Cooking in Gascony

We phoned Kate to say we would come and cook for her. Her response was that she was ready for a break. She had nothing more ambitious on her agenda than working in the garden and painting her nails. We arranged to shop at the Saturday market at Niort. We selected local things -  a pintade,  rillettes of rabbit, goat cheeses - to bring to her. Kate lives about an hour south of Bordeaux and we wanted to bring her a taste of Niort, the region where we live.

Kate told us we arrived that Maria Claude Gracia, the esteemed chef of La Belle Gascogne was coming to lunch. I was thrilled at the possibility that I would get to meet Maria Claude in Kate’s kitchen. I asked what time lunch was, as I rolled up my sleeves.

We brought a mixture of ratatouille vegetables to prepare as a gratin. The red peppers I didn’t find at the market in Niort were sitting in Kate’s basket on the worktable. For the pintade there were first of the season, tiny potatoes from Niort. Kate had salted cod and said she’d love to have codfish cakes. Pascal had selected a range of cheeses from Niort for us when we went by his shop. There was also a compote of rhubarb to mix with fresh strawberries. We would eat well and be pleased.

Scott went to work on an apple tart he has been practicing. Each time he makes it, it gets better. He makes a perfect crust like mille feuille.

To make the gratin a mixture of onions, and diced sweet peppers are sauteed soft in olive oil. When ready, crushed new garlic is added. The garlic is still very pink, the cloves are milky white and tender and the taste is pleasantly sweet. The mixture is put into the bottom of a white porcelain baking dish. Sliced vegetables are made to stand on their sides neatly, in rows - eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini - until they filled the dish. It looks very dramatic. A sprinkling of salt on top and the dish is set it in the oven. It is covered while it bakes for 45 minutes. It gives up a lot of liquid. For the final fifteen minutes of cooking the foil is removed and the juices evaporated to make a sort of sauce. Before they are served they receive a trio of blessings:  some coarse salt from Guerand;, a grinding of pepper;  and a drizzle of the best olive oil.                                   

Marie Claude arrived in the midst of the preparations. She was happy to learn that “les hommes” were making lunch. Kate made white wine aperitifs flavored with blackberry liquor and lemons. We wished each other “Tchin.” I told Scott as he clinked his glass to make sure he looked Marie Claude in the eyes. It’s what is done. He forgot and she came over to clink again, this time looking directly. The women caught up on things even though they had only seen each other yesterday. Marie Calude wanted to see the house, the garden, the canal, the boat. She was enchanted to be in this very special place of Kate’s where the men were cooking. She was perfectly at ease.

The cod cakes were to accompany the gratin. The salted cod was thick, white, and moist. It was revived in several soakings of cold water until the salt taste was gone. The pieces were simply put in a skillet, cold water was added to cover them, and it was brought gently to a boil. The heat is turned of off and the pan sits. The fish turned out moist and flavorful.

To make the cod cakes, boiled potatoes are coarsely grated into a bowl. The flaked cod is mixed in along with thyme from the garden, and the mixture is seasoned with salt. Small cakes are shaped, first dredged light in flour, then egg, and last in breadcrumbs. The cakes are cooked in a mixture of olive oil and butter. They cook on medium heat until they develop a nice and golden on each side. Then the heat is turned down to warm them through.

While one thing cooks, another is prepared. The pintade was cut in pieces - legs, breast. When I bought the bird at the farm from the woman who raises them, she counseled me to do a good job of cooking. It was a splendid looking bird and she was proud of it. The fat under the skin was yellow from eating a diet of corn.

 Scott made a stock from the carcass. He seared the legs in butter until they were nice and golden then tossed the butter out. He poured stock into the pan and let the legs braise until they were tender. Ten minutes before they were ready he put the breasts in to finish. They didn’t need more time than that. While the bird braised, the little new potatoes were steamed.

The first course was served at the table outside, set with a beautiful blue tablecloth. White bone handled cutlery sat beside fine china. A huge pot of roses from the garden sat in the middle of the table. Kate likes to serve family style, so I passed the gratin to Marie Calude then passed her the cod cakes. We ate, we mmmmm’d. Marie Claude said: AThis food is both simple and elegant. You have managed to get everything to retain the flavors, and that’s an art.@

We talked about restaurants and the passion and rigor it takes to do them right. We spoke of that relationship between the cook and the food that often leaves room for little else. She asked for more of the gratin of vegetables, and asked if she could have the final cod cake. The weather cooperated, the dogs behaved. The wine was from Cahors and loved what we served with it. Marie Claude finished by saying the food seemed exotique, yet gave a nod to local taste, and remained original.

I wanted to serve the pintade as I would in Niort. I like to borrow a sauce made for snails, called lumas in dialect, from Pineau des Charentes. It gets lots of garlic mixed with parsley and then is loaded with butter.  Scott raided the garden of the parsley. Six cloves of new garlic were minced and mixed into the parsley, then into the butter. The braising liquid is poured off and reduced. I had no Pineau to flavor it, but Kate had something similar, called Floc that comes from this region. It leant sweetness to the sauce. The garlic butter is swirled in and finished the sauce to the right texture. The bird was served simply with boiled potatoes - ones that had come out of the ground yesterday. They were the size an egg and full of flavor.

A cheese course followed the main course. Pascal had selected a number of goat cheeses that were well finished. One had a nicely developed blue-green mold on the crust. Inside the cheese was pure white. He also selected a cheese from his friend Sebastian, and I asked him to add a cheese from Louis Marie. When I passed the plate of cheeses to Marie Calude to serve herself, she said she preferred to be served. So I took all the plates, cut the cheeses and put them in the order in which they should be eaten. I returned a plate to each person saying@ Begin here and work your way around, finish with the cheeses of Louis Marie.

Kate told me to tell Marie Claude the Angel story, so I told her how I came to meet Louis Marie Barrault. When I first came to Niort I used to buy my cheeses from Madame. She taught me a lot about the cheeses in her shop. Once I told her I would like to meet someone who makes them. She replied saying: “I could send you to meet the Big Guys, or I could send you to an Angel.” “Send me to the Angel,” I replied at once. The angel is Louis Marie whose cheese we were eating. He and I are still friends.

I told them about Pascal who finished the cheeses and why he selected them. We talked about Sebastian and his troop of 80 goats. He is passionate about what he does, refuses to give the animals any feed that is genetically altered. He wants to have cheese the way his father made it, pure and excellent and with the flavor of the milk that comes from his goats eating in his fields. Their texture is perfect, their flavor is at the maximum. Knowing nothing about cheeses you could tell at once that they were exceptional.

We cleared the table and brought out the desserts.

            SCOTT’S APPLE TART

For the crust:

1-1/2 cups flour

1 stick cold butter, in pieces

4-5 tablespoons cold water

Put the flour onto the counter, make a well in the center.

Add the butter, pressing it between your fingers to get the butter to start to absorb flour. Leave the butter in quarter-sized, flat pieces. Add two tablespoons of water at a time, toss to get the flour to absorb it.

When all the water has been added, grab a fistfull, the size of an egg and set it aside.  It should have enough moisture to hold together. Make 3 to 4 pieces this way.

Spread each piece with the flat of you hand, spreading the dough about 3-4 inches. Flatten each piece only once. Repeat with each piece of dough. Set them on top of each other as you flatten them. Put all the pieces, uncovered, into the refrigerator for an hour.

Roll the dough out to the width of your hand, and three times as long. Block the sides with the side of the rolling pin to form a regular edge. Fold the dough in thirds as you would for puff pastry. Fold the top third over the middle, fold the bottom third over it; turn the dough so that it opens like a book in front of you. Roll the dough out a second time. Cover it and refrigerate it 30 minutes. Repeat the two turns.

Then roll the dough out to a circle the size of the bottom of a 9-inch tart pan. Set the flat tart bottom under the dough, and trim the dough to fit it exactly. Set the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes.

For the apple compote:

4 apples

2 cup excellent apple juice

Peel, core, and cut the apples into small pieces. Put them into a 2 quart saucepan, add the apple juice. Place the pan over a medium slow flame, cover the pot and cook slowly until the apples give up their water - about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and cook the apples slowly until they form a compote. Or when they are well cooked, simply puree them in the blender. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425oF.

For the topping:

3 Fuji apples

2 tablespoons butter

2 cup sugar

2 cup apricot jam, melted

Quarter the apples. Peel them, and trim the core. Slice each quarter into 4-6 slices.

Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the apples, scatter the sugar and cook until the apples soften and start to take on some color.

To assemble the tart spread the compote of apples onto the frozen dough. Arrange the sauteed apples in a nicely fanned pattern on top. Spread the apricot jam over the top and set to bake in a hot oven for 50 minutes, until the apples start to color on the edges. If they color too soon, turn the heat down to 375 and continue cooking. It is important for baking the dough that the tart stays in the oven 50 minutes. Slice and serve warm.