Cooking in Nice, France . . .
the colours and flavours of the Cote d' Azur

The fresh, lively scent of a Menton lemon. The melting texture of long-cooked onions. The bracing chill of that first sip of rosé. Les Petits Farcis is not just about flavours - it is about all the pleasures of a day spent shopping at the Cours Saleya market and preparing an authentic Niçois meal in France’s most Italian city.

Food writer, Cordon Bleu trained cook and longtime French resident Rosa Jackson invites you to join her for hands-on classes in her beautifully renovated Seventeenth century apartment, steps from the vibrant Cours Saleya food market in Nice.

Nice
The best way to discover Nice is to wander at random through the narrow streets of the Old Town and then stroll along the famous 'Promenade' before entering into the heart of the city with its rich architectural and cultural heritage and its parks and gardens. With nineteen museums and galleries, thirty-two classified historical monuments and three hundred hectares of parks and gardens, woodland and green areas in addition to one hundred and fifty ornamental lakes and fountains there is plenty to see or do – unless you prefer to stretch out on the famed beaches and relax!

One of the great pleasures when visiting Nice is to take time to stroll around the outdoor market along the Cours Saleya. This famous market area runs parallel to the Quai des Etats-Unis in the Old Town. Every day of the week except Monday you can marvel at the colourful displays of fresh produce, olives, candied fruit and spices.

Market Tours and Cooking Classes
The day begins at 9.30 am at the Cours Saleya market, while there is still a fresh morning breeze. The narrow maze of centuries old streets that is the Vieux Nice opens up onto this splendid space lined with bars, cafés and fish restaurants on either side and market stalls down the centre. 'Le tout Nice' converges on the terraces at lunch, but early in the day it is time for that famous Niçois street food, la socca (a chickpea flour pancake), as you stroll through the market and admire the vivid displays of flowers, candied fruit and seasonal produce.

Though the main aisle is the most dazzling thanks to its array of colours, what really interests us is the collection of small producers’ stalls in Place Pierre Gautier. The fruit and vegetables are not as uniformly shaped and the variety not as great, but every ingredient we will find here is firmly rooted in the region and much of it is organic. Depending on the season you might see:

• untreated oranges, including bitter oranges for jam
• real wild asparagus
• strawberries from Carros
• red, yellow and orange tomatoes ripened on the vine
• figs bursting with juice
• the mix of salad leaves known as mesclun (no Niçois meal would be complete without it)
• and much more

Gourmet cooking classes in Nice are a highlight of the experience of Les Petits Farcis.

Depending on your menu choice, we will visit the best butcher in the Old Town or prepare fish from Poissonnerie Deloye just outside the Vieux Nice. Because traditional Niçois cooking relies more on vegetables than meat or fish, we can also plan an entirely vegetarian menu. No matter what the main ingredient of our meal, we will not forget the wine. Then we will make our way past the fresh pasta shop to my four hundred year old building in Rue du Jésus, where if pissaladière is on the menu we can get started on the yeast dough. A couple of hours later we will sit down to an authentic Niçois meal and toast our efforts with a glass of rosé (or, if you prefer, an intriguing local red or white wine).

. . . a well deserved gelato from Fenocchi?

After lunch, if you wish, I will lead you on a gourmet tour through the zig-zaggy streets of the Vieux Nice, where you will taste Niçois olive oils (the region has two thousand producers), see fresh pasta being made, learn more about Provençal wines and discover local sweets. You will find out how the Italian influence has shaped Niçois cooking and marvel at the local obsession with eating - this is the only city in France where street food is an institution. Our day will finish with a well deserved gelato on the terrace of the ice cream parlour Fenocchio.

Delve deeper into the local cuisine with a four-day course

Each season on the French Riviera brings an abundance of local ingredients and recipes. For students who want to explore the sun-drenched cooking of this region for more than a day, Les Petits Farcis offers four and five-day intensive courses a few times a year for a maximum of six students. This affordable program covers the basics of Provençal and Niçois cooking, providing students with a full repertoire of recipes to take home. Each two-hour class is followed by a leisurely lunch. Afternoons are free to relax on the beach or visit the area. Renting a car isn't necessary, as there is a convenient system of buses and trains that will take you to places such as Cannes, Antibes, Monaco, Eze, St-Paul-de-Vence and Villefranche sur Mer. Menus come with a timeline for preparing the meal at home, taking the guesswork out of dinner party planning. Participants also receive my personal lists of favorite restaurants and food shops in Nice.

The friendly hands-on classes take place in my beautifully renovated Seventeenth century apartment just off the world famous Cours Saleya market. An optional market tour is offered on Wednesday, which is otherwise free should you wish to make a day trip.

Each day we'll prepare a full menu of fresh, seasonal dishes before sitting down to lunch and toasting our efforts with delicious wines from the region. The cost of the program is €510, which includes all the food and wine for the four days and an optional market tour on Wednesday morning (without the tour, the cost is €480).

A recipe booklet will be yours to keep - bring only your love of food!

Celebrate Spring
(May 12th - 16th 2008)

This four-day course will focus on tender spring vegetables, delicate-tasting spring lamb, top-quality poultry and the sweetest berries imaginable. Afternoons can be spent on the beach, touring the area or soaking up some of the glamour at the Cannes Film Festival, which takes place from May 14th - 25th.

Adjustments may be made to the menu depending on the availability of ingredients.

Monday:*

• Soupe au pistou (Provençal minestrone)
• Rack of lamb with a mustard and herb crust
• Braised violet artichokes
• Gratin de fruits rouges (Berry gratin)
  

Tuesday:

• La vraie ratatouille (Real ratatouille)
• Lentils with Perugina sausages and Swiss chard
• Cherry clafoutis

Wednesday:

• Optional market tour (9:00am - 10:30am)

Thursday:

• Pissaladière
• Semi-salted cod with caper-lemon dressing
• Olive-oil crushed potatoes
• Lemon and raspberry tart

Friday:

• Couscous salad with sautéed vegetables
• A perfect roast Bresse chicken with lemon and rosemary
• Glazed carrots and spring onions
• Strawberry tiramisu
  

*
This class may be held in the late afternoon if students wish to arrive in Nice on Monday morning.

Cost: €510 for the five days, including lunch on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and a market tour on Wednesday (cost without the market tour: €480).

Make the most of a short stay

Spend one day cooking and another day discovering the area with one of Les Petits Farcis’ two-day packages.

• Cooking and touring (2 days)
  
  Summer is the perfect time to witness the abundant local fruit and vegetable harvest first-hand in the stunning and surprisingly remote back country behind Nice. We'll spend the first day shopping at the Cours Saleya market and cooking a four-course meal in my kitchen. On the second day we'll drive into the rugged arrière pays to visit some of the farmers who are keeping local traditions alive. You might meet an award-winning organic olive oil producer, a former Formula One race car driver whose tropical citrus garden is filled with rare species, a wine producer in the tiny region of Bellet, and a fruit producer who makes traditional jams and fruit pastes with his own harvest. It's a unique experience which I'm able to organize thanks to my relationships with these producers, most of whom sell their goods at the Cours Saleya market. The cost of the program includes comfortable transportation and a three-course lunch in a village auberge.
  
  Cost: 480 euros per person for the two days

• New this summer: Cooking and pampering (1 or 2 days)
  
  Treat your body well by combining the Mediterranean diet with a half-day of fitness and relaxation! On the first day we'll cook a four-course meal with the finest ingredients from the Cours Saleya market. I'll offer plenty of tips on selecting and using fresh produce and making your everyday eating healthier. On the second day, Nice-based personal trainer and certified masseur Adrian Shaw will lead you on a scenic two-hour hike in Nice or a neighboring village, followed by a personalized massage. Adrian, who grew up in Britain and has lived on the Riviera for several years, is trained in traditional massage, Indian head massage, Reiki and Shiatsu.

And for those who don’t wish to cook . . .

Les Petits Farcis also offers a selection of inspiring programs

• Market tour, food walk, olive oil tasting and tapas-style lunch
  
  Spend the morning tasting delicacies in the Old Town, learn all about Provençal olive oils and have a light Mediterranean meal prepared with only the freshest ingredients from the market.

• Early morning market tour and tasting breakfast (Saturdays and Sundays only)
  
  The early morning is the best time to visit the small producers at the Cours Saleya market. Alongside the area's top chefs we'll snap up the best produce, farmers' eggs and goat's cheese and savor it over a leisurely, late breakfast at my apartment. We'll make our own socca (the Ligurian-inspired chick pea pancake sold by street vendors in the Old Town) and taste homemade jams and local honeys.

• Meet the producers
  
  The producers at the Cours Saleya were understandably suspicious at first of a foreigner who dares to teach Niçois cooking. But my constant presence at the market, enthusiasm for the local produce and loyalty to the small producers has convinced them over time that I am a true Niçois at heart. Many of the producers have invited me to their farms, which is what gave me the idea for the Meet the Producers tours. Just beyond Nice the land becomes rugged and mountainous, making the producers’ task a challenging one. The scenery is some of the most breathtaking on the Côte d’Azur, yet this is not an area that most tourists would explore on their own as the villages are so remote and tiny. Depending on your interests, we can visit an olive farm to taste organic oil made from the local Niçois olives, see dozens of varieties of citrus fruits at a garden run by a former Formula One race car driver in Menton, gape at the 80 organic tomato varieties grown in the hills of Bellet, and sample the little-known wine from that same region. The price of the tour includes transport in a comfortable vehicle and a gourmet lunch in a small village. Weekdays are preferable, as most of the producers come to the market on weekends. A maximum of seven people can be accommodated on this tour.

"When we visited Provence last fall, we were fortunate to have found Rosa Jackson's cooking class, via the internet. Our time with Rosa was one of the highlights of our two weeks in France. The trip to the market, and her knowledge of the fresh food and wine we used to prepare our menu made this an incredible experience that will not be forgotten. We only wish we lived closer, so that we could do it again. This experience was definitely worth the investment!" ~ Lynn Langeliers - Montana, USA

"I want to thank you SO much for the lovely cookery course. It was so enjoyable while at the same time being highly informative. I shall never be able to return to my slovenly ways….from now on it is nothing but the very best of ingredients AND replacing ‘the knife’ with a proper assortment of sharp ones! You have really whetted my appetite and I will be keeping an eye on your website with the view to returning to your kitchen in the near future." ~ Síghle Bhreathnach-Lynch, Dublin

"Just wanted to thank you again for a wonderful week of cooking. It was truly the highlight of my visit on the Cote d'Azur!! I wanted you to know that I have made several of the recipes here in Australia; the Beet Orange salad at least 4 times and it has been such a hit, the apple tart twice - very VERY impressive and so yummy, the lentil soup at least twice with ordinary Aussie sausages - still nice and the couscous salad at least twice. Will try lots more recipes when I get back to the USA." ~ Eleanor Therese Coyne, Australia

"Just want to say thank you again for the wonderful day we spent with you and your sharing your knowledge with us. Our dinner that evening was wonderful and we have enjoyed the wines we purchased when we were with you and most of all we are still enjoying that fabulous olive oil!! Please give our compliments and thanks to the owners of the shops and let them know how much we are enjoying our purchases." ~ Forrest and Adella Greek, USA

About Rosa Jackson

Food critic and cookbook author Rosa Jackson is fascinated with Nice and its unique culinary tradition, a result of its history and climate. She wrote about food for a daily newspaper in Canada before moving to France in 1995 to work as an interpreter at the Cordon Bleu cooking school and run Paris Market Tours.

She has edited six editions of the Time Out Paris Eating and Drinking Guide (published by Penguin), a guide to more than eight hundred and fifty restaurants, bars and cafés; updated several chapters of the 2006 Time Out South of France and Fodor's Provence and the Côte D'Azur guides; and written about food for a number of magazines and newspapers, including Food & Wine, Fine Cooking and Eating Well in the United States, Food and Travel magazine and The Evening Standard newspaper in Britain, and Eat magazine in Japan. She is the Paris correspondent for Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine and writes a monthly restaurant column for the subscription-only newsletter Paris Notes www.parisnotes.com.

She divides her time between Nice and Paris, where she runs the custom designed itinerary service www.edible-paris.com. Her first cookbook, Petites recettes pour grandir, was published by Marabout (a division of Hachette) in March 2004, and her second cookbook, La cuisine des paresseuses, came out in February 2005. She is married to a Frenchman and has a five-year-old son.

Old Town Apartment Rental for your Vacation in Nice, France

Looking for accommodation for your trip to Nice? Les Petits Farcis can recommend several newly renovated apartments in the Old Town, available for a few days to a month and sleeping two to five people. Renting an apartment allows you to live like a Niçois, making the most of the fabulous ingredients available at the Cours Saleya market - the beach is only a minute away, too! Prices start at about €500 (Euros) per week.

Prices for Cooking Classes and Market Tours in Nice

Les Petits Farcis market classes are small and friendly, with no more than six participants. Classes are available year-round, every day of the week except Monday.

As of summer 2007, enjoy cooking in my air-conditioned kitchen! My Seventeenth century apartment has entered the Twenty-first century, making it possible to cook year-round in comfort.

Market tour, cooking class and four-course lunch
9.30 am - 3.p0 pm
200 euros per person

Market tour, cooking class, four-course lunch and afternoon gourmet food walk
9.30 am - 6.00 pm
290 euros per person

Market tour, gourmet food walk and olive oil tasting with lunch
10.00 am - 2.00 pm
150 euros per person

Afternoon gourmet food walk
3.00 pm - 6.00 pm
100 euros per person

Saturday or Sunday early morning market tour with tasting breakfast
8-11am
120 euros per person

Meet the producers tour
9am-5pm
290 euros per person (includes transport by car and lunch)

• Discounts are available for groups of four or more and families.
  
  
• A minimum of two people is required for a class or tour to take place.
  
  
• Private class: 100 euro supplement per person.

For further details please contact Rosa <click here> or visit Les Petits Farcis web site. <click here>