Original subtitles

There is one special place where

I worked as a young chef

that has remained close to my heart.

Didn't think I'd come to France and find the Barnsley chop.

And one region in particular

that is full of passionate producers

and incredible ingredients.

This is Provence.

We are going to be discovering the secrets of the very best

and simplest French cooking.

That is a discovery.

Nice and easy, simple dinner for one.

I'll be sharing tips, tricks and techniques.

We've got flavours of Provence...

There's sunshine for you.

..and enjoying a bit of friendly rivalry along the way...

That was close! I'm a little nervous.

THEY LAUGH

I knew I wouldn't be able to fool them.

THEY LAUGH

..all in the name of bringing you a simple taste of Provence.

SAXOPHONE MUSIC

My time here in Saint Remy is nearly at an end,

and having seen and tasted some incredible produce,

I can understand why they call Provence the garden of France.

But, to me, when it comes to veg,

the garden has always been Kent.

So the question is, does Provence really have the produce

to knock my beloved Kent off its garden perch?

It's time to find out!

Just down the road from the townhouse,

there's a spot known as La Petite Ferme.

Bonjour! Bonjour.

Wow, it's beautiful.

This looks like a good place to start.

I find it inspiring when I come to an area like Provence,

where you see so many beautiful things.

Beautiful peppers, courgettes, different colours

but they're all such quality.

In La Petite Ferme du Saint Remy, we show all the colours,

all the size.

MARCUS CHUCKLES

But you know why? Why?

Because we have water and sun...

That's right. ..in the south of France.

Sun, yes. Yes. Sun you definitely have. A lot of sun.

Matthieu's produce is all organically grown either on the farm

or by other local growers, using sustainable farming methods

and it's not the only thing they do here.

We have two kind of customer.

The, the first are come to... For this?

..bring the veg

and after you have the family and the school

come to see the animals.

We have cows, sheep, duck, pig.

No way. Oui.

The animals are here for people from the local area to visit

and enjoy free of charge.

Just a little farm, we call it La Petite Ferme de Saint Remy.

The Little Farm from Saint Remy de Provence.

There's a real sense of community spirit

and it turns out Matthieu is planning a celebration

for this year's harvest.

Saturday night we have a little party with friend and customer.

Right. And we, we call la fin l'ete indien.

This means the Indian summer.

Where is this?

It's here, it's behind on the farm.

Oh, so you bring...? I can, I can come along. Yeah, yeah.

It's open to local people? Yeah, yeah,

Do I need to bring anything?

Of course.

So, something, something along for people to share. Ah, oui.

I am curious to see what you can do.

Ah. What you can make for this party. Another challenge, yes.

Well, this seems like the perfect opportunity

to test out the region's veg

and see if Provence can live up to

its garden of France credentials,

and you know I love a challenge!

I am going to have to do something with the ingredients

that are more or less around me really.

This is going to be fun.

I like a party. OK.

Dancing as well?

Of course.

THEY LAUGH

I'll see you there. OK, bye-bye. Au revoir.

A local party sounds like the perfect way

to end my time in Saint Remy,

and the prospect of creating a dish

with the produce of Provence

has got my chef's mind working on overdrive.

I want to start with a regional classic

that I've discovered since I've been here,

Pistou -

it's a simple sauce that can elevate any veg,

made with basil.

A little bit like pesto but there's no pine nuts

and there's no Parmesan cheese.

Right, what I'll do is just nick off this big branch at the top.

It was really nice actually when I went to see Maud at the school...

..she showed me her version of the pistou

that she was making for the kids

and she actually put a tomato in to hers.

Pistou is such an easy way to bring the taste of Provence

to a wide range of cost-effective ingredients.

And this is probably the simplest recipe out there.

Just a little bit of chopped garlic.

On to my sauce.

Very, very simple.

Pack in my basil

into my blender.

In with my garlic.

Pinch of salt.

Twist of pepper.

Good glug of oil.

And then on goes the lid.

So what I am looking for is that really beautiful,

vibrant green colour.

It's not only good for veg.

You can serve it with your lamb,

toss it through pasta, or even stir it into your soup.

A quick and easy pistou sauce.

This has certainly got my creative juices flowing.

I need to start thinking of a party dish

that's going to impress the locals.

Pistou may just feature,

but I'm also going to need some top quality veg...

..and I've heard of another farm nearby

that's doing things a little differently.

Sebastien runs a community-supported agricultural project,

Le Jardin du Papet,

where he creates individual veg boxes

for his customers in the local community

from veg grown on his farm.

But does his produce stand up to the veggies we get back home?

There's only one way to find out.

Sebastien.

Enchante.

Enchante. Marcus. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

I hear you're the man to come and see

to talk about vegetables. Uh-huh.

What do you grow? Right now, well, it's the season of the cabbage.

Leeks are starting and beetroots.

Red, green peppers, yellow peppers.

Oh, nice.

Eggplant, tomatoes.

Oh, quite a lot. Well, so most of it is outside

and a part of it is as well in the greenhouses.

Fantastic. Can you show me? Yes. I want to look around. OK.

Sebastien's produce is all organic

and the farm stretches across eight acres.

I'm yet to test the quality

but there's certainly plenty to choose from.

Wow, that's a lot of leeks.

Yeah, 30,000 or 35.

What, you counted them?

Ready to collect 3,000?

How many boxes are you collecting?

For today we will do only 20 boxes.

It's cheaper than going to the market, yeah.

It is cost affective but is it any good?

And like this. Where I come from, that's a very small leek.

Very small leek.

Sometimes they're bigger, it depends on the size

and it depends on the variety.

OK, so that one may be small,

but it turns out that Sebastien staggers his growing,

so he can provide the same veg for the majority of the season.

Why did you do this?

Because when I started this job, I was eating only vegetables.

Ah. So I start to do my own vegetables.

So you're vegetarian. Vegetarian for 14 years, yeah.

Same now? No, no, no, no. Why did you change?

Well, I have kids.

My wife say, "No, for kids we need to eat a little bit of..."

And the market, I do,

I find other agriculture...

Yeah. ..that make chicken...

Yeah. ..and then we share. OK.

I give you vegetables and I give you a chicken.

Sebastien may now trade his produce for meat,

but surely he's still a veggie at heart?

What's your favourite vegetable?

I love all the vegetables. Yeah?

Yeah. For me, potatoes.

Yeah, potatoes? Yeah, all day long.

Well, I think you're going to have enough for today.

No spuds here.

Smell good, don't they? Mm-hm.

But there's plenty more veg to collect.

Beetroot time.

It's the easiest, easiest thing to pick.

And what I like, it's like you can eat the leaves. Yeah.

And the leaves are delicious.

People say that Provence is the garden of France.

Uh-huh. Is that true?

Well, yeah. It's the most beautiful.

It's because with the climate we have,

we can harvest most of the vegetables any time of year.

OK, because where I'm from, Kent... Uh-huh.

Kent is the Garden of England... OK. ..and it's beautiful.

I worked in England a long time ago.

Oh, yeah? I arrive in June

and I leave, it was summer...

Yeah. ..in my home and I arrived, it was winter.

I go, "Right, no way."

I'm not sure he's got the best impression of Britain.

It's full of blackbird around me.

All grey, rainy.

Like in Hitchcock movie, you know, I was, like, very scared.

That's very good, actually, and you worked in a farm?

No, no, no, I worked in a holiday camp.

Oh, yeah?

In a Pontins holiday camp. Pontins?

Yeah, Pontins. No way!

Well, it's going to be enough, huh? OK.

Well, I'm certainly a happy camper

and now we're off to one of Sebastien's polytunnels

to pick some peppers.

You plant the green and the red and the yellow?

They all start green like tomatoes

and then they change colour.

The green pepper turns into red peppers? Yes.

You can take this one, the red one there. This one?

Sebastien is clearly proud of what he produces here,

but I wonder if he thinks our veg can compare.

You've been to the UK.

What's your perception of the vegetables and the produce there?

Many beans. Beans, seriously?

Fresh beans or beans in the tin?

Yeah, beans for breakfast.

In the tin? Yeah. I thought so.

So our reputation is not big.

The French don't think of the English farmers

or the English producers, wow.

Yeah, in fact, we never imagined that you have farms down there.

Shush. That you produce vegetables in England, really. Shush.

THEY LAUGH

If only Sebastien knew how great the veg from back home actually is.

But right now it's the produce of Provence that's inspiring me.

I'm doing a vegetarian dish.

Yeah. But when I'm looking at this, the pepper,

the aubergine, the beetroots,

they just look fantastic

and the leeks look beautiful, too.

So this is exactly what I was looking for.

It's really nice. I love the varieties.

And I think I've discovered Sebastien's secret.

As I collect my vegetables they talk to me.

They talk to you? Yeah.

You've been in the greenhouse too long.

You feel it, yeah?

Some people say when is the good time to collect it?

When they're talking to you.

What a passion for farming.

What a passion for vegetables,

and he's truly giving me the inspiration

to come up with something special.

But while the veg here is clearly exceptional,

it's what the French do with it that they're really famous for.

The food of France is world renowned

with the foundations of its success built on classic cookery.

So I'm going back to its roots

to discover a much-loved vegetable dish

that's been around for generations.

At proudly traditional restaurant Ou Ravi,

head chef Natalie took over from her father Jean-Francois 11 years ago.

Ah, bonjour! Hey, bonjour.

Nice to see you. Comment ca va? Very nice to meet you.

My father. Your father? Yeah.

The chef, le vieux chef. The chef, the original chef.

The original chef. Oui. And now the new chef. Yeah.

How long have you been here?

This restaurant was opened in '64.

It's the mother of my wife who opened it

and she was the chef just before me.

It's a long time, and you learned from the family,

so the recipes are all passed...

Yeah. ..through the generations.

I love this.

If this was in back home in the UK, we'd have to have a roof.

Yeah, yeah. Because it's always raining. No roof.

And we live, my parents live...

Just here. Just on the top.

Is that so you can keep an eye on what's going on? Absolutely.

I've come to learn how to make one of Provence's most iconic

vegetable-based dishes -

artichokes a la barrigoule.

Using the familiar ingredients of carrots, onions, bacon

and lettuce, it's incredibly simple...

Now I feel at home. Yeah.

..once you've mastered the art of preparing artichokes.

Not my favourite job.

I always get somebody else to do the artichokes.

OK, I understand.

It's such a difficult vegetable to prepare.

I may pass this job up in my kitchen,

but Natalie does every one herself.

I'll take it. OK. After, very, very thin.

Gosh, that was quick. When did you do that?

Because I do every day.

THEY LAUGH

How many do you prepare a day?

15 portions per day.

All the leaves are peeled away

and the stem is neatened to expose the heart of the artichoke.

It's all coming back to me now.

So, you just nick off the top.

Like so.

Then you've got the beautiful centre.

And it's this bit in the centre, which is the little, like, furry bit

that you can't eat, it's not very pleasant.

And you just take this little melon baller.

This was a serious piece of kit when I was at catering school,

and if you had one of these you were a proper cook.

So, there it is.

That little bit of fur there, look.

I actually think they're called artichokes because it's this bit,

if you eat it, it'll choke you.

It'll stick it at the back of your throat, and it's -

look - not very nice.

And that's it, all good to go.

The artichokes are rubbed in lemon to prevent them from turning brown.

And we are ready for more veg.

Oh, so, now we chop.

Chop, chop, chop. Three carrots, two onions.

I may not be up to speed with my artichoke prep,

but I can still hold my own in the kitchen.

You do that better than me.

HE LAUGHS

I've been doing it a long time.

And when it comes to the carrots, it's bringing back more memories

of my classic French training.

I remember we had this at college. Yeah, yeah. At school.

For this dish.

So, doing this is part of the recipe.

This pattern.

Pattern.

Oops. Oh!

Sorry about that.

Once the patterned carrots are sliced, on to the bacon.

Look at that, look at the fat content on that.

Beautiful piece of marbling. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ingredients prepped, time to cook.

Put first, onions. Onions in the bottom? Yeah.

Olive oil. OK.

A lot of olive oil. Plenty of oil. Yeah.

Salt, of course.

Not too much, OK? Just a little.

For me, it's only by nose. By nose, yeah.

OK.

White pepper. OK.

And just sweat those down?

I feel privileged to be shown a recipe that's been made like this

for so many years.

Onions, in the kitchen I think it's a secret.

Mm.

Onions fried. Are you agree for this?

I agree. I think onions are at the beginning of every base.

Yeah, yeah.

After adding the bacon, carrots and seasoning...

Just a little bit of salt.

Just a little? Yeah, just a little.

White pepper.

..we are ready for the artichokes.

That's a picture.

Comme ca?

Yes, perfect, Marcus. Perfect. Yes, fantastic.

The next ingredient is one I wasn't expecting.

Lettuce.

This is the one ingredient I find quite strange.

This? Yeah. In this, yeah.

Like spinach, you can cook it.

I've never done this, so this is really nice.

It's your first time? First time.

Sometimes, chefs, we think too much, and we make things very complicated.

This is how it's always been done. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

And you've not changed it. I agree, yeah.

There's just one more ingredient.

A little bit white wine.

For a drink? Yeah, you want?

THEY LAUGH

Oh, for this? OK. Yeah.

Before we add the lettuce...

OK, Marcus is my assistant.

You want to come to work with me?

Oh, that's the probably the eighth offer of a job I've had, so far.

Yes, I know, I know!

I don't know which one to choose.

I am amazed that you've not changed the recipe. No.

I think I know why. Why?

Probably because of your father.

Oh, yes, I think... He's probably always watching you.

Yes, yes.

You have to taste. Taste now? Yeah.

Merci.

More salt? It's beautiful. Beautiful? Yeah.

It's perfect.

If it tastes good now, before it's cooked,

it will just taste even better when it's complete. Yeah, of course.

Definitely.

I may think it's great -

but the all-important taste test is yet to come.

What does Jean-Francois think of the dish I helped to make?

Ah.

I'm a little nervous.

THEY LAUGH

Let's see. Let's see.

Moment of truth.

Oh, wow. Look at that.

Smells good.

Parfait.

Merci, Marcus.

Mm.

Mm. It's OK, huh?

Almost better than mine.

I hope so. Mm.

I've eaten a lot of food while I've been in France,

and I've tasted some fabulous dishes.

This is probably the best dish I've eaten.

So delicious, so pure flavour.

What do you think about the lettuce in that? I think it's great.

I understand. If it was cabbage, it'd be different.

No, yeah, absolutely. It's fantastic.

And thank you for sharing this with me. It's a beautiful dish.

Thank you.

There is nothing more humbling than getting the opportunity

to cook a dish that's been passed down from generation to generation.

It's still the way it was always cooked.

In fact, you know what, I think I might go back for seconds.

That was incredible.

I'm not sure if it's the ideal dish for the party later.

But I have got something else in mind,

so I'm stopping by the market to pick up some ingredients.

Wow.

Bonjour, monsieur. Bonjour. Oui.

Lavender. Oui.

Oh, I know.

As I was coming around the corner, I could smell the lavender.

I just think this is just an absolute stunning flower, herb.

It's so user friendly.

But it's not used so much here in France.

I'll give it a swerve this time.

Amazing.

It's finally time to create my dish for the party.

With so much veg to choose from, I've decided to celebrate

the abundance and variety of produce from the region

by creating a glorious platter of white bean toasts,

topped with a ratatouille of Provencal vegetables

and served with the pistou sauce I've already made.

Simple and economic,

yet still feels like the ultimate sharing treat.

So, to begin, very simple, I have got some beautiful white beans,

the haricot blanc.

They're already cooked and soft, and these are great for purees.

So, I'm just going to put them into my little blender, like so.

Add to that a glug of oil, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon.

I'm also just going to put in just a little bit of chopped chilli.

Just to give it a bit of a bite, a bit of a hit.

Let's get that in.

Next, blitz until it's thickened but still retains a little texture.

Perfect.

Put that into my bowl.

You could say that's the glue that's going to hold the veg

on top of my toast.

I can start now grilling off some of these beautiful vegetables.

I've got some shallots, I've got an aubergine.

So, I'm going to cut the aubergine in half, like so.

Need my pepper whole.

Then put a bit of oil on top of my aubergine.

I'm just going to drop those on my grill.

Just want to get a little bit of charring on the outside.

Just going to put my aubergine on the top.

Think I might just put my pepper in there.

Just let that burn away.

Just need to now get on with my prep of my shallots.

And I can start making the vegetable mix.

I'm just going to cut up into a nice dice.

That's my shallots just gently chopped up.

A good glug of oil.

Put these into my pan.

I just want to get those on just gently sweating.

It's not like a shallot or an onion that we're going to

put on a burger or on a hot dog.

I just want to get them, the rawness from it, the harshness of it,

so it's mellow.

Back to my simple grilled veg.

I have my aubergine.

Going to cut that into a nice dice.

Then the red pepper.

Cut that in half.

Remove the seeds.

All I've got to do now is just chop it up.

And no ratatouille is complete without tomato.

Absolutely beautiful.

Courgette time.

I quite like the bitterness that the skin puts into a dish, as well.

If you don't want to cut it up, grate it.

It's great if you put it on salad.

It tests my chopping skills.

Not as fast as I used to be,

maybe because I'm just slowing down a little bit.

Ready for the shallots.

I'm just going to drop those on top.

Little splash of vinegar.

With some charred bread as the base,

it's time to build the toasts.

Now put my puree on

and spread out your white bean paste.

It's like a little butter.

A puree like this is so versatile.

You can use it as a dip,

or even as a side dish for a roast dinner.

And for the price of a tin of beans

it's extremely cost affective too

On with this beautiful mix

of the garden.

Looks lovely.

And to top it off, the pistou sauce I made earlier.

Little bit of that on top.

How good does that look?

That's a feast Provencal style.

Perfect for a party.

Now I've just got to get it there.

Down at La Petite Ferme,

preparations for the party are well under way,

and I'm heading there a little bit early

to get my toasts all set up.

Here we are. This is the event I've been invited to,

and I'm really excited.

Alongside my dish I'm laying out a little flavour

of all the incredible produce I've discovered

since I've been here in Provence

I want it to look good.

I just hope that they like it.

I'm not going to lie, I am a little nervous,

but I'm also looking forward to this.

All these incredible ingredients started to bring back

so many fabulous memories

of my time here in Provence.

Every ingredient on this table

is a story for me.

From constructing my own Calissons

and helping to make wine,

to tomatoes picked fresh from the farm,

it's all here.

I think that's good. I think I've got space for my board.

Now my veggie toasts are in position,

it's party time!

The rest of the guests are starting to arrive

and I'm so glad to see a few familiar faces.

Oh, I'd like to try.

The produce you are growing is incredible.

This dish...

..is your dish.

This is the flavour of Sebastien's garden.

It's a local event, where guests are invited to share food and produce

and many of the people I've met

since I've been in Saint Remy are here.

Benoit!

How are you?

How are you? Nice to see you, enchante!

I loved meeting Benoit at his pistachio farm.

This...

..when I taste that now, it's so, so, so delicious. Yeah?

I've never thought of it as a fruit.

But what does he think of my veggie toasts?

Everything on here is local.

Great. It's very simple.

Very simple. Savoury. Very savoury but very simple.

Enjoy. Thank you.

With so many people here I know,

it gives me a chance to say thank you

and hopefully impress them with my cooking.

And I probably couldn't create any of the dishes I have out here

without olive oil producers like Emilie.

That was incredible.

I don't think I'll ever look at olive oil the same again.

But, listen, help yourself.

This is home.

All the ingredients we love,

you have made them just wonderful.

Speechless. Thank you.

My local friends are arriving thick and fast

and I'm realising just how much I've become part of the community.

Bonsoir, bonsoir, Bastien, how are you? I'm good, yeah.

Joel, the chocolatier, and Bastien, the winemaker,

both skilled producers I was lucky enough to visit.

That is fresh.

Everything is fresh. This is what we need, huh?

My veggie toasts seem to be a success.

Yes!

Chin! Chin-chin.

Cheers. Cheers

Matthieu! Oh! Hey!

Thank you for inviting me to your party.

Is er... This is incredible.

There we go.

Please try, try, try, try

Very good. Merci beaucoup.

Surrounded by many of the friends I've made in Provence,

it only feels right to mark my time here with a little speech.

Many years ago, when I went to school...

..the first thing that I learnt about was the cuisine of France.

Coming to Provence was my first step

into the world of you,

the supplier, the provider,

the farmer, the grower,

and...

..I didn't really know what I was going to find.

But what I have found

is some incredible people...

..huge amounts of passion.

The stories and the generosity

of what you have given me,

it's been quite extraordinary.

This table represents you.

You, and without you,

there is no table.

Thank you. Thank you, Marcus.

Thank you. Sante. Woohoo!

Merci beaucoup, merci. Sante. Sante.

What's that? We wanted to give you a small, typical thing

for London

to thank you.

My favourite. ..for coming in Provence.

Oh!

And er... Thank you so much.

And make discover all this beautiful...

This is superb, this is my favourite. Plants and... Wow.

There we go, that's brilliant. That's superb.

The flower of France.

That's fantastic, merci, thank you.

Guys, enjoy the party.

Merci. Thank you. Sante!

I've cooked the food of France all my life.

It has been the bedrock and the foundation of who I am as a chef.

But I never, ever thought

in a million years

that I would have the experience that I've just had

in the short time that I've been here,

and to meet the incredible people of Provence and Saint Remy.

Thank you, Marcus.

But also to hear their stories and to

learn the skills of what their trade is all about,

the memories for me will live for ever.

The bull, eh?

Yes, the cowboy.

Yes, yes, cowboy, yeah!

Without the food of France,

I don't think I would be the chef I am today.

During my trip I've been a sous-chef...

..run over by goats...

..searched for snails...

Oh, whoa!

..steered a combine harvester... That's brilliant.

..and met some beautiful, passionate people along the way.

But if there's one thing I'm going to take home with me

and that is, I'm going to keep it simple.