From our cooking class in Arles, France
Just as beautiful as the one we made at our cooking class in Provence.
Our cooking class in Arles back in March was one of the highlights of our trip to France. The class was taught by Chef Erick Vedel and featured fresh ingredients from the market (we shopped with him) and the surrounding country side. We helped to prepare the meal (enjoyed wine along the way) and then enjoyed a feast of our labors. He opened a bottle of his 1999 Chateauneuf-du-Pape to go with our meal.
We were about 30 minutes late for the class that day. Our GPS got us to the exact area but then the streets split off in three directions. After stopping at one place for directions, the man pointed me towards the end of the street. I then stopped at a local pub. I asked a man about the address and he said, “oh, Erick Vedel”. I said yes and then he said “Erick is a friend of mine” and he pointed us in the right directions. Everyone was so nice in Paris and in all the towns we visited in Provence.
We got there just in time to head out to the market. Our market visit included buying cod, giant calamari, apples, olives, asparagus, lemons, and fresh ginger and then we went back to his house to prepare the meal. It’s hard to explain what his kitchen looked like, every little corner of the two room kitchen was filled with things that he cooks with, stacks of mortal pestles, graters, knives, pans, everywhere (see some of the pictures below). It looked about 200 years old at least. It was a very fun class for the four of us. His helper, Isabel, interpreted much of what he said. We just followed his directions and did what we were told especially when he poured us wine and said “drink”.