Les Treize Desserts: Pompe à l'Huile

The whole idea originates from the number at the table at Christ's last supper, a spread called les treize deserts. A platter or sometimes even a special table is devoted to regional specialties like nougat along with a healthy selection of dried fruits and nuts like figs and prunes. Some enjoy it after Christmas mass, others after the holiday meals. When we go down south of the holiday, after every meal, even though we've eaten tons, there's always room to crack a few nuts and fit in some dried fruits here and there, n'est-ce pas? We often find ready-made versions of this regional holiday platter of treats in specialty shops throughout Provence and even at the grocery store, although most families put them together at home as a holiday activity something like making Christmas cookies. Sometimes people don't even know why they do these things, it's just the custom. You may see any or all of the following list making the rounds after holiday meals if you spend Christmas in Provence. This year I will share with you the recipes for creating your own treize desserts platter.

1. Pompe à l'huile, a local olive oil based bread (recipe below)
2. White nougat
3. Dark nougat
The 4 Mendiants, fruits and nuts:
4. Walnuts or Hazelnuts, to symbolize the Augustins
5. Dried figs, to symbolize the Franciscans
6. Almonds to symbolize the Carmes
7. Raisins or prunes to symbolize the Dominicans
Fruits (which are sometimes replaced with candied or dried):
8. Dates
9. Oranges (at our table we sometimes see candied orange peel instead)
10. Clementines
11. Apples
12. Pears
13. Grapes

Of course, les treize desserts are never quite the same from house to house, or even from year to year. For example, who can resist slipping a few Calissons, almond paste candies local to Provence on the platter? When might be the best opportunity to enjoy the candied fruits typically enjoyed in Provence but on the treize desserts platter? Prunes are stuffed with colorful almond paste to make them more appealing to children, and the treize desserts start to take on a life of their own. Before I understood the meaning of this tradition, I just thought it was a great idea to pass the prunes around - it just seemed the healthy thing to do, if you know what I mean.

Pompe à l'huile

4 cups or 480 grams flour (AP or type 55)
1/2 cube moist baker's yeast (20 grams) or about 7 grams yeast powder
5 tablespoons or 65 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon or 4 grams salt
2/3 cup or 160 ml olive oil (the best, fruitiest one you have)
1 untreated lemon
1 untreated orange
1-2 tablespoons or 5 grams poppy seeds

*about the yeast: instead of moist yeast, you can also use the powder kind that comes in a packet. Just use two packets instead.

- Combine half (240 g) of the flour, the sugar, the yeast and the salt together, crumbling the yeast into the mixture.
- Add enough hot but not boiling water to the mix to make a smooth homogeneous somewhat moist dough (this usually takes about 1 cup). Let this rise for 45 minutes.
- wash the lemon and orange, and cut the zest (just the colored part) from the fruits, then sliver the zest into very thin strips with a sharp knife.
- Incorporate the olive oil, the remaining 2 cups of flour, and the lemon and orange zest, and poppy seeds, if you are using them.
- Give it a good knead (5 minutes) form the dough into a ball, and out in a large bowl in a warm place free of drafts, covering the bowl with a sheet of baking paper or plastic wrap, topping the bowl with a folded towel to keep it warm.
- Leave it alone to rise for 3 hours.
- Turn the dough onto a floured board, knead very briefly just to get the big bubbles out, and pat it out into a flat circle.
- Make slits in the middle, so that it will cook through when you bake it, and let it rise another hour.
- Bake it in a hot oven (400F/200C) for 20 minutes.
- Paint it with a thin coat of olive oil when it's done.

Brigitte's Poires Martin Sec au Vin, Poached Winter Pears

Christmas made easy: Winter pears simmered in wine, served after a simple meal with gathered family. While we still have a few days 'till Christmas, we want to rev up the holiday now! This is an easy dessert to put together one afternoon and put aside to chill, soaking in their syrup. Choose pears that mature in the winter for this recipe, like Bosc. This recipe fills the house with the perfume of the holiday, so now is the perfect time. They cost pennies a person. No special shopping for this recipe. The hardest thing is washing the pears. With poached pears, simple is best. Adding long lists of ingredients may add a strange je ne sais quoi, but that's not what we look for in our poached pears. These are a kind of gift from heaven, so simple, delicious, and satisfying.

Poires au Vin

6 pears, Martin Sec or Bosc
1 1/2 cups red wine, any kind you have
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

About the pears: Right now in France we have the winter pear called Martin Sec, which is a wonderful cooking pear, because their texture and flavor when cooked stays firm, smooth and sweet. They retain their body when simmered in anything from caramel to wine. If you don't have Martin Sec, a Bosc is perfect.

Wash the pears thoroughly. Nestle them into a pot that has a cover. Add the wine, and bring it to a boil. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, and sprinkle it over the pears in their bubbling wine. Let that roll at a full boil for 4 minutes, then top off with water to cover the pears by 2/3. Bring to a boil again and reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate, in their liquid, for as long as 3 days. Serve cold, with their syrup. You can make a batch of these and have them on hand as a dessert choice at family gatherings.

This is going to be a very cheesy Christmas! Everybody thought the same thing and brought cheeses this year! I gathered some from the Alps and the Lyonnais region, and presented them to Brigitte. This was when I heard that Aude and Seb had done the same thing with cheeses from the Auvergne! This means the cheese plate is going to be the best it has ever been, I think.

Vin Chaud

We covered confiture and yogurt jars with decorated tissue paper

to give a stained glass effect for the Fete des Lumieres

After you've been out walking, when the chilly night air is in everyone's bones, nothing's better than coming in out of the cold for a mug of vin chaud. Wouldn't you agree? Put on the carols, shuffle off their coats, have some candles or a fire to add points of warmth and light, and hand everyone a mug to warm their hands and hearts.

For each bottle of red wine:
1/2 cup of sugar
The zest of one lemon and one orange
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
3 cloves
1 piece of ginger the size of the tip of your thumb, minced
½ teasp. Fresh grated nutmeg
Rum to taste (optional)

The zest is only the colored part from the skin, and it contains the essential citrus oils. Wash the orange and lemon thoroughly, and then use a sharp klnife to remove the zest, recuperating as little of the white rind as possible. Mix all of the ingeredients into a pot and bring slowly to a simmer. Do not boil, but simmer slowly for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot, filtering it through a mesh sieve. If it's really cold outside, you can add a thimble or two of rum to each mug just before serving.