The easiest asparagus starter that anyone can manage

 

Hooray the asparagus season is in full swing.  One of the highlights of my year (she obviously doesn't get out much I hear you say).  Anyway, I wanted to pass on to you this terrific starter or light lunch recipe (going a bit far calling it a recipe really).

For a starter allow 3 asparagus spears per person or for a light lunch double that or even treble it if you're hungry.  Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and drop them in for 1-2 minutes, just until they have lost their bite.   Don't overdo it as you'll overcook them later.  Refresh in very cold water (throw in a few ice cubes if you have them).  Drain them on kitchen roll and then wrap each 3 spears in a slice of cured ham - parma, serrano, any local ham will do.  You can prepare up to this point in advance.

When you're ready to eat, heat up a couple of tablespoons of decent olive oil in a pan, put in the ham wrapped asparagus and fry until the ham is golden on both sides. This takes just a couple of minutes.  Deglaze the pan by adding a spoon of good balsamic and then remove from the heat. Serve alongside a few dressed roquette leaves and some shavings of parmesan.  Voila!  How easy is that?

It'd be great with a Sauvignon Blanc so why not serve a Sancerre alongside. Bon appetit!

Muscadet

Muscadet used to be on every wine list in London in the 1980's.  It lost it's way after that - what with competition coming from the New World and the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio as well as a drop in overall quality, it was knocked fair and square off its perch and has spent a long time in the doldrums.

I've been just as guilty as everyone else in ignoring the fact that today, there are some cracking wines coming out of this region.  Things are changing, growers are taking more care, the vineyards have been subjected to some serious geological studies and certain areas have recently been given individual recognition for their unique terroirs that are producing some seriously good white wines that have the capacity to age.

But first of all I need you to put aside your own prejudices (as I have had to) and realise that if you want a good wine, you have to pay a fair price.  These good quality wines are not cheap and cheerful - nor are they expensive but you have to put aside the notion that Muscadet is a cheap quaffing wine that goes with seafood and nothing else.

Recently, three small regions have received recognition for producing high quality wines: Clisson, Le Pallet and Gorges.  As an example if the wine comes from Le Pallet you will see on the label Appellation Muscadet Sevre et Maine Le Pallet Controlée.

So what's all the fuss about?

Well, the wines are aged on their yeasty lees deposit for a serious amount of time - from 17 months up to several years.  This gives them wonderfully exotic aromas and a wonderful depth of flavour - a million miles from the wines I remember from long ago.  These are to be taken seriously and are great wines for food.

Producers to watch out for are Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin, Jo Landron, Domaine de la Pepière (see separate article here) & Louis Métaireau.  For more information about the appellation requirements for the 3 recently recognised 'crus' see Jim Budd's article here.

Getting up close & personal with food

Wednesday morning at 5am we wrapped up warmly and strode across to our neighbours for a day of action.  There, in the cave, the charcutier Philippe was already busy at work butchering the pig that he had slaughtered the evening before.  This was a taste of reality - of facing up to food.

My grandparents in Lincolnshire used to have a pig every year and I remember the activity in our kitchen when I was a little girl.  Everyone was involved and nothing went to waste.  We used to laugh at the expression 'there's nowt you can't eat but the squeak' as everyone got stuck in making sausages, hazelet, brawn, and stuffed chine (all local Lincolnshire specialities) as well as rendering the fat down for lard and home made pork scratchings.  

Here is France the joints are butchered differently so instead of leg, spare ribs and pig's fry we have echine and sous noix, noix patissière, escalopes, rillettes, boudin and andouille.  Again, nothing goes to waste and even the bones are kept for our labrador.

Philippe has incredible knife skills as he deftly joints, cuts and prepares the different cuts of meat. It takes around 10 hours of solid work to deal with the whole pig and it's a pleasure to watch.  I'm just envious that my knife skills are not as good as his.

This cauldron is for the rillettes.  Large chunks of meat as well as fat, the trotters and big bones for flavour are simmered for about 3 or 4 hours.  The trotters are then taken out (for deboning and stuffing), the big bones removed and the mixture is seasoned with generous quantities of sea salt and black pepper.  Regular stirring ensures the meat doesn't catch on the bottom.  

Minced pork goes to make sausages (large and small) and another batch is mixed with minced onion, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs and cognac.  This will make a whole series of terrines, each one having it's own additions (I made one with added pistachios and another with dried apricots).

This is the andouille - the intestines that are encased in a large intestine and will then be smoked for 2 days in the chimney over smouldering ashes.  I have to admit that it's not my thing but my French friends love it!  

This is a mixture of meat, fat and around 10kg of chopped onions that has been simmering for about 4 hours.  The onions are soft and sweet, the fat has melted and the meat become tender. Lots of black pepper and salt are then added before the addition of the blood.  Yes, it's black pudding or boudin noir.

A braver man than I, here Philippe tastes the mixture to check if it has adequate seasoning.  I was accused of being a bit of a chicken at this point as I couldn't bring myself to dip in a finger and taste.

After pouring the mixture into its skin, Philippe ties individual boudins that are then immersed in water at 80°C for 20 minutes.  It's crucial that the temperature is just right - any cooler and it won't cook, any hotter and they explode.  We made 207 boudin in all.  

We enjoyed the ribs for breakfast at about 9am.  Sprinkled with herbs and a generous amount of sea salt and served with a glass of local red this kept us going until mid-afternoon when we finally stopped for lunch.   We all pitched in. Homemade houmous and a pissenlit salad (the first tender dandelion leaves) to start with.  A rich stew made from the lungs and heart of the pig as another entrée (an acquired taste I'd say as the texture is a bit odd but delicious in flavour - it's cooked for several hours in 2 bottles of red wine with shallots, herbs, garlic and seasoning), a big pot of fish soup with garlicky croutons, a selection of cheeses and chocolate profiteroles to finish.  Oh, and of course a little wine to accompany it.

By 5pm we were done - rillettees put in jars ready for sterilising, boudin ready to eat or freeze, a whole host of joints to enjoy in the months to come and terrine dishes full ready to be cooked.  

I realised during the day just how divorced from our food the majority of us are.  I'm not better than anyone else in this matter - I too have become estranged from it in recent years.  We are so used to buying meat from the supermarket that we give little regard to the life of the animals we eat. Because we don't have to face up to the reality of what's involved in getting it from field to table we avoid the issue.  I do think that if we were closer to our meat then we would respect it more, eat less of it and less often.  And, we'd be prepared to pay a bit more for it safe in the knowledge that whatever the animal, it had lived a happy, free life before it ended up on our plate.  

Il est certain que je veux refaire l'expérience l'an prochain sans aucune hésitation.

Lemon Curd

I absolutely love lemon curd.  It's really expensive to buy and simple to make.  You need:

3oz unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup of lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

Tsp of grated lemon rind

2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks

Put the butter and sugar in your mixer (I have a Kitchenaid) and whizz together for about 2 minutes.  You can also put in a bowl and use a hand held mixer.  Add the eggs and egg yolks little by little and then add the lemon juice. At this point it looks like a disaster but hang on in there. Transfer to a heavy based saucepan and heat on a low heat until the mixture becomes smooth. Turn up the heat a little and continue cooking, stirring all the time until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. When it's done it should read 80°C on a sugar thermometer (175° F).  Transfer to a bowl, stir in the lemon zest and then cover it with a layer of cling film to stop a skin forming as it cools down.

It keeps for about a week in the fridge or you can freeze it for up to 3 months.  I like it stirred through whipped cream with some raspberries on top of individual pavlovas.

Le Dix Septième Angers

Le dix septième is a 'restaurant bistronomique' (their words not mine) that opened in Angers last year.  Just a couple of steps away from the 400 Coups cinema it's an old town house that has been refurbished. A beautiful old stone staircase leads upstairs to 3 separate dining rooms each one leading off the other.  Decor is a bit predictable - rather too much  lime green and grey for my liking and rather hastily painted but I'm nit picking here.  It's just that the building itself is really beautiful with lovely slate walls and I don't understand why they choose to go uber-contemporary rather than stick to historic colours that flatter.

The business menu is available at lunchtimes and costs 25€ for an entrée, plat and cafe gourmand.  Smoked salmon served with lime, citrus and mesclun and bresaola, Serrano ham and parmesan shavings were excellent starters.  Simple and fresh, beautifully presented  and appetising.  My main of bream served with fennel and navet 'chips' (they'd been blanched, breadcrumbed and deep fried) and a cappuccino of fennel was very good.  Veal served façon blanquette in 'nem pancake' style was slightly less exciting.  Coffee was good and came with a caramel macaron, mini financier and a verrine of crumble.

We had a flute of local Crémant served with a few drops of local saffron syrup and shared a bottle of Clos St André 70% Chenin 30% Chardonnay from J Mourat in the Fiefs Vendéens Mareuil which was really good.  A selection of amuses bouches were served with the apero - the French would probably call it a 'déclinaison' de potimarron - a little pumpkin soup with a savoury ile flottant, a little sable biscuit with a pumpkin mousse on the top and a spicy purée topped with a bacon chantilly. 

The bill was 90€ for everything - the 2 menus, glass of Crémant and bottle of wine.  Service was attentive and efficient and the staff were friendly.  I'd say that it was reasonable value for money and we'd definitely go back.  You'd probably spend quite a bit more than that in the evening without the lunchtime menu option so lunch is the way to go.

le dix septième 

6 rue Claveau

49100

Angers

02 41 87 92 27

le-dix-septieme@orange.fr

New Cafe opens today in Le Thoureil

Great news - the riverside café in Le Thoureil opposite the church has reopened today under new ownership.  It's been completely refurbished and will be open more often which is great for us as the previous owners only seemed to open at weekends (if they felt like it).  This spot is right on the riverside and is hard to beat.  Nothing beats a coffee or a glass of wine looking over the river. What's more, it's only a 15 minute walk from us so we'll be able to take 'une petite pause' more often.

The menu is simple - it'll be serving a savoury tart of the day, soup, charcuterie and rillettes with crusty bread, a selection of sweet tarts and top quality ice creams for dessert. You can pop in for a coffee, a glass of wine or a beer.

Good news that the owners have kept the old wood burning stove that adds warmth and atmosphere.

The inside has completely changed but remains charming.  There's more natural light and the interior lighting is subtle (why do  French restaurants have such brightly lit rooms on the whole?)

Another room to the back has comfy chairs and a large selection of books.  A good place to sit and read the paper over a coffee.

And here are the opening hours.  We'll be back next week to try out the food.  High hopes for a new spot that we can count on.  

Salon des Vins de Loire 2013

I'm sure that most of you reading this are aware the 2102 vintage is being billed as a catastrophic one and will therefore be expecting to read of doom and gloom.  Take heart, there are some great wines out there and while they may be in short supply as yields were seriously down, prices remain stable and growers optimistic for 2013.  Growers take difficult years in their stride, making the best wines they can under the circumstances and while wine styles may differ from one year to another, surely this is what makes cool climate viticulture so interesting, challenging and exciting.   Oh how dull it would be if the wines from this region were the same year after year!  

 Thierry Germain

Lionel Gosseaume of Domaine de Pierre in Touraine talking to potential buyers.  His 2012 Sauvignon 'les Sauterelles' won the Liger d'Or and his rosé ' les Galipettes' a bronze.  He also makes a really juicy Gamay which has lovely spicey fruit.

Stephanie Caslot discussing tactics on her stand

Corinne Crochet of François Crochet - lovely fresh wines produced from the three different terroirs around Sancere.

Olivier Tourancheau of J Mourat - large range of unusual wines from Fiefs Vendéens.  We particularly liked the wine below which is a 70% Chenin 30% Chardonnay blend aged in barrique for 5 months.

The new addition to the range at Chateau du Petit Thouars - the Cuvée l'Amiral.   This is the first bottling of what is a 100%  Cabernet Franc press wine.  The 2009 has had 36 months in barrique and while it remains very robust on the palate we loved its dark berry fruits and great concentration.  A revelation as press wines are normally greeted with derision.  This one will make you think again.

Huge fans of Mathieu Vallée's wines at Chateau Yvonne (he's based in Parnay in the heart of the Saumur Champigny appellation), his wines were tasting stunning.  His Chateau Yvonne 2010 was just delicious - rich and supple with amazing concentration, spices and rich red fruits and a luxurious finish of supple integrated tannins.  Hard to spit that one out!

Sebastien David who makes wines in the St Nicolas de Bourgueil appellation shared a stand with Mathieu - what a great combination.  Sebastien's wines are 'crazy' and he is great fun.  He de-stems by hand, treads by foot, ages in concrete eggs and plays with techniques incorporating the ancient and modern.  We loved the Vin d'Une Oreille - a 100% Cabernet Franc full of black fruits, leather and spices with lovely length.

Arnaud Lambert of Domaine de St Just was on good form and it was great to taste the domaine's new petillant brut nature 1948 which pays hommage to his father Yves who passed away in 2011.  70% Chenin and 30% Chardonnay it has been aged on the lees for 36 months and is really classy. Elegant on the nose and creamy on the palate it has real richness and depth that would give many Champagnes a run for their money.