Tasting the story behind the recipe

WELLS Seasoned by her years in Provence

Patricia Wells' cookbooks are the kind you pick up to read even if you don't know how to cook. She writes about Paris and Provence, where she has lived, taught and explored the culinary landscape for more than 20 years. She's a French-food expert and a marvelous storyteller whose passion for food and for the stories of the people who bring it to the table is equal to her skill at writing a great-tasting recipe.

Wells is a fit woman with short sunny-blond hair. Her voice is friendly, down to earth and modest. She is relaxed, yet tireless. Between cooking classes in Paris and Provence and on a two-month sabbatical from her stint as the restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune, the 57-year-old Wisconsin native is touring the United States with her latest book, "The Provence Cookbook" (Harper Collins, $29.95, 338 pages). In Portland last week, she stopped briefly between signings to sample chef Morgan Brownlow's menu at clarklewis and to talk about her book.

"The book is about my life in Provence, but it's not about me. It is about sharing my recipes and experiences and giving you all the leads," she says.

Wells knows there are books full of recipes, but she sees her role as a journalist, teacher and expert cook to give readers more. She gives them a glimpse of the life behind the ingredients they prepare and the recipes they follow.

Adjacent to her recipe Mireille's Tomate, Green Pepper, Olive and Anchovy Salad, discover Wells' favorite olive oil in Maussane-les-Alpilles, which also happens to be near a favorite pottery shop and bistrot.

Learn her market-day fishmonger's recipe for Tuna Daube With Green Olives and Red Wine, as well as his daily truck route (for your next visit to Provence, of course); and there are other vendors, chefs and good friends who share their regional recipes and culinary secrets. (For all her sources, she includes contact information down to a Web site when possible.)

Wells also introduces us to her farmhouse near Vaison-la-Romaine, where she and husband Walter live six months of the year, and where she runs her weeklong cooking classes. It also is where large outdoor meals take place under a massive oak tree -- the one that's pictured on the wine label of their vineyard Clos Chanteduc -- and where it is her custom at these casual meals to make place cards by writing names on small ochre stones from the vineyard. And it is where, outside her kitchen door, she has a fragrant creeping rosemary plant.

"Rosemary is the herb I reach for most often -- when firing up the bread oven or heating up the outdoor grill, I always toss a handful of rosemary branches onto the fire for a burst of festive aromas," she writes in her book.

Wells' recipe Tagliatelle With Rosemary and Lemon is fast, easy and aromatic. As the introduction suggests, it's highly addictive. Be sure to use the younger, tender rosemary leaves and temper the amount to your liking. And if, like Wells, you decide to enjoy this dish with a wine made from the roussanne grape, a good Oregon choice is Andrew Rich's Le Vigneaux 2002.

For more information about Patricia Wells, her books and her classes, visit www.patriciawells.com.

Sara Perry: sara@saraperry.com; The Oregonian, 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201