1. 65
Whether entertaining at his farmhouse or creating recipes for his Le Pain
Quotidien cafés, Alain Coumont loves showcasing vegetables—even, sometimes,
in delectable vegan dishes. by rebecca rose photographs by Martin Morrell
Alain Coumont uses
purslane, a lemony
weed, to add tang to
chilled zucchini
soup (recipe, p. 71).

2. foodstylist:toniageorge;propstylist:helencrowther
n the late-afternoon quiet in the
Languedoc region of southern France, Alain
Coumont, the 48-year-old founder of Le Pain
Quotidien, is madly pulling together a fistful of
lavender from his garden for a dinner party.
For most of the year, Alain is on the road. But from
May to September, he, his American wife, Louella, and
their young daughter, Inès, live in their house on a hill-
side about 30 miles outside of Montpellier. The stone
house is an 18th-century bastide, a grand hideaway orig-
inally designed for aristocrats who wanted to live off
their own land. With 100 acres on which to grow fruits,
vegetables, herbs and wine grapes, Coumont uses the
house not only as a retreat, but also as the testing ground
for pretty much everything, including new dishes, sold
at his steadily expanding line of cafés.
Le Pain Quotidien, a French phrase meaning “the daily
bread,” began in 1990 as an artisanal bakery in Coumont’s
native Belgium. At the time, Coumont was the chef at a
restaurant in Brussels called Le Café du Dôme; frustrated
with the city’s breads, he decided to make his own as a
sideline. At a communal table not unlike the long wooden
one at his Languedoc house, customers ate simple salads
and sandwiches made with fresh, local, organic ingredi-
ents and terrific whole-grain bread. Over the past two
decades, Coumont has opened more than 100 Le Pain
Quotidien cafés in 15 countries, all with the same rustic
feel (he still employs the same furniture maker
who designed his first shop). “LPQ was originally
a hobby,” Coumont says. “Now it’s a business.” A
business with a unique selling point: a menu that
is increasingly, quietly, vegan.
“I think it’s the future of food,” Coumont says.
“Every time we bring in a vegetarian or vegan
item, our customers jump on it.” Along with tofu
versions of popular mainstays, like their curried
chicken salad, LPQ has gradually begun intro-
ducing vegan desserts, including an apple
mousse made with cashew butter and a brown
rice pudding made with soy milk and agave syrup.
Coumont’s goal is to make 30 to 40 percent of
LPQ’s menu meat-, egg- and dairy-free.
Coumont wants the vegan options to succeed,
and not just because they taste so good: He
believes that even a partly vegan diet is healthier
and more environmentally friendly. But he does
not want to be known as a vegan missionary. “The
Coumont’s garden provides the basil in his limeade
slushy (recipe, p. 92), the tomatoes he stuffs with
goat cheese (recipe, p. 92) and the baby artichokes
he braises in wine (recipe, p. 72), opposite.
66 foodandwine.com
Rebecca Rose is the deputy books editor for U.K.–based
newspaper the Financial Times. She lives in London.

3. 68 foodandwine.com
vegan dishes have to be fun, and fun to eat. When we taste-
test these products, we don’t tell the staff that they’re vegan,”
Coumont says. “We just want to be sure they’re fantastic.”
As with most every decision he has made about LPQ, the
semi-vegan approach is how Coumont chooses to live himself.
“Our kitchen doubles as the RD department for LPQ,” he
explains. He’s quite rigorous about it: Four times a year, he
invites LPQ’s leading chefs to the bastide for a week of culi-
nary experimentation. He calls them his “flying chefs,” because
when they’re not in the Languedoc, they’re flying to LPQs
around the globe on quality-control missions. “I lock myself
up with the flying chefs for four to five days,” he says. “No
mobile phones, no Internet. On the last day, a team of tasters
comes and either raves about—or kills—our recipes. We’re
not afraid of experimenting. We’re not like a super-high-end
restaurant, where every move can make or break you.”
Coumont, who counts world-renowned chefs like Daniel
Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Dan Barber as his
friends, has invited several chefs to road-test their own res-
taurant recipes at the bastide. “It’s a good place to develop
dishes,” Coumont says, “because there’s nothing else to do.
You can pick vegetables in the garden, then drink wine until
3 or 4 a.m.” In 2005, the founder of Manhattan’s Fig Olive
restaurant came to plot his menu; Fig Olive’s current chef,
Pascal Lorange, is among the guests for dinner tonight.
The Coumonts so love to cook for friends, they maintain
an open-door policy—literally. “I don’t have a key to the door,
because someone is always home. People just come in,”
Along with Le Pain Quotidien breads, Louella Coumont
serves lemony brown rice pilaf, opposite (recipe, p. 93).
chilled zucchini soup p. 71
2007 Nikolaihof Hefeabzug Grüner Veltliner
BRAISED baby artichokeS p. 72
2007 Patianna Mendocino Sauvignon Blanc
OVEN-ROASTED tomatoes
WITH GOAT CHEESE p. 92
pan-seared APRICOTS AND figs p. 92
basil limeade p. 92
herb frittataS p. 92
brown rice PILAF p. 93
2006 Domaine du Closel
La Jalousie Chenin Blanc
SUMMER blackberry
CUSTARDS p. 93
dinner brunch

4. 70 food wine • august 2009 foodandwine.com 71 food wine • august 2009
Chilled Zucchini Soup
with Purslane
active: 25 min; total: 45 min
plus 3 hr chilling
1 2 se rv i n gs
Alain Coumont’s cool vegan soup gets
its creaminess from pureed zucchini,sau-
téed onion and garlic.It’s brightened with
purslane, a lemony weed that Coumont
plucks from his Languedoc country gar-
den; if purslane is not available at your
local farmers’ market, substitute baby
arugula leaves instead.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,
plus more for drizzling
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
8 small zucchini (3 pounds),
thinly sliced, plus long zucchini
shavings for garnish
Kosher salt
3 cups water
2 tablespoons finely shredded basil
2 cups ice
Freshly ground pepper
2 cups purslane or baby arugula
1. In a large saucepan, heat the 2 table-
spoons of olive oil. Add the onion and
garlic and cook over moderate heat until
translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in the
thyme and bay leaf and cook until fragrant,
about 1 minute. Add the sliced zucchini,
season with salt and cook, stirring occa-
sionally, until tender, about 10 minutes.
Add the water and bring to a boil.Remove
the saucepan from the heat. Discard the
bay leaf and stir in the shredded basil.
2. Working in batches, puree the soup in
a blender until very smooth. Transfer the
zucchini puree to a large bowl. Stir in the
ice. Refrigerate the zucchini soup for at
least 3 hours, until thoroughly chilled.
3. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
Ladle into shallow bowls and top with a
small handful of purslane and zucchini
shavings. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.
make ahead The zucchini soup can be
refrigerated for up to 1 day.
Coumont pan-
sears apricots
and figs in honey
infused with
southern France’s
iconic lavender
(recipe, p. 92).
“Sulfites are necessary in very small amounts, so that the
wine can travel,” Coumont says. “But it is such a small
amount, you can drink two bottles of this stuff, and you
won’t have a headache the next day.” Clearly intent on
testing his theory, he grins and grabs a dozen bottles
before heading back to the house to greet his guests.
Along with Lorange, tonight’s other dinner invitees
include Gilles Valeriani, Coumont’s business partner in
his wine operation, and Alain Allier, a neighbor and
fourth-generation vigneron, who brings the Champagne.
Once everyone is seated, Louella carries out the first
course, a chilled, silken soup of pureed zucchini from the
garden topped with zucchini ribbons and sprigs of purs-
lane, a crisp, lemony wild green (recipe, opposite page).
For the main course, Coumont brings out the braised arti­
chokes and a steaming bowl of buckwheat couscous, a
newfound favorite grain. “Make sure you drink one glass
of wine for every glass of water,” he advises his guests as
he passes a basket of whole-grain sourdough bread, per-
fect with the warm, basil-flecked goat cheese filling in the
side dish of oven-roasted tomatoes (recipe, p. 92).
After dessert—luscious figs and apricots, pan-seared
in honey that’s been infused with the lavender blossoms
Coumont had gathered earlier in the afternoon (recipe,
p. 92)—Damien De Lepeleire, an artist friend of the
Coumonts, lays out some recent prints on the graveled
courtyard. Covered in a maze of colorful
small dots, they resemble something between
1960s psychedelia and Australian Aboriginal
art. The guests admire them under the
moon­light; someone suggests that the prints
would make great wine labels.
The next morning, proving his theory
about low sulfites in wine, Coumont is full of
energy. As he finishes preparing a restorative
brunch, he dashes around his vast kitchen,
dodging the large wild mushrooms drying
from meat hooks overhead, as well as his
many Le Creuset pots. Everyone has stayed
the night. As his guests emerge, bleary-eyed,
he brings out thin egg pancakes seasoned
with parsley and mint from the garden (rec-
ipe, p. 92) and a tomato salad, while Louella
sets out a large bowl of a citrusy brown rice
pilaf studded with chopped Lucques olives
(recipe, p. 93). The creamy rice is exquisitely
vegan, except for the aged Provençal goat
cheese Louella shaves over the top. “That’s
why we need a choice,” Coumont laughs.
“Cheese and cream are hard to resist.”
Coumont says. As a result, he regularly finds himself
foraging for dinner at the last minute—often in his abun-
dant garden, where he grows everything from pears to
figs to olives that a local press turns to olive oil. “There
are quick tricks,” he says, as he snips off stalks of basil for
the savory tomato sauce he’ll drizzle on a tangy vegan
salad of baby artichokes braised with carrots and bay
(recipe, p. 72). “Organic brown rice and whole wheat
pasta are both easy main dishes,” he says. “Just choose a
few aristocratic vegetables, like artichokes or wild mush-
rooms, to serve with them. They will trigger conversation
around the table and will also do everyone good.”
For one last errand before returning to the house,
Coumont takes the quick walk from the garden to his
winery. The Languedoc region has a reputation for icon-
oclastic winemakers, and Coumont is no exception. In
the 19th-century stone barn on his grounds, he recently
began producing 150,000 bottles of wine a year. They
are called RN13, for Rouge National, 13 Percent. The
wines, a red, a rosé and a white, are all blends marketed
as VdP, or “vin de pique-nique,” a play on the French
regional classification vin de pays. The wines are sold at
LPQ, in glass bottles with resealable flip tops resembling
classic French lemonade bottles. Typical of the natural
winemaking techniques in vogue with some producers
in the Languedoc, they’re made with minimal sulfites.
Agave Syrup
“I like agave syrup because it’s a
raw sweetener—it’s squeezed
from the agave plant [the
same succulent used to make
tequila]. It has a fairly neutral
taste, so it’s great for baking.”
Cashew butter
“It has the fat content of cream
or butter, as well as the fiber
and protein content of nuts.
It can give baked goods and
mousses great texture.”
Cold-Pressed oils
“To make refined vegetable oils,
factories grind the ingredients,
mix them with water and pull
out the oil with a solvent.
The flavor goes into the air.
Cold-pressed oils don’t go
through this process, so they
have more nutrients, and
they still taste of something.”
dairy-free milks
“Soy milk is an easy substitute
for dairy. Almond and rice
milks are also delicious.”
whole-grain
flours
“The difference between whole-
grain wheat flour and refined
all-purpose flour is like the
difference between cornmeal
and cornstarch. Cornmeal
tastes like corn; cornstarch
doesn’t taste of anything.”

5. 72 food wine • august 2009 foodandwine.com
wine TheGrünerVeltlinergrapeproduces
crispwhitewinesthatoftenhaveadistinc-
tive green note, making them good part-
ners for vegetable dishes—and ideal with
this velvety soup. Try the vibrant 2007
Nikolaihof Hefeabzug or the lively 2007
SoellnerWogenrain,both from produ­cers
who farm biodynamically (a spiritual
approachtoorganicsbasedonthewritings
of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner).
Braised Baby Artichokes with
Tomato Coulis
active: 45 min; total: 1 hr
1 2 se rv i n gs
This healthy, zippy Provençal classic is
knownasartichokesbarigoule.Servedover
whole-grainbrownriceorbuckwheatcous­
cous, it makes a lovely vegan main course.
2 lemons, halved
36 baby artichokes (3 pounds)
¥ cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, quartered lengthwise
2 carrots, thinly sliced on the bias
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
wine Artichokes are tough to match with
wine because they contain cynarin,which
for most people makes wines taste overly
sweet.Tocombattheeffect,pickatartwhite
with good acidity, like a Sauvignon Blanc.
Two good choices, both from California
and made with organic grapes, are the
grapefruity2007PatiannaMendocinoand
the lime-scented 2007 Sterling Vineyards.
Tomato Coulis
total: 15 min
m a kes 1 ¼ cu ps
4 medium fresh tomatoes,
quartered
4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes,
drained
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 basil leaves
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground
black pepper
In a blender, puree the fresh tomatoes
with the drained sun-dried tomatoes,
garlic,olive oil,basil and crushed red pep-
per. Season with salt and black pepper.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
‚ cup dry white wine
» teaspoon salt
Fresh Tomato Coulis, for serving
(recipe follows)
1. Squeeze the lemons into a bowl of water.
Working with 1 artichoke at a time, snap off
the dark green outer leaves. Using a sharp
paring knife, slice off all but 1 inch of the
remaining leaves. Peel and trim the stems.
Halve the artichokes, scrape out the hairy
choke and drop them into the lemon water.
2. In a large, nonreactive skillet, heat the
olive oil. Add the garlic, carrots, onion,
thyme, bay leaves, black peppercorns
and coriander seeds and cook over mod-
erately high heat until the onion begins to
soften, about 2 minutes.
3. Drain the artichokes and add them to
the skillet. Cook until the onion is trans-
lucent, about 2 minutes longer. Add the
wine and salt,cover and cook over moder-
ate heat until the artichokes are just ten-
der, about 10 minutes. Discard the bay
leaves. Spoon the artichokes and their
juices onto plates. Drizzle with the Fresh
Tomato Coulis and serve.
make ahead Thecookedbabyartichokes
can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.
Gently reheat before serving.
alain coumont says
his country house
is a great place to
develop restaurant
dishes, “because
there’s nothing else
to do. you can pick
vegetables in the
garden, then drink
wine until 3 or 4 a.m.”
The Coumonts pick wild blackberries to make
a summer custard, opposite (recipe, p. 93).
continued on p. 92

6. Oven-Roasted Tomatoes
Stuffed with Goat Cheese
active: 25 min; total: 1 hr 15 min
1 2 se rv i n gs
For these buttery-soft roasted tomatoes,
Coumont boosts the flavor of the creamy
goatcheesefillingwithgarlicandbasil.The
result works both as a side dish or a main
course with a salad and crusty bread.
12 medium tomatoes (3 pounds)
1‹ pounds fresh goat cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¥ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¥ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1. Preheat the oven to 425°. Slice off the
top » inch of each tomato and reserve the
tops. Scoop out the tomato cores and
seeds. Cut a very thin sliver off of the bot-
tom of each tomato to help them stand up
straight. Arrange the tomatoes in a 9-by-
13-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.
2. In a bowl,combine the goat cheese with
theegg,garlic,basil,salt,pepperand2table­
spoons of the olive oil. Spoon the goat
cheesemixtureintothetomatoes,mound-
ing the filling » inch above the rim. Cover
with the tomato tops and drizzle with the
remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Bake the tomatoes for 35 minutes,until
tender and browned in spots and the
cheese is hot. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Pan-Seared Apricots and Figs
with Honey and Lavender
total: 25 min
1 2 se rv i n gs
Coumont’s simple dessert delivers a lot
of flavor without a lot of work. Try it with
anycombinationofsummerfruits,suchas
plums, peaches or raspberries, or use
thymeinsteadoflavender.It’salsodelicious
with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.
» cup honey
2» tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¥ teaspoon dried lavender blossoms
12 apricots, halved and pitted
18 fresh figs, halved lengthwise
12 mint sprigs, for garnish
1. Inalargenonstickskillet,boil thehoney
withthelemonjuiceandlavenderoverhigh
heat until reduced slightly, 1 minute.
2. Arrange the apricots in the skillet, cut
sides down.Cook over high heat until just
tender, 2 minutes; turn and cook until
softened, 1 minute longer. Using a slotted
spoon, trans­fer the apricots to plates.
3. Add the figs to the skillet and cook over
high heat, turning once, until softened, 2
minutes.Spoonthefigsandjuicesoverthe
apricots. Garnish with the mint and serve.
Basil Limeade Slushies
total: 20 min
1 2 se rv i n gs
A splash of soda water makes these tart
slushies pleasingly bubbly. With a little
rum, they’d also make great cocktails.
8 cups ice
4 cups water
3 cups fresh lime juice
3 cups lightly packed basil leaves,
plus basil sprigs, for garnish
1» cups sugar
1» cups soda water
In a blender,working in batches,blend the
ice with the water, lime juice, basil leaves
and sugar until slushy. Pour the limeade
into chilled glasses. Top with 2 table-
spoons of the soda water, garnish with
the basil sprigs and serve.
Herb Frittatas with
Minty Tomato Salad
total: 25 min
1 2 f i rst- cou rse se rv i n gs
Thesefrittatasaresothinandlight,they’re
almost like crêpes.Coumont serves them
with juicy tomatoes tossed with mint, but
nearly any summer salad would work.
4 large tomatoes, cored and diced
¥ cup coarsely chopped mint, plus
3 dozen mint leaves, for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 scallions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
» teaspoon ground cumin
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¥ cup extra-virgin olive oil
92 food wine • august 2009 foodandwine.com
farm-fresh french from p. 72
continued on p. 93
Summer Party Primer r/o

7. 1. Set a strainer over a bowl. In a medium
bowl,tossthedicedtomatoeswith2table-
spoons of the chopped mint and season
withsaltandpepper.Scrapethetomatoes
into the strainer and let drain.
2. Meanwhile, in another bowl, toss the
chopped parsley with the scallions,garlic,
cumin and the remaining 2 tablespoons
of the chopped mint. Stir in the eggs and
season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat 2 table-
spoons of the olive oil. Pour in half of the
egg mixture and tilt the pan to spread it
into a thin pancake.Cook over moderately
high heat,turning once,until browned and
crisp,about4minutes.Transferthefrittata
to paper towels to drain. Repeat with the
remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and
egg. Cut the frittatas into wedges. Spoon
the drained tomatoes alongside, garnish
with the mint leaves and serve.
Brown Rice Pilaf with
Green Olives and Lemon
active: 30 min; total: 1 hr 30 min
1 2 se rv i n gs
Coumont makes this creamy (yet cream-
free) rice dish with lemony Lucques olives
and nutty organic Camargue red rice, but
almost any green olive or short-grain
brown rice would be terrific.Vegans should
leave out the tangy goat cheese shavings.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,
plus more for drizzling
2 medium onions, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
10 cups water
3 cups short-grain brown rice
1 thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt
1» cups pitted small green olives,
halved (6 ounces)
» cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
¥ cup chopped basil, plus 24 basil
leaves for garnish
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
Freshly ground pepper
4 ounces aged goat cheese,
shaved with a vegetable peeler
1. In a large saucepan, heat the 2 table-
spoons of oil. Add the onions and garlic
andcookovermoderateheat,stirringocca­
sionally,until softened,8minutes.Addthe
water, rice, thyme and bay leaf and bring
to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from the
heat, cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Stir 1 tablespoon of salt into the rice.
Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring
occasionally, until most of the water has
beenabsorbed,about30minutes.Remove
from the heat; discard the bay leaf and
thyme. Stir in the olives, parsley, chopped
basil,lemonjuiceandlemonzestandseason
with salt and pepper. Spoon the rice into
bowls.Drizzlewitholiveoilandgarnishwith
the goat cheese and basil leaves; serve.
wine This pilaf needs a wine with sub-
stance,likeadryCheninBlancfromFrance’s
Loire Valley. From Savennières, try the
melony 2006 Domaine du Closel LaJalou-
sie, or from Montlouis, the honeyed 2006
François Chidaine Clos du Breuil. Both
wines are made from organic grapes.
Summer Blackberry Custards
active: 15 min; total: 1 hr
1 2 se rv i n gs
Coumont makes these ethereal, citrusy
custards with wild blackberries gathered
from his property.Try them with blueber-
ries, raspberries or pitted cherries, too.
6 cups blackberries (2 pounds)
1» cups whole milk
» cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
‚ cup packed dark brown sugar
» cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
» teaspoon grated orange zest
1. Preheattheovento450°.Spread»cup
of the blackberries in each of twelve
4-ounce gratin dishes.Arrange the gratin
dishes on 2 baking sheets.
2. Inabowl,whiskthemilkwiththecream,
eggs, brown sugar, flour, vanilla, lemon
juice and orange zest until smooth. Ladle
¥ cup of the custard into each dish; bake
for about 15 minutes,until the centers are
set. Transfer the custards to wire racks
and let stand for 30 minutes. Serve. •
93foodandwine.com food wine • august 2009
farm-fresh french from p. 92
herb frittatas continued
Andreas Viesta r/o