Quince Tarte Tatin

Quince from the neighbors

I love the classic Tarte Tatin with carmelized apples.  We had a bowl of fresh quince, which grow prolifically around the Petite Chateau in the Loire Valley (the “jardin de France” as the French say).  So we dreamed up this recipe one day made with carmelized quince, butter, and agave.  We made a gluten free butter crust with almond flour.  Of course if you prefer the real thing you could use brown sugar in place of the agave, and white flour in place of the almond flour.  Quince turn a beautiful orange color with cooking.  One time we added a little fresh fig, which also grow in the Loire. A great variation of the tart.

For the quince mixture:
4-5 fresh quince, peeled, cored and sliced (quince are very hard, so be careful)
1/3 stick of butter
1/3 cup of agave

Sautée the quince for 10-15 minutes in the butter and agave until the quince is slightly soft. Arrange the slices artfully in the bottom of the pan or transfer to a pie plate for arrangement.

Quince Tarte Tatin at the Loire Petite Chateau

The crust:
1-1/4 cups of almond flour.
2/3 stick of cold butter worked into the almond flour with a pastry cutter.
Mix 1 large egg or two small eggs with the almond/butter mix.
Add a tablespoon or more of of cold water as need to form into a cohesive pastry ball.
Roll out the crust on a little loose flour.

Baking and forming the tart:
Place the crust over the arranged quince. Tuck crust ends into the side of the baking pan or pie plate.
Bake at 350 F (180 C) for about an hour until the tart is bubbling nicely.
Remove from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes.
Place a large serving plate on top of the tart baking pan; with the plate on top of the tart baking pan, turn the tart over on to a serving plate.  You may need to remove any sticking quince pieces from the baking pan.

Cool and serve with crème fraîche, chantilly (whipped cream), or vanilla ice cream.  It may take you a few times to get the timing right for your preferred level of  carmelization.

Château d’Oiron

Château d’Oiron is fun because it juxtaposes a contemporary art museum with the classic setting.

There are many famous chateau to visit near the Loire Petite Chateau.  While classic chateau nearby are a lot of fun, we also enjoy something unusual.  Château d’Oiron is such a place.  It is a classic chateau juxtaposed with contemporary art.  The quirkiness and scale of the art is fascinating.  Large rooms are filled with unusual artistic perspective.

We also enjoy the natural setting of the chateau on a vast shallow valley.  On a nice day we just sit outside and enjoy the space.

The small puppet in the lower right corner speaks and performs. It makes you laugh.

After the museum we like lunch at Relais du Chateau in the village of Oiron.  This is a great value with good quality food at  reasonable prices.  There is an attractive outdoor terrace.

A enchanting gallery at Oiron with curiously modern old murals

Braised rabbit with mustard

Braised rabbit with mustard, leeks and white wine Loire Petite Chateau

Rabbit is one of my favorite meats to cook in France.  Whole fresh rabbit is plentiful in the markets, unlike the States.  My version is less creamy than the classic French recipe but feel free to add crème fraîch or cream to the sauce at the end. The leeks add a green component that I enjoy to cut the richness. A little celery, in addition, will work too.

Fresh rabbit cut in to serving pieces
Large shallot diced
2 leeks diced including green part
1/2 cup of lardons (diced unsmoked bacon)
2+ cups dry white white like Saumur
1/2 cup flour
Dijon mustard (or whole grain French ancienne)
salt and pepper

Sautée lardons, shallot and leek separately and set aside.
Cover rabbit with flour.
Sautee over medium-high heat.
Remove rabbit from pan and cover with mustard.
Place lardons, shallot and leek in bottom of roasting pan.
Place rabbit on top of vegetables.
Pour in white wine.
Roast at 350 F (180 C) for about 1-1/2 hours or until tender.
Add more wine if all juice evaporates but try to cook off most of the alcohol.

Restaurants on market day

Lunch with Beth after the Saumur market at Le Pot de Lapin

The best markets near the Loire Petite Chateau are in Saumur and Thouars on Friday and Saturday.  After a hard morning of café sitting and market shopping it’s time for lunch.  Saumur offers a good selection of market-day restaurants.

We might go to Le Grand Bleu for mussels and seafood.  Or Le Pot de Lapin where the menu changes frequently and daily wines are featured on the chalkboard.  We always like to eat outdoors in good weather.  The best place to watch the scene with good food is Bistrot de la Place on the north side of Place St. Pierre.  There are several others on the square like Auberge St. Pierre.  For a Michelin one-star experience walk over to Gambetta a few blocks away.  Near Gambetta is L’Alchemiste, less expensive but an excellent value.

There are fewer restaurants within walking distance of the Thouars market.  A good little one with an outdoor terrace behind l’Eglise St. Médard, Le Trait d’Union, 8 Place St. Médard.  Or you could drive ten minutes away to

Mussels at Le Grand Bleu after the Saturday Saumur market

Logis de Pompois, formal and very high quality, or 15 minutes away to the nearby village of Oiron to dine at Relais du Chateau, an excellent value.  See the unusual Château d’Oiron afterwards, where a classic chateau is juxtaposed with contemporary art.

After the market in Doué la Fontaine on Mondays you can walk to Le Dagobert or drive 5 minutes away to the best restaurant in the city and a Michelin Bib Gourmand,  Auberge Beinvenue, across from the unusual Doué Bio Park, where the zoo is set in the limestone caves of the area.

There is a small Tuesday market in Montrueil-Bellay, which is only 10 minutes from our village and considered one of the most beautiful in the Loire.  We love La Barbacane for coffee or lunch on the terrace with a splendid view of the Chateau.

For the Angers market on Saturday we are partial to Autor d’un Cep, a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant.  This is a casual restaurant with good wine and creative menu.

There are dozens of good restaurants around the Chinon market on Thursday.  It is one of our favorite medieval cities nearby. We enjoy a simple meal in the central square at Bistrot de la Place.  Award winning is L’Oceanic.

At the small Fontevraud market on Wednesday’s, the Restaurant Le Délice is an excellent value.  For the one-star experience in the village we recommend La Licorne. Combine your trip to Abbaye Fontevraud, one of the greatest in France.

The best markets

The streets of Saumur fill with the market every Saturday morning

Outdoor markets are one of the joys of living in France. They are the weekly community gathering and a way of life. There is a market every day near Le Puy Notre Dame.  The two big local markets are in Saumur and Thouars, each twenty minutes from our Loire Petite Chateau.

The Saumur market fills the streets of the city every Saturday morning.  After a little shopping we have  coffee and croissants at one of the cafés in Place St. Pierre.  Away from the main square, the Butterfly has a friendly and authentic atmosphere. We

smile at some who enjoy fresh oysters with a bottle of Saumur white at 10 am, something we never have been able to do so early in the morning, with or without the oysters.  There is excellent chocolate at Maison du Chocolate on rue du Temp just south of Place St. Pierre.  Have a sumptuous

Bob having a café au lait and croissant at Le Butterfly in the Saumur market on Saturday morning

cup of hot chocolate at one of the small tables outside.

We fill our baskets with food for the week.  We might stop at the farm stall near Auberge St. Pierre where there is a large offering of freshly dressed local chicken, pintade, and rabbit, often sold out by late morning. We are partial to pintade and rabbit, which are quite difficult to buy fresh in the States.  (See my rabbit recipe.)  We buy a loaf of organic whole wheat bread (“pain complet”) from the Richelieu baker.  We frequent several organic vegetable stalls, the large one in the center of Place St. Pierre, and a small one on the northwest corner of rue du Marché and rue du Puits Neuf.  Then we might buy cows milk cheese or organic apples from farm stalls, and some organic wine from Jackie Ripoche from Les Noades.

The Thouars market is different.  Saumur is bourgeois with elegant white limestone architecture while Thouars is old world, supported by local French.  Held every Friday morning, Thouars has a larger food hall than Saumur, and is said to be the best markets in the department of Deux-Sèvres.  We find certain produce only in Thouars, like one of our favorites, fresh watercress (“cresson”), which is more intense and flavorful than in the States.  Thouars is best for seafood.  We buy a wide variety

Some of the seafood stalls at the Thouars market on Friday morning

including tiny clams, coquille St. Jacque, fresh sardines, live crab, and whole sea bass.  We continue to find surprises at this market. Lately there has been a new shop with exceptional artisan cheese.

Doué la Fontaine has a medium-size market on Monday mornings, much less intense, but very convenient when we miss the large markets on Friday and Saturday. There are several organic vegetable stalls. We have coffee outside on Place Jean Begault up by the vegetable stalls.  The best bakery, although not organic, is on Place de Justice de Paix.

Explore the other markets nearby in Montrueil-Bellay (Tuesday, which is small), Fontevraud (Wednesday, small), Chinon (Thursday, large), Angers (Saturday, large), Cholet (Saturday, large) and many others.  See French market days here.

Pictured to the right is a whole shark at the Thouars market.  Whole fish of all kinds is plentiful here.  And it is exceptionally fresh.

Good wine in the village

Vineyards surrounding the village of Le Puy Notre Dame

Wine in France is a life-long adventure.  It is, of course, a central part of the food culture.  An immense diversity of wines can be tasted at very reasonable prices.  It takes some work and an honest assessment of your tastes to accomplish the best experience.  It is quite possible to find very good wine for 10 euros ($13.50), something that I have a very hard time doing in the States.  And the variety here is incredible compared with the formulaic approach of many New World wines.  Wine in the French countryside is especially enjoyable because it can be tasted and purchase directly from the vigneron.  The Loire region is unique because it offers the most diverse selection wine styles in all of France.

There is an etiquette at the vigneron.  They are usually quite happy to give you a taste of their wine.  An appointment is usually recommended unless the operation has a full-time reception or retail store designed for walk-ins.  This is unusual but it does happen.

Jackie Riphoch, vigneron of Les Noades, who has an excellent classic red Le Puy Notre Dame bio wine.

The expectation for a tasting with most vignerons when you meet them at their cave is that you will buy a minimum of one carton (6 bottles).  Some vignerons are willing to take a small payment i

f you do not want to buy any wine.  I usually just buy a carton regardless.  This rule can be relaxed at a “porte ouvert”, where casual tastings are already set up, or it is a type of retail outlet.  It is acceptable to buy just one bottle in a retail setting, but not at a special tasting appointment.

In Le Puy Notre Dame Domaine de la Paliene on the north side of the village as you enter from Doué la Fontaine is accustomed to receiving guests, and it is organic.  Their wine is a little more expensive, but worth the money.  They also have a retail space in Montsoreau.

One of my favorite Le Puy Notre Dame wines at the moment for the money is from Jac

Philippe Gourdon, award-winning organic vigneron of Château Tours Grise

kie Ripoche at Les Noades.  Red wine from Le Puy has a distinctive minerality resulting from the limestone soil.  His red, a classic Le Puy style, sells for 8.50 euros, an excellent value for an organic wine. I also like his rosé for 5.50 euros.  It has a dry distinctive earthiness  I have not  tasted his whites or pétillants.  You

can often taste Jackie’s wines at the Saumur market on Saturday mornings.  In this setting feel free to just buy a bottle or two to see how you like it.  He is usually set up on the north side of rue St. Jean past rue Conneille.  You can make an appointment too.  He is located just west of Le Puy Notre Dame in the village of Argentay.

One of my all-time favorite Le Puy wines producers is Françoise and Phillipe Gourdon’s Château Tour Grise.  We usually provide a bottle of their Crément de Loire to our guests arriving at our Petite Chateau.   There is a nice complexity to their crément, and always appropriately dry.  I love their 2003 Amandiers for an apéro, an off-dry white.  Their bin 253 is a wonderfully balanced and complex red. They offer an excellent selection of other styles including dry white, rosé brut, several other red’s, and their Zéro wines, creative artisanal wines without an official appellation.  See this short video including shots of their Guernsey cows in the vineyards, which organically fertilize the vines, and this video where Philippe passionately talks about their organic wines and best biodynamic growing conditions compared with chemically produced grapes. Even in French you understand the benefits of the bio wine environment for grape growing.

I have yet to visit many of the nearby vignerons. And of course there are countless wines to taste throughout the Loire. When you don’t have the time, a good alternative is a local wine shop. I like Atout Vins in Doué la Fontaine, ten minutes away.  The proprietor Thierry Berson speaks English and he knows his wines from throughout France. Finally, supermarkets have reasonable offerings (don’t tell my wine friends here that I said that).  Leclerc in Saumur has the best selection. For most visitors, the wine selection at a supermarket is impressive, but you will rarely find artisan wines there.