Dinner guests

Jeroen and I invited ourselves to Chez Titou to learn the secret recipes for the tapenades he sells at the market. “It is only a small outfit,” he told us. “It’s not a factory, not a big shiny kitchen, it’s a small laboratory. I work there by myself, there will not be room for the three of us.”

Titou was seated outside a garage-sized workspace at a picnic table and was playing with his cat. The table was white plastic as were the chairs, the vinyl table cloth with Provencal grapes and tomatoes was covered with empty plates and the left overs of an Italian dinner. Titou’s wife Evelynn stepped out to greet us. The atelier, once his kitchen, was now her ceramic studio. She showed us her wheels, glazes, ovens and finished pieces made of local red clay, bowls, plates and mugs. She used to be a baker but gave that up; she sells her pottery at a bakery in Vallauris which her sister and brother-in-law run.

Titou showed us his new atelier, air-conditioned to meet regulations.He has several refrigerators including a walk-in one where he keeps anything likely to spoil. He roasts his peppers and tomatoes in his home kitchen. Olives and olive oils of different origins kept in closed tubs of plastic were stacked three to four high into little towers.

I took a few photographs and prepared for action. There was no action, nor were any secrets shared. “It has been a matter of trial and error,” Titou confided. “I don’t have any recipes written down. I taste as I go along.”

Titou kissed us goodbye. We invited his wife to visit us in Ann Arbor where she can meet other potters and trade secrets. And then, because I was running out of things to say, I invited them over to dinner in Antibes.

I made a soul-less dal that went well with a spineless rice, rescued only by a vegetable dish made from carrots, potatoes and green beans spiced with panch phoran. The evening was not a total disaster because the guests didn’t know better, and because I pulled off a good dessert, idiot-proof mango mousse made with canned Alfonso mango pulp and crème fraiche. The rosé helped, to give credit where it’s due.