Flavours of the south-west #1

Not quite sure what constitutes the south west of France and where the 'borders' may be but there is some consensus as to the food that emanates from there. I have just started to discover these amazingly rich foods and all very coincidentally.
One Friday, while out strolling in the city, we were on our way back home via the Ile St Louis when we spotted alot of commotion down on the quay. There was a produce market taking place! Not one to ever pass up a shopping and eating opportunity, I HAD to go down and check out all the fuss.

It turned out (I seem to like using that expression) it was a market from the south west! This in itself was a little coincidence since we had recently dined at a restaurant nearby called "La Bastide Odeon" which specialised in food of the south west. It leant perhaps a little more towards the mediterranean than (I have since concluded) is typical of this south western cuisine. Anyhow, another entry dedicated to this restaurant later!!

Bugger! Just lost a whole section accidentally!!! Here I go again.

The market consisted of several stalls manned by farmers essentially. They'd brought their wares from the country and were set up to sell. Many of the stalls were selling duck and goose produce. I purchased some foie gras de canard (duck) and d'oie (goose) and some confit de canard. We bought some pruneaux d'Agens (prunes basically) which are used to make a liqueur. Oh, almost forgot, I bought some magret de canard seche' (features in an earlier entry). Other stalls were selling take away goodies like snails. A curious feature of the market was the giving away of apples, garlic and grapes all grown in the region. Everyone was proffered a paper bag - if you accepted, it was filled with 2 gala apples, 2 heads of garlic and a bunch of grapes. They made it home ok but they were a hassle to carry about and prevent from bruising.

We had the foie gras de canard and the confit for dinner that evening as we were having friends over. Talk about fat overload!! I know I said I was cutting back on meat but this event (fortunately) took place BEFORE my resolution (which turns out not to be so resolute but that's another story!). The foie gras was amazing - but then I love foie gras. My friend Wanda had made some delicious mirabelle jam which she had served with foie gras (it goes so beautifully with sweet fruity chutney type things) so I did too since she had made a gift of a jarful to me. I also served mine with little toasts (Carton's yummy baguette thinly sliced and toasted!), fleur de sel de Guerande and 10 year old balsamic vinegar. The balsamic encompasses the characteristics that go so well with foie gras - a combo of mild acidity and sweetness. That was the starter. Oh and we served with lightly chilled Coteaux du Layon - a sweet wine from Anjou which our neighbours introduced us to and our local bottle shop stocks (read all about it - http://drvino.blogspot.com/2006/08/la-derniere-goutte-paris.html).

That should really have been enough for dinner - it was so rich. But, the confit was in the oven and so were the little waxy, yellow potatoes I was roasting so we just had to go on. The confit was bloody good! Large, meaty thighs which crisped up beautifully. Apparently duck and goose fat is good for you. At least that's what the French I know say. Well, it may be good for you but it's still fattening!!!!!!

Anyway, we ate it all and was a huge success. I went back to the market the next day and bought more confit de canard - you never know when friends are going to pop over. We also still have the foie gras d'oie and a bottle of Coteaux du Layon. Where are all my friends when I need them?

What's for dinner tonight?

In an attempt to arrest the ever-expanding waistline, I have decided to cut back on meat - not that I don't love it and it will be a large sacrifice - but it is very high in calories, especially the quantities we consume on average in the wealthy west.
Tonight therefore we are eating quasi vegetarian. Lentil salad! But it is delicious. OK, how about salade de lentilles avec oeuf poche' et magret de canard seche'?

500 g green lentils du Puy
1 onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
150g thick smoked bacon cut into cubes (lardons fume's in France - oh and by the way, bacon NEVER counts as meat!!)
duck fat or goose fat ( I know, I know)

Saute onion, carrot, garlic and lardons in goose fat til soft. Add rinsed lentils, 1 litre water (or, better, homemade chicken stock) and simmer 30 min uncovered until water absorbed and lentils cooked but still a little al dente (if that concept exists for lentils). Make a vinaigrette with 1 finely chopped eschalote, 1 tbspn french mustard, 2 tbspn raspberry vinegar (I use Leblanc cos it's just around the corner and really good! (www.huile-leblanc.com)), 150ml walnut oil (Leblanc again) or best extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper. Mix and add to hot lentils. Rest 10 minutes for flavours to absorb. Chives are good. While resting, poach 8 eggs (this recipe does 8 people). Thinly slice some cured duck breast (like duck prosciutto). Construct: Lentils, poached egg and thin slices of duck. Oh yes, and chives. If you don't have cured duck breast, sauteed well-smoked thick bacon will be fine. GREEN salad. YUMMMMM!!! Serves 8 but 4 if you're really hungry.

Pommes purees or mashed potatoes?

The subject of endless discussions in my house! I love pommes purees and Richard loves mash. What's the difference you ask? Quite a lot!

For a start, my idea of puree is just that, lumpless, creamy and almost flowing. For this kind of potato one needs either a moulin legumes, which is what my mother always used, or a potato ricer. The latter is my favourite tool - quick, easy and less bulky in the dishwasher. Second, once you get the smoothness right, you will need to enrich it with as much butter and cream (milk if you feel really guilty) so as to make it a shadow of its former self - enough to transform the cocoon that was the potato into its full magnificence (kind of how I feel after a visit to the beauty therapist).

Got it? Well, this is where the point of contention lies. Richard really feels for the cocoon and does not take kindly to a transformation. In other words, he is a purist at heart when it comes to potatoes. He accuses me of adulterating the purity of the potato. My interpretation is that it's more of an enhancement of its natural beauty!!
Mash facon Richard? Cook it, mash it a bit - add a pinch of salt, a knob of butter and maybe a dash of milk. Pepper? Are you mad????!!!!!! Use an ice-cream scoop to dole out portions.
Pommes puree facon Patricia? Cook it, pass through a ricer, over low heat whisk in some warm cream, salt, white pepper, a grating of nutmeg, soft butter until melted. Add more cream or butter until it's almost flowing. Spoon onto a warm plate - make sure you get the consistency right!

I know which I'd rather have.

Unfortunately for me, Richard's version is better for my waistline. C'est la guerre!

Where to get the best pommes purees in my quartier of Paris (who cares about mash?)? Both are rotisseries.

• Atelier Maitre Albert (part of the Guy Savoy stable) - www.ateliermaitrealbert.com. This is my favourite spot for roast chicken and pommes purees.
  

• La Rotisserie d'en Face. www.jacquescagna.com/usardf.htm. Also does a great roast chicken and pommes purees.
  

I'm sure there are others but I really do need to keep an eye on the waistline.

VIVARO - gastronomic metropolis

Well, the gastronomic bit works.
Metropolis it ain't.

The only restaurants in a town of 1,272 inhabitants (Gelindo dei Magredi and Lataria dei Magredi) are both owned by the same family (not the Magredi family as those unfamiliar with the region may assume) who have been in business for decades. There are only two entries in the Michelin guide 2007 for Vivaro and they are the aforementioned. In fact, Gelindo dei Magredi receives a Bib Gourmand which is not quite a star but a rather important quality/price signal. When we can't afford stars we eat bib gourmand.

The family also happens to be related to yours truly. Zio Gelindo (my great uncle) was the patriarch and namesake who sadly passed away some years ago and behind every great man...(you know how it goes) was the woman who really made it possible - zia Tilia who has also passed. Running the show now is the next two (three?) generations of the Trevisanutto family (at least those who did not leave town during the mass migration of the 60's) and are doing an amazing job of it.

We ate at Gelindo and stayed at the Lataria (although you can eat and stay at both) last January and were very pleasantly suprised. Rather than being just a home-cooking kind of place, we were treated to some sensational flavours. As usual, we left it to them to treat us to what was fresh and good. The organic produce is all from their land as well as the wine and apple juice. Our meal on this occasion was a degustazione from the menu. I love this kind of eating! Here's what we ate based on my scratchy notes and poor Italian translation:

• We started with a salad of cured duck breast on mache lettuce with fresh horseradish, pomegranate seeds and celeriac.

• The next course consisted of several tasty morsels: stuffed artichoke; boiled potato with a salted local cheese and pitin (a salame made with beef, pork and sheep meat); a quail egg; radicchio wrapped in speck and grilled.
  

• To follow was also a plate of assaggi and included: pumpkin, pitin and celeriac ravioli with brown butter and pumpkin sticks; pumpkin crespelle with smoked ricotta and gratinate in the oven.
  

• The "main" course was roasted veal nut with a walnut sauce and white polenta (YUM!!!)

No room for dessert.
I wish I'd taken photos.
Naturally, we always, at some point in the meal, have prosciutto crudo di San Daniele - a rival to Parma or hors concours?

If you're ever in the Dolomiti hiking or horseriding - this is the place to stay and eat - you may never leave!!
www.gelindo.it

Les Bouquinistes and other Guy Savoy favourites

Yet another fine meal in the great city of Paris and, better still, in my quartier!

Les Bouquinistes - part of legend Guy Savoy's stable - was one of the first fine restaurants I ate at when I first arrived in Paris 3 years ago. I returned the other night with some friends and find that it is still in fine form although I did recall that there were a couple of things that didn't quite convince me last time.
My fellow diners decided that the wait staff were convinced that I was a food writer (my copious note-taking might have given it away) and so proffered the carte to make my life easier. Here are les entrees (not main course as they are in the US) and les plats.



On arrival we were offered (twice for some disorganized reason!!) an amuse gueule (bouche - whatever) which I absolutely cannot remember (how embarrassing!) but am positive that it contained fenouil (fennel). For my entree, I chose Brittany crab ravioli with roasted bay prawns in a fennel and lemongrass sauce. Sounds delicious and was quite good but not good enough! The fennel and lemongrass broth was a touch insipid and lacking in depth - just a few moments more reducing would have done it and a tad more salt. It was tasty but someone really does need to spend more time learning the art of a good sfoglia (pasta dough). Conversely, the roasted bay prawns were well roasted and perfectly prepared. The ravioli filling was well-seasoned even if the broth lacked some substance.

For the main course I chose the roasted lamb in a garlic, parsley and butter sauce (more of a crust really) with parmesan polenta. I asked for the lamb to be cooked a point (medium) but came out closer to well-done. However, still melt-in-the-mouth. The parmesan polenta - soft, tasty and comforting (and you know what that means) but texture a little lumpy. Having grown up with northern Italian parentage, I know what good polenta should be like. After all, we are not called polentoni for nothing! So, while the parmesan polenta was oh so tasty, its texture was oh so not smooth! Unfortunately, I was so absorbed with my meal and wine (bourgogne) that I forgot to note or taste anyone else's choices. Oops.

Lobster in Brittany

Everyone knows that Brittany lobsters are the best in the world, right? Well, apparently not-they're Canadian!! However, they are sensational and while in Brittany we decided a lobster lunch was de rigueur! We asked our charming host at Villa Kerlubec - the B & B where we stayed - where we could eat lobster in town but he wasn't sure. His suggestion was better.
The local, massive hypermarche has a seafood stall which sells live lobsters and crabs etc. He suggested to go there, choose a live lobster (Buddhists please stop reading here) and get them to steam it for us while we waited. So we did. There were only two sorts of lobsters - small single serve ones or enormous family sized ones. Guess which we chose? There were four of us and as anyone knows, the flesh to shell ratio increases with the size of the lobster - you get more bang for your buck in other words.
The lobster was 2 kg and at 40 euro a kilo, was rather indulgent but they are the (second) best in the world. We picked up some lemons, some homemade mayonnaise, a bottle of Loire valley white (from memory was Pouilly fume'), a fresh baguette and butter. Our delightful host provided the lawn, the ocean view and the implements - including a table and chairs. PLEASE do this if you are ever in Brittany - we had an amazing lunch! Note the size of the claws in the photos above! The third photo is of the beach ( a bit like Bondi really ) we could see from our B & B and that's Richard (right) and James (left). The last photo is the B & B.

Le Scorlion in Charentes

We arranged to meet our friends in what appeared to be a quaint B&B in Charentes but which turned out to be rather insignificant. While waiting we thought we'd have lunch at Le Scorlion. Who on earth knows what that means?
It turns out that I was so enthralled with the dining experience that I really didn't care what it meant and certainly forgot to ask! The Michelin guide online is worth checking out (www.viamichelin.fr) for any local eateries. It's nowhere near as detailed as the book but it's free and online - what more can I say? This was how we found Le Scorlion in St Jean d'Angely in Brittany.
Now we could've gone the 17 euro lunch menu but we did have a few hours to kill and the fuller menu was only 34 euro so we partook of the latter.
Naturally, coupe de champagne as aperitif - you may as well in France, it is very cheap!! Luckily, it came with a little nibble of a freshly grilled slice of saucisse and a little croute with fresh cheese and herbs. Next, since we didn't do the cheapskate menu, we were offered an amuse-gueule of beetroot mousse - so very deceptively light. It was essentially beetroot puree folded through whipped cream with a few seasonings but mainly snipped chives.
Richard and I then diverged: I ordered lasagne de langoustine et saumon sitting in a light shellfish bisque. Very, very light (interesting isn't it how everything is oh so light?) and delicate. It was an extremely small cirlular portion that appeared to have been steamed rather than baked. Richard had the salade de rouget (red mullet) avec sa bouillabaisse et pomme vapeur. This was delicious but rather too substantial for a starter. It turned out to be a poor choice as R's main course seemed to be similarly constructed. He had the medaillons de lotte (devil fish), crevettes rose (shrimp) et pommes purees and a seafood bisque/bouillabaisse type of sauce! My choice on the other hand was fabulous: quite simply, assiette de lapin. This included a ravioli with rabbit meat flavoured with fennel; roasted loin of rabbit (the tiniest you've ever seen); a braised leg and braised breast. The flavours were sensational and the meet perfectly cooked. I stopped there but Richard had the dessert. His choice, which he had to make at the beginning, was pistacchio souffle. It was served with a small 'quenelle' of pistacchio ice cream. The sweet young waiter served the souffle by spooning out a portion from the centre, filling it with the ice cream and replacing the spooned out portion. The heat of the souffle melting the icecream ever so slowly. It was pretty 'wow'. We accompanied all with a local bottle of Vins des charentes chardonnay. All in all, a very pleasing lunch. In fact, we were so impressed we returned for dinner. This is the typical mistake made by yours truly. Have to go overboard! I was too full from lunch to appreciate it. We therefore had the 17 euro menu which was expertly executed but much simpler and lacking the impact of the other dishes.
On the down side: pommes puree a bit too prevalent; we could've done with a finger bowl for the unshelled crevettes.

I'm back and overdosing on artichokes.

Back in Paris that is. After several months renovating and putting on weight at our home in Adelaide - we are now back in Paris where I can finally lose some weight!!! Impossible you say? Well, not really. I go up and down the stairs to our 3rd floor apartment several times a day (well at least once!) and walk everywhere. So it is possible.

What have I been eating since returning a month ago? Apart from great bread (the subject of a future entry), eating ARTICHOKES!! I don't think they're actually in season here at the moment but they are somewhere in the world! The ones I'm overindulging in are the little purple ones (known as artichaut or poivrade in French) that don't have a hairy choke which, by the way, I nearly died on in a restaurant in Helsinki last year. My artichoke inexperience (and the restaurant's it appears for leaving it in!) had me stuffing the choke in my eager gob along with the rest. If you've never eaten the hairy ole choke - don't try it! Anyway, back to my artichokes. I eat them 3 times a week as a starter - two per serve. Here's the best and simplest way of eating them - it surely is heaven. Don't forget the salt!
1. cut a lemon in half
2. squeeze half of it into a saucepan of cold water and drop in the squeezed half
3. cut off stalk of artichoke at base and snap off a few old tough leaves. cut about 2 cm off top.
4. rub cuts with other half cut lemon and drop artichokes in the acidulated the water -you will cook in this.
5. squeeze rest of lemon into pan and drop it in the pot. Add 1 tbspn salt.
6. bring to boil and simmer about 30 minutes
7. drain well and squeeze out some water.
8. serve with a squeez of lemon, salt, pepper and some butter melted with slices of fresh garlic (I also season the garlicky butter with salt and pepper) dip each leaf in the butter and scrape between your teeth. Once you get to where the leaves are soft enough to eat, dip the whole heart into the butter and eat. It is soooooooo good!!!! I hope you try it.

What to do with all the quinces?

With quince season nearly upon us in Australia, I wanted to record this fabulous recipe for Mostarda - a recipe from Bologna. You must try it. I'm always stuck for what to make with the quinces (last year I made quince paste - a real success and I'll do it again). Mostarda is a kind of spicy jam or smooth chutney and used to fill cakes and pastries - the tastiest are Raviole - pastries filled with mostarda, shaped like a mezzaluna and baked.
1 kg ripe quinces
150g unripe pears
250g prunes (stone removed)
50g blanched almonds
100g sultanas
500 ml water
500g sugar
grated rind of a lemon
1 cm piece cinnamon stick
2 tbspn vinegar
1 tspn mustard seeds

Chop the quinces and pears without peeling nor removing seeds and cores (all the hard bits will be sifted through in the food mill). Mix together with all other ingredients and cook slowly until quinces are cooked. Pass all through a food mill. Fill clean jars, seal and cook in a bain-marie for 30 minutes.

Montepulciano and Montalcino

Seems like the months before and after Christmas have been a wine and food blur. I am only just recovered enough to start writing again.
The commencement of our indulgences was at Montepulciano where a bunch of us - led by our intrepid and very well connected North American travellers - met at Sant'Antonio (www.santantonio.it) in Montepulciano for a long weekend in late November.
Our warm and inspiring hosts - Nico and Elena - were a delight and truly hospitable. Elena also has a family connection to Avignonesi (www.avignonesi.it) - the noted producers of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (current vintage in Wine Spectator's Top 100) as well as the much awarded Vin Santo "Occhio de Pernice". Their olive groves yield highly perfumed and fruity olive oil.
Our first experience was the Tuscan specialty - pappardelle al cinghiale - sampled at La Foce. The next night was at Osteria del Leone in Bagno Vignoni (where the hot baths are found) owned by Nico and apparently the oldest in southern Tuscany (www.illeone.com). We ate and drank soooooooo well. Gnocchi allo zafferano, coniglio al vino rosso and insalata di finocchio were the dishes I chose. The fennel was shaved with the simplest dressing of lemon and olive oil. Richard had the tagliata with olive oil and rosemary.
Next day we took ourselves to Montalcino in search of the 2006 Wine Spectator's wine of the year - Casanova di Neri, Brunello di Montalcino, Tenuta Nuova 2001. We did not find it and if we had it would have been 3 times the price. So we had a hearty and gutsy tasting lunch at Il Grappolo Blu of crostini assortiti, salsicce e fagioli and cinghiale al vino bianco - all washed down with a half bottle of Brunello di Montalcino.
Other fun things we did was go to a Vin Santo tasting in Montefollonico; tasting sheeps milk cheese in Pienza and, finally, a light meal (with amazing wines which I can't remember right now) at La Porta in Montichiello.
Photos to follow as soon as I find my camera cable!!!!!!!!!!!
I have found my camera cable - finally! The photos are of neither Montepulciano nor Montalcino. The first shot is a shot taken while approaching Pienza - the next shot is in the town. Montefollonico is the third shot. We went there because they had a Vinsanto tasting which was very disorganized! Sant'Antimo is the next shot but doesn't do it justice. The olive tree is just one of many ancient trees surrounding Sant'Antimo.