Avignon and a Savoury Easter Cake
Have you ever been to the Avignon area in the South of France? Whenever we can manage we drive down there before Easter, to fetch spring home. It’s just the most marvellous time of the year, with the cherry trees in flower and torrential wisteria everywhere, the very first real strawberries of the season and ice cream on the town place. Oh and rosé!
This year we planned for a quick stop at Hauterives to visit the Palais Ideal, a place I’ve been dying to see for ages. It’s the work of one single man, who with perseverance and endurance created a magical palace full of mystical creatures and secret passages, all by himself. He was a postman in real life, and he had this vision of creating this building by his own standard. I was very touched to walk its walls, duck through its passages, all so singular and movingly imaginative. It is a little touristy, even at this early time of the season, yet it was worth the little detour. I can also warmly recommend the film Facteur Cheval, which I think very aptly captures the soul of this place.
We haven’t booked us a table at the restaurant during our stay, but rather shopped at the local grocer’s and butcher’s, all apero style delicacies, and pick nicked in our ever so lovely B&B with a view on the popes palace in Avignon at sunset.
It's only a short weekend when we go down, so our days were packed with wine tastings, strolls through the Garrigue, the beautiful hills of the area and a visit to the Jardins Saint André. We also went to the potteries for big jars for the garden, and I bought a darling daisy cake platter there.
Back home I really wanted to bake something to put my new cake platter to use! The lemons I pickled in winter are really good now and wild asparagus is in season here (please never buy or order it in restaurants, the bastards who forage for a profit are ransacking our woodlands, the level of destruction is mind boggling), so I decided for a savoury lemony cake with wild asparagus that grows in a spot nearby and where I often grab a handful for lunch, perfect for apero with a glass of something fizzy. Here's how I baked it:
What you'll need
For the cake
4 eggs
50g sugar
100g creme fraiche
2 tablespoons of lemon water from pickled lemons
200g flour
Half a bag of baking powder
150g of butter
Half or, if they're small, an entire pickled lemon
A teaspoon of fleur de sel
A little bit of butter and flour for dusting the mould
For the topping
A handful of green asparagus stems - in case you forage or if a person who forages gives you wild asparagus for free, you may use wild asparagus; again, never pay for it to avoid supporting people who are looting and destroying the woodlands
Fresh ricotta, I used a buffalo ricotta from a neighbouring farm, but any kind of ricotta will work
Ground white pepper and fleur de sel
One or two hard boiled eggs
How to bake it
Melt the butter in a little pan on low temperature. Separate the eggs and mix the yolks with the sugar until it becomes creamy and white. Add the creme fraiche with the lemon water and mix, then add the flour with the baking powder and mix.
Pre heat the oven to 180°C.
Slowly add the butter and mix until it's all incorporated. Cut the lemon into little cubes and fold under. Beat the egg whites stiff with the fleur de sel and carefully fold under. Butter and dust the baking tin, I used a long rectangular cake mould and set it to 28cm. Add the batter and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Baking time may depend on a variety of factors, so it's best to keep an eye on it and make a first test after 35 minutes of baking - stab a knitting needle into the cake, if it comes out without any residue of batter the cake is done, otherwise it will need some more minutes.
Let fully cool before you continue.
Pair the asparagus and cook in a little bit of water for no longer than 10 minutes (if you're using wild asparagus, just blanch it for 4-5 minutes). Whisk the ricotta for a couple of seconds so it gets creamy and season with pepper and salt. Slather on the cake and place the asparagus on top. Peel the eggs and cut them in little cubes, sprinkle over the cake.
Let sit in the fridge until apero'clock.
How you eat it
The perfect spring apero treat, especially when you have a larger group of friends over. Cut the cake in slices and serve a glass of bubbly along, with a little luck even outside in the garden, or inside with the windows wide open.
