Food for thought

Hello Everyone from a very warm SW France

Last Friday, having dropped one of my sons off at a retreat in the Dordogne, we had supper in the delightful town of Eymet. We ate (not for the first time) at the wonderful La Maison d’Amour, a creperie serving the most delicious buckwheat galettes (savoury crêpes) I have tasted. It was an incredibly hot evening, storms were brewing, the air molten and still. Before setting off for the 3+ hour drive home, we decided to cool down with an ice-cream. None of us wanted a whole pudding as the crêpes were incredibly filling, so we shared 3 scoops of their local ice-cream. The choices of flavours were wonderful. The ice-cream is supplied by a local artisan ice-cream maker based in Villefranche sur Lot, Benoit de la Lune (https://www.benoitdelalune.fr/). Whilst my dinner companions chose raspberry and mango sorbet, I was intrigued by ‘Green tomato, lemon and basil sorbet’. It came highly recommended by the restaurant when I asked about it. I do love trying new things so this was the one for me. It did not disappoint – even the others loved it! You could taste each ingredient but it was also refreshing, delicious and at the same time so rich and creamy, more like an ice-cream than a sorbet. A whole new experience flavour-wise.

During the long journey home whilst witnessing a spectacular electric storm with lightning all around us as we went, this meal and sorbet discovery got me thinking about food – unsurprisingly and a subject dear to my heart. One of the things I love about living in France is their love of food. The importance of meals, sharing food with family and friends. The emphasis they put on seasonal local produce but also on what is best from where. Markets are the window to this – each week piled high with what was available. Yes there are wholesale stalls that sell a wider range of what you might want, even out of season but even they also focus mainly on local produce. If you pay attention to the origin of the food you can avoid avocados from far off countries, and eat them when they come from Spain which is much nearer. Sweet potatoes the same, there is a French season for these. In a world where climate change is all too evident, eating locally makes perfect sense. Another massive reason is the taste! Compare something seasonal and local with something wholesale – there is no comparison. The smell, the taste, the quality are so much better – for obvious reasons. Local produce is recently harvested, not in cold store for weeks. It may cost a little more but more than makes up for it in flavour, aroma and freshness.

I have talked about this seasonality many times and about the vegetables and fruit we have discovered since we have been here, along with new ways of cooking old favourites and learning to cook produce we are not familiar with. This is another element I love. The pride of the producers in their produce, wanting you to experience it at its best – making suggestions for preparation and cooking. We have eaten fresh oyster mushrooms not packaged individually but enormous clusters freshly cut, we have discovered kohl rabi and roasted it as steaks, a variety of mushrooms including ‘Trompettes de la mort’ and put the leaves from carrots, radish, beetroot, and more to good use in soups, to make pestos, and as vegetables, wasting nothing being just as important.

The gluts when a fruit or vegetable is truly at the peak of its season are a sight to behold. The endless seeking of new ways to present them a pleasure and a challenge, but often just serving them as they are to truly appreciate their flavours. It is a joy watching the excitement in the markets when something reappears after a year of waiting. It is also wonderful using something out of season that you have preserved when it was at its best, not shipped lengthy distances just so you could have it mid-winter! I love preserving and make copious quantities of jams, chutneys, marmalades, as well as freezing pasta sauces, pestos, roasted tomatoes and soups. In recent years I have frozen cherries from our tree and also preserved some in Armagnac using an old French recipe! We are still using our Rumtopf several years after making it – the fruit is great with ice-cream in the summer, in crumbles in winter and the fruit-infused rum is now so fragrant and soft. Chutneys come into their own in the colder months. I particularly love a Tomato and basil chutney I made, a reminder of summer sun, warmth and lots of tomatoes!

This summer we have been lucky to have lots of strawberries, enough to eat the wonderful juicy red berries every day during their short season, but also to make strawberry and elderflower coulis and jam. Our rhubarb is having a bumper year so one of the jams I made was rhubarb, cherry and strawberry – Garden Jam as it is now known – a nice addition to the jam shelf. A rhubarb syrup recipe I saw in a magazine went beautifully with some local sparkling wine and there was enough rhubarb to make a compote to put in the freezer.

Now I’m on the hunt for a recipe for the green tomato, lemon and basil sorbet, as it’s a bit far to go to buy some! I will keep you posted. I did find tomato and basil sorbet at an artisan ice-cream place in Toulouse – made with red tomatoes – also lovely but not as great as the green tomato version. This time at this favourite haunt of mine I chose a scoop of melon sorbet and one of orange flower flavoured ice-cream. Amazing!

Next time I will be talking about French patisserie – another amazing part of life here! Who doesn’t love a tarte aux fraises or something deliciously chocolatey?

Until then ‘Bon appetit!’

Ali xx