Cycling in France - Beyond Bordeaux - Day 2 Graves et Sauternes

DAY 2  St Macaire to Origne 57km
Day 1 Cadillac to St Macaire

Ahh, the romance of the grape.  The end of day one of our cycling trip out of Bordeaux found us in the delightful old village of St Macaire which is steeped in the history of winemaking with cellars and wine stores on every corner. As we were wheeling our bikes up the cobbled street, in search of our hotel, we even encountered a bloke rolling a barrel of wine down the road - a first for me.  

Our stopping place for the night was the charming Hotel Les Feuilles d'Acanthese (Leaves of the Acanthes) a restored 16th century wine cellar with pool and spa in the basement and very good restaurant.  However, being Sunday, there was not much open when we arrived so we had a late lunch in the local Pizzeria that had lots of local dishes on the menu, including one of my favourites Gesier Salad - duck gizzard salad. (The first time I had this I had absolutely no idea what I was eating - I just knew it tasted damn good).  And when I saw the spa, back at the hotel, I knew that things were really looking up and where I was going to spend the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner that night in the hotel restaurant did prove to be a treat and this is what I had; mille feuille de tomatoes - a flaky pastry tart with tomatoes, goats cheese and parmesan, followed by the chap on the left with his local sturgeon, lentils and baby carrots, then a delicious salted caramel tiramisu, all washed down with a crisp bottle of rose - yum. 

Our comfortable room was part of the converted stone wine cellar with walls two feet thick, blocking out all noise.  So, with all that pedalling, soaking, eating and drinking under my belt, I slept like a baby ready for the next day on the bike through the famous Graves and Sauterne vineyards.

The start of Day 2 proved to be a real challenge for we quickly realised that the route was not on the quiet bike tracks we were used to from previous cycling tours ; but instead found ourselves negotiating busy roads and motorways.  We tried to be smart, taking various 'shortcuts' and detours. but ended up in a real pickle on the wrong side of a crash barrier with trucks and cars hurtling by.  A traveller on foot, with an Eastern Rosella on his shoulder, came to our rescue and helped us negotiate the labyrinth of very dangerous roads and then kindly helped us lift our bikes over the barrier to safety.  He was very surprised that I knew what his bird was and, in my halting French, explained that we too came from Australia and flocks of them were regular visitors to our garden.  With a broad smile, exchange of pleasantries and a handshake we parted company.  That's one of the nicest things about these cycle trips - you never know what delightful chance encounters you may have.

The day improved as we travelled into the countryside of Premier Crux Sauterne  with many chateaux dotted on the hillsides, charming villages and old churches, stopping for a while by the ruined castle of Budos (1306) amid the grape vines with the clouds gathering and crows soaring.  Our route had become decidedly more rural and we had a few hours of stress free cycling through verdant vineyards with the late summer harvest ripening on the vine. 

There was not much going on anywhere, but as we rode into the village car-park in Budos we were surprised to see a large group of pensioners, in a picnic shed, having a cook-up and drinking Ricard at ten o'clock in the morning.  They started to wave their arms about and remonstrate with us about something we didn't understand until we realised that we had cycled over their especially prepared gravel boule court - all marked out and ready to go! Quelle horreur.

On we cycled, through the villages of Sauterne, past its chateau and the imposing Chateau Yquem, Chateau Clos Haut Peyraguey, Chateau de Villandraut and Chateau Rayne Vignau - all normally open for wine tasting but closed on a Monday.  

Nothing here would tell you that mind boggling wealth lurks amid the picturesque vine-laden slopes and hollows.  The unprepossessing village of Sauternes has a wine shop where bottles of the celebrated Chateau d'Yquem 1990 gather dust on rickety shelves, next to hand written price tags demanding 500 euros for one bottle.

 




We were now coming out of farmland and into the forests of Landes de Gascogne, heading for our guesthouse in the village of Origne.  This Regional Natural Park stretches from here to the coast and is another good reason for visiting Bordeaux and the Gironde - it's very green and you can get away from it all in acres and acres of forest.

This forest covers over 10,000 square kilometres and is, what is known as Atlantic mixed forest - which is mostly maritime pine with oak, alder, beech and holly.  Until the nineteenth century this was a vast swampy area and when struggling agriculture was abandoned and a massive reforestation programme was undertaken, draining the swamp and planting thousands of trees.

We were going to have a real contrast tonight after St Macaire,  staying in a small guesthouse, La Maison Rose, with our hosts cooking dinner for us - we weren't really sure what to expect but the ominous storm clouds made us hurry on to seek shelter and find out.

The Town Hall in the centre of sleepy Origne

I was expecting rustic sleepiness at La Maison Rose, but what we got was a very chic converted old house and our hosts Corinne and Gerard de Rochefort, of similar age to us, having made a tree/sea change from Paris with accompanying chic decor and comfort.  Bonus, the place also has a swimming pool.

Blue hydrangeas were the theme in our room and, initially, I was a little disconcerted by all the guest signs dotted around our very comfortable suite. - an extra 20c for milk in my tea and slices of lemon indeed.  It seemed that our stay was to be governed by a lot of rules and regulations and I was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable - (would I remember to put a coaster under my water glass on the bedside table?).  All this fell away when we appeared for dinner and met our hosts, and told by them that we were to take dinner en famille - with them in their gorgeous dining room, and started to swap mutual grandchildren stories with accompanying photos (what would we do without smart phones?).  Lovely simple, home cooked dinner of jambon with melon and feta, lamb cutlets with rosemary and a platter of cheese with fresh peaches - perfect. 

The dining room  at Maison Rose laid for breakfast.

Early to bed, for tomorrow the adventure continues!

Tamarilloes - how to cook and grow them

ABOUT:  Tamarillo (Solanum betaceum) is a native to southern Brazil in the tomato Solanacea family and easy to grow in tropical and sub-tropical gardens. It is a fruit I was not familiar with until I came to Australia, but love it's fresh clean taste and versatility in cooking.   I have four plants in my suburban garden and they hardly take up any room at all, being an open and shrubby small tree that responds well to pruning after fruiting - so the fruit are easy to pick season to season - they will get to 4m if you let them.

This fruit typifies what sustainable living and cooking with abundance is all  about.  We may have to re-jig our taste buds and learn some new recipes but you surely this is better than buying out of season, tasteless, plastic boxed strawberries from a supermarket that started their journey hundred of miles away? 

I have found that tamarilloes are happy to be ignored (I just feed them a couple of times a year) as long as you don't let them dry out or get completely waterlogged - mulch, mulch and more mulch.  They need sun for at least part of the day, but will take some semi-shade.

Because they are quite shallow rooted they are a fantastic plant to incorporate in a food hedge as they don't over compete with the plants around them for water and nutrients - just remember the mulching.

In late summer they produce a crop of ovoid fruit, either orange, purple or a yellowy colour.  The skin is never eaten as it is very bitter, and flesh scooped out to be eaten fresh or cooked.  Grazing children love to just bite the top off and squeeze the tangy, tart flesh straight into the mouth.  Oh - did I mention their amazing nutritional properties - here goes?:

• TAMARILLO and NUTRITION: The tree tomato is an excellent source of antioxidants because it contains a type of flavonoid known as anthocyanins. Furthermore, and more importantly it contains the carotenoids lycopene and beta carotene (vitamin A).
• Lycopene’s principle health benefit is to neutralize or inhibit oxygen derived free radicals. Free radicals are implicated in causing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.  Lycopene, along with the other carotenoids, beta-corotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, help protect and repair cells against DNA damage, thereby helping to prevent premature aging. However, of the four carotenoids, lycopene has by far the most antioxidant activity.
• The group of flavonoids called anthocyanins are found in red or purple plant color pigments, known as phytochemicals.  These flavonoids are antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and they help neutralize free radicals. They can also provide health benefits against diabetes, nuerological diseases, cancer and aging.
• Tamarillo is also a good source of vitamin C, as well as calcium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium and magnesium.
  

USES IN COOKING:
Poached:  I first had them this way at La Luciola Restaurant in Bali - ahhh!

1. Score the pointy end of the fruit with a cross so that when they are cooked it peels back like a flower.  
2. Simmer a couple of tablespoons of honey in some water and either star anise or a scraped vanilla pod. 
3. Add the washed and scored fruit and poach for about 5 minutes. 
TOP TIP - leave the stalks on.
4. Let them cool and peel the skin back - very pretty! I have served them like this many times since, often with a sweet baked ricotta or vanilla yoghurt.  They are also good stewed with other fruits and berries - just scoop them out of their skin  first.

Jam:  They make a fabulous jam - either by itself or with other fruit - that sets really well because they are so high in pectin.  I made some the other day with mango, guavas and peaches - really yum!

Chutneys:  I have come across various recipes for this.  As soon as all the crop is in (and we stop eating them!) I will try some and post up the recipe.

NOTE:  Click here for the link to a scrum my Tamarillo Yeast Cake recipe - an extremely versatile tea cake that I make all the time.  Somebody liked it!

Octopus Salad

Octopus Salad,

 Mitsos Taverna, Corfu, Greece - cooked by Agatha, caught by Spiros

Octopus, and the rest of the family of squid, calamari and cuttlefish are sea creatures I would never have eaten as a child in London - I had to wait for the delights of savouring these for travels in Europe - Spain, Italy and then Greece.

These days I know that my holiday has started when we arrive in Athens, settle into our favourite hotel, and then wander up the street to Strofi - a restaurant with a rooftop garden where you can sit, sipping a glass of wine, and watch the sun going down behind the Acropolis.  The first thing we order is their octopus salad - a revelation of tender, meaty, lobstery tasting delight - perfection.  The shoulders relax, travel fatigue drops away and I begin to enjoy my holiday knowing that there's plenty more of this where that came from.

It's a shame that most people I know would never dream of attempting a dish like this because they think that the cleaning is going to be complicated and messy, and the cooking difficult - all not true.  Apart from being good for you, as well as delicious to eat - it is cheap.  When you look at most seafood around the $25-$35 mark and compare it to squid and octopus at $5-$12 - there's nothing not to love.

IS OCTOPUS SUSTAINABLE?  This question is of increasing concern to most of us as fishing stocks are depleted by unsustainable fishing practices.  My advice - buy local.  I get mine from a large seafood shop in Ballina that sells everything that is caught when the trawlers go out but is not valued as much by the fishermen - by-catch.  This is generally the seafood I favour; squid, sardines, octopus and red mullet and other small fish.  If it turns out to be not that good for eating I make stock out of it.

WHY OCTOPUS IS GOOD FOR YOU:  

These days we are repeatedly being told that seafood is good for you and we should be eating it at least three times a week and avoiding meat.  Apart from being low in calories and saturated fats and high in protein, seafood is increasingly being shown to be helpful is fighting autoimmune diseases - like multiple sclerosis.  So what are the nutritional facts about octopus - bearing in mind that I actually eat it because it tastes damn good!

1.  Octopus, like nearly all seafood is lean and low in calories and saturated fats.  It is however quite high in cholesterol but, like all things, eaten in moderation it won't do you any harm.  It's a staple food for coastal Greek people who have the famous benefits from eating the so called 'Mediterranean Diet' that includes all kinds of seafood, including octopus - with lower rates of stroke and heart disease.

2.  Iron.  One serve has all the daily requirements for men and half for women - add a handful of parsley girls and your done for the day!

3.  B12.  Octopus exceeds your daily requirements of this important vitamin that is essential in the production of new red blood cells and supporting everyday brain function.

4. Selenium. One serve of octopus provides more than you daily requirements.  An important trace mineral that plays a role in protein metabolism during digestion.

A NOTE ABOUT ROCK BASHING!  You may have seen or heard stories about octopus fishermen bashing their catch on rocks to tenderise it,with tentacles and froth flying.  This is certainly true if the octopus is going to be flash fried or barbecued - otherwise it is like chewing rubber.  However, there is absolutely no need to do this for a dish like this where it is simmered first in water - it honestly renders it delectably tender.

Now, don't be scared - trust me!

What to Buy

For this dish you need the octopus to be large with thick tentacles - the opposite for when you are buying them for chargrilling on the barbecue - then you need small ones.

Fresh octopus should smell sweet with no trace of ammonia.  Use it as soon as possible after purchase, certainly within 36 hours, and do not store with the guts intact - the same goes for squid, calamari and cuttlefish.  

How to Clean

Simply cut the head off whole - this way you will not disturb the ink sac, and discard it.  Cut the octopus in half and pop out the black 'beak' from the middle and discard.  Cut the tips off the tentacles and discard.  That's it!

Cleaned octopus ready for cooking 

How to Cook

1. Place the cleaned octopus in a saucepan and cover with cold water. 

2. Add to this one dessertspoon vinegar, a bay leaf and one clove of garlic sliced.

3. Bring to boil and simmer for 20-40 minutes.

4. Us a small sharp knife to check when it is cooked - it should have lost its rubberyness but be firm and tender.

5. Don't over cook or it will turn to mush.

6. Drain straight away

7. As soon as the octopus cools a little rub off the dark skin - the is best done wearing disposable gloves.  This is a very simple and quick task.  There is no need to remove the suckers.

Cooked octopus - just need to get the rest of the skin off

Preparing the salad

1. Slice the cooled octopus into bite size pieces and place in a serving dish.

2. Cover with olive oil, sliced fresh garlic and sprinkle with dried oregano and thyme.  It may need a little salt at this stage.

3. Serve with wedges of lemon, fresh black pepper, sprinkle of parsley and crusty bread.

4. If the octopus is fully submerged in the oil it will keep for a week or so in the fridge.

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War the author Henry Miller went, for the first time, to Greece to visit his friend Lawrence Durrell and stayed for nine months traveling from Athens, around the Peloponnese, Corfu and to Crete.  His experiences are recorded in one of the best travel books you will ever read, The Colossus of Maroussi.  

Maybe it just has a real resonance for me because I too went to Greece and fell in love - with the varied landscapes, the romance of being on the edge of Europe and the beginning of the East, the history, the marvelous island journeys, the best swimming in the world, THE FOOD and, most of all the Greeks.  I agree with Miller when he says in the book "I like a good Greek meal better than a good French meal, even though it be heresy to admit it"

Cycling in France - Bordeaux and beyond Day 1

in 2015 we did a cycling trip from Innsbruck to Verona and it was so wonderful that we wanted to do the same kind of thing again, only somewhere different. We love the south-west of France and had glimpses of Bordeaux on a previous trip, vowing to return - the city and whole region is just so lovely.  This was where our trip in August 2016 started.

How bad could cycling through the premier wine growing of France be with its chateaux, historic villages, the forests of Aquitaine to the seafood heavens of Arachon and Cap Ferret on the Atlantic coast - staying in comfort and eating and drinking some of the best food and wine you are going to get anywhere in the world?

First let me point out that we own no lycra, but after last years' experience we did get some cycle touring shorts that have a kind of padded nappy insert - as me mate lovingly said "all ready for the nursing home Nanma"?

• The companies that we organise these tours through take all of the stress out of the trip - you just have to turn up, get on  the bike and pedal! 
• They organise: the bike - touring upright kind with panniers and basket, 
• Repair kit for the bike, 
• Helmet, 
• Book hotels in advance with choice of standard (we go 3-4 star - come on, I've been on a bloody bike all day),
• Take your bags from hotel to hotel.  
• Provide you with comprehensive and detailed daily route maps that include places of interest, historical background and recommended restaurants and lunch stops.

Place de Bourse, Bordeaux where our trip began

DAY 1  Cadillac to St Macaire 50km  28th August 2016

Our trip started in Bordeaux after a short flight from the UK.  We opted to spend a couple of days here and, let me tell you, Bordeaux is wonderful.  See my previous post for a rundown on what to do if you have a couple of days here.

The leaning clock tower of Cadillac

We were then taken by taxi on the 30 minute journey to Cadillac where we spent the night at the lovely Chateau de la Tour Hotel which had the added bonus of an outdoor swimming pool and three acres of  leafy  grounds.  Things got even better when we realised that the restaurant in the hotel had a pretty good reputation so we booked for dinner that night on the terrace - we were not disappointed.  Unexpected delights like this, we have discovered, are one of the features of these cycling tours - you go to lots of places you have never been to before and probably never go to again - a real adventure, with fabulous food thrown in savouring the novelty of it all.

Medallion of pork with truffle oil potatoes & roast capsicum sauce

Cadillac has a lot to offer for a stopover - no pink American cars but an historic 15th century chateaux,  12th century church and cobbled market square.  My luck was in because it was market day and a short stroll into the town from our hotel turned into a two hour culinary adventure.

Ah, the joys of a traditional French produce market - which I ate my way around and bought some pate de campagne from the butcher for our picnic the next day (he had four different homemade kinds).  With that and some REAL bread and tomatoes we were all set.

Next day we set off bright and early on our bikes, which had been waiting for us in the grounds of the hotel, looking forward to our ride through the premier Bordeaux wine country.  The weather forecast was promising a scorching hot day of over 36oC - which I was not looking forward to - my thermostat does not work too well these days, so we wanted to get the bulk of the ride out of the way before late morning.

The start of our adventure - outside the Cadillac Chateaux

We started out on a bike path along the lovely Garonne River and then headed into rolling vineyard country and past many small chateaux with wine tasting - just a tad bit early for us though - 8am on a Sunday morning.

Could see from the outset that this was going to be more of a walking/cycling trip - with my bung knee paining me and the heat I just couldn't get up the hills and ended up walking a fair bit!  What an absolute joy it was to be out here though - a great sense of freedom.  

Arrived in the lovely village of VERDELAIS, cycling through the beautifully proportioned town square lined with plane trees still dressed in their summer emerald green foliage. and stopped at the only place open for a coffee watching the locals turn up for Sunday morning mass in the 16th century basilica.  I was drawn in when the choir began to sing with the congregation joining in - a moment of peace, joy and cool!

The bell tower is topped by a magnificent gilded copper statue of the Virgin Mary, after whom the basilica is named - Notre Dame.  I wondered, at the time, if this town was particularly devout as the church service was packed - not the half dozen elderly ladies you get in St Michael's in Mullumbimby on a Sunday.  I subsequently discovered that the church houses a famous shrine - a 14th century wooden statue of Our Lady of Verdelais, that is said to perform miracles and is on the pilgrim route through France. I also read of a 'Black Virgin' cult centred around this statue and the church - intriguing non?

Our short coffee stop got even more interesting.  The small hole-in-the wall cafe, opposite the church, I am sure was just open on a Sunday to take advantage of the post service need for refreshments by the huge congregation for the rest of the place was as quiet as the grave. In fact, the cafe overlooked the village graveyard which snaked up the hillside and, mooching about, I was astonished to read,  on a faded sign by the gate, that Toulouse Lautrec was buried there - the renowned Impressionist painter of can-can girls, famous singers, prostitutes and the cafes around Montmarte, Paris at the turn of the last century.  As a teenager I loved his poster art and had a copy of the famous 'Jane Avril' on my bedroom wall - all that talent, dazzling paintings, debauchery and absinthe drinking - what was not to love for a nice girl from Brockley.

Lautrec was born in Verdelais and was living here in the family villa when he died of a stroke, aged 36, in 1901, after suffering years of alcoholism and venereal disease  Its hard to believe that a recent painting of his sold for US22 million for his grave is unlovingly neglected and looks hardly visited.  

Magnificent bell tower of the Basilica of Notre Dame in Verdelais topped with her gilded copper statue.

So after cycling through verdant vineyards, with this year's vintage ripening on the vine, and after 50km or so, we finally cycled into the charming and historic village of St. Macaire to find our hotel, where we were met with our sight for the day - a man rolling a barrel of wine down the street!  To be continued........