Oppède - Simone Bonnet

Simone Bonnet lives in an old Luberon windmill surrounded by fruit trees and vineyards. Her ancient Citröen is battered from carrying Kilos of grapes to market and from the regular barrage of figs, cherries & walnuts that fall from the trees onto it. Simone’s family is the oldest in Oppède, a relatively modern town that sits below the impossibly picturesque mountain-top ruin of Oppède-le-Vieux. Her 90 year-old Aunt Julie is still an excellent cook: her pigeon aux lentilles is famous, as is the pork she roasts with whole garlic cloves cooked like flageolet beans in the pan juices. Aunt Julie remembers winters during the war when fresh vegetables were scarce; the family used aubergines & tomatoes sun-dried in the summer & preserved in olive oil. Strings of orange peel & wild mushrooms were threaded with a needle and hung in the barn to dry, later to add their essential aroma to rich daubes and pot au feus.