One last day of baking

 Our last day at Le Gargantua arrived too soon but don’t worry too much because we still had Fraiseiers and a whole lot of choux to look forward to. 

Unlike the previous days at Le Gargantua, there was to be no morning excursion. Instead we spent the whole day in the kitchen cooking up a storm, indeed between the Choux de Pistache: choux pastry shells with a cracklalan top filled with pistachio cream, Fraisiers,; biscuit jaconde (which is actually a sponge cake) creme patissiere and lots and lots of strawberries (remember those from the other day, I told you that they would be making a reappearance)  and finally Coffee Religeuse, as seen on GBBO, this includes more choux pastry, creme pat and coffee flavoured royal icing. Oh and we baked the baguettes as well.

With temperatures outside nearing 35°c and the ovens and stoves at full blast, you can imagine that it was rather hot in the kitchen and I spent a good part of the day helping myself to ice cold beverages from the drinks fridge. 

Our day was divided into two separate parts; in the morning we baked and prepared all of the components needed; including making the highly anticipated creme pat, whilst the afternoon was set aside for construction and assembling the troops…I mean choux nuns.

By the latter stages, the temperature in the kitchen was getting really quite intense and no sooner had we piped one bit of cream than it had to go back into the fridge again.

There is a lot of pressure is patisserie that everything needs to look beautiful which for me is not something I’m exactly very good at. This inevitably led to pistachio creme patisserie spilling out from the crevices of the choux bun and rather wonky looking nuns in the religeuse.

The Fraiseiers was surprisingly quite alright, it even made it to the picture table and you can see my  take on the Le Gargantua’s Facebook page (as well as my Tarte Tatin and chicken too) Looks don’t matter too much though, it's all about the taste and I can assure you that they were all delicious. 

Tomorrow, after breakfast, we will bid a fond farewell to our lovely hosts Marlene and Tom and thank them for a stunning week of food, glorious, food and to think I didn’t have to do any washing up, not once! #winning 

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Defeated by the baguette

It’s time for some patisserie! 

I awoke full of excitement as the day’’s field trip was to the chocolatiere in Nerac! La Cigale was actually the inspiration for Joanne Harris’ novel (and later film) “Chocolat” and the nearby bastide town of Vianne was the namesake of the main character. 

The chocolatier at La Cigale is nothing short of a magician and the ways in which he works with chocolate are a wonder to behold. The flavour combinations are out of this world and I particularly enjoyed to spiced ganache which incorporated the flavours of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg etc.

After loading our arms full of heavenly chocolates we strolled around the old town and stopped for a spot of chocolate tasting. 

We arrived back at the house for a lunch of croque monsieur and lentil salad before assembling in the kitchen for our first session of patisserie!!

Chocolate and lemon tarts are clear favourites at any patisserie yet the recipes and ways in which these classic tarts are made can differ quite significantly from one establishment to the next. 

We made a lemon curd type filling for the lemon tart as well as a chocolate ganache made with creme anglaise for the chocolate tart.

The base of both of the tarts, a sweet shortcrust pastry was blind baked before adding the filling and then chilling in the fridge to set. 

My brain really was not working today as I kept miscalculating measurements. I even managed to splatter Marlene with lemon goo when I was trying to blend. (Sorry!)

Alas, it would seem that I was finally defeated by the baguette. A baguette (in case you didn’t know) is a very airy and light bread which has lots of air pockets and a crunchy crust. It, therefore, requires the gluten to be worked well.

In the bread world, this would normally require a lot of kneading to get the stretchy gluten working yet the dough for a baguette is very wet so it's less a case of kneading than it is of slapping the dough on the table. Cue my baguette dough to go flying all around the kitchen.

Once the dough is nice and smooth and very, very stretchy will need a long prove, preferably overnight. As you are slow proving the bread dough it should be kept quite cool, which for the south of France means keeping it in the fridge. 

Our baguettes will be revisited and baked tomorrow.

OMG its soufflé

The second day at Le Gargantua started with a trip to the old town Castelajoux where we purchased ingredients for the day's dishes including basil, white and yellow peaches, fava beans (aka broad beans) and strawberries…strawberries?…but they aren't on tonight's menu. 

The local produce growers were all out in force with a beautiful selection of fruit and vegetables including some really great looking cep mushrooms yet as it was technically still early in the season for them (well according to what my mother has always told me, late August/September is mushroom time) we shied away from them in favour of local and ripe fare. 

Remember that last word, we’ll revisit that one later.

I was super duperly excited to start cooking because today meant soufflé! I’d never made a soufflé before this and was keen to try. I think that I’ve always avoided trying to make a soufflé because they are so light and delicate and I’m really not very good at makings ‘delicate’ in any way shape or form.

On our first day we had made a range of rustic dishes which could all be made in advance and therefore there wasn’t much more work required on them before dinner. Well apart from plating up. 

Today, however, the dinner party plates require additional attention so whilst we prepared all the elements in the afternoon and set the groundwork, we later came to revisit and cook the dishes just before they were served. 

We began the afternoon session by preparing a béchamel sauce of the soufflé. This was then turned into a sauce mournee with the addition of egg yolk and cheese, thus making it lovely and rich. It was then we added any additional ingredients to our soufflés to make it our own creation I added chives from the garden to mine whilst Andrew went for the more adventurous option and put chilli in his. 

Next up we filleted the mackerel and poached the peaches in white wine flavoured with saffron and ginger.

At 7 pm, shortly before dinner, we gathered in the kitchen to finish off off our dishes. Starting with the soufflé: 

We whisked egg whites before carefully folding the fluffy mixture into our sauce being mindful to keep as much air as possible in the bowl. The next step was to transfer the mixture to a greased ramekin dish and placing it in the oven in a bain marie. This will mean that the soufflé is cooked in steam. 

Pro tip: open the oven for 20 seconds half way through the cooking process to let the steam to the oven. 

Everyone watched the oven anxiously as they saw their soufflés slowly rise but I was scared to join them as I was worried that mine would simply collapse and sink miserably. 

It appeared that my fears were misplaced as quite on the country my soufflé rose like a majestic soaring eagle, not only looking the part but also looking really quite nice actually. 

For the main, we blanched and then peeled the fava beans before purring with onion, garlic and a bit of double cream. This was served with mushrooms, (not the ceps from earlier btw) crushed potatoes and our mackerel fillets. Alas just as I moving the mackerel from the pan and onto my plate with a pair of tongs I dropped it and it fell to the floor. 

The dessert also went a bit pear shaped, or should I say peach shaped, as the peaches did not peel very easily once poached. This was due to them not being very ripe. It’s alright though, cover it up with enough chantilly cream and everything will be fine.

It was Richard and Sue’s last night at Le Gargantua as they would not be joining us on the patisserie part of the course. We bid them a fond farewell and lots of group pictures.

The Prune Farm and Darren does a Flambé

 That makes it sound it like a dance actually, which would have been equally as hilarious.

I arose early on our first full day at Le Gargantua and got a good head start on the coffee. This turned out to be a good shout because the days events would turn out to be rather exhausting. 

Our morning excursion was to a prune farm and museum where we learnt all there was to know about prunes, literally everything. From harvesting plums, to drying and how the process has developed through the years as well as packaging and distilling to make ‘l’eau de vie. 

The Lot et Garronne area of France is famous for their prunes. However, plums did not originate in France and instead were introduced to the country when they were brought over from the east at the time of the crusades. 

The process of preparing prunes is a labour intensive process and therefore in the past have meant that prunes were a very precious commodity. To turn the plums into prunes they must undergo a drying process yet if the plums are allowed to get too hot they will turn to a mush. A method was therefore developed, way back when,  where there was a sort of rotating ovens that the plums could dry out in the heat yet be removed again before they got too hot. This ingenious process has been built on and adapted over time including a rolling oven and an oven that included a number of drawers which could be opened and closed t intervals. 

Now, we are able to regulate the temperature is set and therefore this is no longer an issue.  In case you were wondering, plums are dried out in ovens at a low heat of 75 degrees celsius for 24 hours. The finished prune is hard as rock but can be preserved for up to a year. These prunes are hard as rock though so will require rehydrating before being sold for consumption. 

Prunes would be making an appearance in the night’s menu and after loading up our shopping bags and lightning our pockets in the gift shop, we headed back for a scrumptious lunch of cream of cauliflower soup and a selection of delicious local cheeses and charcuterie from the region. 

In the afternoon we joined Marlene in the kitchen for our first cookery lesson. Well I say lesson, Marlene says bootcamp as she put us through our paces as we delved into the world of seasonal french gastronomy. 

The first dis to be addressed was the starter of Tarte Tatin de la Tomate. Tate tatins are traditionally made with apples for dessert yet the upside down tart dish could be made with any dense fruit or vegetable. 

We began by caramelising in sugar and butter yet as this was to be a savoury dish the sweetness of the caramelised tomatoes was to be counter balanced with just a splash of vinegar. 

The question remains whether or not Darren’s splash was significantly larger than everyone else’s splashes as we were met with the first (and only) flambé of the week. It was very impressive too! I wonder if his tarte tatin tasted particularly charred. 

One the tomatoes were prepared, we placed them in a small flan dish along with some garlic and seasoning and finished it off with a lid off puff pastry. Bake shortly before serving

The Torteinne Gascone aka Croustade is an apple and prune covered tart which is made with a very fine and delicate filo pastry case. We started the process by heating the apples with a little butter in a bid to dry them out. As the case of the tart is so thin we want the filling to be as dry as possible so as not to leak out. 

Once the filling was prepared, we prepared a glaze with butter sugar and Armagnac as well as melting butter to coat the pastry with. 

The filo pastry squares were folded in half length ways before being placed in the tin in a flower/sun formation and liberally spread with melted butter. As well as the prepared apples we also placed prunes in our tart before folding the pastry over the top whilst also creating a ruffled up effect by scrunching up the pastry sheets.  Finally we coated the top with our glaze before baking for 25 minutes. 

Last but certainly not least, we turned our attention to our main course; braised chicken in a white wine reduction. This was served with green beans and steamed potatoes. There simply wasn’t enough bread to soak up that heavenly sauce. 

me too mate, me too zzzz

Guess who is going to Le Gargantua

The cooking holidays of Le Gargantua are well renowned, the Travel Channel even listed them as having one of the ‘top ten baking courses in the world’ 

You can therefore probably imagine just how excited I was to be going!

I have always wanted to go on a cooking holiday yet the high prices have often put me off. This coupled with the single subsidies which mean that you actually get penalised and are charged more for going alone have meant that the thought of going on a cooking holiday would remain a distant dream. 

When I came across Le Gargantua I instantly fell in love; not only with with their incredible courses on offer but also the rustic farmhouse location, and well pretty much everything actually. 

27 Hours in Bordeaux

I could tell you about my idyllic respite in the historic city of Bordeaux and the many exciting places that I visited, some of which I had been looking forward to seeing for weeks. Alas none of that actually happened so instead I shall recall for you how my sojourn actually went down. 

Let us start at the very beginning, it is ,after all, a very good place to start. I arrived at Birmingham airport at 5.30am for an early half seven flight only to find that my flight had been delayed and would not be leaving until 9.15. Off to a good start then.

Fast forward a few hours and I finally arrived in Bordeaux only to be flummoxed by the next step of the journey. The Coeur De City hotel, where I was staying had helpfully provided me with instructions on how to get to the hotel from the airport. The problem was that I am a numpty and cannot read maps. Nevertheless I hopped on to the +1 bus towards Garre St Jean and hoped for the best. 

The celebratory pat on the back for getting off at the right bus stop was, it seems, too early as I proceeded to walk in the completely opposite direction to the one which I had expected. Cue the heavens opening. 

Before my trip my mother had asked me whether I was taking my umbrella with me or even a coat. I replied that I would not be including these in my luggage, even if it did rain during my visit to France it would be warm and its not like it’s English rain, I’ll dry off in no time. Yeah about that…

Now picture this, here I was helplessly wondering the streets of Bordeaux with both camera and suitcase in hand. Gone was the need to find out where the hell I was and I instead I quickly tried to find refuge in a restaurant, cafe, well anything would have done really.

It turns out that I make bad decisions when I panic and instead of sticking to the main streets where there was sure to be somewhere to shelter I kept taking a wrong turn and ending up in the middle of nowhere. Also did I mention that I’m pretty sure that I caught pneumonia by this point. 

Luckily, for me, probably not them, the restaurant Il Meneghino provided me with well needed solace from the elements and a delightful asparagus veloutee which was just what the doctor ordered. 

My planned itinerary for the day had included visiting the Musee de Aquitaine and the Grosse Cloche (bell tower) and I happened to stumble across these on my rather soggy stumbling yet I was a bit too flustered by this point to appreciate them. Maybe I’ll just have to come back one day. 

Whilst I was eating my soup I was able to gain WIFI access and formulate a plan of how to get back (or rather how to to get there in the first place) to the hotel. This was easier said than done as it turned out that the entrance to the Coeur de City is tucked away and resulted in me wondering around the square where it was situated for a good ten minutes.

Before you, dear reader, take a sigh of relief that my ordeal was over I can tell you that it really wasn’t, in fact it gets better. So far we have established that I was pretty sure that I had developed pneumonia so the plan was to get rid off my wet clothes, have a shower and change into warm ones.

Upon opening my suitcase however I realised that this plan wasn't going to work as the clothes which had fallen to the bottom of my case whilst I was wandering around the streets were really quite wet and my new orange top was stained with what I can only imagine was mud.

After a a really great morning (and early afternoon) of the first day of my holiday I was sure that my luck was about to change. With dry(ish) clothes on my back, journal in hand and camera around my neck I set off with a steely determination to see what the city of Bordeaux had to offer.

The historic city, with medieval roots features some stunning architecture and hidden gems including the ruins of a roman colosseum that had been hidden in the cities ramparts for over 1500 years. 

The M+O glacier was another spot on my checklist that I was really rather gutted to be missing out on as it was heralded as one of the best ice cream stops in the city. Fear not gelato fans as Amiago saved the day with a flower arrangement (yes really, don’t you know that's how all the cool kids are eating their ice cream these days) of noisette and pistache. 

On returning to the hotel I realised to my horror that despite the fact that I had just purchased a new travel toothbrush for the trip, I had (obviously because I can’t do anything right) left said toothbrush at home and was now toothbrushless. 

Just a little prelude as to why I started the next day in search of a pharmacy or supermarket. Alas as it was Sunday no pharmacies were open and I got lost lost looking for the supermarket, even though I had acquired a map by this time. The Sunday morning stroll wasn’t totally useless however as I stumbled across the Monument aux Girondins. 

The main tourist season in Bordeaux doesn’t really start in earnest until  late June/July which meant that at the time of visiting (early June) there was really quite a lot of roadworks. 

Next stop Tonneins.