Written on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 5:27 pm
local produce, restaurants
Cafe de la Poste came up trumps again. After 3 hours walking in the hills above Eyroles we were in need of something hearty and warming and Prosper didn’t fail us. Ali had his usual planters aperitif and I had a muscat. Then he had a chicken tourte with salad to start and I had a salade lyonnaise (poached egg, lardons and chopped tomatoes) – both very good. To follow we both had veal chop in a cream and parmesan sauce, served with sweet potato puree topped with a type of rosti (yum!) and pureed baby turnips which were much tastier than they sound. Dessert was chocolate mousse – heaven! All washed down with a very pleasant red vinsobraise. (see label below)
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Walking there and back made us feel very virtuous and not at all guilty about the calorie intake. Sadly we were the only ones in on the Sunday night (ok, probably a freezing Sunday night in January isn’t going to attract the hordes) nevertheless I’m now on a mission to sing their praises on every review site I can find.
Use it or lose it is a true saying in rural France or England.
Written on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 at 4:33 pm
local produce, vineyards, wine
Having tempted you all with my restaurant suggestions I thought I’d now move on to my favourite local vineyards. We are really spoilt in this area with so many of the Cotes du Rhone named villages close by to choose from. There’s nothing quite like drinking a bottle of wine from a place you’ve visited, sold to you by the people that grew and bottled it. A highlight of every summer for me is to visit the vineyards choosing a new selection to load the car to take home. Don’t be daunted by the idea of ‘degustation’ – most domaines are geared up for visitors and are happy to explain about grape varieties, percentages etc. It’s only good manners though to buy a few bottles at least.
For those of you looking for a good place to take friends or family for their first wine-tasting the Domaine de Viret is a good place to start.
Situated just outside St Maurice, the Domaine is well signposted from the village. The building, constructed according to the principles behind the pyramids of Egypt, is very impressive (hence the name), perched on the hillside. The vineyard practises cosmoculture, a mixture of biodynamics and ancient practices. They have a full explanation of all these terms on their website, but don’t worry it’s not ‘obligatoire’ to hum or chant, you can just taste and enjoy!
They offer a good range from excellent ready to drink wines such as Energie Yang or Solstice to top drawer ‘keepers’ such as Renaissance, with something to suit every pocket.
Written on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 at 5:48 pm
activities, boar, local produce
A few days ago shots were ringing out on the hillsides near Venterol and bobbing red hats could be seen moving through the undergrowth. Boars don’t wear red hats so this is a safety measure for the hunters. Friends staying at my house saw 2 dead boar loaded in the back of a pickup on its way back to the village and the next day the ex-mayor brought round a leg for them to sample. Clare was invited to dinner that night and reports back that it was very tasty indeed.
French wild boar
Don’t feel too sorry for the wild boar: this article gives more inforamation on French wild boar.
Wild Boar or Sanglier Tweet
Widespread
across the whole of France the Wild Boar ~ Sus scrofa scrofa or Sanglier as it is known by the French is
much maligned by farmers who readily blame it for…
And this next report by BBC News Europe details how their numbers are on the increase and pose a serious threat to agriculture. They’re even starting to encroach on the urban landscape. So French hunters are being urged to wage war on the boar. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11948612
Written on Saturday, August 13th, 2011 at 10:48 am
dogs, driving from England, hotel, local produce, swimming pool
Although some younger and more energetic (or maybe just foolhardy) friends drive down without breaking their journey I always spend the night somewhere en route. Apart from it being less tiring it’s always good to see another area of France and have a meal out. As I travel down with my intrepid mini dachshund Blodri I have to find somewhere dog friendly. I have experimented over the years but now have two firm favourites Le Relais Fleuri just outside Avallon and Le Val Moret near Troyes – both about halfway. Le Relais Fleuri probably edges it on food and has a very pleasant pool, but does involve about an hour and a half cross country to regain the motorway whereas Le Val Moret is incredibly convenient being close to the motorway and is also quite a bit cheaper. They were building a pool last year so hopefully that will be up and running this summer. They both use great local produce in their restaurants, are extremely friendly, and are both motels so you can park near your room and most importantly you don’t need to disturb half the hotel when your dog needs to faire pipi.
This year I’m sharing out my custom and doing one on the way down and the other driving back.
I’d be interested to hear other people’s favourite stopovers?
Written on Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 8:42 am
Come Dine with Me, cooking, good life, lavender, local produce
It doesn’t have to be, especially here in Provence. Why not break all the rules and make the self-catering the holiday?
Here we often see the Le Colombier kitchen turned into a Masterchef laboratory. Different members of the house party group take it in turns to create their specialities, or try out new dishes. Hours are spent thumbing through the library of cookery books.
It can be Come Dine with Me every evening (the French version of which is Un Diner Presque Parfait, An Almost Perfect Dinner). Pick a prize in advance. Award the hosts marks out of 10 (a secret video diary would be a great souvenir for the cold winter nights back home). And reveal the winner at the end of the week.
Set yourselves some new rules for self-catering success and see what happens:
- supermarkets are banned – you get extra marks if you’ve bought fresh from the market, the farm producer, or have fished the trout yourself
- no pre-packs, or fast-tracks, or processed food; fresh or nothing (hint – herbs and everlasting onions make great veggie stock!)
- 7 days = 7 new recipes to try out (or 21 if you include breakfast and lunch as well as dinner)
- let the kids invite you all to their kids meal – just see how talented junior chefs can be (especially with some compliant sous-chefs who can hold their tongue and do what they are told as kitchen helpers)
- the tiled floors mop easily, so let the flour fly as you make homemade pastas and pizzas
- let the kids (and the kids at heart) put on a talent show as the entertainment for the evening
- make a different ice-cream everyday (blue cheese and walnut icecream is an acquired taste!)
- have a lavender-themed meal … every dish has to contain lavender in some shape or form
- have a picnic in the garden
- create a tapas style wine-tasting menu: lots of mini dishes to complement the wines you want to taste
- think food miles – only use locally sourced ingredients and recipes
- try a new food each day
- pick flowers for the tables and herbs and veggies from the potager
- how about a themed murder mystery evening? You’ll find a couple of box games in the cupboard in the ground floor corridor – and or let your creativity flow and make up your own murder mystery game. We can provide a title: Passion in Provence, or Vengeance in the Vineyards, or even Killings in Condorcet … (and a couple of characters .. Zut Alors the racing car champion; Don Pico, the goats cheese farmer; Olive de Fougasse — you get the idea)
- and on the final night – make it all finger food and paper plates so there’s no washing up.
What would your new rules be? And we’ll give a special prize for the best video diary of the season.
Written on Saturday, May 28th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
activities, lavender, local produce, soap
Maybe this is the answer!
Distillerie Bleu Provence in Nyons where they distill lavender and create loads of wonderful beauty products etc is running an ‘Atelier Savon’ where kids can make their very own soap. It’s for children from 6 to 12 years and costs 9 euros per child. It will run every Wednesday morning (reservations required) at 10 o’clock during high season (July 1st to August 31st) and is also available on request/reservation from April 15th to June 30th and September 1st to December 31st.
Sounds great fun. More details on Pays de Nyons tourism site.
Written on Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
cookery books, gites, jam, local produce, olives, wine
There seem to be mixed views among gite owners as to whether to provide a welcome pack or not. Does it make a difference to locataires ? Do they appreciate the gesture? What should go in it? Should it be a proper starter pack with butter/milk/bread/jam etc or should it be a few local delicacies – olives, seasonal fruit, homemade jam, local wine?
In the dim and distant past when I was renting gites instead of renting them out people’s expectations were very different. I remember there being a huge disparity in what was provided. I once rented a small gite in Royan where we were the first locataires and the owner apologised for there not being an oyster knife!! Yes, really, I kid you not! The ‘batterie de cuisine’ (kitchen utensils) was far superior to anything I had at home.
At the other extreme we stayed for several years running in a beautiful rural gite in Sarthe – part of a large domaine – where we had to cram into our cases sheets, towels, sharp knives, tea towels, salt and pepper, plus all cleaning products and loo paper. The place would be completely bereft of supplies apart from the absolute basic cutlery/crockery/pans! But it didn’t stop us returning to the place time after time. The setting was magical and the owners tres sympa. And anyway it was a great excuse not to do so much cooking and test out the local restaurants.
I can’t remember any of the French gites providing a welcome pack although we did get a gift of homemade jam at a place in the Gard. What always made the difference for us was the warmth of the welcome (only once did we not get that – in the Var – and that’s another story!) we received after the long drive there. That’s what made us want to return to a place or recommend it to friends.
You’ll find the kitchen well-equipped here – you can even make your own jam to take home, if the urge takes you. There is a library full of cookery books – including the classics: Larousse Gastronomique, Elizabeth David and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as modern cooks and chefs.
And you won’t need any dried herbs with the herb garden outside the kitchen door and the perma-culture potager to raid in the main garden.
Written on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
local produce, recipes
Here’s a cheap and easy potato dish that I first ate at University. I think it originates from Northumberland.
This is great on its own but even better with merguez sausages.
It just takes a few minutes to prepare and roughly 45mins in the oven.
You need:
450g large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
40g butter or 2 tblsp olive oil if you prefer
250g onions, peeled and thinly sliced
75g beef dripping (if you can’t get this then goose fat or more butter will do)
115g mature Cheddar cheese (Conte would be just fine too), grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oven to 375 °F/190 °C/Gas 5
Cook the onions in the butter until soft but not browned.
Melt half the dripping (or extra butter) in an ovenproof dish. Remove from the heat then arrange a layer of potatoes in the pan, then a layer of onions followed by a layer of cheese, season with salt and pepper then repeat finishing with a layer of potatoes.
Put the pan on to a medium heat and fry for a few minutes or until the bottom layer of potatoes is brown. Dot the surface of the potatoes with the remaining dripping (or butter). Put into the preheated oven and bake for approx 30 minutes. Increase temperature to 425°F/220°C/ Gas 7. Return pan to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Written on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
local produce, vegetables
Which are your favourite varieties of potatoes to grow? Do you stick with your tried and tested ones or ring the changes each year? If you have a garden in England and also one in France do you grow the same varieties or find that different ones thrive better in the warmer climes?
I love their weird names too: pentland javelin and rocket are two of my favourite early crop ones. Award for the strangest name must go to Pink Fir Apple those odd knobbly shaped potatoes that make a fabulous gratin.
The potato is so versatile and yet so underrated.
Written on Saturday, February 5th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
local produce, olives
I have a friend with a small maison secondaire in Venterol which is about 15 minutes drive from here. She has quite a few olive trees and this year Olivier who helps her with the garden picked them all and took them for pressing at a local mill (Le Moulin de Monsieur Jean-Michel Jouve in Venterol). 47.5kg of olives were picked which produced over 11 litres of olive oil. Apparently the rule of thumb is for 5kg of olives to produce 1 litre of olive oil but it varies slightly from year to year depending on the weather etc.
Olive oil from Nyons is very special and is the only olive oil in France that is allowed to have an appellation controle just like wine. People are often quite surprised that it is fairly expensive to buy. It is wonderfully fruity and great to have neat to dip bits of bread in.
Cafe de la Poste came up trumps again. After 3 hours walking in the hills above Eyroles we were in need of something hearty and warming and Prosper didn’t fail us. Ali had his usual planters aperitif and I had a muscat. Then he had a chicken tourte with salad to start and I had a salade lyonnaise (poached egg, lardons and chopped tomatoes) – both very good. To follow we both had veal chop in a cream and parmesan sauce, served with sweet potato puree topped with a type of rosti (yum!) and pureed baby turnips which were much tastier than they sound. Dessert was chocolate mousse – heaven! All washed down with a very pleasant red vinsobraise. (see label below)