A Feast from the South of France

Each region in the south of France has its own unique cuisine, from the foie gras and truffles for which the Périgord region is known to the cassoulet that’s associated with Toulouse and the surrounding area. Southern French cooking could take a lifetime to explore, but you can begin to experience the culinary richness of the region with the following menu. Begin with drinks made from white Lillet, an aperitif wine that comes from a village south of Bordeaux, not far from the Spanish border. After that the menu primarily features foods from Provence. Pissaladière is the traditional pizza of Provence, rich with anchovies and with onions that have been cooked at length until they are sweet and tender. Another traditional starter in Provence is a pile of freshly picked baby vegetables accompanied with aioli, a garlicky homemade mayonnaise. The main course is our take on bouillabaisse, a seafood stew that takes advantage of all the seafood available along the southern coast of France. We finish things off with an old-fashioned frozen terrine flavored with figs, which grow in abundance in Provence.