Provençal Cuisine
Family Dinner

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Health Soup
Provençal Cod Escalopes
Oxtail à la Vigneronne
Mashed Potatoes
Charlotte Châtelaine
Fruits

For six people: 2 thinly sliced ​​leeks, 600 grams of peeled and quartered potatoes, 2 large bunches of very fresh watercress, carefully washed and chopped.
Heat two spoonfuls of fresh butter in a saucepan of the desired size, add the leeks, let them stew for a few minutes in the butter, do not let them brown; add the potatoes and watercress; then, two and a half liters of water, 20 grams of salt. Bring to the boil, cover the saucepan and continue cooking for 30 to 35 minutes. Pass the soup through a fine sieve and return the resulting puree to the saucepan, and add a quarter of a litre of boiling milk and a few small pieces of butter.
Pour the soup into the soup tureen in which you have placed thin slices of soup flute, dried in the oven.

Provençal cod escalopes
For six to eight people: one kilo of cod flesh cut into 8 escalopes, salt them lightly, coat them in flour and then cook them in olive oil in the pan, turning them over in good time to colour them on both sides.
In addition, choose 6 to 8 tomatoes, plunge them into boiling water for a minute, remove them, throw them into cold water, immediately remove their skin, divide them in two and extract the seeds.
Heat a few spoonfuls of oil in a gratin dish that can easily hold the tomato halves side by side, with the outside of the tomato on the dish; season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with chopped parsley to which a light pinch of garlic has been added, and a few spoonfuls of breadcrumbs and bake the tomatoes in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Drizzle the surface with 2 spoonfuls of olive oil
Arrange the escalopes in a crown on the tomatoes, sprinkle with chopped parsley.
NOTE. The escalopes should be cooked at the same time as the tomatoes. Optionally, a vegetable dish of boiled or oven-cooked potatoes can be served at the same time.

Oxtail à la Vigneronne
After dividing the oxtail into pieces, place them in an earthenware pot in which you have melted parsley, two bay leaves, sprigs of two large spoonfuls of chopped bacon, add a bouquet composed of thyme branches, two cloves of garlic, all tied well; add at the same time two large onions divided into quarters, and two thinly sliced ​​carrots; season with salt, pepper and a pinch of spices, cover the pot and let it stew for 20 to 25 minutes, on a low heat; then add a deciliter of Armagnac and 4 pounds of small white grapes, cover the pot tightly and let it cook gently for about 3 and a half hours; at this point, the flesh should come away from the bones. Remove all the pieces, one by one, and place them in a terrine that will be served on the table; pass the cooking with pressure through a fine sieve on the tail sections, cover the terrine and serve very hot.
NOTE. In general, winegrowers do not take these last precautions, they simply put the pot on the table and optionally, you can serve, at the same time, a dish of macaroni or other pasta.

Charlotte Châtelaine
Line the bottom and sides of a Charlotte mold, capacity one liter, with small round meringues; fill the empty space with 300 grams of chestnut puree, added with 7 deciliters of Chantilly cream flavored with vanilla. That is to say one third chestnut and two thirds Chantilly. Keep cool, and, when serving, unmold the charlotte on a plate on which a folded napkin has been placed. At the same time, serve an apricot sauce flavored with kirsch and maraschino.

A. Escoffier.