cahors market

I had a great day out in Cahors yesterday. First stop the weekly market, then coffee and pain aux raisins, the huge flea market on the square (the picture of the dolls and odd figures above is the only one I managed to take I was so distracted by everything), then more market purchases and finally a gorgeous lunch. All beneath a perfectly clear blue sky.

There were fewer people than normal - school is back so any tourists with children have gone - but still enough for a nice bustle. Today we drove along the Lot valley to Cajarc to pick up my car from the garage and I had to pinch myself - I get to live here! - I don't have to leave at the end of the Summer! Something everyday like picking my car up from the garage means a drive through some of the most beautiful countryside in France.

A bit of late Summer  sunshine and I go all hello birds, hello trees...

market day # 6

Chez Boutonnet - the best chocolatier/patissier in town. 

The almond croissants are to die for. I'm not noted for

my feeble appetite but they are so rich and glorious that I

can only manage a half at a time!

16 rue du Sergent Bories. 12200 Villefranche de Rouergue

market day #3

One of the nice things about Villefranche market is that along with the commercial traders there is still room for little stalls where people (mostly old so I don't suppose it will continue this way for long) sell a few bits and pieces from their gardens. Flowers, eggs, some veg.

Mum has been complaining about not finding fresh enough fish so we bought her a trout which frankly couldn't have been any fresher. I've known this boy since he was 4! He was at school with my son so it was quite something to see him in charge of the trout man's stall and doing very well!

garden salad

Even though we can get locally (polytunnel) grown salad all Winter long, there is nothing like salad straight from the garden.  The first salads of the season are the best of all, taking a leaf or two from each plant and  adding whatever herbs are also making an appearance: sorrel, chives, parsley.  I know the season has changed when salad takes the place, most days, of soup at lunchtime.

The salad in the picture was greens from the garden with a little bit of chopped red pepper, some black olives and the tiniest bit of leftover blue cheese - it made such a difference though - perked the whole thing up.

Serving plate

endive salad

The weather is wildly variable here at the moment. One moment hot,  the next rainy and cool. Lunchtime coincided with a sunny half hour today and so we were able to eat outside.  I make this salad a lot - it's the best thing to do with endives (chicory) as far as I'm concerned.

Wash and slice some endive ( we were three at lunch and I used two).  Arrange on a plate or shallow bowl and top with some crumbled  blue cheese - it should be Roquefort but I just don't get Roquefort at all. Just too overwhelmingly salty for me which is a shame as it's our local cheese. I prefer the rather déclassé St. Agur (shhh).  Top with some walnuts and some stoned black Greek olives and a little chopped parsley. Dress with a vinaigrette.  I haven't specified quantities, just add the amount of each ingredient that pleases you.

Bon Ap!

biscuit head

stone sculpture sauveterre de rouergue

Is this a carving of someone eating a biscuit...?!

trofie con salsa de erbe e noci

Coming back to France last week I bought a copy of Vegetarian Living magazine at the airport. I've not seen it before and it's pretty good. There was an article with some recipes by Antonio Carluccio and this one caught my fancy as it's walnutty and I love walnuts and we have tons (7 trees worth each year).

Carluccio specifies last season's walnuts which may seem a bit pedantic but since acquiring my own walnut trees, I realise that the shop bought nuts I've been eating all my life were far from last season's. The difference is huge - that bitterness you can get in walnuts just isn't there. The flavour is softer and creamier - gorgeous - and we eat them in all sorts of ways.

This recipe alone was worth the price of the magazine. I shall be making it forever.

Antonio Carluccio's Trofie con salsa di erbe e noci

(serves 4)

150 g shelled walnuts (last season's)

1/2 tbsp each of chopped fresh oregano, rosemary and sage

a few basil leaves, sliced ( I didn't have them)

10 g coarse sea salt ( I put in less, to taste)

2 cloves garlic, peeled

about 6 tbsp olive oil

80 g grated parmesan

In a pestle and mortar, crush the walnuts with the herbs, salt and garlic . Add the oil and 60g of the parmesan and mix.

Cook your pasta and drain, saving a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water and adding it to the sauce to loosen it a bit. Mix the sauce into the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and chopped basil. (I sprinkled with some chopped black olives)

The next day I used the  leftover sauce to spread on  apéro toasts - heaven!

crêpes écossaises

Or drop scones to those of us brought up in the British Isles!  There was a time in my life, not so long ago, when I made these at least twice a day - yes really! Breakfast and 4 o'clock gouter. All the  children who came to this house knew them as Crêpes Ecossaises as I wasn't about to try and translate drop scone!

Every baking book has a recipe for these but many of them aren't simple enough. You only need four ingredients: self raising flour, egg, milk and sugar.

First of all take a frying pan, add the merest dot of oil and set over a low to medium heat. Take a bowl and add 4 ounces s.r. flour, one egg, up to a tablespoon of sugar and enough milk to give a dropping consistancy (probably between 2 and 3 fl. ounces).  Whisk with a spoon or preferably a balloon whisk.  Drop spoonfuls into your pan and when bubbles rise to the surface of each pancake flip them over and give them another 15 or 20 seconds.

Eat with jam, honey butter (roughly equal quantities of honey and butter melted - very good) or if you're a 15 year old boy... Nutella.  Breakfast in under 10 minutes.