Tour de France - Food of the South Wesr

Tour de France. What a Sporting Event. This morning I was watching the Trek over the Mountains Watching those boys flog their way up those steep slopes and then the dare devil trip down. Oops My Heart was in My Mouth.
Click here winoandfoodies you will read Barbara's post explaining the blogging event that she has developed around Le Tour. A really good idea. She has allocated each leg of the race to a different blogger and the plan is for every one to write about their area. My leg is Salies de Bearn to Bordeaux. The area is abundant with wonderful food and wine, so hard to choose what to cook, but I think I made a good selection.  I personally am not familiar with the area but definitely familiar with the produce. Spent a week in Toulouse 20 years ago and tasted for the very first time, Le Foie Gras. It was served with crusty baguette and poached peaches. The whole lobe (cooked) was served on a plate, you cut off what you wanted and then they took it away and weighed it. Then charged you.
I fell in love and every time I get the chance to sample it, I do. So I went to the French Deli Pyrenees in Mt Albert and purchased some, imported from France. I also bought a couple of their excellent baguettes. No fresh peaches around It is winter here you know... so I bought this Blackcurrant and Red Onion jelly to accompany . Perfect. My friends Elsje and Ngaire shared this treat with me. We loved it.

A veritable lunch of absolute delight.That 80 gm jar was $50 but worth every penny.
Below the Motley Crew from New Zealand who made Le Trek Toulouse in 1990

I did some research and actually found amongst my cookbooks two excellent books
" Savouring France" by  Georgeanne Brennan and also "The World Atlas of Food" published in 1974 Edited by Jane Grigson. One of the Grandes Dames of English Cookery writing.
Both books gave me an excellent insight to the food of this South West Corner of France. In fact... The World Atlas had this little map of the area with the local food scattered around the place names.

Of course the whole area is dominated by the the wines of Bordeaux and of course Cognac and Armagnac. If our riders were partaking of the region's grape based distillates.. They would enjoy an after dinner Armagnac in the Salies de Bearn and as they cycle north to Bordeaux, Cognac would be their choice of tipple.
This part of France is rich in game. All sorts of birds are caught and eaten but especially the wild doves, the Palombres and Ortolans. They are caught as they fly south to winter in the warm climes of the Mediterranean.
According to The Wine Spectator
"For centuries, a rite of passage for French gourmets has been the eating of the Ortolan. These tiny birds—captured alive, force-fed, then drowned in Armagnac, were roasted whole and eaten that way, bones and all, while the diner draped his head with a linen napkin to preserve the precious aromas and, some believe, to hide from God." Mmmm not for me I think.

This land is famous for garlic and Garlic is mashed with Goose Fat to make Beurre de Gascogne,
This is simply
8 large cloves of garlic unpeeled
6 tablespoons of goose or duck fat
 2 heaped tablespoons of chopped parsley

Blanch the garlic cloves for about 5 minutes in salted boiling water
Drain and peel
Put warm cloves of garlic in a blender with the fat and blend to a past
Add the parsley
Stir into cooked haricot beans and bacon with some of the Beurre de Gascogne on the side.


So along with Foie Gras, from the Duck and Geese that are fattened to provide that wonderful Fatty liver. There is also The Duck Breast, Maigret...it is a huge favourite in the South West of France. Cooked med rare crispy skin. Yum. How about Confit. The list goes on.
Add to that list the rendered down fat from either the Goose and The Duck. So what to do with that. Make Roast potatoes.
They are divine.

A blogging friend Katie have a look at her site Thyme for Cooking
lives in Marmande, South of Bordeaux. I contacted her for advice about accompaniments to my steak dish that I was planning to cook and she said straight away... Roast Potatoes in either Goose or Duck fat. So there you go.
After a lot of pouring over Cook books of the region I decided to make
Biftech Marchand de Vin
Steak with Shallots and Red Wine Sauce


2 Scotch Filet (Rib Eye) Steaks
Sea Salt and Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoon mined fresh thyme
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup minced shallots
80-125 mls red wine
Fresh Flat leaf parsley chopped

Bring the steaks to room temperature
Season both sides with Salt, freshly ground black pepper and thyme

Heat a heavy pan over medium heat
Add 1 tablespoon butter
When melted and is near sizzling
Add steaks, sear them, tuning once
Should take 3-4 minutes each size
Depending on thickness of steak and required doneness

When ready transfer to a warmed platter and cover loosely with foil


To Prepare the sauce
Tip out excess fat from pan leaving about 1 tablespoon
Return to medium heat and add shallots
Sauté till translucent about 3-4 minutes

Add wine to deglaze pan
Stir to dislodge any tasty brown nits on the bottom
Cook until wine reduced by half
Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon butter

Pour hot sauce over the steaks and serve

I cooked this dish twice I'll put both photos on.

Quite different to look at but little difference in taste. Maybe my camera had something to do with it.
Best accompaniment… Roast potatoes in Goose Fat

And the French favourite
Green beans and Garlic.

There was leftovers... do you believe we just couldn’t fit anymore in and what did I do with them. Served them on crisp buttered Vogels for lunch the next day.
Potato first topped with the steak some little bit of the sauce on top and touch of parsley.

 Don’t know what the French do with leftovers but couldn’t be much more tasty than that.

Now the Crowning Glory was dessert.
Soufflé aux Pruneaux a l’Armagnac
The Prunes from Agen are world famous. Unfortunately I couldn't source any here in Auckland so I used Australian Prunes which are still very good.
The funny thing was I had the souffle dish too high in the oven and the top of the Souffle caught the Top of the oven. It was very beautiful though. Well worth making

250 gms pitted prunes
250 mls warm water
2 tablespoons Armagnac
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon plus 6 tablespoon (90 gms) granulated sugar
7 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
Icing sugar

In a bowl combine prunes, warm water and 1 tablespoon Armagnac.
Let stand at room temperature overnight until nicely plumped

Next Day Preheat oven to 180C
Using the butter generously
Grease an 8” soufflé dish
Sprinkle with the 1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar,
Rotate the mold to coat the bottom and sides evenly.

Drain the prunes
Reserve 2 tablespoon of the liquid
In a blender combine prunes, reserved liquid and 1 tablespoon Armagnac

Process till thick puree forms
Set aside

In a large bowl combine eggs whites and salt
On med speed beat till soft peaks are formed
Gradually beat in 6 tablespoons sugar until stiff peaks form

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the prune puree a little a time
Be careful not to deflate the egg whites

Pour into prepared dish

Bake until puffed above the rim
About 20 mins

Remove from oven dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with whipped cream
So my leg of the Tour de France - Stage 18 goes from
Salies de Bearn

This image is from the Tour de France Website
This little town of 5000 personnes has not been visited by the Tour since 1939. I would imagine these inhabitants will be so excited.














To Bordeaux

Once again I have taken the image from the official site. 

• 79 times a stage town
• Population: 236,000
• Capital of the Aquitaine Region and Prefecture of Gironde (33)

Bordeaux is the most visited city on the Tour, after Paris, and race sprinters, who have often won here during the 79 stage finishes hosted here since 1903, will be content.
A city of festivals, this year Bordeaux will be welcoming the Tour de France for the 80th time – a national record after Paris – to its streets, which promise to be lively thanks to the participation and enthusiasm of Bordeaux’s natives and visitors.



If you have been following this "Tour  de France de Blog" you will have visited Erin at The Endive Chronicles yesterday
Tomorrow go to see Stephanie at Bite Style
This has been a fun blog to organize. Thanks Barbara what a great idea.