The PB Murals: Pascaline et ses confitures

The market scene of the murals includes a table run by Philippe's maman, the truly lovely Mme. Pascaline Rispoli. While she doesn't actually sell her wares at the marché in Lyon, she does make confitures (jams) at home in France, and for the restaurant, when she is visiting here on Cape Cod, so I gave her a prime spot in the market mural, just for fun. 

Pascaline's jam has been acclaimed by the director of France's Guide Michelin ... and Daniel Boulud has called it, "the best jam in the world."

Philippe emailed me this photo of Pascaline, which I used as inspiration for my mural portrait of her.

I had to accentuate her features and the shadows, so they could be seen from a distance. 

Above, the painting in process

The finished market scene of Pascaline and her creations (above)

While Philippe's parents live near Lyon, they do come to visit Cape Cod several times each year, and Pascaline makes many jars of her confiture, each time she's here, depending on what's in season. Locals know her jams and can't wait to get their hands on each new batch, before they disappear. If your supply runs out, you just have to wait until Pascaline's next visit, to taste her divine creations.

Some of Pascaline's fabulous jams, available for purchase at PB Boulangerie Bistro.

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Recently, I had the great good fortune to make a batch strawberry jam with Pascaline, in the kitchen of PB Bistro. Besides being a lot of fun (comparing stories of motherhood and how we both weep when saying goodbye to our children for a long period of time), I learned a few new trucs or astuces (tips) I hadn't known before.

The strawberries were cleaned & hulled the night before, as Pascaline likes to let the fruit macerate in the sugar overnight. She says she likes to put in the minimum of sugar, so that the flavor of the fruit can shine through - which I wholeheartedly agree with. She adds a piece of butter to the pot, which keeps down the problem of the fruit boiling over. It works really well. I look forward to trying this at home, as I usually have such a fierce rolling boil, I cannot stop stirring for a second! 

While she uses a chaudron en cuivre (copper jam pot) at home, in France - as I do in my own kitchen - Pascaline uses these professional chefs' pots (below) in the restaurant kitchen. They have the same open surface area, which aids in the fruit reducing and gelling, and the bottoms of these are insulated. 

Two types of jam she will make today - one plain strawberry, and one strawberry/blueberry

 My new friend, Pascaline, stirring the pot

 The fruit darkens as it cooks

Ladling the jam into sterilized jars

The finished product! Pascaline immediately turns her jars upside down - another truc I hadn't known about. She says this helps keep a better seal. She turns them right side up after they have cooled.

Best yet - tasting the finished product on a fresh croissant from PB Boulangerie!

I have told Pascaline about the Concord grape jam I make here in the Autumn, and we plan to make it together when she's here next Fall. This is an American specialty she's not familiar with, so I can't wait to surprise her taste buds with some - freshly picked and made on Cape Cod.