Eric Ripert | Avec Eric

One of my strongest food memories is from Provence. When I was young, my family lived in the South of France, very close to the Mediterranean sea. I remember it being sunny all the time and wild herbs growing everywhere. You could even smell lavender in the air.

My aunt, my mother and my grandmother were all wonderful cooks and I was very lucky to grow up with their influence. I learned a lot about ingredients and cooking from being around them. In the summer, we used to go to the outdoor markets and pick out tomatoes, always choosing the reddest and heaviest ones. If a tomato was too firm, it was put back. The best ones were a little bit soft and had a sweet, ripe fragrance. One of our favorite ways to eat them was in the simple Provençal style, roasted with herbs, olive oil, and garlic.

The tomatoes in Provence are beautiful because they grow under the hot sun. Right now, in the New York area where I live, we are in the tomato season. It is a great time to go and sample all the different kinds available at the farmers markets. Try preparing a few of the colorful heirloom varieties together for an incredible presentation.

The flavor of a great ripe tomato needs little alteration, just a little seasoning. I like to use herbes de provence, a powerful blend of dried herbs typically found in southern French cooking. It comes in different blends but usually has rosemary, thyme, and oregano in it -and sometimes marjoram, fennel seeds or lavender. If you can, try and find the herbs which are grown in Provence - that soil, sun and water bring something to the herbs that you can’t find elsewhere.

You should also choose a very flavorful olive oil – my favorite one right now also comes from the Mediterranean region, a Greek oil that is fruity, fragrant and very green in color. When cooking the tomatoes, be generous with the oil because the herbs will be infused when they cook and you’ll have a beautifully flavored oil to drizzle over the final dish.

Finishing the tomatoes with a chiffonade of fresh basil after cooking provides a bright counterpoint to the dried herbes de Provence. That sensation combined with the juicy melting tomato, sharp garlic and hot herb-infused olive oil is guaranteed to create a taste memory of your own.