RISI E BISI

Slipping in under the June/July dateline to keep the Foodstuff archives honest, we can report that we really weren’t thinking of you this past month, what with packing up Como, a major blow-out on the highway home; a July 31 deadline for the new rental house and a 2 week visit from a tenderfoot nephew.  Not that it’s not fun; au contraire, pile the office ever higher.

But we can report that we got very lucky with some very lousy weather.  After the Como mudslides, we returned to a Burgundy weeks in arrears.  But the Saints de Glace passed without incident, and so our pre-Como plantation put us way ahead of the local farmers on most of our ‘crops’.  ‘Knee high by the Fourth of July’ is not a Burgundian aphorism, but for folks of average height, we’re well above the waist.

Our springtimes in Italy always send us home revving for summer in Burgundy, and this year, though it rarely happens, we arrived back to an early bumper crop.  It’s like being in Italy, only more beautiful.

We have peas.  So around our house, although it’s not Venice, it tastes like it. Risi e Bisi is a Venetian rice dish, not quite soup, not quite risotto. And it turns up for a few weeks in the spring when, like here, the fresh peas are podding. In Venice, they use a particular type of Arborio rice called Vialone Nano, but do what you will.

Risi e Bisi
Venetian Pea Risotto

6 Servings

Make this risotto with a somewhat loose texture. Near the end, when the risotto is nearly done, you will add a reserved vibrant green stock made from some of the  peas. The color is sublime and the taste pure spring.

1 pound fresh peas in the pod
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion finely minced
2 cups Italian risotto rice such as Carnaroli, Aborio or Vialone Nano
½ cup dry white wine
10 cups homemade chicken or vegetable stock
½ cup grated parmesan cheese plus a few shavings to finish
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
Fine sea salt

Shell the peas.

Put 1 cup of the stock in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add a third of the peas and cook for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and blend in a mixer or with a hand held immersion blender until coarsely pureed. Season with salt to taste and reserve.

Heat the remaining stock in another saucepan and bring just to a simmer.

In a large heavy- bottomed sauté pan melt the butter in the olive oil over a medium high heat. Add the onion, stirring, and sauté until translucent. Add the rice and stir to coat the rice well with the onion and fat. After 4 minutes or so add the wine and let it bubble up for a minute or two. Add the remaining raw shelled peas and ladle in some simmering stock just to cover the rice. Reduce the heat and stir occasionally (too much stirring makes the risotto gummy). Add more stock when air holes start to appear and make sure that the rice is always covered with a thin layer of stock. Stir from time to time to keep the rice from sticking and season with some salt. It should cook at a fairly brisk bubble.

When the rice is nearly done, firm to the bite, gently reheat the reserved pea stock.  It should have a loose texture, so add a little more stock if needed.

Remove from the heat and add the softened butter and grated Parmesan. Season to taste with salt. Serve the risotto immediately in warm bowls topping each serving with a few shavings of parmesan.

All the best from Burgundy…

COMO, FOR BETTER OR WORSE

We took Papillon back to Lake Como the last week of April.  We’ve been here four weeks now; two more to go.  It’s always a pleasure to come to Italy in the Spring.  We northerners get a month’s head start on the season and can then follow the Spring vegetable harvest back home to Burgundy.

First week was great.  Lunch on the terrace; hikes in the mountains; asparagus, favas and peas.  We knew when we left here last autumn that April/May was going to be prime time for the flora.  It’s acid soil, meaning camellia, azalea and rhododendron.  And it’s the micro-climate to trump all micro-climates.  Snow on the mountains; olive trees on the slopes. The most temperate zone on Como is at mid-lake, west coast. The gardens at the Villa Carlotta are stupendo; you feel little and limited. And in Spring, it’s almost too much, a garish cacophony of color. First week.

Second week the weatherman arrived (one of our clients…) and brought with him news that a low pressure system had settled in that would last two weeks.  He was right.  First we dodged the rain, then we dodged the landslides.  The gardens at Carlotta were carpeted in blossoms like a hindu wedding.  The rest of the lake  was swollen and the rivers turgid.  Waterfalls appeared seemingly out of nowhere, stopping traffic and making headlines.

So what do you do when you’re hosting a week-long house party?  Back to basics.  Food and wine.

Some might say that Valtellina cuisine, the mountain food, is basically melting cheese on stuff.  Pizzoccheri is buckwheat flour tagliatelle tossed with potato cubes, fried cabbage and the local bitto cheese, topped with a brown butter with sage and onions.  Taroz is pretty much the same thing without the pasta and with green beans…seasonal!  The cuisine is centered around the local produce: cheeses, in addition to the king bitto, are casera, tallegio, gorgonzola (’zola’), robiolo; the salumeria is varied, but the best known is bresaola, air-dried cured beef that ranges from fine to finesse.

Around the lake the food reflects the mountains.  Look at the guy in the photo above.  He has fileted a million tiny perch.  His is a family business of lake fishermen.  They sell chub and bleak and powan, shad and pike and tench.  But it’s the perch that gets you. Sweet and fresh-issimo, it’s the base of the best-known dish of the lake.  Here’s a recipe.

Riso al persico con burro fuso e salvia fritta
Rice with perch, brown butter and fried sage

6 servings

3 quarts vegetable stock (3½ quarts of water simmered with a carrot, celery stick, onion, bay leaf and parsley for 1 hour, then strained.)
2 cups risotto rice
½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper
fine sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
12 very small skinned perch fillets
juice 1 lemon
1½ sticks unsalted butter softened to room temperature
18 fresh sage leaves washed and patted completely dry with paper towel

In a large pot bring the vegetables stock to a boil with a teaspoon of salt. Stir in the rice and reduce the heat to a slow boil and cook the rice until it is nearly done but still retaining firmness to the bite. Stain off any excess liquid. Return the rice to the hot pot and cover with two clean dish towels and let steam while you cook the fish.

In a large non-stick pan heat the olive oil with a tablespoon of the butter over a medium high heat. Lightly dredge the fish filets in flour, patting off any excess and put into the hot fat. You may have to do two batches depending on the size of the saute pan. Season the fish and cook until golden on one side. Flip carefully and cook until golden on the other side. Season again and squeeze a little lemon juice over each. Remove and put on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Stir the parmesan and two tablespoons of the softened butter into the warm rice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Have ready warm serving plates or bowls and divide the rice between them. Add two fish fillets to each plate and immediately make the sage butter.

In a small heavy sauce pan add all the remaining butter with the sage leaves and a pinch of salt. Cook the butter and sage over medium heat until the butter starts to sizzle and brown. Stir the sage in the butter until it turns slightly crisp . Remove immediately from the heat and drizzle a couple of tablespoons of butter and some of the sage leaves over each serving of rice.

(THAT’S FOR YOU, GUSHUE)

Just a quick one for those of you who saw the 28 FEB post about our worksite and Italian tea cakes….

….yep, same room.

Faked…without the benefit of Photoshop.  We did it the old-fashioned way: we cheated!

If you look at our property listing on either Holiday Lettings (property 115421) or Holiday-Rentals (property 461517), you’ll see a place that looks ready to rent.  Ha…but we have until August.  It will  look something like this then!

We’re off to Lake Como for our Spring 10 Papillon tours this week…6 weeks around the lake in azalea season

All the best from Burgundy!

…NOT MARYLAND; BURGUNDY

Some think that if it’s not related to food and wine that we’re not interested.  Chew on this: we’re for anything that’s real.  Bonus points for Burgundy…

Our good friends and Burgundy neighbors Donna Carlisle and Max Grenville are silversmiths, fine and fair.  Their stuff can be seen on www.grenvillesilver.com

…AND OTHER SEASONAL GOODIES

Our good friends, Claire and John, visited us here in Burgundy during the last week. Claire was our mentor back in our Annapolis restaurant days (you can read about that in Ellie’s cookbook, ‘At Home in Burgundy‘ available on amazon), and she’s visited us here many times over the years.  It’s always an occasion to eat, drink and make merry…and half the fun is foraging for ingredients..

Claire and John came to Burgundy with a ‘wish list’ that included snails, Charollais beef, Epoisse cheese and a free-range chicken.  We live in a farming village, so it’s not difficult for us to find real products.  So we went to see a farmer down the road to see what was on offer.  Claire got freaked out by the idea of knocking one of the cute bunnies on the head, so we settled for a dozen eggs and a beautiful bird.  It was a 2.97kg  (a little over 6.4lb) free-range chicken (not turkey: chicken).

Now, you don’t cook a free-range bird the way you would one of those yellow things that comes packaged in styrofoam, plastic wrap and surgical gauze.  If you try, the result will be tough and sinewy.  But do things right and you’ll taste chicken as it is meant to be. It’s simple: all you need is a big cocotte (a heavy, enameled, chicken-shaped Dutch oven with a heavy lid).  And once you see the result, you’ll not be surprised to know that cocotte is also the French word for ‘hen’.

Rub the skin with a little butter, put a cut  lemon, a handful of thyme and some crushed garlic in the cavity.  Place the lid on the cocotte and put it in a 325°F/170°C oven for 2 hours.  Baste it in the last hour with the copious juices you will get, and it will be golden and so tender you might swoon.

A footnote to the prep: in addition to the other usual innards (liver, heart, gizzard, neck) we also found the kidneys.  Ellie at first thought we had a hen, and that these were eggs!  But no, they were kidneys commensurate with the size of the bird itself.  So what do you do next?  You google ‘cooking chicken kidneys’, of course…give it a try; it’s a hoot.  Best result we found was ‘if you cook them in a pan, and liquid comes out, it’s pee’.

Next day we set out, ostensibly to re-live a moment we all shared many moons ago: to drink a glass of Chablis in the Chablis Bar in Chablis.  While there, we ducked into a chic epicerie across the street from the bar.  We there resolved any question about that night’s dinner.  We found fresh morels the size of two thumbs; the first white asparagus of the season; the first fresh peas too; and a little bunch of spring onions.

Fresh morels need a little prep: cut them in half and lay them out flat in a pan that size.  Half cover with water; put in a pat of butter and bring to a simmer for 15 -20 minutes.  We pulled off a bit of the mushroom liquid and made a beurre blanc reduction with a minced shallot, a splash of white wine and some lemon juice.

The rest was a simple fricasse of the asparagus with the prepped morels, peas and scallions.  We coated the whole thing with the little butter sauce at the end.  We thought about poaching our farm-fresh eggs to top it off with, but it seemed too rich at the time.

Spring has sprung!

THE FOURTH PART OF THE WORLD

In his new book, The Fourth Part of the World, Toby Lester finds a fulcrum and has levered the Age of Discovery up onto a pedestal where it is seen in new light.  As with all such mechanisms, the device is simple: a map.  The first map to show the New World surrounded by water, distinct from the three parts of the theretofore-known world.  A rare map, only one copy remains of the thousand printed.  An iconic map, for it names this new world America.

But in Lester’s hands, it becomes much more. In Barbara Tuchman style, the map is central to the end of an era.  From Marco Polo to Copernicus; from classical learning to humanism; from the early Christian missions in the east to the great explorers on vaguely charted seas, this is the story of an Age cleverly told with passion, humor and humble scholarship. In Tuchman style too, the story weaves a broad historical epic from the details of everyday life.  So much more than history, it’s as if you are there.

I have to confess a certain bias.  I have known Toby Lester for over 25 years.  I’ve seen his university days, his time with the Peace Corps in Yemen, the stint as a UN observer in Gaza; his career as a contributing editor at the Atlantic (and his body of published work there); so I’ve always known him to be clever and able.

But to read this new book is to see in him a rare ability to make careful scholarship thrilling.  It’s a great story; and it’s all true, ain’t it Toby!  And it’s available on amazon, of course.

WORK SITES AND TEA CAKES

It’s not all fine wine and travel chez nous!  Though we do shift gears a lot (last month we were entertaining wine importers here in Burgundy; next month we’re off to Aix en Provence to research Fall 2010 Papillon tours), this month we’re up a scaffold taping dry wall.

It’s hard to admit, but we’ve been working five years on this restoration.  It was a tiny traditional Burgundian farmhouse built above a cellar with two big barns attached behind.  We took the roof off of one barn, put French doors and windows in to other, then opened the one onto the other to make a fantastic terrace with an unbroken 270° panorama across the fields to the distant hills.

But we only work on it when we have the time and the money…hence the five year plan.  But it will be done this summer (it’s a weekly holiday rental and we’ve taken the first deposits, so we have no choice!)  This means redoubled efforts…with the invaluable help of an English friend.  This in turn means lots of tea.  And in our present sanitary conditions, the tannin builds on mugs and spoons, and the sink is stained brown.

But we look on the bright side.  We’re also writing and testing recipes for the upcoming Italian book, so tea-time is a chance to try some variations on Italian cakes and biscuits.   Here’s a recipe for an olive oil lemon cake that has been particularly appreciated by the electrician!

From the upcoming and as yet untitled Italian book by Eleanor Garvin (author of At Home in Burgundy: The Papillon Recipes)

Torta all’olio d’oliva al profumo di limone
Olive oil cake perfumed with lemon

8-10 Servings

It is important to use a good fruity olive oil for this cake as it is the flavor that really stands out.  Best eaten at room temperature or slightly warm, it can be kept up to 4 days tightly wrapped at room temperature. It also freezes well. Just defrost in the fridge a day before eating.

We like this as a tea time cake but you could also serve it with mixed berries and a little sweetened ricotta for dessert.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup granulated sugar4 large eggs
2 cups flour all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup mild runny honey such as acacia honey
⅔ cup fruity extra virgin olive oil
Fine zest and juice of 2 organic lemons

A pre-heated 350°F oven.

A loaf pan lightly oiled and lined with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan melt the butter and continue cooking it until it goes nutty golden brown.  Remove from the fire and let cool.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix well.  Next add the honey, olive oil, lemon juice and zest and finally the browned butter.  Put the mixture into the lined loaf pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until a knife blade inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Let cool before unmolding.

THE CLASSIC BURGUNDIAN MEURETTE

When we first arrived in Burgundy, we were surprised to find lots of old recipes for dishes like ‘Coq au Chambertin’.  We’d laugh: ‘coq au vin’, ok; but who would ever use ‘grand cru’ wine for a stew? Then, one day, while tasting with Jean Raphet in Morey-St. Denis, we had an epiphany.

Jean and his wife like their food, so we often talk about cooking.  When we brought up the ‘coq au Chambertin‘  question, Mme. Raphet asked us if we wanted some of their Charmes-Chambertin lees.  And the little light came on… she was asking if we wanted the bottled sediment of a ‘grand cru’ wine!  And up she comes from the cellar with these crusty bottles of well-aged (she said they had to be well-aged) Chambertin lees.  And ever since, we’ve had a little stash in our cellar of the best cooking wine you’ve ever tasted.

Of course, that’s one of the perks.  No one is really going to bubble-up a rabbit in a bottle of big-name Burgundy.  That said, much of  Burgundian cuisine is based on the classic red wine sauce known as meurette. So what’s the answer?

Here, in an excerpt from Ellie’s book  At Home in Burgundy, is a good starting point.

ŒUFS EN MEURETTE
Poached Eggs in Red Wine
6 Servings

This is the best known of the red wine meurette sauce recipes, probably because it is such an unusual combination: poached eggs in red wine sauce.  Served with pearl onions and bacon ‘lardons’ over a garlic crouton, it’s a seductive classic.  This same meurette sauce is also delicious served with fresh water fish.

Your choice of wine for the sauce is important.  If you can, use an inexpensive Pinot Noir or maybe Beaujolais. You want fruit; you want good acidity.  Color is important, but something like a Cabernet would just be too strong.  This sauce reduces very slowly by two thirds its volume, and ends up brilliant and sheeny.

When choosing eggs for poaching, freshness counts.  Poach them in plenty of unsalted water (salt thins out the whites) with a splash of white wine vinegar.

Traditionally, you would poach the eggs directly in the sauce.  But what if one breaks? Safer to poach the eggs apart and add nap them with the sauce before serving.

For the sauce:
1 bottle of fruity red wine
3 shallots sliced (failing that, an onion)
1 carrot sliced
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 tomato quartered
1 bouquet garni (fresh parsley, thyme and bay leaf tied with kitchen twine)
A few black peppercorns
2 cups water

For the thickening agent, a beurre manie:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, kneaded with 2 tablespoons of flour

For the garnish:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ pound of button mushrooms or larger ones quartered: optional
2 slices of ¼ inch-thick un-smoked bacon, cut into lardons
24 pearl onions peeled (plunging them into boiling water for 2 minutes makes peeling easier)
1 teaspoon sugar
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley
You will also need croutons that are large enough to hold a poached egg.  Cut six two- inch rounds out of good quality dense bread, brush with a little melted butter, season with salt and pepper and bake for 10 minutes in a hot oven.
6 large very fresh eggs

Prepare the sauce: Put the wine into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and ignite the wine with a match.  Stand back when you do this as an entire bottle of wine sends up some impressive flames.  It should continue to flame for nearly 5 minutes.  If it goes out too quickly, try turning the heat up and igniting it again.  When the flames subside, add shallots, garlic, tomato, bouquet garni, carrot and water.  Reduce slowly over a low heat by two thirds (this will take 30–40 minutes).  Strain through a fine sieve, pushing on the solids, and reserve in a clean saucepan.

For the beurre manie: Knead the butter and flour together in a small bowl.  Chill.

Finishing the sauce:  In a sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté the mushrooms over a brisk heat until their juices have evaporated.  Remove the mushrooms from the pan and reserve.  Add the lardons and pearl onions to the pan, cover and cook over a low fire for 10 minutes until the onions are cooked.  Return the mushrooms to the pan, sprinkle over the sugar, deglaze with a small ladleful of the sauce, cover and keep warm while you thicken the sauce.

Reheat the sauce; when bubbling add the chilled beurre manie a teaspoonful at a time, whisking until all lumps are dissolved and the sauce naps a spoon nicely.  Add the onions, lardons, and mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  If the sauce is too acidic, add a pat or two of cold butter.

Poach the eggs for 3 to 4 minutes until the whites are set and the yolks soft to the touch.

Warm 6 shallow bowls or plates.  Place a crouton in the bottom of each.  Top with a poached egg and spoon over the sauce.  Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

WINE

You might think it obvious that you would want to drink the same wine with this dish that you used to make it.  Funnily enough, this is not always the best choice.  A fruity Pinot will seem tangy against the meurette sauce.  Egg dishes are notoriously difficult to pair with wine.  I’ve found that I prefer a good round Chardonnay, rich but not oaky, with a hint of minerality like Pouilly-Fuissé or Saint Veran (Denis Barraud makes both really well) or perhaps a village Chassagne-Montrachet from the Domaine Borgeot.

CHABLIS 2008
…and STUMP-WHOPPED CHITTLINS

The annual Concours de Chablis took place last Saturday, and hundreds of samples of Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (from the 08 vintage) and Grand Cru (from 07) were judged by tasting panels of peers and pros.  We tasted the gamut… from over-cropped crap to sublimely crafted bijoux. I was on a jury tasting 20 AOC Chablis 08. And while I was expecting high acidity, I was truly surprised at how winemakers tried to manipulate their way around it.  There are basically two camps: those who let their yields get out of control and hence harvested hard, green, fruitless juice; and those who did their vineyard work to a respectable level, and brought in ripe but tangy fruit.  The former de-acidified and ended up with a thin and grassy tristesse; the latter added sugar and showed just how close 08 came to being an over-all good year here.

And then there are the winemakers who never get it wrong.  For them 2008 is a vintage true to type for Chablis with a balanced center, discrete fruit, smoky rock… and acidity that makes you think that the big guns of 2008 will be still be with us in 15 years.

And here….hot off the presses….the results of the 24th Annual Concours de Vins de Chablis…..

Petit Chablis 2008

Médaille d’Or
Stéphanie et Vincent Michelet, Montigny la Resle

Médaille d’Argent
Domaine du Chardonnay, Chablis

Médaille de Bronze
Domaine de la Motte, Beines

Nominés
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Chablis
Pascal Bouchard, Blancs Cailloux, Chablis
Domaine des Marronniers, Préhy
Domaine Hamelin, Lignorelles
Domaine Les Temps Perdus, Préhy
Domaine Gérard Tremblay, Poinchy
Domaine Yvon et Laurent Vocoret, Maligny

Chablis 2008

Médaille d’Or
Roland Lavantureux, Lignorelles

Médaille d’Argent
Domaine Gilbert Picq et ses Fils, Chichée
Domaine Vrignaud, Fontenay près Chablis

Médaille de Bronze
Domaine Servin, Chablis

Nominés
Domaine Jolly et Fils, Maligny
Simonnet-Febvre, Chablis
Domaine Vocoret et Fils, Fleur de Vigne, Chablis
Domaine du Chardonnay, Chablis
Les Temps Perdus, Préhy
Domaine de la Motte, Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, Beines
Domaine de la Tour, Lignorelles
Christine et Patrick Chalmeau, Chitry
Domaine de Chantemerle, La Chapelle Vaupelteigne
Domaine Pinson, Chablis

Chablis Premier Cru, Rive Gauche, 2008

Médaille d’Or
Domaine de la Tour, Monts-Mains, Lignorelles

Médaille d’Argent
Sylvain Mosnier, Beauroy, Beines
J.Moreau et Fils, Montmains, La Croix Saint Joseph, Chablis

Médaille de Bronze
Domaine des Malandes, Côte de Léchet, Chablis
Domaine J.Collet et Fils, Vaillons, Fûts de Chêne, Chablis

Nominés
Domaine Bernard Defaix, Vaillons, Milly
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Vosgros, Chablis
Domaine Oudin, Vaugiraut, Chichée
Domaine Servin, Les Forêts, Chablis
Domaine de la Grande Chaume, Vau de Vey, Chablis
Domaine du Chardonnay, Montmains, Chablis
Thierry Laffay, Vaillons, Chablis
Jean-Marc Brocard, Montmains, Préhy
Domaine de Malandes, Vau de Vey, Chablis
La Chablisienne, Beauroy, Chablis
Francine et Olivier Savary, Vaillons, Maligny
Domaine du Château du Val de Mercy, Côte de Jouan, Val de Mercy
Sylvain Mosnier, Côte de Lechet, Beines
Domaine Servin, Butteaux, Chablis

Chablis Premier Cru, Rive Droite, 2008

Médaille d’Or
Domaine J.Collet et Fils, Mont de Tonnerre, Chablis

Médaille d’Argent
Lamblin et Fils, Mont de Milieu, Maligny
Christophe et Fils, Fourchaume, Fyé

Médaille de Bronze
Domaine Charly Nicolle, Les Fourneaux, Fleys
Domaine Vocoret et Fils, Montée de Tonnerre, Chablis

Nominés
Domaine de la Mandelière, Mont de Milieu, Fleys
Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Fourchaume, Chablis
Domaine des Genèves, Les Fourneaux, Fleys
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Mont de Milieu, Chablis
Domaine Pascal Bourchard, Fourchaume, Les Vieilles Vignes, Chablis
Christophe et Fils, Montée de Tonnerre, Fyé
Domaine du Colombier, Fourchaume, Fontenay près Chablis
Domaine Yvon et Laurent Vocoret, Fourchaume, Maligny
Château de Viviers, Vaucopins, Viviers
Jean Durup Père et Fils, Fourchaume, Maligny
Domaine Séguinot-Bordet, Fourchaume, Maligny
Domaine Corinne et Jean-Pierre Grossot, Les Fourneaux, Fleys
Domaine de la Meulière, Vaucoupin, Fleys

Chablis Grand Cru 2007

Médaille d’Or
Domaine Laroche, Les Blanchots, Chablis
Domaine du Colombier, Bougros, Fontenay près Chablis

Médaille d’Argent
Domaine Pascal Bouchard, Les Clos, Chablis

Médaille de Bronze
La Chablisienne, Vaudésir, Chablis

Nominés
Garnier et Fils, Les Clos, Ligny le Châtel
Lamblin et Fils, Les Clos, Maligny
La Chablisienne, Bougros, Chablis
Domaine Long-Depaquit, Les Vaudésirs, Chablis
Domaine William Fèvre, Les Preuses, Chablis
Domaine William Fèvre, Valmur, Chablis
Vignoble Dampt-Dupas, Les Preuses, Collan
Jean-Marc Brocard, Bougros, Préhy
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Vaudésir, Chablis
Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Valmur, Chablis

…and finally, thanks to the BIVB in Chablis for a fantastic post-concours tasting and pig roast….with hand-made andouillette!! (stump-whopped chittlin’ quality, believe you me)

BURGUNDY SNAILS

This Saturday (16 Jan) is the annual Concours des Vins de Chablis, where the Chablisien come together to taste, judge and award medals for last year’s wine. It’s been a starred date on our calendar for almost 20 years, so in the days leading up to the tasting, we’ve been pulling a bunch of different Chablis out of the cellar to try to tune the chops (or as the French say ’se mettre en bouche’…).  And when there’s Chablis in the kitchen, we think: snails.

Snails are so closely associated with Burgundy that the prime species is called the Burgundy snail. And that  bubbling garlic and parsley butter that we smother our snails with here in Burgundy is called beurre d’escargot. People who would not otherwise eat anything… ‘weird’, often say they love escargots. But is it just the garlic butter?  Want to find out…?

Many popular recipes seem concocted to hide the snail.  But it’s in those preparations that bring them to the fore that we feel the pull of Chablis.   Both are mineral, even gravelly. So grab a bottle of good Chablis and a jar of real escargots, and give the following recipe a try. It’s from Ellie’s book (At Home in Burgundy by Eleanor Garvin).  Quick to execute and full of subtle earthy flavors, this is an argument for keeping a tin of snails on the pantry shelf.

Be careful when purchasing snails.  There are really only two species worth looking for: the Burgundy snail (called helix pomatia) and the petit gris from Provence (called helix aspersa).  These taxonomic names should be clearly marked on the label. Look for medium- (‘moyen’) or small- (‘petit’) sized snails for most recipes. Almost anything else you’ll find is likely to be the dreaded giant Asian snail (Achatina fulica, often labeled ‘achatine’) that’s questionably comestible.

VELOUTÉ DE NAVETS À LA MIREPOIX D’ESCARGOTS
Turnip Soup with a Mirepoix of Snails
10 Servings

This mirepoix (a very fine dice of mixed vegetables and herbs), made mostly of carrots, cabbage and mushroom, gives an earthy quality to this winter soup that heightens the mineral, gravely flavors of the escargots. It’s a great vehicle for appreciating the snail.

For the turnip soup:
2 ½ pounds fresh small turnips
6 cups chicken stock
¼ cup crème fraîche or heavy cream
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground white pepper
A grating of nutmeg

For the mirepoix:
2 carrots peeled
¼ Savoy cabbage (the curly leaf type)
8 firm mushrooms
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic minced
5 dozen small Burgundy snails (‘helix pomatia’)
2 tablespoons crème fraîche or heavy cream
3 tablespoons minced chives or chervil, or both

For the soup: Heat the chicken stock and add the peeled and coarsely chopped turnips.  Season with salt, and cook covered over a low heat for 20-25 minutes.  Puree the soup in a processor or with a hand-held blender; add the cream, season with the salt, white pepper and nutmeg to taste.

While the soup is cooking, make the mirepoix.  Slice the carrots thinly lengthwise, stack and cut into strips, then cut crosswise into a fine dice.  Slice the savoy cabbage thinly and then slice crosswise into a fine dice.  Slice the mushrooms, and then chop them finely.  In one tablespoon of the butter, sauté the mushrooms until all their liquid has evaporated.  Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and reserve.  In the same pan melt the remaining butter and add the finely diced carrot, cabbage and garlic.  Season with salt, cover and cook over a low fire until soft.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat the escargots with their liquid and enough water to cover just until they come to a simmer.  Strain the snails, rinse briefly under cool water and, if they are large, coarsely chop them.  Add the snails to the mirepoix with the mushroom mixture and remaining cream.  Let this cook covered over low heat for 5 minutes.  Reheat the soup.  Taste the mirepoix for seasoning and add the herbs.  Ladle the hot soup into warm shallow bowls and spoon the mirepoix into the center of each bowl.  Serve immediately.

WINE?

We live 45 minutes’ drive from Chablis, so we know it well and have many winemaker contacts there.  Chablis is a town divided: oak or stainless.  We’re in the stainless camp; why cover such unique terroir with wood?  It can’t be a question of longevity…most vintages in Chablis have enough acidity to last a decade if not more.  It’s really just a matter of taste.  But give me river rock and honeysuckle anyday.

A few of our favorite producers: Nathalie and Gilles Fevre; Didier Picq; Jean-Claude Oudin; Sylvain Mosnier; Gerard Tremblay and the Domaine du Chardonnay all come tripping off the tongue.

All the best from Burgundy!!