Provençal life. My figurines are made in the atelier of Marcel Carbonel in Marseille. Every year there is a handsome Carbonel crèche on display in the Avignon Town Hall. And usually at Christmas time, in the Palais du Roure in Avignon, built in the 15th century for the Florentine Pierre Baroncelli, there is a table set up with the thirteen desserts of Noël.

A perfect Christmas gift, or for any other time, would be a LeTellier "moulin à legumes," or vegetable mill, which makes perfect pureed potatoes and all kinds of pureed vegetables and soups. Soups are far most interesting when passed through a food mill rather than mixed in a robot, for  there is a slight texture to the resulting soup. Culinarion on the rue de la Bonneterie, just across from Les Halles in Avignon, sells the LeTellier mill.

Next to Culinarion is a brand new store just in time for Christmas - Berny, the Home of Salmon and Sturgeon, which sells all sorts of smoked and marinated salmon, sliced to order. And you can also buy undyed smoked haddock, a must for making Scotish cullen skink. I was there on opening day and the sturgeon had not arrived yet.

Cullen skink

Put 750 gr. of peeled, chopped mealy potatoes and 1 minced onion into a pot with a litre of water and cook until the potatoes are almost soft. Put 500 gr. of finnan haddock (smoked haddock) on top, cover the pan and cook gently for about 5 minutes. Remove the fish and skin and bone (if any) and then flake the flesh. Mash the potatoes  and onions into the juice in the pan. Return the fish to the pan and add milk (with cream, if you wish) and butter to obtain the desired consistency. Season to taste. Add chopped parsley if you wish. If you cannot find undyed smoked haddock you can use other smoked white fish.

Christmas time is Chocolate time in France. Most chocolate makers make 40% of their profit at the holiday season. The best known artisanal chocolate store in Avignon is Puyricard of Aix en Provence, on the rue Joseph Vernet. Puyricard was started in the 1960's by a young Belgian couple who had just returned from the Belgian Congo. On the rue des Trois Faucons is the atelier of Aline Géhant who makes delicious beautiful little bites of chocolate. And now soon to open just up the rue de la Bonneterie from Culinarion is the shop of another chocolate artisan, Angéla de Beaupréau.