Bread has been called the "staff of life" here is a great choice of in the local market.

There are of course two permanent bread shops, both open on market day and at least one of them has a stall as well, but the best (and whole wheat ) bread comes from one of two independent bakers who only sell from their stall; and the best of the best is sold in wonderful grainy varieties by a young couple who set up near the news agents.

So far this year they hadn't come, probably realising the thinness of customers after New Year festivities when many decide to go skiing rather than shopping. But today it was bread i needed, wholesome and brown - the wonderful sough-dough baguette from the Boulangerie was no longer enough.

Normally i go to the market late, very late and in summer although this allows me to avoid the crowds and often get two trays of peaches for the price of one, it nearly always means i am fighting someone over the last loaf, if at all the sellers have not already packed up and gone home.

Today i found myself ready two hours early, the result of a sleepless night as the rest of the familly are suffering from coughs and hacks and flu. i left them asleep to recover and headed down the vally into the early cold fog that often surrounds the hills of the market town.

Being early i decide to take a back street that leads directly to the bread stall in the hope that they would not only be there but also still selling.

I think surprise is important in a market and if one can continue to surprise the regular shopper then something exceptional must be going on. Of course a market such as this will always hold seasonal surprises but i was not expecting to find an egg merchant where the bread should be, and i was not expecting to see him sitting there playing a bass clarinet.

So i bought six eggs from him and further along some coconut milk from the casanova who sells olives (more about him later) and adapted a free recipe picked up in the local supermarket; Salmon Clafouti.

You need

Two small pieces of salmon.
A courgette.
A tin of sweet corn.
Some butter
The juice of a fresh lemon.
Star aniseed.
Curry
Salt pepper
4 eggs
A tin of coconut milk.
A cup of whole wheat flour.

Cut the salmon and courgette into cubes and cook gently in butter , salt and pepper until partly done.
Put this into a buttered baking dish and add the corn and three tea spoons of freshly ground (in a pestle and mortar) star aniseed.
And the juice of a lemon, tossing everything lightly so the ingredients are well mixed.
Mix together the eggs, coconut milk, flour and a tea spoon of curry to make a batter and pour it over the salmon mix.

Bake in the oven until golden brown (about 30 minutes at 180 c.

Happy New Year

Week one, cold, grey - not a day that inspires a leisurely walk around the market.

And it's France; New Year's Eve is bigger than Christmas and many people are still on holiday and though my shelves are bare and i need to stock up half the usual stall holders are conspicuous in their absence.

The town is built like a Bastide and the main street runs inside the what feels like defensive walls but are in fact houses. It's cobbled and runs into the central square s dominated by a market Halle. However, it is the street, not the Halle, that is the focus of the market.

Pierre and Marie have their vegetable stall on the corner where the street swings up toward the Halle, a corner that only gets the sun in mid summer and so today they both look very cold. Some of what they sell was gathered this morning from the small market farm they own several miles to the west and an icicle hangs from Pierre's monumental nose.

The vegetables may or may not be organic, Pierre seems unclear on the subject, but their quality is legendary. Even deep in winter there is always colour here. Today i buy spinach and jerusalem artichokes, green leaf and russet root, both have been freshly pulled from the soil.

And since the temperatures are near zero, soup is on the menu.

Jerusalem Spinach Soup.

550 grams washed and roughly drained spinach.
A knob of butter
1 medium onion
6 good sized Jerusalem Artichokes, scrubbed clean but not peeled.
1 vegetable stock cube
2 thumbs of stick cinnamon
Salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a large pan, add the spinach, cinnamon sticks roughly crushed, salt and pepper.
Cover and reduce the spinach over a low flame.
Slice the onion into four.
Add the onion and the crumbled stock cube.
Add the artichokes roughly chopped or broken.
Add water to cover and half the amount again.
Bring to the boil and simmer gently until the Jerusalem Artichokes are soft and their aroma fills the kitchen. (about 30m mins).
Allow to cool.
Blend everything in a mixer.
Slowly reheat and serve, adding seasoning to taste.

The Idea

Ok, so... i live in the south of france and in the nearby town there is a fantastic local market>

In the Winter months it contracts but never dies, somewhere at the start of Spring you find it is already expanding, in mid summer it is chaos and you only notice an absence of tourists in the autumn - though already some stalls have fallen away.

My diet is largely based on what is available there each week and as the months progress the ingredients of the recipes develop.

What you will find here is the market and the dishes it inspires over a year, this year, 2009.