Summer Veggies with Anchoaide

In honor of the Paris Olympics, my recipe this month is French.  With all the birthday parties in August, it’s the perfect dish to bring to potluck. 

I stole this recipe from one of my best friends—a French neuroscientist at Berkeley who plays jazz piano.   I had arrived at her place in the Berkeley Hills one early afternoon soon after we met for a day of music improvisation and philosophy.  She welcomed me in and we soon meandered to the back patio where she brought a large bowl of fresh summer vegetables—cucumbers, green peppers, carrots with their stems, tomatoes, green onions, and more.  In the center of the table she placed a dip that she called “anchoiade."  

“Tres Provencal,” she said.

Source: Kiss My Chef

Tasting the dip on the fresh veggies sent revelations down from heaven.  I could immediately feel the touch of her grand piano in my mind along with a couple new rhythms, even before she popped the bubbly. Oh what joy is life to be with true friends!

I knew what the dip was—it was an expanded version of tapenade.  I rolled the flavors around in my mouth—sweet, salty, fruity, earthy, bright—the texture more crunchy and nutty than tapenade.  

“Fantastic!” I said.  The fact that we were about to improvise at the piano together could have juiced up the flavors.  “What’s in it?” I asked.

"A Provencal will never tell her recipe for anchoiade,” she said with a uniquely French and historic smile.