Le Bocal de Peches

Claude Monet, 1866  [Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden]

The painter in his kitchen at Giverny

A seat at Claude Monet's lunch table in Giverny - some 50 miles outside of Paris - was a coveted invitation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and not simply because you might find yourself dining next to Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne, or John Singer Sargent.  Guests came as much for the food as for the company.  Monet hand-selected his poultry at the local market, and he grew his vegetables in a 2 1/2 acre walled kitchen garden.  He was a harvester of recipes, too, coaxing them out of his friends and restaurant owners he met on his travels and keeping extensive food journals.  ➔ Claude Monet served mushrooms that made an impression by Jennifer Wolff  [Best Life Oct. 2006]

Claude Monet's "Ma recette pour les cepes"
Ingredients
1 pound wild mushrooms
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 springs parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 Preparation
- Preheat oven to 325
- Peel the mushrooms and separate the caps from the stems.  Finely chop the stems, arrange them in a shallow cooking dish, and place the caps on top of them.
- Sprinkle with the olive oil and bake for 20 minutes, or until the oil is transparent
- In a small bowl, combine the garlic and parsley.
- Remove the mushrooms from the oven and sprinkle with the garlic mixture.  Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Return to oven and bake an additional 20 minutes, basting at 5 and 15 minutes with the liquid from the pan.

Recipe source: Monet's table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet, by Claire Joyes