winosandfoodies

Au Revoir Le Tour 2010

Thank you Finla * Krista *  Liz  * Jeanne  * Amanda * Eliza * Reena  * Alison  *  Chris * Tami  * Tammi  *  Amanda  * Allison *  Molly   *  Erin  *  Gilli * Stephanie  *  Sally *

Tour de France Stage 13 Rodez - Revel

Unfortunately the blogger assigned to Stage 13 has been unable to complete his post. Rather than not post anything from the region I've put together a quick background to the area. I did not have time to make a dish so at the end of the post you will find a link to a recipe.

Thank you to  Tammi at Tammi Tasting Terroir for Stage 12.  Stage 13 begins in the mountains at the city of Rodez. I have never visited Rodez  but after reading about the open-air market  in front of the cathedral , I would certainly add it to my itinerary if I was in the region. Picture wonderful plump olives,  and spices in all the colors of the rainbow.

The 13th stage runs 196km from Rodez to Revel, an arrondissement of Toulouse in the department of the Haute Garonne. Revel's market is even more well known.

'Revel, with its octagonal shape and original grid street pattern, is nearly unique in France as a perfect example of a bastide. (Bastides were fortified towns constructed in the south-west of France during the 100 Years' War). At the heart of the town the market square is bordered by medieval houses with galleries under the first floors. In the centre of the square a large tiled roof supported by a forest of ancient oak pillars and beams is topped by a belfry, once a watchtower. Saturday morning market, held under the massive central roof and all around the square, brings together people from Revel and from the surrounding villages and countryside.

Photo from ARDT

Revel Market is classified as one of the 100 most beautiful markets in France.  Open on Saturday mornings, local products sold, include  farm bredveal, duck, charcuterie, cassoulet, cheeses.

Many producers in the region have guided tours and tastings - you can taste everything from honey to cheese to charcuterie.

                                                     Photo from La Ferme de Cabriole  

Get 27,  a mint liqueur has been manufactured in the town since the 18th century.

Cassoulet is a traditional dish of the region but as that has been covered already I'll direct you to a recipe for another dish you will find on the menu in the Haute Garonne - Duck Gizzard Salad.

Visit Lamb's Ears and Honey for Stage 14.

Tour de France Group Project

Follow our gastronomic Tour de France. A complete list of participants and the tour stages can be found at my original post on 03 July. 

Read the food traditions of The Netherlands, Belgium and the regions of France as the riders pass through them.

Tour de France Stage 1 (Food From the Region)

               

Stage 1    Rotterdam - Bruxelles

 

Rotterdam is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland.  With a population of just over 603,000 it is the second largest municipality in The Netherlands.

The ASO, organizer of the Tour de France,  chose Rotterdam because, in addition to it being another big city, like London, to showcase the use of bikes for urban transportation, it provides a location well positioned considering the rest of the 2010 route.

The start in Rotterdam will be the fifth Tour de France start in the Netherlands.

I have never been to the Netherlands and have no real knowledge of Dutch food.   Oliebollen, a  deep fried pastry dusted with powdered sugar, is my only experience of Dutch food.  

 So I went straight to the source - Mickey, a lovely Dutch woman I'd met through the forums at Chocolate and Zucchini.  Mickey kindly shared her love of Dutch food with me. 

Many of the Dutch food traditions come from the availability of the food, historically. Much of Holland is farmland so there are a lot of potato and onion dishes. A regular normal every day Dutch household  dinner would be : potatoes (boiled), meat and (boiled)veg. Very Dutch would be cauliflower with a white sauce with nutmeg.

A popular dinner dish is ertwensoep, also called snert. It is usually served in winter, either as an appetiser or a main meal.  Ertwensoep has a  thick consistency and often includes pieces of pork and  smoked sausage,  and is almost a stew rather than a soup.

Stamppot a mixture of potato and vegetables boiled and mashed together is a traditional winter meal. Often crispy lardons/bacon/pancetta is added.  It is served with either a good smoked sausage or stewed meat called draadjesvlees.

Popular stamppot combinations

• potato with curly kale, bacon/smoked sausage - gravy
• potato - endive - bacon
• potato - carrot - onion. This is called 'hutspot'. It  is a traditional and historical dish eaten on October 3rd to celebrate the liberation of the city of Leiden from the Spanish during the 80-year war in the 16th century.

Some stamppotten have funny names like

• ' blote billetjes in het gras' (naked buttocks in the grass) which is potato-stringbean-white beans (you see the cute bums (white beans) in the grass(stringbeans)
• ' hete bliksem' (hot lightning) with potato-apples-onion.

Herring (haring in dutch). Hollandse nieuwe, the fresh new herring of the season, is served with a glass of Korenwijn,  a special Dutch drink, a type of Dutch gin.

Gibbing, the process of preparing soused (salted) herring, was developed by the Dutch in the Middle Ages. The soused herring known in the Netherlands as,   maatjesharing, is an especially mild salt herring  made from young immature herrings. The herrings are ripened for a couple of days in oak barrels in a salt brine.

We are all familiar with the well known Dutch cheeses Gouda and Edam.  Gouda cheese is named after the city of Gouda in the South Holland region, but as the name is not protected, gouda cheese can come from anywhere in the world.

The term 'Noord-Hollandse Gouda'  is registered in the EU as a protected geographical status. Gouda is the TYPE of cheese , and ' noordhollands' is the protected name for cheese made in the north-holland area according to certain standards.  The taste of this cheese differs from regular gouda (again, the type) it's more full, creamy and slightly sweeter.

Besides cheeses, Gouda is famous for its candles and 'stroopwafels' (syrup waffles).

Other well known cheeses are from the  regions

•  Friesland      flavoured with  cloves 
• Leiden          cumin flavoured
• Limburg   Limburger cheese, a washed rind,  soft cheese  with an intense smell.

Dutch apple pie  Many countries have their own special apple pie.  The Dutch have been making their own special version of the apple pie for centuries.  A Dutch painting dated 1626, depicts the pie as having a diamond pattern made with strips of dough. Try as I may, even asking my expert friends Janet and Megan I cannot trace the actual painting.

A popular Dutch dessert is a Griesmeel pudding made from semolina and served with a sauce made from berries.

Boerenjongens (meaning farmerboys), raisins in brandy, and boerenmeisies (meaning farmergirls), apricots in brandy, are a traditional Dutch treat. They can be eaten as a sweet or used as a topping.

One other very  Dutch treat is 'poffertjes'.  These are  small fluffy pancakes (size of a large coin, or a small blini), freshly baked in a poffertjespan and served with lots of butter and icing sugar.

Other Dutch snack foods are  bitterballen and kroketten.  Both are a savoury snack made from meat.

The Dutch invented the process known as Dutch Process chocolate, where chocolate has been treated with an alkalizing agent.  It forms the basis for much of modern chocolate and is used in ice cream, baking and hot cocoa.  Earlier this year David Lebovitz  posted the differences between Dutch process and natural cocoa powder.

Despite its name, Hollandaise Sauce, a key ingredient in Eggs Benedict, is not a Dutch creation. There are several explanations to its name. One, it is said to be named from a sauce which was like a Dutch Sauce  made for the state visit to France of the King of the Netherlands. Alternatively it earned the name because it contained fine butter and good eggs which Holland was known for producing.

I asked Mickey if the Dutch shared any foods with bordering countries.  She mentioned several food shared with Belgium -  Brussels chicory, Brussels sprouts, eels (although the Dutch prefer it smoked),white asparagus (served with boiled potato, boiled egg, good ham and melted butter) and French Fries.

Except for Indonesian foods, traditional Dutch foods have not been influenced by immigration.  It is normal in Dutch families to make  a large pan of nasi or bami once a week.  Chinese food in restaurants is often more Indonesian than Chinese. Most cafes and bistros will have sateh on the menu.  In the sixties  Italian and pasta dishes began to appear.

The Dutch had colonies in the Caribbean as well: the Dutch Antilles and Aruba, and Surinam.  Because  many people from there moved to Holland, there are some of their influences in Dutch food also.  Surinam takeaways are a regular sight, mainly in the bigger cities
 
For more information on Dutch food, sorry only in Dutch, go to   http://www.vandeboer.nl/

I could not find any food traditional to Rotterdam, so I have a Pea soup recipe for you.   Mickey's description is better than anything I could offer. "a winter tradition, but also a feeling of those nostalgic, cold winters when one can go ice skating. It's not just a soup, its a meal, its a feeling. It makes me feel good and connected to all the grandmothers who know how to cook, if I make a large pan of pea soup".  

ERTWENSOEP Traditional Dutch Split Pea Soup (Visit the About.com sight for recipe)

 

* Mickey says it isn't necessary to puree the soup, the peas will fall apart and thicken the soup all by themselves! Stirring is enough. The soup profits from long simmering and is definitely  much better the day after you made it!

The herb 'celery',  which in Holland you can buy in bunches at the supermarket, is important in the soup, and is added extra next to the celery stalks and celariac.

Please visit My Kitchen Treasures tomorrow for Stage 2

Tour De France 2010

In 2004 I watched as Lance Armstrong won his 6th consecutive Tour de France.  I knew nothing about the race, apart from his involvement. Six years later, I'm almost an expert on the pelaton.  For three weeks in July my conversation is all about stage leaders, overall leaders, breakaways, king of the mountain, sprints, time trials.

LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow was born from the Tour de France.

For the next 3 weeks  a group of food bloggers will bring you the food traditions and recipes from the  stages of the 2010 Tour de France.   Recipes to represent each region  the 2010 Tour de France will pass through.

Below you will find a link  to all the blogs and the days on which they will post their recipe.

Running from Saturday July 3^rd to Sunday July 25^th 2010, the 97th Tour de France is made up of 1 prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,600 kilometres.  It includes  9 flat stages,  6 mountain stages and 3 summit finishes, 4 medium mountain stages, and 1 individual time-trial stage (51 km).

The  tour begins in the Dutch city Rotterdam, travels through  Belgium and into France.

Stage 1  04 July Rotterdam - Bruxelles
Barbara at  winos and foodies 

Stage 2 o5 July Bruxelles - Spa
Finla at My Kitchen Treasures 

Stage 3  06 July Wanze - Arenberg Porte du Hainaut
Krista at  Rambling Tart 

Stage 4  07 July Cambrai - Reims
Liz at   Strayed Table 

Stage 5  08 July Epernay - Montargis
Jeanne  at World On A Plate

Stage 6  09 July Montargis - Geuegnon
Amanda at Eye Candy Carousel

Stage 7  10 July Tournus - Station des Rousses
Eliza  at Gastronomy Gal

Stage 8  11 July Station des Rousses - Morzine Avoriaz
Reena at Coconut Raita

Stage 9  13 July  Morzine-Avoriaz - Saint Jean de Maurienne
Alison at Sushi day on her other blog Fridgg

Stage 10  14 July Chambery - Gap
Chris at Mele Cotte 

Stage 11  15 July Sisteron - Bourg les Valence
Tami at Running With Tweezers 

Stage 12  16 July Borg de Peage - Mende
Tammi   at Tammi Tasting Terroir 

Stage 13  17 July Rodez - Revel
Barbara at winosandfoodies 

Stage 14 18 July Revel - Ax 3 Domaines
Amanda at Lambs Ears and Honey

Stage 15  19 July Pamiers - Bagneres de Luchon
Allison at Pease Pudding

Stage 16 20 July Bagneres de Luchon - Pau
Molly at Seasonal Seattle 

Stage 17  22 July Pau - Col du Tourmelet
Erin at Endive Chronicles

Stage 18 23 July Salies de Bearn - Bordeaux
Gilli at So So Simple 

Stage 19  24 July Bordeaux - Pauillac
Stephanie at Bite Style 

Stage 20 25 July Longjumeau - Paris Champs-Elysees
Sally at Bewitching Kitchen

Help Needed - Are You Interested

I had a three week project in mind for July. Unfortunately it is more work than I am able to achieve. Rather than shelve the project I'm looking for volunteers to participate.

I need 19 food bloggers. You would be required to research the food traditions from a given area, bake, photograph and write about it. Your post would go up on your own blog on a set day and I will link to it from winosandfoodies.

At the end of the three weeks we would have a collection of 20 well researched and executed  posts.

If you think you'd be interested in becoming involved, email me for more information. pinotgrisATgmailDOTcom