Apple rose dessert

When we recently visited Miami, our daughter-in-law served us this impressive apple dessert. She had got  the recipe from a friend, who had got it from somebody’s blog…Later I saw in a French magazine a similar recipe, Roses de pommes en tartelette, in which the pastry sheet was made from scratch. It just proved that French girls are formidable pastry chefs.


The following recipe is my twist of the two original recipes and made from ingredients bought in our  local supermarket in Nice. This elegant apple dessert will impress your guests, whether you choose to serve it with vanilla ice cream the American way, or just the tartelette the French way.


4 servings:

2 Pink Lady apples or other red apples (you don’t need to use them all)
A sheet of thin and rectangular puff pastry, pâte feuilletée
2 tbsp apricot jam plus a little water (you don’t need to use this all)
Cup cake tray
A little butter for the cup cake tray
Powdered sugar, sucre glace



Wash the apples and halve them. Remove the cores and cut the apples into thin slices. I first found this the hardest part of the recipe, but the “roses” are more decorative if the slices are really thin. Microwave the slices until they are soft but not mushy.


Preheat the oven to 180⁰ C. Butter the cup cake tray.
Roll out the puff pastry from its package. Cut out 4 strips, about 5 cm wide and 25- 34 cm long.



Warm the apricot jam with a little water in microwave and mix until smooth. Brush this mixture on the pastry strips.


Arrange apple slices on one long side of the pastry strip like a lace border placing the rounded skin side to the outside. The apple slices will overlap each other and cover about half of the long side of the pastry strip.

Turn over the other long side and roll the strips into “roses”. They look best if you can roll the “roses” so that the center will be slightly higher like in a real rose. I was not concentrating on this enough when rolling.

Place the “roses” in the cup cake tray and bake in 180⁰ C for about 30 minutes until nicely coloured. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Hiking near Col de la Bonette: Cime de Pelousette 2757 m

We have previously reported a moderate 4 hour day hike to Col de la Cavale from Camp des Fourches (2240 m) just before Col de la Bonette (2715 m) mountain pass.



Today’s hike to Cime de Pelousette (2757 m) and back takes about 3 h. The trail first ascends in alpine meadows followed by some rocky parts. Because of the altitude, the whole route is above the tree line. On a clear day like ours, navigation is easy. Even so, there are many man and animal made trails crisscrossing the terrain, hence follow the trail marked with yellow and cairns! Views are stunning all the way.

The barracks at Camp des Fourches were occupied all year round until the end of WWII. It is difficult to imagine the life of mountain infantrymen, chasseurs alpins, as the area is covered by snow 2/3 of the year. The road is open only during the summer months.

From signpost 41, the trail forks left (north). It is not necessary to walk as far as to Col des Fourches nearby. A grassy small mountaintop called Ventabren is passed, leaving it on the right hand side of the trail. After this, the path turns to northwest climbing more steeply in rocky terrain before it levels off slightly and turns south west for about 400 m. Another steeper climb follows, and just under the summit the trail climbs straight north again before reaching the mountain crest called Crête de la Tour. From the crest, our summit is reached in just a few minutes. During the ascent, the summit of Cime de Pelousette is not actually visible as the southern flank is round, comprising alpine meadows. The northern and western flanks are, on the other hand, very steep and rocky. Don’t go inside the fortress ruins, the structures are fragile. From the summit, you can see the RM 64 road climbing up to Col de la Bonette. Cime de la Bonette (2860 m) is clearly visible in distance, also the loop road (2802 m) circling the mountain. It is said to be the highest paved road in the Alps connecting two regions.


We returned to our starting point along the same trail.  

A rewarding high-altitude hike that requires little effort!

Vertical climb:            520 m

Duration:                    3 h



Map: IGN 3639 OT Haute Tinée 1

Distance from Nice 102 km





Image of trail courtesy of Google Maps

Easy seafood paella

Seafood paella is nowadays quite popular in the South of France. There are many adaptations of this most famous Spanish dish, and all sorts of dishes can be called paella.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins writes beautifully in her Mediterranean Diet Cookbook about the true paella: it can be made only with the round short grain bomba rice, it includes only chicken, rabbit and snails, it is seasoned only with saffron and paprika, it should be made only in a paella pan over an open fire and it should be cooked only by men for the midday meal. So my easy seafood paella recipe does not even pretend to be authentic, but I guarantee that it is healthy, tasty and easy to cook.

2 servings:

2 tbsp olive oil
½ large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp sweet paprika, paprika doux
A large pinch of saffron
120 ml instant brown rice
250 ml chicken stock
About 10- 16 shrimp, shelled
About 10- 16 mussels

Shell the shrimps leaving tails attached and place them in the fridge. In the South of France, the shrimps are usually cooked whole in paella, but this makes a “messier” eating than most people wish. I like to keep tails intact because they are so decorative and easy to remove on the plate. If you use frozen raw shelled shrimps, defrost them in the fridge for about 8 hours and keep them in the fridge until needed.

Wash the mussels and check that they are closed. If they are slightly open just knock them so that they close. Discard those that do not close. Keep them in the fridge until needed.

Make 250 ml chicken stock from a good cube.

In a large frying pan warm 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Start making Spanish tomato sofrito which is a basic tomato sauce cooked from olive oil, onion, garlic and tomatoes. Add the sweet paprika and saffron in the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes have collapsed.

Add the rice to the pan and stir well so that the rice is well coated. Add 250 ml chicken stock and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 10- 12 minutes until the rice is tender. There should be a little liquid in the pan, but not too much. If the rice gets too dry, add a little water.

Add the reserved shrimps and mussels so that they are nicely nestled among the rice. Cover and cook for 4- 5 minutes until the shrimps are pink and opaque and the mussels have opened.

Serve with a green side salad.

Mercantour: The trail over Pas de l'Arpette

This alpine hike from the Gordolasque Valley over Pas de l’Arpette (2511 m) inside Mercantour National Park also offers a direct access to the mythic Merveilles Valley. The Merveilles Valley is famous for its prehistoric engravings. These are now protected, and you have to stay strictly on the path when visiting this valley.



Mont Bego (2872 m) situated east of the Merveilles Valley is known to attract thunderstorms. The prehistoric inhabitants considered this mountain sacred, and the rock engravings testify of its importance.


The hike starts from the Pont du Countet (1690 m) where the narrow paved road ascending in the Gordolasque Valley ends. The distance from Nice is 66 km by road, and the Mediterranean coast is just 32 km away as the crow flies. Pont du Countet is also an important starting point for other hikes in high terrain, such as the one going to Refuge de Nice.


From the parking, walk over the bridge where you find signpost # 412: Pas de l’Arpette 3 h and Merveilles 4 h. The trail (marked with yellow signs) starts to ascend steeply in the woods comprising mainly larches and Cembra (or Swiss) pines. Once over 2000 m, the trees disappear, and the scenery becomes more and more alpine. The trail levels off –but only temporarily. You have a good chance of spotting chamois, perhaps because this trail is less visited.


The last push to Col de l’Arpette is again steeper but the trail is good. We reached the mountain pass in 2h 15 keeping just a moderate pace. On the day of our hike, the weather was perfect and the views were stunning. From the mountain pass, the Lac Long further down can be seen, as well as Refuge des Merveilles on its shore. For an overnight stay, the refuge offers simple accommodation and meals.

The trail winds down towards the lake. The upper part of the slope comprises alpine meadows, whereas further down the terrain becomes rockier again. The vertical descent to the lake is about 400 m. A little before the lake, there’s the main crossroads where the GR52 trail forks left (north) and enters the Valley of Merveilles proper. For most of us, exploring this trail would require another day.


We returned along the same trail to Pont du Countet.




Total hiking time: 6h 30

Vertical climb:       about 1200 m

Description in French: (the Randoxygène guide)

Map: IGN Vallée de la Vésubie 3741 OT




Image of itinerary courtesy of Google Maps

Quinoa tabbouleh with apricots and chicken skewers