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Monday, May 5, 2014

Stuffed like a Goose

Today I have really dined. Upon recounting my meals to a friend, he responded, "After all you are the Goose, aren't you?"

I have taken the name, The Goose in Toulouse, to mean many things: to acknowledge the bird who has provided such a staple and delicious product to the region and to compare these journeys to a children's story or a fairy tale. But, my friend is right: I too am the goose, in the sense that France often stuffs me to the brim, and that I share this pleasure with those with whom I journey. 

Today was no exception: from breakfast to dinner, France has been a champ! 

I have told you of the splendid magical house in the mountains (La Maison du Sylvie) in previous posts. In the springtime the house is perhaps at its prime: The mountains glow in the distance with the remains of winter snow, and the world shines with every shade of green. 



A vegetable well-prepared is never forgotten. In my memory, the taste of Sylvie and Gil's wild salad with home made vinegar will forever stand out as a taste of freshness and earthiness. This time, Sylvie garnished the salad with some small field flowers.




Their foods are always simple but crafted with such care: perfectly cut potatoes roasted so that each surface was uniformly crispy and a guinea fowl stew with slow-cooked, sweet onions. With the wine flowing freely and abundantly, their food beckons seconds and thirds until everyone must wilt with satisfaction upon the backs of their chairs, breathing deeply, marveling at the landscape, and radiating with pleasure.

And it is after a few moments like this, that the little decorative plates for the cheese course emerge, and there in the center of the table, is placed a plate of the most delicious cheeses of the Pyrenees. My favorite goat cheeses (the two round ones) made with such fresh, spring milk, and two wedges of a hearty cow's milk cheese from the mountains that boarder Spain.


And just when you think you cannot manage another bite, you are presented with a fresh, tangy berry sauce that refreshes after a satisying meal. The dessert is a croustade, a typical desert from the Ariege made with lots of butter, apples, and in this one prunes. 


And after such a meal, there is only one thing you would like to do: lounge in the grass, take in the sun, and strum a guitar. 


Well, after such a lunch I returned back to Saint Girons. Just when I couldn't imagine eating any more, dinner was announced ready. A glass of Saint Emilion in hand, my appetite was quickly regained at the sight of this plate:



Cassolettes de fruits de mer- Scallops and shrimp pan-seared in butter. Simple enough. But as the French do, the dish was accompanied by the most perfect sauce. The cream and spice nicely bathing each savory morsel of seafood. But the real charm to this dish was the unsuspecting dollop of  creamy vegetables in the middle. This was so delicious I ran to the kitchen to inquire what this vegetable was, and low and behold it was a cream of baby leeks (pictured below). 


And just when the flavors in your mouth are so so happy you could not imagine that gustatory pleasure could possibly increase, you are served with a magret de canard stuffed with foie gras entier, pan-seared so that the fat gets nice and crispy, and then drizzled with a port jus.



And the second cheese course of the day did not disappoint-- a trio of goat cheeses from various Mountain villages in the Pyrenees. To finish off a splendid meal and a spectacular day of dining, a mix of fruits topped with tangy, alcoholy zabaglione.




Sunday, May 4, 2014

... And I'm Back.

I was right to budget myself a few extra days in the Pyrenees before the group from Yale arrives to prep my appetite. Some of my friends are getting ready for spring time marathons. I'm getting ready for four-course meals ending in cheese courses followed by creme brûlée. To each his own.

Today my regiment was entirely rewarding and I feel that I am making great progress.

Back in the Pyrenees I have been welcomed to my usual spot at the dinner table with my two lovely hosts. Never in my life have I eaten so consistently well as when I ate lunch and dinner at this table for six months. Coming back, my hands miss the knifes with handles made of horn, I instinctively remember how to fold my napkin, and I get giddy with excitement when the plates for the cheese course are served.

I'm back.









Saturday, May 3, 2014

A Countdown to France

Like a true goose I have migrated.

This year has brought me off to many far away lands on so many improvised journeys that I started to feel like Odysseus: Tossed about more or less around the Mediterranean, from France to mainland Italy and to Sicily; meeting new friends (but no foes); and of course dining and wining splendidly.

But something about spring gets my feathers itchy to return to the lands of the greener pastures at the foothills of the Pyrenees. I know there, at this time of the year, I will find flowers in bloom; the last bit of snow melting off the tips of the high pyrenees; baby goats, chicks, and lambs; and the richest rounds of goat cheese. I am ready for a lungful of this air.

And I'm ready for some fat.  And fat I will find in the Pyrenees. It will be coated on the beans and plumped in the sausages and sizzling on the duck skin in a bowl of cassoulet. It will be baked into the curves of a fugasse bread. It will be melting in my mouth and radiating in giggles of pleasure contained in the bite of fois gras enterier.  It will be crunching in the crackling of pork skin. It will be in the beautiful ripples of cream filling a baba rhum.

Ah, the Pyrenees and their foods.

In just a few days I will lead a tour from the Pyrenees Mountains, to the markets of Toulouse, and into the grandest estates of the Bordeaux region. From May 7th - 17th I will be pleased to be in the company of fourteen members of Yale University's Epicurean Society. Our itinerary, designed by me and Lucas, the impressively capable and prepared President of their club, is jam-packed with all the culinary wonders of the southwest. My plan is to spoil silly these kids who have just come off of finals week, with 9 days of the world's best cheeses, glasses of ridiculously good wines, nightly feasts, and more!

If your appetite can handle it, keep checking in for updates throughout the week.