Great article on how to clean and if necessary restore your cast-iron skillets. The best advice use it often!
Click here to view the video.
Great article on how to clean and if necessary restore your cast-iron skillets. The best advice use it often!
Click here to view the video.
Located in a small town called Saint-Avit-Sénieur, located between Monpazier and Belves in the Dordogne, is a wonderful restaurant called La Table de Leo. It is a very contemporary looking restaurant that prepares excellent cuisine. The menu was very creative and we both had the Menu du Jour, which is only available for lunch during the week.
Everything about the meal was excellent, starting with a beautiful amuse bouche, followed by an Entrée, a Plat and then of course Dessert. We also had a glass of wine at lunch which perfectly complemented our meal.
You can find more information about La Table de Leo at TripAdvisor or Michelin. Alternatively you can also contact them via their website.
Salade de Chevre Chaud, very yummy and I liked the cheese wrapped in the filo packets.
Pigeon with a chestnut purée on artichoke hearts.
Twelve hour roasted pork on a bed of home made sauerkraut and potatoes.
Exotic Fruits with a Mango Sorbet.
Deconstructed Couer du Café.
It was our last night staying in Monpazier and we decided to have dinner at Restaurant Eléonore. It was a short walk from the house we were staying at, which makes it so nice to be able to enjoy yourself and not worry about the drive home.
I had the à la carte menu with a selection of three plates while Jo Ann had the menu du jour so we were able to have a sample of both menus.
Everything we had that evening was superb and the restaurant has a good (albeit limited) selection of wines from the area and Bordeaux and which were reasonably priced.
The service was outstanding and totally matched the quality of the food and the wine. We strongly recommend this restaurant.
For more information about the restaurant you can check out their website, The Michelin Guide or TripAdvisor.
Mimosa with Quail Egg, Citron Confit and Cavier, a wonderful Amuse Bouche.
Queues de Langoustines, with a condiment of mangue-papaye and crème coco au ccombawa.
Foie Gras Mi-cuit Eléonore, wiht fine créme carottes and walnut oil dusted with a red wine sea salt. Very Yummy!
Choco-Caramel-Café, with a creéme glacé sirop d’érable and noix pécan.
Filet de bœf with racines de persil au beurre noisette, white asparagus and a sauce of port and Péridord truffes.
Dos de Saumon with perles de Savoie à l’encre de seiche, leeks and ginger done in papillote and a watercress sauce The Perles de Savoie à l’encre de seiche is pearls of black ink pasta
Pears poached in wine with a speculoos ice cream and an almond cookie.
Château Terre Vieille Pécharmant 2010, an excellent choice for the night’s meal.
Menu de Restaurant Eléonore à la carte
Menu Edward the menu of the day
A very good tutorial on how to make a perfect French omelet. I struggle with this and have found that this tutorial is very helpful. The only part I do not like is that it is imperative that you use a non-stick pan, but I hate the thought of have such a pan in our kitchen.
Click to read the article at Bon Appétit.
This is our step-by-step recipe for the classic French omelet, but in Ludo’s version, he fills it with a bit of Boursin cheese, a totally delicious and acceptable addition. You can get that (almost identical) recipe here: Ludo Lefebvre’s Omelet.
Our first day in the Sainte Foy Bordeaux appellation and we decided to head off to the Saturday market. The marché in Sainte-Foy-de-Grande is extensive, full of people and had many vendors that we do not get in the marchés in the Dordogne.
Not only was there extensive produce and fruits available, but there was excellent fish, meats, sausages, and my favorite dried fruits stuffed with foie gras. These little delicacies were so tasty and sweet, it was like candy from heaven.
Bottom line if you are visiting the Sainte Foy Bordeaux appellation, you must make time to go to the Saturday market in Sainte-Foy-de-Grande.
The dried fig stuffed with foie gras and the prune stuffed with foie gras.
The dried fig stuffed with foie gras and the prune stuffed with foie gras.
Fresh Mussels
Yummy looking mussels.
Here is a mixture of the dried figs stuffed with foie gras as well as some prunes stuffed with foie gras. We have both for tonight.
The highlight of the day, these dried figs were filled with foie gras. Such unbelievable flavor!
A French speciality, Radis Noir. I just can’t get my head around eating a black radish.
We just could not make up our minds on what we wanted to prepare and eat tonight.
Oh the prunes were so good at the marché
Yummy garlic, shallots and onions.
Very interesting way to present and sell Endive. The plant was still attached to the roots in a holder with some dirt. The vendor just broke off the vegitable when you bought it.
The marché at Sainte-Foy-de-Grande is extensive and almost every street has at least a couple of vendors. However we found one that was still empty.
The oranges were looking so fresh and tasty today.
We have been buying aceto balsamico from Guiseppe Giusti for many years but this is the first time we actually got to stop in to see how the balsamico is actually produced and to learn more about the history of this firm.
The tour was first rate and we got to taste many different versions of the aceto balsamico from the top of the line 25 year aged produce to the younger versions that are not sold as the traditional aceto balsamico.
Definitely worth a stop to explore.
When one cask starts leaking they do not remove it, instead they build a new cask around the old one. They do not want to lose all flavor that has built up over the many years of production.
Various casks for the production of aceto balsamico. They are never retired, they just keep getting enhanced with more flavor.
Tools of the Master
Various metals awarded for the aceto balsamico from Guiseppe Giusti.
One of the original casks which dates back to the 1700s.
A mixture of the products offered by Giuseppe Giusti.
During our stay in Modena Italy, we stopped into Mercato Albinelli to do some culinary shopping. We had spent the morning visiting some balsamic producers. When we arrived at the Mercato Albinelli were blown away with the architecture, the quality of the products and just about everything else about the Meercato Albinelli. My only regret is that we did not get there in the morning and came in as the venders were starting to close up shop. Morale of this store is to visit the mercato early in the day and leave yourself at least two hours.
The entrance to the Mercato Albinelli
Inside the beautiful Mercato.
One image of the many wonderful vendors at the Mercato.
Beautiful topinambour
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