News

Festin Coquin – Provence’s Best Kept Secret

Once you’ve bought your first piece of Festin Coquin pottery – you’re hooked. This artisan brand has a cult following, but it’s very difficult to find outside the South of France. Many visitors to the South of France first see this wonderful pottery in the local boutiques whilst they’re on holiday and then run into problems when they try to add to their collections. Luckily Boutique Provencale has a wide range of Festin Coquin pottery, and we ship internationally.

Translated as ‘Naughty Feast’ (for your table), Festin Coquin is characterised by its colourful, yet functional, hand painted and hand crafted pottery. The range consists of tableware, cookware and pretty teatime pieces which are a pleasure to display and use. The brand’s creative directors are a husband and wife team, Patrice and Fabienne Berillon. Patrice is a former fashion designer and Fabienne is a ceramicist. The creative duo is heavily influenced by the stunning scenery and traditions of the Provencal region where they live, as well as global fashion trends.

The Festin Coquin collection is perpetually invigorated every year by the introduction of new lines in distinctive colours. The latest pieces sit easily alongside their predecessors allowing collectors to create their own eclectic collections, which never lose their appeal or feel outdated. All the pottery is hand painted (with some pieces taking more than an hour and a half to complete) which makes each item unique. The Festin Coquin range is also extremely durable being microwave and dishwasher proof. Prices start at £14.95 for a soup bowl with cruet sets at £18.95 and large gratin dishes at £42.50.

Boutique Provencale is the only UK importer of Festin Coquin and sells across the world and even back to customers in France. We have customers across Europe and in the USA who’ve been bitten by the Festin Coquin “bug” and return to us time and again to add to their collections. Take a look at our full range in the pottery & glassware section of the website.

March 23, 2012

Background to Provençal Fabrics

Provençal fabrics – or indiennes – were first produced throughout France during the seventeenth century following the methods and designs of the imported fabrics from India. In 1686 the Royalty stopped the importation of the Indian fabric but, because Provence was not on royal land, production continued here and grew over the next two hundred years, with factories in Orange, Avignon, Tarascon and Aix.

These fabrics, which originally served as women’s shawls, and are now mostly used for interior decoration, are brilliantly multi-coloured prints in kaleidoscopic floral and geometric patterns. Originally the dyes were obtained from natural materials and each colour in a design was applied with separate woodblock impressions.

There are a number of companies based in the South of France that continue the tradition of fabric making – including Ensoleillade, Vent du Sud and Marat d’Avignon who supply our fabric products to the highest quality. But beware of imitations – there are products out there that are made elsewhere in France, and even in China! We have a wide range of cotton tablecloths in both round and rectangular shapes, many of which are coated in Teflon so that they repel spillages and are wipeable. And because they’re coated cotton, they drape beautifully around the edges and don’t stick out from the table like oilcloths and plastified tablecloths. You’ll find our range in the tablecloths section of the site.

Filed under: French Tablecloths — Tags: 180cm round tablecloths, 250 cm rectangular tablecloths, coated tablecloths, colourful tablecloths, cotton tablecloths, french home accessories, french tablecloth, french tablecloths, kitchen linen, outdoor tablecloths, provencal table cloth, provencal table linen, provencal tablecloths, provence table cloth, provence table linen, provence tablecloths, round cotton tablecloths, wipeable tablecloths — Sue Aitken @ 3:18 pm

Recipe for Tapenade

A delicious recipe for this wonderful dip that is the typical start to any provencal meal. You can substitute green olives for a milder flavour.

250g stoned black olives
3 tbsp capers
6 anchovy fillets
1 lemon
Small bunch fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
2-4 tbsp olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tip the garlic, lemon juice, capers and anchovy into a food processor and process for about 10 seconds. Add the olives and basil and enough olive oil to make a paste. Season to taste as necessary. Serve on small rounds of lightly toasted French bread or as a tasty dip for carrot and celery batons. Delicious with a crisp Côtes de Provence rosé.

To serve the tapenade you don’t need to go much further than the extensive range of small dishes from Festin Coquin. In a number of different shapes and gorgeous, original designs, they’re sure to bring the colours of Provence to your table and a “je ne sais quoi” to your entertaining. You’ll find them in the tableware section of the website.

March 22, 2012

Recipe for Chicken à la Provençale

A delicious supper dish that’s relatively easy to prepare.

1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper, quartered and deseeded
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5kg chicken thigh pieces, excess fat trimmed
2 onions, halved and cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
125ml white wine
1 x 660ml btl passata
250ml chicken stock
8 sprigs fresh thyme
80g pitted black olives

Preheat grill on high. Place peppers, skin-side up, under grill and cook for 8-10 minutes or until charred and blistered. Transfer to a sealed plastic bag. Set aside for 10 minutes (this helps lift the skin). Remove the skin from the peppers and cut the flesh into thick strips.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, for 5 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a large baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until golden. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes or until aromatic. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes or until reduced by half. Add the peppers, passata, stock and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.Pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in olives. Serve with crusty french bread to soak up the sauce.

We have a wide range of hand painted, oven to tableware that would be ideal to serve this dish. Choose between the colourful and original designs of Festin Coquin or the more traditional designs of Souleo. Our dishes come in all shapes and sizes: oval, square or rectangular shapes in plain or patterned versions. Just take a look in the cookware & storage section of the site.

Recipe for Tropezienne

You see these delicious cakes in the windows of patisseries all over the South of France. This recipe takes a bit of time, but it’s your only chance to taste a Tropezienne outside France!

Cake
50 g flour
1 (¼ ounce) package yeast
150 g sugar
1 lemon, zest of
3 eggs 1 pinch salt
25 g softened butter
500 g flour
Custard filling
3 eggs
5 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons flour
½ litre boiling milk
1 drop vanilla essence
250 g fresh cream

Prepare the dough: in a mixing bowl containing a little warm water, pour in a sachet of yeast stirring in 50 g of flour little by little and leave aside to ferment until the mixture doubles in size. In another bowl mix together 150 g sugar, lemon zest, 3 eggs, a pinch of salt, 25 g of softened butter and gradually add 500 g of flour, stirring all the time. Add the yeast mixture and knead for a few minutes before covering with a wet tea towel and leaving to rest for 3 hours. Place the dough in a high-sided cake tin dusted with flour, brush with egg yolk and bake at 200°C for half an hour. When cooked, turn out and leave to cool, then slice in half through the middle.

Prepare the custard filling by vigorously whisking together 3 eggs, 5 spoonfuls of sugar+ 2 of flour, 1/2 litre of boiling milk, a drop of vanilla essence and pour the mixture into a preheated saucepan. Whip 250 g of fresh cream and gently fold in the custard mixture.9Spread over one of the brioche layers and sandwich together Dust with icing sugar or cumbled sugar cubes.

For the finishing touch, serve on a gorgeous Festin Coquin pottery plate and use one of our pretty cake slices with a colourful pottery handle to cut this wonderful concoction into portions. You’ll find our range of provencal pottery plates and dishes in the tableware section of the site.

March 21, 2012

Recipe for Salade Niçoise

There are numerous different recipes for this famous dish. We like this one, which uses fresh tuna rather than the tinned variety – making it that bit more suitable for summer entertaining.

450g/1lb fresh tuna or 4 x 175g/6oz tuna steaks, 2.5cm/1in thick
8 new potatoes, cooked and quartered lengthways
4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
115g/4oz extra fine French beans, topped, cooked and drained
4 little gem lettuce hearts, quartered lengthways
1 red onion, finely sliced
4 eggs, cooked for 6 minutes in boiling water from room temperature, halved
6 anchovy fillets cut lengthways into thin strips
16 pitted black olives in brine
8 basil leaves, ripped

For the dressing or marinade
105ml/7tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp aged red wine vinegar
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 tbsp freshly snipped chives
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

To make the dressing or marinade whisk together the red wine vinegar, olive oil, parsley, chives, garlic, salt and pepper. Place the tuna in a shallow dish and pour over half of the dressing. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours to allow the fish to marinate. Toss in the marinade from time to time.

Heat a ridged griddle pan on the hob or a hot barbecue for 5 minutes. Remove the tuna from the marinade. Cook the tuna steaks for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on how rare you like your fish. Lay the lettuce leaves in one large bowl or individual salad bowls and add the onion, tomatoes, potato, tuna, beans and anchovies. Drizzle over the remaining dressing then finish by adding the eggs, olives and ripped basil leaves.

We have a range of large and small hand painted pottery bowls from Festin Coquin in vibrant colours that are ideal for serving a summer salad. You’ll find them in the tableware section of the website.

March 20, 2012

Recipe for Fig Tart

A delicious recipe for fig tart, so popular in the South of France.

500g pack shortcrust pastry at room temperature, thawed if frozen
8 ripe figs , stalks trimmed
finely grated zest of one large juicy orange
1 tbsp clear honey
200g softened butter
200g golden caster sugar
200g packet ground almonds
2 medium egg yolks

Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to line a shallow loose-bottomed 25cm flan tin. Make sure the pastry comes above the rim – it may shrink in baking and the filling could spill. Chill for 30 minutes. Cut the figs in half lengthways and sit them cut side up on a roasting tray. Mix the orange juice and honey in a bowl, pour over the figs and roast for 10-12 minutes until just soft. Drain off any juice into a saucepan and reserve. Prick the base of the chilled pastry case all over with a fork, then line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the pastry is golden. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to fan 130C/conventional 150C/ gas 2. Leave the pastry case to cool slightly before filling.

Cream butter and sugar in a food processor or with an electric beater until smooth and pale. Tip in the ground almonds and zest and whizz briefly to combine. Add egg yolks and 1 tbsp of the reserved fig juice and whizz again until smooth. Spread evenly over the pastry case. Gently press the figs cut side up into the almond mixture. Bake for 1¼ hours or until it’s golden all over (don’t worry if the centre still seems soft – a little gooeyness is good). If you have juice left from roasting the figs, bring it to the boil and simmer for 1-2 minutes until sticky and syrupy. Brush this over the figs and serve as soon as possible, while the syrup is still glossy on the figs (it will start to seep through into the filling if you leave it too long).

For some added authenticity, why not bake this delicious tart in one of our fabulous tart dishes. We have a range of colourful tart dishes from Festin Coquin and more rustic styles from Souleo. You’ll find them in the cookware & storage section of the site.

Filed under: Provencal Recipes — Tags: colourful pottery, festin coquin, Festin Coquin pottery, fig tart recipe, food from Provence, french ceramics, french cookware, french pottery, french tableware, hand painted pottery, kitchen crockery, kitchen pottery, oven to tableware, pottery tart dishes, pottery tart plates, provencal fig tart, provencal pottery, provencal recipes, recipes from provence — Sue Aitken @ 6:40 pm

Recipe for Aioli

A wonderful garlicky dip so typical of Provence. Just make sure all your family/friends partake!

6 cloves garlic, 1 raw egg yolk, 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 cooked egg yolk
In a mortar, crush the garlic into a fine paste. Add the egg yolks and salt lightly. Mix in the olive oil very slowly until you obtain a smooth paste. Cover and chill well.

Use as a dip for prawns, crudités, artichoke leaves or quarters of hard boiled egg.

To serve the aioli (or any other kind of dip for that matter) you don’t need to go much further than the extensive range of small dishes from Festin Coquin. In a number of different shapes and gorgeous, original designs, they’re sure to bring the colours of Provence to your table and a “je ne sais quoi” to your entertaining. You’ll find them in the tableware section of the website.

Filed under: Provencal Recipes — Tags: appetiser dishes, colourful pottery, dishes pottery, festin coquin, Festin Coquin pottery, french ceramics, french cookware, french gifts, french pottery, french products, hand painted pottery, kitchen pottery, pottery bowls, pottery dishes, pottery gifts, provencal aioli, provencal pottery, provencal recipes, recipe for aioli, recipes from provence, small dishes — Sue Aitken @ 7:51 am

Recipe for Daube Provençale

A delicious, richly flavoured stew that’s sure to be a great hit.

2 kg stewing beef, 2 sliced onions, 200g unsliced smoked bacon, olive oil, 1 bouquet garni, 80g pitted black olives

For the marinade : (the night before) 1 litre of red wine, 3 carrots, 1 onion, 4 cloves, 2 bay leaves, a few slices of leek, zest of ½ orange, 60ml olive oil
Prepare the marinade. Dice the carrots, slice the onion, and then add to the wine together with the cloves, bay leaves, leek, orange zest and 20 ml olive oil. Cut the meat into 3 cm cubes, place in the marinade and leave overnight.

When ready to commence cooking drain the meat keeping the marinade. Saute the onions in 20ml olive oil until soft then lightly brown the meat and add the smoked bacon cut into lardons.Transfer the meat to a large casserole and add 40 ml of olive oil. Bring the marinade to the boil, add half a litre of water and the bouquet garni, boil for 10 minutes then strain.Add the strained marinade to the meat, onions and bacon,season to taste. Simmer for three hours. After about 2 hours 30 mins add the 80 gm black olives or 40 ml tapenade. Serve with pasta, parmesan or grated gruyere and a good heavy red wine. Serves 6 people.

For added pzazz, serve in one of our fabulous Festin Coquin dishes to add some provencal colour to the dining table. You’ll find a wide range of oven to tableware in the cookware & storage section of the site.

Filed under: Provencal Recipes — Tags: boeuf en daube, daube provencale, Festin Coquin pottery, food from Provence, pottery dishes, pottery serving dishes, provencal, provencal daube, provencal food, provencal recipes, provencal specialities, provencal stew, provencale, provence, provence recipes — Sue Aitken @ 2:21 pm

March 19, 2012

Background to Provencal Pottery

The Provence region has produced earthenware since the days of the Romans. Pottery workshops, complete with kilns dating from the first century AD have been excavated in La Butte de Carnes near Marseille. Over the centuries, pottery continued to be made in individual workshops, both for domestic use and for export through the Mediterranean seaports. Then in the 19th century, factories began to appear in answer to the ever-growing demand for thrown or moulded cookware. But with the advent of new materials such as aluminium and plastic, these factories eventually closed.

Nowadays most provençal pottery is primarily decorative and three basic types of pottery are produced. Terre rouge, the most robust, is made primarily from the red clay of the region and then glazed. Our products from Souleo fall into this category. Faience is made from the finest local clays and can be distinguished from plain pottery by its enamel porcelain-like finish. This is the style of pottery you can see in our Festin Coquin range. The third style of pottery is Gres, made out of clay from central France.

Provence abounds with workshops where skilled artisans continue the best traditions of pottery making, producing attractive, colourful designs by hand. Boutique Provencale has an extensive range of provencal pottery – from tableware such as plates, soup bowls and serving dishes through to coffee mugs, storage jars, butter dishes and oven to tableware such as gratin dishes and tart dishes. For plates and dinnerware, go to the tableware section of the site.

For mugs, teapots, large latte cup and saucer sets and individual teapot and cup sets (which make great gifts) go the the tea & coffee section of the site.

And for oven to tableware and storage go to the cookware & storage part of the website.

March 18, 2012

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Up to 500g £3	500g-1.5 kg £5
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News

Festin Coquin – Provence’s Best Kept Secret

March 23, 2012

Background to Provençal Fabrics

Recipe for Tapenade

March 22, 2012

Recipe for Chicken à la Provençale

Recipe for Tropezienne

March 21, 2012

Recipe for Salade Niçoise

March 20, 2012

Recipe for Fig Tart

Recipe for Aioli

Recipe for Daube Provençale

March 19, 2012

Background to Provencal Pottery

March 18, 2012

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