Salted Toffee Cherry Tomatoes
Celebrate eating outside for summer weather – start your party with this salty sweet fun apéritif!
Loire Valley
Christophe Roussel Pastry Competition: La Baule 2016
Some of you saw the live videos on Facebook but I’ve been itching to tell you in much more detail about this exceptional pastry and chocolate weekend! To start, I was bowled over to be invited by Christophe Roussel to join the French jury for his Annual Pastry Competition Final in La Baule (Loire-Atlantique) on France’s west coast.
Open to budding amateur pastry chefs, five talented finalists were chosen in September via their tantalising patisseries and descriptions on Facebook, all based on this year’s défi (challenge), first announced in July.
As the event wasn’t open to the public, I feel duty-bound to share this with you, patisserie and chocolate lovers. So fasten your seat-belts for a bumper post!
Annual Pastry Competition
What was the Défi Patissier‘s CHALLENGE this second year?
TO REVISIT an OPÉRA cake, using the famous Fleur de sel de Guérande as an imposed ingredient and during the final, include Christophe Roussel’s new signature Bahiana® chocolate from Brazil.Sounds easy? An Opera pastry has to be one of the most difficult in the French pastry repertoire!
With the competition’s early morning start, Christophe and Julie generously helped relieve any night-before stress by hosting a welcome dinner on La Baule’s beach. Dessert was, of course, by Christophe himself. If anyone had forgotten his style and needed to tweak their dessert next day, now was the time. The desserts set the tone…
Luckily I had lovely Lucie by my side who works with Christophe, so she could suggest two out of the FOUR desserts! The Fleur d’Asie, or Asian Flower, is a delicate combination of apricot and the Asian Osmanthus (Devilwood) plant which has scents of apricot and peach. I love his hidden Fleur de Sel which gives that unexpected crunch – fantastic!
A First in France: Signature Chocolate
Chocolate-lovers will love the Fleur de Bahiana, the upcoming Bûche de Noël (festive yule log) made with the new signature Brazilian dark chocolate (69%), Bahiana®. It’s from the Pêtrolina cacao farm in the Bahia region, a family-run plantation, and made exclusively for Christophe Roussel in partnership with Valrhona – a first in France.
Intense in chocolate with floral and fruity notes, I found it so warming, almost like tasting a chocolate-vanilla pastry version of a velvety hot chocolate with playful textures. To top it, it wasn’t overly rich but left a lovely round satin touch on the palate.
But I digress – back to the competition!
Meet the Finalists
From left: Catherine Brug (Besançon: Opera-Cube), 18-year-old Laurie Lacoviz (Saint-Maur: Opéra Rock), Anne-Sophie Donnard (Montmorency: Comme un Air d’Opéra), Émilie Chrysostom, (Paris, Min’Op), and Arnault Buisson (Luxemburg, Opéra Spirit).
Meet Christophe Roussel
Ever since I walked into Christophe Roussel‘s welcoming boutique when it opened 5 years ago in Paris’s Montmartre, it was special. As I say in my book, Teatime in Paris, Chef Christophe must be one of the most genuinely friendly and approachable pastry chefs in France. His credo is sharing, pleasure and a little bit of madness – and add to that an incredible generosity.
After setting up his first pâtisserie in La Baule in 2004, he decided to steer away from the traditional route of adding a boulangerie and instead devoted the rest to chocolate-making. Now with an impressive business with around 44 employees and 7 trainees, Christophe Roussel, part of the prestigious Relais Desserts group, is the star of the French west coast with two boutiques in La Baule, Guérande, Pornichet, Paris, and has just opened another in la Pornic. Together with his wife, Julie (pictured far right below), they make the perfect duo créatif.
Only the HIGHEST QUALITY PRODUCTS are used to create his gourmandises, notably sourcing local produce – one of which is the famous salt, the Fleur de Sel de guérande, just a few kilometres from his laboratory in La Baule (pronounced la-bowl).
The Jury
Meet the rest of the jury with Christophe Roussel. You can imagine why I was so honoured to be a part of such a prestigious line-up!
- Thierry Bamas MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) and world champion for frozen desserts, he’s the star of pâtisserie based in the Basque region, between Biarritz and Bayonne. Like Christophe, he runs pastry and chocolate-making classes.
- Cyril Carrini, winner of the last 2015 Meilleur Pâtissier on French TV’s M6 Channel (The French equivalent of the Great British Bake Off), and winner of the best of the winners. He’s a policeman near Bordeaux who also runs pastry workshops.
- Mercotte is to France what Mary Berry is to the UK. A most adorable, down-to-earth TV celebrity for the Meilleur Pâtissier on M6, and The French Patisserie Blogger at La Cuisine de Mercotte, with four recipe books.The Pastry & ChocolateLAB
The Lab
Hitting the starting block at 7.30am, the finalists cracked on with their 3-hour pastry challenge. As it was the early stage, we had the opportunity to visit the immense lab.
What an Ali-Baba maze! It was hard to resist a peek into these enormous vats of babas steeping in rum syrup as we explored each chocolate and pastry-making workshop. Everyone was quietly and dynamically working on each creation: from chocolate moulds of Peppa Pig, Calimero, and chocolate kisses destined to be exported to Japan, to his assortiment of macarons – of which about 25 tons are produced a year. There’s even a room assigned to edible decor – spot his pastry signature above (top left).
Back to the buzzing competition room, just to keep us going, we taste Christophe’s Coffee Réligieuse – Pas Très Catholique (meaning a bit doubtful), with lively notes of two different coffees and a chocolate craquelin crumble topping for le crunch. Incidentally, this was the inspiration behind the recipe for the salted caramel choux snowman in Teatime in Paris!
THE Challenge
The classic Opéra isn’t an easy pastry … and on top of it, personal variations made it a particularly interesting challenge. Cubes, balls, discs, giant spheres, logs, tuiles … they’d all thought it out so well.
All aspects were taken into consideration: such as respect to the classic recipe (e.g. right dosage of coffee coming through, enough chocolate, right textures; their interpretation; clean workspace; no waste (Christophe made frequent bin inspections), respect to time, visual aspect, and so on.
While all was being filmed on camera, we were additionally going around filming and snapping shots on our phones: everyone was spontaneously interviewed on Facebook Live by the bubbly Mercotte (we were all impressed with her mega battery!). Apparently I speak French like Jane Birkin, ahem… Thierry Bamas and Cyril also caught the online interviewing bug as the stress and COUNTDOWN started.
Discussions behind the finalists didn’t put them off – and although there was the odd hand trembling towards the finishing touches, everyone showed their talent of being calm and collected, plus it was a good team spirit if someone needed to borrow equipment from each other. Not every competitive spirit is prepared to do that.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … and STOP! Et Voilà: their finished results. Now we could think of the visual aspect. Great job – and totally resembling what they submitted online.
By now finished, the finalists took off their aprons for a well-earned break.
Photo courtesy of Michel Orion, Ouest-France
Salon du Chocolat, La Baule
Meanwhile, we were given the added job of tasting our way through 3 different themes of chocolates over at the Castel Marie-Louise, as part of the Salon du Chocolat in La Baule, hosted by the Casino Barrière. Our challenge was to pick the best in each category before announcing the winners – including the pastry challenge – at the Salon later.
Our group tasted 12 chocolates on a dark chocolate and citrus almond paste theme. The unanimous winner went to Vincent Belloir (Goût du bonheur, La Roche-Bernard). It was best for the visual sheen on the chocolate, the clean cut without losing it’s shape, the smooth texture, the bouquet on ze nose, and of course, the taste!
Olivier Grimault (Créat-shop, Les Sorinières) won the chocolate bar category with dark chocolate and Matcha, … and winner of the third category went to Christophe Roussel for his dark chocolate and pink peppercorn! Also congratulations goes to Amélie Giraud for her chocolate sculpture, who is also part of Christophe Roussel’s team!
A few glasses of water later – and all before lunch ….!
Pastry Competition Tasting & Verdict
This is when I appreciated when Mercotte took me under her wing. Although the group agreed on the same issues and were discerning on each aspect, my marking was slightly too high for each finalist – so now I can put it down to experience!
Photos courtesy of Michel Oriot, Ouest-France news
Pastry Competition Winners!
Our winners were also announced on Saturday evening at the Salon du Chocolat.
Congratulations to the winner, Anne-Sophie, a school teacher and French pastry blogger at SurprisesetGourmandises. She wins a Gourmet Luxury Weekend in La Baule and a day of pastry-making with Christophe Roussel.
Bravo to Catherine Brug who came a close second, and a huge round of applause to Arnault, Emilie and Laurie. Each of them were not just great bakers but lovely, sensitive souls too.
Lucie Henaff, thanking everyone, even prepared framed momentos of their Opéra creations, a lovely keepsake of their tremendous talent.
A Gourmet yet Light Weekend
After all the excitement, the chocolate, the opera cakes, lunch, more various dessert tastings, there was … another gourmet dinner!
For everything we ate, however, all was impeccably light. Spoiled by Eric Mignard, Michelin-starred chef for 30 years at the Relais-Châteaux Castel Marie-Louise, he took us through local seafood and fish menus, including a memorable dish of tartar scallops with passion fruit, pineapple, daikon, and salsifis chips with grilled almond oil. I’d need another few pages to discuss the rest!
On to the DESSERTS, all prepared by Christophe Roussel, each one was immaculate. They’re airy, full of surprising textures (he has fizzy chocolates too) and each ingredient has its own punch to say, “Taste me – I’m here too!”. The finale – made especially for the occasion – of Tahitian vanilla mousse with mango and that nesting ball on top is full of exploding salted caramel. It was the closing firework display to an exceptional weekend.
Christophe Roussel Pastry Competition
Do keep an eye out for the 2017 competition on Christophe Roussel’s Facebook page. If you or anyone you know is a real fan of making French pastries, then you’ll have witnessed that this is an extremely special competition indeed. I hear there will be even more surprises for next year’s Défi challenge. How can you beat that?
I’ll finish with Christophe Roussel’s popular chocolate kisses from La Baule and say a big Cheers, Santé to you, Chef! Bravo to such an extraordinary and successful weekend, the opening of your new boutique in La Pornic, the new signature Brazilian chocolate, for such a wonderful, dynamic team you’ve inspired – and, above all, for your generosity.
Christophe Roussel Duo Créatif
6 Allée des Camélias
44500 LA BAULE
5 Rue Tardieu
75018 PARIS
A Loire Break in Chinon at the Hotel Diderot
Chinon is the perfect escape with only a 3-hour drive from Paris. It’s over 18 years since we were here last. Don’t ask me why but family life has just got in the way. So when Jamie Schler and her husband, Jean-Pierre took over the Hôtel Diderot at the start of the year, it was the best excuse to return to the Loire Valley with Antoine for a few days.
We couldn’t resist, however, a slight detour en route from Paris via the medieval town of Loches. I hadn’t heard of the place but Antoine was right to stop, as the royal town behind the hill’s fortifications is worth seeing. Check out the local pastry speciality for a teatime treat: may I tempt you to a Sein d’Agnès – Agnès’s breast? It is rather filling – only half was enough – so a couple of Agnés’s breasts are good for 4!
Breasts of Agnes Cakes in Loches, Loire Valley
Breasts of Agnès
Agnès Sorel as the first official mistress of the Kings of France. Her liaison with Charles VII was legendary and so her beauty was too, apparently.
We bought a couple (of course) and, as one of us devoured and another nibbled, this rather heavy cake revealed a shortcrust pastry encasing an amaretti tartlet with hints of candied citrus fruits. Oh-là-là! Not for the faint-hearted, as I did find them rather heavy.
I’ll leave you to think of puns on that one, as I contain myself.
Hotel Diderot Chinon
I’ve followed Jamie through her inspiring writings on Life’s A Feast for the past 4 years, thanks to discovering her via the fun MacTweets blog, where macaron lovers would rise to Jamie and Deeba’s monthly insane challenges and post their artistic macaron Mac Attacks.
I miss it but Jamie is forever juggling many other projects on the go: such as Plated Stories, a talented prizewinning creative duo with photographer Ilva Beretta including workshops, to to mention Jamie’s writing career with books (note the plural) on the near horizon.
Hotel Diderot, Chinon
How Jamie manages to do all of this and run a hotel with 26 rooms beats me. And she’s so relaxed and welcoming with all of her guests, stopping to chat outside under the shade of the banana tree. So what does she do in her spare time?
“I make jam”, she says. Proof for starters is layer upon layer of jam classics and intriguing combinations stacked to the brim in her confiture dresser in the dining room, ready to serve at breakfast.
Jamie Schler, owner of the Hotel Diderot Chinon
I thought foolishly that I could try them all during our stay: fig, pear & grape; banana & mango; strawberry & rosemary; greengage; 3 plums; banana; raisin & rum; confiture pour les Soeurs Tournet (rhubarb and raspberry for a couple of regulars); orange marmalade with cocoa; warm kisses (strawberry, cherry & cinnamon).
The list goes on but who couldn’t also try the fresh local goat’s cheese with walnuts and honey and chives from the neighbour’s garden?
With such a start to the day what is there to do around the medieval town of Chinon? The beauty of the Hôtel Diderot is it’s so central and within easy walking distance to the castle on the hill (there’s now even a lift!), museums, churches and restaurants. Speaking of restaurants, we particularly loved La Part des Anges in rue Rabelais – where we discovered a white Chinon (Chenin blanc – normally Chinon wines are red) with the same name from the Domaine de la Noblaie. We’re still hooked on this nectar that we get it delivered to us in Paris!
On Thursday mornings, the market is just next door in the square of Joan of Arc. References to Jean d’Arc are all around the town, as is the Renaissance writer, doctor and humanist, François Rabelais, born in Chinon. In our room were a few fun quotations like
“Half of the world doesn’t know how the other half live“.
Christ statue in Chinon Loire
A surprisingly familiar Art Deco statue was looking down on us from the hillside just above the hotel. Known as the Sacred Heart of Chinon, this 7.4m statue has been watching over the town since 1943 thanks to the local priest, Archpriest Vivien.
He intended that this statue provide divine protection during the war. Sculpted by Paule Richon, it was influenced by the Christ the Redeemer (Corcovado) statue in Rio. Coincidence on our return from our family holiday in Rio de Janeiro?
French medieval town of Chinon Loire France
Can you imagine living in the Royal Fortress dominating the Vienne River just before it joins the Loire, the longest river in France?
We headed to Candes-St-Martin, one of France’s “Most Beautiful Villages”. I’ve shared a few views of the town on social media, complete with a stunning panorama point where the sandy banks of both the Loire and the Indre rivers merge.
Cyclist tours are popular here – it’s largely flat and there are so many attractions to visit, including wineries. That’s another of our hobbies. Just saying. That would take another post!
This region around Chinon is the Touraine, also known as the Garden of France. Driving from Candes-St-Martin along the l’Indre river, I’d recommend a stop at the Château at Rigny-Ussé.
Le Notre Gardens at Chateau Usse Loire Valley
The gardens at Ussé were designed by Lenotre, just as with Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles.
Over the past 20 years the castle has been renovated and it’s quite an achievement. This castle is perfect for family outings, as the tower includes many rooms devoted to the Sleeping Beauty, as Charles Perault on coming here was inspired to write his famous classic. Like the Belle au Bois Dormant tower, there are life-size models all around the castle, which makes it all rather charming.
Chateau Usse Touraine Region
In the bigger castles like this one, the owners were obliged to prepare a room for their Roi, the King of France – even if they slept in them or not. Just for the record, the other nearby fairytale castle, Azay-le-Rideau (see my blog post on this), is currently being renovated but worth a visit to see how it’s being done.
Another must visit in the area around Chinon is Villandry Castle. More famous for their gardens we appreciated having a guide to take us around inside the castle. The parquet flooring also echoes the love garden theme below. The higher you climb the stairs in the tower, the more you can appreciate the gardens’ grandeur and symmetry.
Gardens of Villandry Loire
Our guide told us the good news, “Now enjoy the stroll through the gardens and don’t forget that to pick the grapes and taste them if you think they’re perfectly ripe”. Decadence indeed.
Stopping in Tours on Saturday morning, returning home to Paris, the market at Les Halles is legendary. Especially the cheese counters, including a Meilleur Ouvrier de France‘s gigantic selection of the local goat cheeses. As I turned to leave, one last wink came from Agnès with these beautiful ashen-coated specimens, perfect with the local white wine of either Sauvignon blanc or Chenin.
4 Rue de Buffon
37500 Chinon
Disclaimer: We were paying guests at the Hotel Diderot. I wrote this post as I love its quality, value for money for a 3-star hotel and its location.
Mad About Lime Blossom Macarons in the Loire
Mon Dieu! I was so carried away with the MacTweets Fruity Challenge that I forgot this sequel to the Loire Valley post! Et voici, mes amis – enfin…inspiration for Lime Blossom Macarons.
Remember recently I asked you what this tree was? It’s a French Tilleul. In English, it’s Linden Blossom but after Sue of Tales from the Giantswood asked if it was a lime tree, I realised that Tilleul is linden blossom or lime blossom. Thank you, Sue.
We had our breakfast under this tree at the Chambre d’Hôtes (Manoir de la Touche) just around the corner from the Château of Azay-le-Rideau in the Loire. What a civilised haven, with classical music coming out from the dining room as we ate – somehow Lady Gaga wouldn’t have been right in such Renaissance surroundings.
As the weather was warm, we ate under this lime blossom (tilleul) tree outside so the breakfast room was used as the buffet – filled with brioches, baguettes and goat cheeses. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve eaten goat cheese for breakfast. What an experience.
The perfect pot of café crème with a plate ranging from the freshest goat cheese, to the most matured and piquant; as the word implies, it almost pierced the taste buds and the sticky honey put out the “fire”.
I wouldn’t have this every day, but I shall never forget such a waking revelation to the taste buds. At home, we’re more likely to have our favourite salad in the summer as a main course: Salade de chèvre chaud (warm goat’s cheese salad).
Tilleul / Linden Blossom
Back to that linden blossom tree. When we first arrived, Antoine greeted the B&B owners as I secretly hid behind the tree and tried to straighten out my back. I had turned into a stiff yet rickety chair after 3 hours of lying flat out in the passenger seat from Paris, so it was slightly embarrassing attempting a transformation from a crooked old woman to a 40-something on a romantic weekend..
The owner had her basket out, ready to laden it with linden blossoms. This was the perfect time to dry them as they were in full bloom.
In France this is particularly popular as a herbal infusion: infusion de tilleul, which is relaxing and caffeine free before bedtime. An infusion of lime blossom is also said to soothe tension headaches.
Linden blossom au château d’Azay le Rideau, Loire
As we took a walk around the Château of Azay-le-Rideau, linden blossom trees surrounded us and we were mesmorized by the perfumes and the views.
Back at the B&B, Madame hadn’t got around to collecting the blossoms yet. Meanwhile, someone had a better idea for her basket.
Sun in all its glory, blossoms perfuming the air, Vivaldi out of the speakers – it’s time for a cat-nap.
And time for some linden/lime blossom macarons with a hint of lemon for something light and gluten free on a summer’s day…
Not just for night-time infusions, my macaronivore friends… Wishing you a summer of lazy cat-naps and dreams under the shade of your favourite tree.
The Party Times!
Shhh. The macaron secret is out…
Come and join us at The Party Times Online, where Pippa Middleton is sharing some macaron recipes from the book, courtesy of Waverley Books.
Stay tuned, as she is also planning a great Mad About Macarons! competition on the Party Times site…(UK residents)
Azay le Rideau Castle and l’Auberge du 12éme Siecle, Loire Valley
Welcome to a weekend away in the land of fairytale castles, vineyards, and gastronomic pleasures. Antoine whisked me away for 2 guilt-free days: no children to worry about, no cooking, laundry, shopping, homework, and above all – no computer. Ouf! We all need a wee breather now and again, don’t we? Thanks, Mum and Dad, for making this possible!
It was only 3 hours’ drive from Paris – albeit that the back was playing up again and so I had to lie completely flat out in the car. I discovered every inch of our car’s interior details but it was worth being patient. Look what greeted us on arrival in Azay le Rideau…
Azay le Rideau Castle, Loire
I picked my bedroom out: that one with the pretty tower, please. I’ll let down my short, dishwasher blond hair and Antoine can serenade me below, with a kareoke version of Lady in Red from his Blackberry.
Not so sure if I liked the kitchen, though. Imagine cooking with that “oven”? Pretty hot work, n’est-ce pas?
Fancy this for your kitchen oven?
On the other hand, the drawing room was rather civilised. Draw in your chair for a game of cards in front of the fireplace with the salamander symbol of François 1st, sip tea from a royal porcelain cup, and nibble on a macaron, peut-être?
Anyone for tea and a macaron?
The beds were always so small. Did they really sleep upright? Jings. That couldn’t have been comfortable. The concrete mattress was possibly the same original that we had in our B&B up the road: back-breaking!
On the way out, a lovely large bottle of the local Bourgeuil red was just sitting saying bonjour. The red wines here are served chilled. Each time I’ve had the Loire reds, though, I’ve not been as keen as the whites; something I have to work on…
The wee town of Azay le Rideau is picture postcard material. Walking over the bridge, there were a few people fishing in amongst the lily pads.
Just a 10 minute drive out of of Azay-le-Rideau, however, there is a gastronomic restaurant in the village of Saché: L’Auberge du XIIème Siècle. Balzac lived in Saché (now a castle museum), and just up the road in Monts is where the abdicated Edward VIII married Wallis Simpson at the Château de Candé in 1937.
L’Auberge du XIIème siècle
Antoine and I couldn’t help ourselves. We ate there two nights in a row. Put a gourmet Frenchman and a Scot together to pick a restaurant and the best value for money element comes into play. 😉 We went for the normal dinner menu at €35. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll show you the highlights as one meal, as we both tried absolutely everything, just for you…
The sommelier suggested a local sauvignon blanc for an apéritif. This is perfect to get the appetite going, especially to accompany the five little amuse-bouches. I’m apologising now, as I’m difficult in restaurants like this; I dare say that the cheese straw clashed with the langoustine mousse and the carrot-chive sorbet was a bit too sweet for my liking before a meal. Now if they’d put spices in the carrot to react with the sugary sorbet, that would be totally dynamite…
The apéritif continues…
The rabbit confit (tasted just like roasted chicken bits) in the shot glass was tasty but so dry, accompanied by a little pancake with no sauce. Wetting it with the sauvignon was the thing to do, I think. The other pastry with snails was better. Time to go to our table indoors for the main meal…
Another amuse-bouche arrived. This time a warm port caramel was sitting on a crème brûlée of foie gras. I honestly would have preferred this for dessert. It was far too sweet and the wine hadn’t arrived yet. Why do I get so irritated when the sommelier has all the wine bottles in the centre of the room and you have to beg to be served? Or am I just a wine artist?
Now you’re talking. A beautiful starter of sautéed giant prawns with asparagus, crispy potatoes on a lemon thyme jus arrived – enfin with a Chenin blanc, produced locally by an organic winegrower.
The crispy potatoes were revealed under the prawns – but they’d lost their crispiness. Lovely idea, though; cut finely with a mandoline and in clean-cut, even rounds.
Filet de canette au jus d’ollives, confits d’été et sa tapenade – for one?
The main course of small duck (canette) arrived. This was perfectly pink inside, the confit tomatoes and red peppers a perfect match, as was the tapenade – once I’d found it underneath the pile of chervil. You can see from the lighting that service was slow but after seeing the cheese trolley (extra 12€ supplement), it was worth the wait. I’ve never eaten so much chèvre (goat) cheese in my life! The best over the weekend was goats’ cheese that was more mature and dry. The flavour was powerful and was perfectly matched with the fig jam.
Still room for some Loire cheeses…
I couldn’t help putting the strongest chèvre under this lady’s nose on the plate. On the palate, I preferred sticking to the Chenin blanc. Antoine’s red chilled Chinon just didn’t have the same reaction. It certainly went with the cheese ok (go for something outside the region and the cheese tastes like washing powder and no – I haven’t tried eating it, if you ask) but the Chenin brought out floral honey notes.
Superpostition de nougat glacé, soup aux fruits rouges
Oops. Photos, Jill? Wine and photos don’t go together, as I’ve shown my knack of camera shake like this before, remember? 😉 Da-dada-da-da-da: dessert! Hm. Lovely. It was a bit disappointing, though. Antoine’s puff pastry flute to accompany the strawberries and green mint sorbet was the same they used for the apéritif, I’m sure. I don’t like overly sweet desserts, but this seriously lacked sugar.
And, since we obviously looked like we were still hungry at this point, a verbena infusion (verveine: see blog post for verveine macarons) arrived with some mignardises: an orange fruit jelly, a mini crème brulée (see what I mean about the port caramel? That would have been fantastic at that point to finish up, although perhaps not with the foie gras!), an almond financier (excellent), and a beautiful raspberry mousse.
still room for mignardises?
I took one spoonful, but then the spoon wouldn’t fit into the glass to fetch out the rest. Ah well, I think we really did well by that point. Time to order a crane to lift us out of the restaurant, Monsieur?
All in all, I would give it 14 out of 20. Where were the macarons? It was funny seeing clients order from the other menus – they had more or less the same things from the main menu, dressed up with bigger or smaller tasting portions. Antoine gets 20 out of 20 for taking me out – let’s face it, we don’t go out that much but when we do, I love getting ideas and inspiration for entertaining when my light fades in ze kitchen.
Or should I say he gets “vin sur vin”? Speaking of wine, the chenin blancs were so good that we popped in to the cellars to find out more and stock up. The winemakers were so passionate about their babies as they explained the much longer process of making wines organically.
Visiting the local organic wine cellars
First stop was at Château de la Roche en Loire. Our favourite was the one in the restaurant: the 2009 Cuvée Céline. It’s so intensely fruity and “oily” that it can easily cope with partnering a meal from start to finish. A real blockbuster that could even take on the toughest of highly flavoured dishes, was La Noblesse d’Aziaum 2006, from Pascal Pibaleau’s cellar. Like all organic wines, you’ll see a lot of deposit at the bottom: c’est normal.
I’ll finally finish off with an image of one of my favourite trees, full of perfumed scents. It greeted us on arrival at the B&B and we had breakfast underneath it. Such inspiration for macarons, my friends! I’ll show you next week. Any guesses?
Egg Yolk Recipe Series
I am so proud to welcome Marsha, the Harried Cook. When her email arrived with her recipe and photos, she literally dropped a bombshell. If you haven’t seen it already, drool over her Strawberries and Cream Mousse Pie, using pâte à bombe – a French term for a base of egg yolks and sugar. What’s more, she’s offering a Giveaway of 2 Mad About Macarons!” books; hurry, the giveaway ends on Sunday 26 June.
Discover France Feature Article
Discover this super website, Discover France, for all of you who are mad about Paris and everything French. If you have a moment, please read my first feature article for them. 
I’m so proud to be listed amongst their featured authors. They also include an excerpt from the book:
Discover the Decadent Fashionable Pâtisserie: The Parisian Macaron
Ouf ! I’m finished now, promise…