Toulouse. On leaving, Claire left us a cookbook that tastes like happiness.
Claire Rueff was a professor of geo-history in Toulouse. She was also passionate about Mediterranean cuisine. Died in February 2022, she left a recipe book “La cuisine de Claire”, a small gourmet and confidential guide to generous preparations whose sales profits are reversed for the benefit of Charcot’s disease research.
Native of Constantine (Algeria), Claire arrived in Toulouse at the age of 12. Years later, she married Claude, a native of Alsace. A history and geography teacher and keen on art history, Claire loved cooking, a symbol of sharing and encounters. Throughout her life, she multiplies the recipes inspired by her travels, her childhood memories. “Claire liked to entertain, bring her family and friends together. The larger the tables, the greater her happiness”, remembers Claude, “over the years, her recipes have married her three cultures, the Mediterranean, her Alsatian roots and this south-west, land of flavors, which she loved so much. Between traditional dishes, celebrations, desserts, breads and other childhood sweets, she was advised to make a book composed of all these colorful and gourmet recipes , symbols of several cultures. A sort of culinary guide that remained in the family for a long time”. Thus, throughout the pages of this very well illustrated little book, we find the Moroccan recipe for kokas with grilled peppers, barigoule, a Provençal preparation based on artichokes, beans with caraway and cumin. Passah soup for festive evenings, traditional for Jewish Easter, tagine of beans and artichokes for Purim (Jewish holiday), couscous from rue Joseph Bosco in memory of Constantine. A chapter is also reserved for breads such as halloth, a brioche festive bread. Then come several preparations inspired by Alsace, such as the sauerkraut at 3 rue des Vosges, the address where Claude lived. The delicacies of the South-West are not forgotten with the duck breast with honey and Banyuls sweet wine, the legendary fritons or the cassoulet with duck confit and shoulder of lamb. The childhood so dear to Claire also returns over the pages: orange blossom crowns, pine nut and almond croquets, jam tarts…
Reverse profits
Suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Charcot’s disease), she left us last February, at the age of 71. “That’s when my children had the idea of publishing this book ‘La cuisine de Claire’, continues Claude. A way of remembering Claire’s generosity, of sharing gourmet dishes and above all of contributing to research against this terrible disease, both in France with the ALS association and in Israel with the University of Tel Aviv, since the benefits of this book are reversed to these two entities”. More than a recipe book, “La cuisine de Claire” is above all a beautiful tribute to a creative and generous woman.
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