Every Saturday and Sunday, Vanessa Zhâ and Marion Sauveur make us discover some nuggets of French heritage.
Today we are heading to the south of France, and more particularly the Côte d'Azur, to discover extraordinary gardens and taste a chard pie, a specialty from Nice.
It smells like the sun this morning in the studio. We go to our beautiful Côte d'Azur Vanessa.
The Côte d'Azur which will live for a month to the rhythm of the Festival des jardins de la Côte d'Azur. This is the 3rd edition and it was launched last Sunday. Nine cities and 17 candidates are in the running to win the Grand Prize. The theme for this year is "artists' gardens". And the creation "Complantations et contemplations", installed in the sublime gardens of the Villa Rotschild in Cannes, is the lucky winner. "It is a garden that we came to put on an existing meadow. Using blue frames (a tribute to Klein), an archaeologist and an artist told the story of the gardens since Antiquity. The idea was to stroll through the timeless, which becomes reality.
A vegetal and philosophical painting: our Jean Mus, famous landscaper and president of the selection committee, is still just as passionate.
What if we took advantage of this festival to discover the most beautiful historic gardens on the coast? Where should we go?
I would say first in the gardens of La Villa Ephrussi de Rosthild, on the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula, about ten kilometers from Nice.
Why ?
Because there, you take a real world tour of gardens!
And then the site is incredible with this pink villa overlooking the sea.
Second, surely, the Serre de la Madone garden in Menton, because there is a great human adventure behind it, that of Major Lawrence Johnston.
We are in the 1930s, he is a great traveler, a lover of botany.
And he brings back many exotic species: Canarian Arbutus, Chinese magnolia… He makes haute-couture gardens, with fountains, rockeries, pergolas.
There is even a loggia decorated with azulejos.
Accommodation with gardens perhaps?
Obviously!
And central addresses to enjoy the festival and the historic gardens.
A beautiful guest house in Vallauris: Les Encourdoules.
What is original is that it is also an art gallery.
Certain objects of the house are also offered for sale.
Casa Musa: a guest house in the center of Nice, in the beautiful green district of Musiciens.
It took shape at the Palais Excelsior.
There is a very beautiful tropical garden and contemporary art lovers will be in for a treat.
The Mas de Pierre estate in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
It is brand new, it has just reopened its doors with major restoration work.
Marion Sauveur, what Riviera delicacy are you going to tell us about?
A vegetable dessert, a Nice specialty: chard pie.
It is the emblematic dessert of Nice cuisine, which is one of the 13 desserts.
A soft and tasty pie, with pine nuts that add crunch.
The first written records date back to the 15th century.
Originally, it was not just any chard that was used, but wild chard, a wild plant with very few white ribs.
It can be found today under the name of “chard-leaves” in Nice gardens.
Why do we use this chard in this dessert?
Because chard is a vegetable that has its importance in Nice cuisine, as Alex Benvenuto, historian of Nice cuisine and president of the association for the inclusion of Niçoise cuisine in the intangible heritage of Unesco, explains. .
“For the people of Nice, it is the king vegetable.
We have an expression in Nice: if you want to treat someone, make them eat chard.
It was a picking vegetable and not a crop, which one finds and which costs nothing, which always had several harvests throughout the year.
We wash it three times to use it, to remove this very slight bitterness that this chard may have, which was used for all jokes.
Basically, the little stuffed vegetables from Nice are chard.
The ravioli, inside, is chard.
And we love chard so much that we also eat it for dessert ”.
How do you make this chard pie?
I prepare a dough made from flour, sugar, salt, butter, eggs and olive oil, which I let stand in the fridge.
And during this time, I make the garnish by mixing the chard (washed three times to remove the bitterness) finely cut, with diced apples, pine nuts, eggs, brown sugar, a little alcohol , grapes, olive oil and cheese.
Roll out the dough: garnish it and cover it with a second dough.
Before baking, do not forget to make a few holes.
Once golden, cover it with sugar which will caramelize the top, before sprinkling with icing sugar and serving when it has cooled.
When cut, the green of the chard is mixed with the pine nuts and the apple.
It looks nice.
The chard pie from Nice
Ingredients
500 g flour
250 g butter
150 g of sugar
100 g icing sugar
2 eggs
1 pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1.5 kg of chard
50 g grated dry cheese (sbrinz or parmesan)
2 eggs
2 to 3 apples
100 g pine nuts
30 g of brown raisins
30 g of blond grapes
5 cl of marc brandy (branda)
150 g brown sugar or caster sugar
3 cl of olive oil
1 tablespoon of anise
Production :
1. Start with the dough: by mixing the flour, sugar and salt with your fingers, before adding the diced butter, eggs and olive oil in the center.
It is necessary to obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough, to place in the fridge surrounded by a tea towel.
2. For the garnish: wash the chard leaves three times to remove its bitterness.
Form rolls 3 centimeters in diameter with the leaves and cut them into thin strips.
Wring the strips, before drying them between two tea towels.
3. Combine the beaten eggs, brown sugar, marc, the two raisins previously soaked in rum and drained, olive oil, cheese and pine nuts.
Add the chard and a peeled and diced apple.
4. Flatten two-thirds of the dough, before putting it in a pie pan, letting it overflow.
Place the filling to a thickness of two to three centimeters.
Add the juice to the bottom of the terrine, and spread the slices on top as for a pie.
Finish by covering with the rest of the dough.
And hem the two edges to weld them well.
Don't forget to make a few chimneys on the surface with scissors.
5. Bake at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes.
When it is golden, sprinkle the top with caster sugar.
And when it has cooled: sprinkle with icing sugar, for decoration, before serving it at room temperature.
* A recipe to find in the book
Carnets de cuisine du Comté de Nice
, by Alex Benvenuto
For more indulgence, you can add ground almonds or orange blossom in the garnish.
Nice cuisine has strict rules. Does this also apply to this pie?
And yes, even if each family has its own recipe.
There are two variations: adding orange blossom or ground almonds to the garnish.
There is also another pie for dessert in Nice, with dry broad beans.
But it's more nourishing.
Chard pie is also eaten salted.
It is a specialty that can be tasted in Nice, but also in Menton.
Any good places to taste the Niçoise chard pie?
Restaurant Acchiardo (from June 9)
Lou Balico, very close to Old Nice.
To eat on the go: the Lou Pelandroun snack.
And very close to the Cours Saleya market: Chez Thérésa Socca
And for the salty version in Menton:
At Sini
or on the go: Chez d'Aqui