An Olive A Day Keeps The Pastis At Bay
By Kimberley Lovato
Armed with a map, a camera, and a portable GPS, I set off for Provence one weekend on a mission: to search for some unique and interesting people and properties to enhance our Vagabond Gourmet culinary tours. Chef Laura, my partner in calories, is always searching for off-the-beaten- path adventures for our clients. After all, you pay good money to come to France and eat and learn about the place. We want the memories to be Technicolor.
My destination this time was an olive farm where I would stay the
night with people I had never met. I guess that "don't talk to
strangers my mother gave me didn't sink in. Its a good thing too, otherwise
I would never have met Roxanne and Nico Derni, nor would I have discovered
Mas des Bories , their wonderful olive farm near Salon-de-Provence
that produces award winning Olive Oil.
Mas des Bories is located off a small road, off an unmarked round-about that my GPS could not detect. I almost missed the tiny sign that marked the way, and while rumbling up the dirt road, I wasn't yet convinced I was on the right path. Eventually, the rows and rows of healthy green olive trees (and the sign) indicated I had arrived.
When I first approached the main house, I saw Roxanne, a flannel shirt untucked over her black stretch pants that were tucked into her socks. She was shuffling along the gravel driveway carrying a laundry basked. It was love at first site! Roxanne and Nico are as down to earth as they come and but don’t let their casual demeanor fool you. This duo is serious about olive oil. Mas des Bories may not be a household name in America---yet, but that didn't stop Nico and Roxanne from entering their Provencal elixir into the Los Angeles County Fair's Olive Oils of the World Competion in 2006. They proudly took home the Gold Medal and Best In Class award for their A.O.C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The oils have already earned accolades in Europe with top prizes in Paris in 2005, Avignon in 2005 and 2006 and in Germany in 2005 & 2006. No doubt about it, this duo is poised to coat the world with their oil, one bottle at a time.
Roxane and Nico welcome tours at their farm and they even have a guest- house available for rent on the property, which would be mine for the night. After a long and thorough tour of the groves (I am pretty sure Roxanne has a name for each of the 1,400 trees) and a visit to the neighbours who invited us in for an apero (aperitif), I was able to sit down with Nico and Rox, and a pastis (a Provence must), before enjoying a wonderful dinner by the fireplace in their comfortable home.
Nico, though French, lived in Wisconsin for over 20 years and owned
his own restaurant where he was the head chef. This night he whipped
up something he kept calling 'simple'. If it were that simple, I said,
I'd do it every night!
It was a paté and cornichon appetizer, followed by a homemade tomato sauce over pasta, and a salad, all washed down with a local Provencal wine. Simple and extraordinary. Of course, we lined up tiny shot glasses and sipped the Mas des Bories oils too. (And maybe a little more pastis). When in Rome, or in this case, Provence! My favorite oil was the Grossanne, but after the pastis, who can really tell? I bought half a case and have been cooking with it ever since.
The laughter and tasting went late into the night and only the olive trees saw what time I really stumbled my pastis and oil-soaked self into the guest house.
Nico was up bright and early the next morning when I knocked on their door to say goodbye. I had much to see and do, and much to my surprise, was not suffering from all the pastis. Maybe the oil coated my stomach. Nico was hard at work burning the pruned olive branches and Roxanne was tapping away at her keyboard, trying to launch Mas Des Bories upon the world.
It shouldn't be long. The tastes of their five different kinds of oils are sumptuous, and the hospitality of Rox and Nico are equally as delightful.
