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. 

As well as offering courses in seasonal french cooking for both three or five nights, Le Gargantua also do courses in patisserie for the same time frames, special day courses, the fat duck course and a mixed cooking and patisserie course. I was going to be embarking on the latter; excited? 
yeah just a bit. 

The five night course which includes two days cooking and two days baking costs €1150 which on first glance seemed a bit steep but the fee covers accommodation, tuition, excursions to local producers and of course, all the food!!

I will even be given a recipe booklet to take home so that I will be able to recreate all of the delicious dishes that make during the week. 

The day had finally arrived and soon I was to be on my way to Le Gargantua. I arrived in Bordeaux the day before and after a quick stop over, which you can read about here, I would be catching the train to Tonneins.  

The renovated farmhouse where Le Gargantua cookery courses are held has four guest rooms, (creaky floorboards included) ample space to relax and unwind after a hard session cooking and finally a fully equipped kitchen….yet I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Joining me on the week’s cookery course were Richard and Sue from Battle in Hastings, expats Julie and Andrew, who now live in Brittany and finally Darren, an ex-rugby player from Australia. We were a fairly mixed bunch and I was rather surprised that there was an equal number of both men and women. I was half expecting the group to be entirely female. 

After a few hours in which we settled in to our new surroundings the group gathered downstairs for an aperitif and to discuss what we had to look forward to for the upcoming week. 

 Dinner included a delicious beetroot cheesecake to start. I am usually not a great fan of beetroot s I find it to be a bit too acidic for my tastes but this beet was beautifully finished with tomato vinaigrette. 

Next up was confit of duck with mashed potatoes, broccoli and a creamy duck sauce. It was served as a sort of shepherds pie and we were at first perplexed at what to call this dish. ‘Mallard and mash’ was the phrase of choice and it was totally divine. The slow cooked meat was gorgeously tender and the sauce was just heavenly. 

For dessert we were served almond and cherry tarts with creme pâtissière and this got me very excited about making my own creme pat later on in the week. With a very happy tummy I retired for the night for who knows what scrummy surprises await us in the days to come. Well technically I do, I read the itinerary.