For the second anniversary party at O Panier Local, we made a community-sized pot of garbure to offer to our friends and neighbors.  Like all good soups, we started our garbure the day before the fête, and let it simmer slowly for hours.  Yummy!

If you are not familiar with garbure, it is an emblematic dish of the Béarn, sort of like a cassoulet but more soup-like, without the tomatoes found in cassoulet and with a lot of seasonal veggies added.  Cabbage and potatoes are a must, and root vegetables like turnips, carrots and rutabaga are often included. Depending on your budget, garbure can include a ham bone (from the famous jambon de Bayonne preferably), pork, sausages or duck confit. I like to make it with confit duck neck and gizzards. Check out this post (from 2011!) for a longer discussion of garbure.

Café Presse is open (AT LAST!) and here is our first daily special! Available while supplies last.

Grilled pork-smoked duck sausage served with creamy celery root -Basque cider purée and a sauté of white beans, garlic confit, celery, herbs and black currants.

Hope to see all our friends again soon!

Just added to the menu at Café Presse this morning: Cold salad of marinated white beans, roasted Delicata squash and Brussel sprouts, black currants and kale-parsley pistou, served with your choice of grilled marinated Portobello mushroom VG or olive oil poached Alaskan Pollock filet.

Special today at Café Presse:Pan roasted Toulouse-style pork sausage, served with a white bean-roasted garlic puree and a saute of sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, sweet onions, lovage leaves and Pedro Jimenez vinegar.

Le Pichet chef de cuisine Vince Hall has added a trio of summer appetizers to the menu at Le Pichet this week that mark the arrival of summer produce to local farm tables. Here are a few pics to whet your appetite!