Pétanque & Pastis

Gastronomy in St-Martin-de-Vers

We lived a gourmand's dream today in the beautiful village of St-Martin-de-Vers, where our friends, and gourmet chefs, Allan & Diana, feted us with local specialties. We started with lunch, which included a smooth, rich foie gras and confiture accompanied by a sweet Jurançon wine, a light and delicate tomato tart, a Cahors wine, and the best gateau aux noix (walnut cake) I've ever tasted.

A Humpback Bridge in St-Martin-de-Vers

Lunch was followed by a much-needed walk around the village and a hike into the hills up above. Diana and Allan seem to know most of the 100 or so inhabitants of this typical Quercy village, as we stopped and chatted with several of them on our scenic tour.

A Hiker's View of St-Martin-de-Vers

There are some nice hiking trails climbing up into the hills above the village, offering picture postcard views of the four-slope rooftops nestled together in the cozy village below, and offering close encounters with grazing sheep, who didn't seem to be bothered at all by our traipsing along.

Grazing Sheep in the Hills above St-Martin-de-Vers

Our rejuvenating hike helped us to work up an appetite for our evening festivities. We started out with an apéritif called Fénelon, which consists of a bit of Crème de Cassis, Vin de Noix, and a generous portion of Cahors wine. To munch along with our Fénelons we had some wonderful homemade spicy almonds roasted in herbs – one of Allan's secret recipes. Dinner included sweet melon and salty Jambon de Bayonne, Magret de Canard with a sweet, thick balsamic reduction on a bed of bitter greens, all washed down with another delicious Cahors wine. As we waddled out to our car to head back to our home base in St-Cirq-Lapopie, we decided that it might be necessary to increase our 30-minute run tomorrow morning to something a little more exertive.

GATEAU AUX NOIX COLBY (c2004 Diana C. Colby)  

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. Coat two 8"-round baking dishes with (walnut or canola) oil.   

3. Mix together:

      1/2 c. eggs (whole or egg whites only)

      1 c. sugar

      1/2 c. oil (3/8 c. walnut oil plus 1/8 c. canola oil)

      1/2 c. yoghurt (plain, nonfat)

      Optional: l T. honey and 2 T. Madeira and 1/2 T. vanilla

4. Sift in: 1 1/2 c. SELF-RISING flour.

5. Stir in: 1 c. well-chopped walnut pieces (about 4 oz.).

6. Divide batter in two and pour into the two baking dishes. 

      Optional: Sprinkle top with more walnut pieces and/or decorate with walnut halves.

7. Bake about 35 minutes, then cool on racks.

      Optional: When serving, top each slice with a dollop of crème fraîche and top with a strawberry and a mint leaf.

Les Cellos - Limoncello & Mandarincello

Our friend, Véronique Mentienne, makes a wonderful variation of the Italian digestif called Limoncello.  She makes it with mandarines (tangerines or mandarin oranges) and calls it Mandarincello, and she was gracious enough to share her secret recipe with us.  We made one recipe of Mandarincello and one recipe of Limoncello, and we are still in the middle of the process.  We still have another ten days left in our one-month waiting period. 

              Véronique’s Mandarincello

Ingredients:

-          15-20 biologique (organic) mandarines, yielding approx. 200 grams of rinds (To make Limoncello, replace the 15-20 mandarine rinds with approximately 6 large biologique lemon rinds - approx. 200 grams of rinds)

-          1 Litre of 90º alcohol

-          1 Litre of still mineral water (Vittel or Evian, for example)

-          400 - 500 grams of white sugar

Equipment:

-          2 1-litre empty glass bottles

-          A sieve or cheese cloth for filtering

-          2-litre + container for mixing everything together

Yield:

-          2 1-litre bottles of Mandarincello

Directions:

-          Peel the rind off the mandarines, removing as much of the pith as you possibly can.  The pith will only make it bitter.  Also, since you will be using the rind of the mandarine, it is very important to use only biologique mandarines.   Note:  The mandarine rinds are very thin and a bit difficult to peel.

-          Insert the rinds into an empty one-liter bottle, and then pour the alcohol into the same bottle until the bottle is full.  Leave stored in the bottle for approximately one month,  periodically shaking the bottle to incorporate the rinds with the alcohol.  You’ll notice the color of the alcohol turning the same color as the rinds.

After approximately one month:

-          Filter the alcohol through a sieve or through some cheese cloth to remove the rinds, and pour it into a large container that can hold at least 2 litres of liquid (a bit larger would be better).

-          Add 1 litre of mineral water to the filtered alcohol and then add 400 to 500 grams of sugar.  The amount of sugar depends on your preference, so taste it and decide how much sugar you prefer.

-          Shake or stir the liquid to dissolve the sugar.

-          Pour the liquid into 2 1-litre bottles, and wait another 15 days to drink it.

After another 15 days:

-          Store the bottle in the freezer (the alcohol will keep it from freezing solid).

-          Serve it very cold at the end of a meal as a digestif in small shot glasses.

Note:   Here in the south of France, you can purchase 90º alcohol from the pharmacy, as long as you tell them that you need it to make Limoncello.  90º alcohol in France is equivalent to 180-proof alcohol in the United States.  Depending on how ours tastes after we add the sugar and the mineral water, we may decide to dilute it a bit more than the recipe calls for.  We’ll see…