A full South West of France menu!

Today we invite you to travel in our region, through local gastronomy thanks to a 100% South-West menu easy to prepare that we have prepared especially for you... The South-West is known for its rich and tasty cuisine. You won't be able to resist taking out your cookware for long...

A Basque appetizer

The sweetness of life in the South-West, particularly in summer time with the holidays and festivals, makes you want to share moments of conviviality with family or friends. What could be better than a table filled with local specialties to unite and bring people together in a good mood?

We suggest you start with an aperitif and an appetizer straight from the Basque country: Basque toast.

The flavors of the Basque country will be found in the Espelette pepper, a village in the heart of the Basque country for which it has made its reputation, but also raw ham, ideally from Bayonne, which will adorn your tapas-style toast.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bread
• 1 onion
• 2 red peppers
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 slices of raw ham
• 1 pinch of Espelette pepper
• Salt and pepper

Clean, remove the seed and cut the peppers into small pieces. Peel and chop the onion and a clove of garlic. Heat the olive oil in a pan and brown the onion and garlic. Then add the two red peppers and Espelette pepper, salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 minutes. Take off the heat and let it cool.

Peel the remaining garlic clove and rub it on the bread slices. Spread the pepper mixture over the toast. Cut the slices of raw ham in two and place them on the pepper toast. Serve and accompany your toast with our Château La Rose Perrière Blanc 2022 which will bring you freshness in the mouth and a fruity finish.

As a starter, a must-have dish from the region: lamprey à la bordelaise

©Canva

A typical dish from the Bordeaux region, lamprey cooked in a wine sauce is rich in flavors. It was long considered a refined dish reserved for the rich and notable. This mythical fish endemic to the Gironde estuary is fished between February and March, when it swims up the currents of the Dordogne. For centuries, it has seduced the taste buds of lovers of sauced dishes despite its surprising and non-inviting appearance. Indeed, the lamprey looks like an eel, has neither scales nor a spine but has the particularity of having a jawless mouth whose lips form a suction cup.

Ingredients:

-1.5 kg of tender leeks

- 6 onions

- 15 cl of olive oil

- 2 cloves

- 1 bottle of Bordeaux wine

Take a lively lamprey, during its preparation be careful to keep the liver and blood mixed with red wine for the next step of the recipe. Cut it into pieces of approximately 4-5 cm.

Brown the floured lamprey sections with leek whites in oil for a few moments. Make a mince with the liver, bacon, shallot, a little garlic and very finely chopped onion then add the blood.

In a large container, put 2 or 3 liters of red wine, make it boil and set it on fire; when the flame decreases, extinguish with a lid.

Then pour in the lamprey, leeks and mince, salt, pepper, add a bouquet garni. Let simmer for about 2 hours. Adjust the seasoning, if the sauce is too acidic, add a few pieces of sugar. Optionally, the next day, you can reheat the sauce until boiling.

When serving, thicken the sauce; it is served with garlic croutons. You can accompany this dish with our Château La Rose Perrière 2017.

Main course

Summer is an opportunity to visit your favorite local markets and market gardens. It’s the season for tomatoes, fleshy, red, black, in bunches, cherries… they are particularly delicious and tasty, whether eaten raw or cooked.

For the main course, we have selected for you a pan-fried or baked or barbecued duck breast which you will accompany with a homemade piperade: boil a few tomatoes for 30 seconds then remove them from the water, peel them them and cut the pulp into slices while removing the seeds. Peel and slice two onions, peel and chop two cloves of garlic and finally peel 3 fleshy red peppers and cut them into strips.

Pour 2 tablespoons of oil into a frying pan and brown the garlic and onions for 2 minutes over low heat. Add the peppers and continue cooking for about 10 minutes until the peppers are soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes until they no longer release water. Then whisk 3 eggs with a fork, pour them into the frying pan and mix using a wooden spatula to combine the mixture. Season with salt and pepper before serving hot.

©Canva

You can accompany this main dish with our Clos les Grandes Versannes 2016.

Dessert: a must-tatse Bordeaux specialty

How can you resist to their soft core and their crunchy sweet crust! Bordeaux canelés are traditionally prepared and cooked in copper molds but you will also find silicone molds in supermarkets or specialist stores. The type of molds used will have an influence on the cooking time of the canelés.

©Blandine Joannic de Pixabay

This gourmet treat is lightly flavored with rum. Homemade canelés can be a little complicated to make: sometimes they don't rise, they are difficult to unmold or are not sufficiently caramelized on the outside. But with a little practice and a good oven, you will master the recipe and delight your guests!

Ingredients:

- ½ vanilla pod
- 1 tablespoon of rum
- 100g of flour
- 250g caster sugar
- 50g of unsalted butter and 50g to butter the molds
- 1 pinch of salt
- 50cl of milk
- 4 eggs: 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks

In a saucepan, boil the milk with the half-vanilla pod that you have previously split and deseeded, and the butter.

Meanwhile, mix the sugar and flour with the pinch of salt in a bowl then add the eggs all at once.

Add the boiling milk to the mixture and mix gently to obtain a fluid batter comparable to pancake batter.

Leave to cool before adding the rum then place the mixture in the refrigerator and leave for at least an hour.

Now comes the sensitive stage of cooking: preheat your oven to 240°C (220°C – thermostat 6-7 if you are using silicone molds) and pour the cooled dough into the molds that you have buttered beforehand. Only fill them three-quarters full.

Once the oven is preheated, quickly place the cannelés on the oven tray for 12 minutes or 20 minutes at 220°C if you are using silicone molds.

At the end of this first cooking phase, lower the oven temperature to 180°C (thermostat 6) and continue cooking for 1 hour. At the end of cooking, the cannelés should be soft inside and have a crispy brown crust. Unmold them while still hot.

Enjoy your food ! And have a good digestive walk!