Well, I caught Gabriel Gate’s Taste le Tour for the first time last night.  Gabriel grew up in the Loire Valley and as the cyclists are in his home region, Gabriel was on the spot to provide interesting gastronomical information.  The Loire, with its fertile soil, has an abundance of orchards growing apples and pears.  Strawberries and asparagus also grow well here.  Apparently, the asparagus particularly likes the sandy soil of the banks of the Loire. 

Another interesting fact is that goats cheeses are a specialty in the Loire.  Not only is fromage de chevre popular here, but it accounts for 70% of all goats cheeses produced in France – and France is the leading producer of goats cheeses in the world! So if you are partial to fromage de chevre, the Loire is where you need to be. 

Poitou-Charentes is France’s number one region for goat cheese production.  Gabriel says that frequently the cheeses take the names of the local villages.  Tonight Gabriel’s highlight cheese is the Chabichou du Poitou which achieved AOC status in 1990.  Shaped like a small cylinder, it is soft but firm and becomes slightly crumbly when very mature. It’s creamy in taste and develops into a stronger flavor with maturity.

So with the local produce in hand, Gabriel quickly whipped up a Tarte aux asperges vertes.  He made it look so simple that I’m kidding myself that I’d be able to cook it this weekend.  This is approximately what his instructions were:

Ingredients:
400 gm of puff pastry
Lightly whisk 1 egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water
1 egg yolk blended with 2 tablespoon cream
16 green asparagus, (chop of fair portion of ends) and blanch for 2 – 3 minutes
Salt and pepper
Chabichou cheese

- Make pastry into a rectangle, about 10 x 30 cm.  Use edge of knife to mark borders about 1.5 cm wide along the length of rectangle
- To stop pastry from rising, place baking paper in the centre and fill inside with rice or dried pulses
- Brush edges of pastry with a little of the yolk and then bake for about 15-20 minutes until the edges have risen and are golden brown
- Remove weight from pastry and brush with egg and cream mixture.  Season with salt and pepper
- Neatly line the asparagus in the case and spoon egg and cream mixture over it.
- Crumble some goats cheese over the asparagus and bake for another few minutes to melt the cheese.

It looked really delicious and easy.  If I’m brave enough to attempt it on the weekend, I might just have a photo to show what it should look like.  Unfortunately, finding the Chabichou would be a challenge.

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

The world’s most gruelling bicycle race is just around the bend.  The 2008 Tour de France marks the 95th anniversary of this high profile professional cycling event.  Competitors in this 23 day annual event will hit the road from Brest in the north-western part of Bretagne on July 5th and finish in Paris on July 27th.  Whilst the organizers are excited about the number of mountain stages and altitude finishes, my pain threshhold does not even allow me to dwell too long on how exhausting the rides must be. 

The Tour de France will be made of of 21 stages covering a total distance of 3,554 kilometres.  To put this into perspective, if you’ve ever done a 15-day coach holiday in Europe, you will generally travel that sort of distance.  Yet these guys are actually covering the same mileage on bicycle and up and down the mountain roads of France.  How the riders motivate themselves to climb on the bike again after each punishing day on the road is beyond my comprehension.

The race rules are complex and the tactics and strategies employed by the teams and individual riders to win the yellow jersey are a mystery to me.  For me, I rather enjoy following the course that these riders will be taking, which takes you through some beautiful French countryside.  The aerial shots are particularly amazing as it provides a different view of the magnificent chateaux that we’ve visited, especially around the Loire Valley. This year, the route strays into Italy and the riders will have a break day in Cuneo.

Another treat from watching the Tour de France (for Australian viewers) is the cooking show and food commentary provided by Gabriel Gate.  Gabriel is a celebrated French chef, currently resident in Melbourne.  He grew up in the Loire Valley and did his chef’s apprenticeship in a renowned restaurant in the Loire before taking off to Paris.  It’s great watching Gabriel discuss the regional products and cuisine and then he cooks up a mouth-watering dish in such an effortless manner as only celebrity chefs can. 

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

Whilst Dijon may be famous for its mustard, another popular food item from this town is the Pain d’épices or spiced bread or gingerbread.  It was introduced from Flanders during  the times of the Dukes of Burgundy and with Dijon being on the spice route, it quickly became an institution. A recipe for the spiced bread includes:

Ingredients:
225g wholemeal rye flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
30 g white sugar
225ml of honey
30 g ground almonds
1 teaspoon ginger peel
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 clove, ground
1/2 orange, grated zest
1/2 lemon, grated zest
milk
sugar, boiled to a syrup for glaze

Instructions:
- Warm and melt the honey by standing the honey jar in a pan of hot water.
- Measure the honey into the rye flour in a bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon. Leave, covered for 1 hour for the flour to absorb all the liquid.
- Heat the oven to 180C or 350F gas
- Add the rest of the ingredients, except the glaze, and mix rigourously to ensure everything is spread evenly through the dough – this will be very sticky!
- Knead the dough on a clean work surface for between 5-10 minutes. You can dip your hands into a bowl of water at intervals to help with the kneading if necessary.
- Press the dough mixture into a well greased 2lb loaf tin, making sure it’s pushed right into the corners.
- Bake the loaf on the middle shelf for about 35 mins.  Test for readiness by inserting a skewer into the centre and it should come out clean
- After removing from the oven, brush the bread with glaze and return to oven for a couple of minutes to set the glaze.
- Let the bread stand in the tin for a few minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.

The bread keeps very well and because it’s made using rye it can be better for being left a couple of days before eating, that is if you can avoid the temptation of hoeing into it.  I hope yours turn out as nice looking as the one in the picture.  Bon appetit!

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog

Today, I was treated to a tasting of 3 French cheeses that were new to me.  I must say that they were delicious and confirms that the French are undoubtedly the greatest cheese makers in the world.  The three that I tasted were:

Pont-L’Evêque is a small square-shaped flavourful cheese of a pale yellow color and with a white-orange rind. It was very creamy, but not too strong.  This cheese is made on small farms, using rich salty and almost pasteurized cow’s milk. 

The cheese took the name of the village in Normandy where it is mainly produced.  With its washed rind, Pont-L’Evêque may be the oldest cheese variety from Normandy that is still produced today.   In the past the cheese went by different names, including Angelot and Augelot.

Fromager D’Affinos, produced by the Fromagerie Guilloteau company, is a double-cream soft cheese made from cow’s milk. It is similar to Brie in production, appearance and flavour.  The company is located in the Pilat Regional Nature Park in the Rhône-Alpes region and has a reputation for its culinary expertise.

Saint Agur is a medium strong creamy blue cheese from Auvergne which is made from cow’s milk. The cheese is rather similar to Roquefort and has a very strong and spicy taste when it is ripe.

Of the three, I liked Saint Agur best as it was stronger, more complex than the other two, but really smooth.  Saint Agur was of course part of my cheese platter tonight.

Having looked up the three cheeses to see the regions from which they came, I decided to  check out where some other favourites came from as well.

Roquefort - A huge favourite of mine comes from Midi-Pyrenees.  A true blue Roquefort comes only from the Rouergue and is aged in the caves of Cambalou. Roquefort has been described as the king of blue cheeses and I’m inclined to go with that.

Epoisses de Bourgogne is produced on single farm in Bourgogne. Interestingly, each cheese is washed by hand, using a small brush to spread the bacteria over and into the rind. Finally, it is washed with marc de Bourgogne spirit. This cheese can be eaten at different stages of maturation and is best accompanied by a fine Burgundy or a spicy aromatic white wine.

Saint-Marcellin is a farmhouse cheese made from the milk of cows that graze in the mountainous Dauphiné Province in southeastern France. These small rounds with natural rinds, turn from white to light brown as they age. Inside, the pâte is softer and mild, but rich.

Mobier AOC – This cheese is easily recognizable by the horizontal stripes (made from plant coal), through the cheese. Morbier recently became the 38th member of the AOC family. The mountain cheese from the region Franche-Comté had to wait for ten years for this moment. To meet the strict demands of the controlled origin term AOC, the national institute for controlled origin (INAO) needed the time to check if the cheese was able to meet its standards.  I haven’t had this one for a while so it’s worthwhile giving it a try again.

Researching cheeses has got me thinking about things that I’d really enjoy doing.  Tasting cheeses certainly falls into this category.  Imagine travelling all around France and other countries and doing cheese tastings and reviews.  A job made in heaven.

Helen

Travel Signposts Blog