Ooh peachy

I thought I’d share this recipe as I took the tart to some friends for dessert and it went down very well. I just love cooking more seasonal foods, and currently peaches and nectarines are abundant.

Unusually for me, I made the pastry, as I have to admit I don’t normally make pastry, I would buy the ready made packets, but I wanted to try this out. You need to leave the pastry to rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.

First mix 175g of plain flour, a pinch of salt, 125g chilled unsalted butter, and 25g of castor sugar together until they feel crumbly like bread crumbs. Then mix in a whisked egg yolk with a knife and add a couple of dessert spoons of cold water. Keep the white, as we will use that later. The egg and the water is Just to pull it together. Kneed it for a couple of minutes then wrap it in cling film and pop it in the fridge to rest.

Whilst this is resting cut 4 peaches or nectarines into 6 segments and simmer in 200ml of sweet wine, 100ml of water and 100g of castor sugar, along with the juice of a lemon. If you don’t have sweet wine, you could use a flavoured liqour like limoncello, if so I would say reduce the quantity to 150ml, and add 150ml of water. It only needs to simmer for about 10 minutes, just while the fruit softens slightly and imparts some flavour.

Once this is done take them out of the liquid with a slotted spoon, and let them cool down on a plate. Continue to simmer the syrup until it reduces and thickens slightly, it is now a beautiful shade of pink and orange. You will use this to coat on the top of the tart once it comes out of the oven.

Now line a tin, about 22/24 cm round, with a depth of about 1.5–2cm. I lined it with baking parchment before lining it out with the pastry and blind baking it for 15 minutes with baking beans in it. I then coated the inside of the pastry with a little egg white and popped it back in the oven for 2 mins, this just helps seal it.

Then, in a blitzer, chop up 75g of blanched almonds and 100g blanched hazelnuts, until they are chopped quite small. Mix 150g of butter with 100g of castor sugar until it goes slightly pale, then slowly add 3 whisked eggs. Once these are incorporated you can fold in 75g of flour and the chopped nuts with the zest of a lemon.

Spoon this into the pastry case and then lay the peaches on top of the mixture, just so they poke out. Bake for about 30 minutes at 180°c . Once it’s cooked, remove and brush on some syrup. I had some left over to serve on the side. I waited for it to cool before removing it from the tin. It was very peachy.

Wish upon a star

Friday night we were invited to a wine tasting at a friend’s house in Chatillon-sur-Seine. It was a beautiful, balmy evening. The chateau-like presence of the house, framing the courtyard, was subtly picked out by the lights from the pool. It formed a perfect backdrop to the garden setting.

Everyone had been asked to bring a bottle of Ladoix Premier Cru. On arrival the details of the wine were noted down and the bottle wrapped in brown paper. A number was then written on it and the bottle was placed in the centre of a table. There were 19 bottles in total.

Everyone then had a chart to score each bottle they tasted. As I was driving, I left our tasting to Brian. He didn’t seem to mind.

It was simply a delightful evening of chat, (practicing our french), delicious food, and an opportunity to blind taste a lot of different wines.

At the end of the evening, Antoine and Dominic collected in the score sheets, and the person who brought the wine with the highest score won. Sadly it was not us.

However, we did win in another way. We got home around 1am, and the sky was beautifully clear, so before we went in to bed we took a moment to admire the view of the Milky Way sweeping across the night sky. It’s an amazing sight. I then remembered a friend of ours had mentioned that if we had a clear sky we could glimpse the Perseid meteor shower, which is at it’s most visible at the moment. The timing was perfect, because as we looked up a very distinctive bright streak flew across the sky, burning a long trail behind it - it was a real thrill to see it.

Bag that idea

I’d noticed that a lot of the people buying their baguettes had long narrow bags to carry them home in. So when Brian showed me a pair of his old cotton trousers that no longer fitted him and was going to through out, I had an idea….

One baguette bag

On the verge

We spent some time today in the garden. Brian was mowing the slope whilst I took the fly mower up the hill to try and cut the verge that runs next to the swimming pool.

The fly mower has a basket to catch the grass and I was hoping this would prevent too much going into the water. I soon realised this is not the case, and actually the basket doesn’t really catch much grass at all. We are thinking that maybe we need to either lay some stones or slabs along this side. Any ideas?

I popped off to get us some snacks and drinks, and when I got back Brian had just finished scooping out all the grass, so the pool was looking very inviting. Time for a dip.

Poolside

We are enjoying a little downtime, and soaking up the heat of the day in the pool. The temperature is climbing into the 30’s, so it’s a wonderful place to cool off and take in the view. I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of looking at it.

I noticed today that you can see the little church and the Prieuré from the side of our garden, it looked calm and statuesque poking up in front of the vines.

Home working

I’m loving our new home office. We get so much done in this relaxed environment.

This morning brought added excitement as the post lady delivered our new business cards. They have photos of the rooms printed on the reverse so we will use them to help promote the chambre d’hôte.

Privé

We needed to spend a day finishing off lots of little jobs. First I painted a panel Brian had fitted in the shower room to cover up an access point to the various pipes. I then needed to touch up around the light switch Brian had swapped out. We’d bought some old brass jelly mould light switches, which look great in the bedrooms and hallway.

Brian also put the name plates up for the rooms, just love how this old french blue and white enamel style works. Finally he got round to fixing up the toilet roll holders, and a shelf in one of the cupboards which needed adjusting as the cupboard door didn’t close properly.

Whilst I was making dinner, it was a chorizo sausage casserole (something easy), Brian decided to paint a few privé signs for our doors.

Artisan

We went for lunch with friends yesterday in Chatillon-sur-Seine. It was a real treat to take time to sit and eat a relaxed lunch chatting to new and old friends in French and English. We also met their 96 year old aunt who had come to stay for a couple of weeks from Paris. She was a lovely lady full of french sophistication. It was good to chat with her, as her french was clear and precise. She tried to understand our English, as she told us she had learnt English at school.

On the way back the artisan bakers was open, so we stopped to buy a loaf. They do not bake baguettes just loaves using different locally produced flour and seeds, all very delicious.

just near it is a large water tower that always makes us smile as we drive past it. Someone has painted a cheery picture of a boy playing with two blue tits and some squirrels scrambling up on the other side. It has made a lovely feature of an otherwise ugly structure.

Poterie bel aIr

We took a trip to see GeGe at ‘Poterie Bel Air’ this week. It was a very cloudy day, but the view from her studio at the back of a small Burgundian village called Bouix was simply striking. You can see for miles, and it felt like you could reach out and touch the expanse of clouds, just like you were standing in a painting.

GeGe showed us where she worked, she is currently making a commission of jugs, so there were jugs everywhere. She is able to complete the whole process on site, as she has a kiln out in the back of one of the barns. It was really interesting listening to her speak passionately about her craft and how she achieves different colours on the clays by burning different materials like lavender for instance, and how she sits for nine hours with her kiln, tending the fire all the while.

We then went into her little shop, where her beautiful pottery is uniquely displayed on old iron implements such as a bottle dryer, and old horse drawn plough.

We will definitely be going back as I’d like to buy some little coffee mugs.

Hello ducky

We went out for a short stroll last night, and as we left the house I could here some chattering. I spotted we had a little group of ducks chuckling away in the river in front of the house. They were having a jolly old time snuffling for food and waddling their way up river.

Open for business

Brian has been working hard behind the scenes on getting our website up and running to enable guests to view our rooms and make bookings. I’m just loving what he has achieved, and I know he intends to add lots more local information such as restaurants, more champagne producers, upcoming events, useful links - details to help make our guests stay really memorable.

We have decided at this stage to not use one of the big booking sites but to use social media and ‘word of mouth’ to promote our business. We may decide next year to adopt a different approach, but for now we want to see how that works. If you are interested in staying, and want to check some dates out please send us an enquiry. Or if you know friends or family who may be interested we would really appreciate you sharing this link lamaisonenchampagne.com

Roll out the barrel

During our visit to Christian Etieene’s, we were pleasantly surprised when we learnt that David Etienne, his 25 year old son, was the barrel maker, only because it was so nice to see a young chap learning such a skilful trade. It’s a trade now that can be heavily supported by machines, however David is making barrels purely by hand. He has recently won an award as the best apprentice in France., something to be really proud of.

We were keen to see the process and so were excited when David started to collect the wood he needed to start creating the barrel. Brian has described below what we saw.

The staves of the barrel are all different widths. This was surprising, but apparently that’s mostly down to the wood they are cut from. All the pieces to make the barrel though are carefully calculated to produce the exact same size barrel every time with the last piece having been cut to make the perfect fit. Two layers of staves on a wooden palette are what is needed to make one barrel. The barrel maker begins with a guide ring at the top, spacing the staves out around the inside until they all fit.

They are still quite loose at this point, so he then adds a larger, stronger ring that is hammered down tighter. A third, medium sized ring is added before the original guide is removed. The barrel maker now hammers down the staves to make them even around the rim. What he now has looks like the top portion of an inverted cone. It’s not possible at this stage to just pull the staves in to create the barrel shape, as the oak would split, so the next step is to begin shaping the staves. This is done by placing the wide base of the barrel into a loop of steel wire attached to a metal frame with a small motor over a flaming brazier.

Oak cutoffs are used to stoke the fire whilst water is sprayed around the barrel. The water allows the outside of the staves to expand and flex, while the fire inside dries the oak and shrinks it slightly. Every few minutes the motor is engaged and the steel loop tightens. After about twenty minutes or so of tightening and stoking the fire the barrel has closed up enough to allow rings to go over it.

The barrel is braced around the base with a tie and the steel loop removed. It is then rolled off of the rack and placed upside down over another brazier. The process of adding rings is repeated as before, with the addition of the third, smallest ring for the rim.

The barrel is then flipped again and the third ring is attached to the original starting point. The barrel is then left over the brazier to create the correct level of toasting inside as has been requested by the buyer. Voila, one hour, one French oak barrel.

‘My weekend in champagne’ - day two

We had a very slow start on Sunday. We decided to stop for coffee and a chausson aux pommes overlooking the fields and vineyards, it was a beautiful calm bright morning, with a slight breeze. Such a gorgeous start to the day, we really were in no rush to get anywhere. However, we had some Champagne tastings to do. We had decided to head back to Meurville, where we had visited a few weeks ago and tasted at Jérome Cothias. There were about 5 further producers in Meurville that were opening their doors for this weekend.

As we turned off the main road we noticed lots of stalls with bunting set up for tastings in the field to our left, but Brian spotted a sign advertising a barrel making demonstration at Christian Etienne, so we decided to head there.

We were greeted with a very warm welcome and soon learnt that David, who would do the barrel making demonstration, was the son of Christian Etienne the wine producer. Whilst chatting to some other family members, and friends of the family, we were invited to join a tour of the winery. Christian Etienne had set up this site in 1978. Christian spoke passionately about his production, about what was important to him, and the philosophy that he has followed, and how he creates exceptional Champagne for all our palettes.

It was a very extensive production, and everything he needed to produce a bottle of champagne was all on site, from the pressing of the grapes, to filtering the particles from the juice, maturing the wine in oak barrels - specially chosen by him for his production - to the degorgement and bottling. And I can agree he does make exceptional champagne.

My Weekend in champagne - day one

On Saturday morning, we thought we would head into Celles-sur-Ource as our first stop for the weekend’s event. There were quite a few caves participating there, so we thought it was a good place to start.

We had a really good first tasting at Daniel Deheurles et filles. We got to meet Emily, Daniel’s daughter, and she talked us through their production and the various wines we could try. We liked their brut rosé, which we thought would make an excellent aperitif for a summer’s evening - so we bought a couple of bottles right away.

Our next stop was André Fays et Fils. But on the way in, I spotted a food truck serving Asian food, and as we were a little peckish we decided to stop for some lunch. We bought some nems and a bo bun, and enjoyed a very tasty lunch before popping in to do a rather lovely tasting. André Fays et Fils is a favourite producer of ours that we have been visiting for a number of years.

What was a wonderful little surprise was that we were offered dessert of homemade chocolate mousse and fruit tarts to go with our Saingée rosé Champagne, which was a delicious little addition to our lunch.

They produce a Champagne called ‘ Infinity’ which is created by blending wine from each year with reserved wine from the previous years’ blends. I think it now has six or seven years of wine blended in, and this is a continuous process year on year, hence the name. Of course we had to buy some to enjoy at home, as we think it will go well with BBQ’d steak.

Our next tasting was in Gyé-sur-Seine, a pretty little village about 15 minutes from us. Again there was a number of producers who had opened their doors. We chose a very modern looking, family run enterprise called Marie Demets et Fils. It was run by the son and his wife, however dad was still supporting them in the background, which was lovely to see. They had a purpose-built office and tasting area, which had gorgeous views of the vineyards and surrounding area. They had also set up an atelier for the weekend displaying art from some local artists.

We had a very relaxed tasting, and were delighted at the quality of the Champagnes. They were fruity, bright and smooth with savoury notes of yeast. Just as we like. Following the tasting we had a short tour of the production and storage area. All very impressive.

We had tasted eight champagnes throughout the day, and had a thoroughly enjoyable day out.

‘My weekend in champagne’

We are off to discover the 84 wine cellars that are opening their doors this weekend for an event called ‘my weekend in champagne’. This is replacing the champagne festival that usually happens at this time of year and due to health precautions they have changed how they run the event this year. It’s a great opportunity to get to see a lot of champagne houses, so we are heading out to take a look at what’s happening. I will let you know how many of the 84 houses we get to visit!

I’ve popped a link below if you’d like to look at the producers who have got involved.

https://cap-c.fr/mon-week-end-en-champagne/

The drunkards

Whilst we were supping our glass of champagne outside the bar in Landreville I spotted that the name of the ‘place’ opposite had a date below it. It also said poet and wine maker. “I wonder who he was?” I asked Brian. So we decided to do a bit of research, but we couldn’t find too much.

Aristide Estienne (1851 - 1926) was a poet-winemaker who lived in Landreville, he is the author of some poetry collections which apparently are printed on beautiful papers. He also produced Champagne wine, and the capsules of his bottles were decorated with his portrait, and can still be bought today as a collectors items.

I thought I’d share one of his drinking songs,

The drunkards

Come on Grenet and you Bertholle
We are waiting for the Doctor!
Leave the vines and the school
For a comforting Pernod.

We will gather the station master
Without regard to his dignity,
And while smoking a cigar,
We will drink to our health.

We are the drunkards who empty pots
Without fear of severe foreheads,
And we sing and pour 
Good wine into our glasses!

Les Poivrets

Allons Grenet et toi Bertholle
On nous attend chez le Docteur !
Laissez les vignes et l'école
Pour un Pernod consolateur.

Nous cueillerons le chef de gare
Sans souci de sa dignité,
Et tout en fumant un cigare,
Nous boirons à notre santé.

C'est nous les poivrots qui vidons
Les pots sans crainte des fronts sévères,
Et nous chantons et nous versons
Le bon vin dans nos verres !

One or two!

We had both been working hard on getting all the information together for our website today, so at about 5pm I suggested to Brian that we take a trip into Landreville. It’s the next village to us, about 3km away. It has a newly refurbished café and a small convenience shop, where I wanted to buy some nuts. I was quite amazed at the choice of nuts. I needed blanched almonds and hazelnuts, and they had both.

We decided, as it was such a gorgeous evening, to go and have a coupe de champagne at the bar, or perhaps two.

The sign in the bottom right hand side is outside the boucherie

Chambre d’hôte

We wanted to share with you all that we will shortly be relaunching our website lamaisonenchampagne.com and adding a page for our two Chambre d’hôte rooms - The Magnum and Jeroboam - with booking details. So we thought we would have a bit of fun and make a short video walk-through of the two rooms. The Magnum is the first one you will see, which has a double bed and en-suite bathroom with large walk in shower. The Jeroboam sleeps four with a double bedroom leading into a twin room and en-suite shower room with a large walk-in shower.

Jeroboam main double room

We do not want to dive head first into our new venture, but take a gentle dip. We are going to do a very soft launch via social media. We will use Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn and would appreciate any shares you can support us with through family and friends. It will be great just to get the word out there and start to gain some interest in bookings.

Facebook, Instagram (la Maison en Champagne) and Instagram (La Grande Rue).

Health first!

We were back at the CPAM office this morning. It was not like the last time we were here, five weeks ago, when it was a scorching 30 odd degrees day, today it was a little bit overcast. CPAM is where we apply for our carte vitale, which is effectively all our health cover, doctor, dentist, opticians etc. We do have a temporary social number which gives us access to the health system, but does not provide us with automatic settlement of the costs. The carte vitale will do this. For some reason, which we understand is very normal, we needed to return to provide additional documentation…again. Oh well, the interaction was good for us to practice our french. We then thought we’d make the most of the day and go into Troyes city centre for a light ‘not so healthy’ lunch.

Chocolate mousse

How can just two ingredients taste so yummy. Six farm fresh organic eggs and 200grams of dark chocolate which needs melting. This can be a bit messy but don’t let it put you off, it’s worth it. Then whisking the eggs and voila, a french chocolate mousse that you will want to make again and again. This recipe makes 6 with no cream in sight, although you can add a dollop on top if you’d like.

Hope you enjoy my short video on how to make it.