Saturday is special: it’s market day in Revel! We all go to the market to take in the sounds, smells and sights that are unique to a farmer’s market. After much photographing and shopping we meet in a cafe under the arches of the main square where people have met for centuries to gossip and catch up on the week’s events. Nese goes to the market with her little shopping cart and several large bags to gather the freshest produce, the most tempting selection of fresh goat’s cheese, robust wedges of country cheese and creamy rounds of Camembert for our market lunch. She selects four different kinds of olives from a huge assortment of olives in barrels. Back at La Cascade, the bounty is artfully arranged on the mosaic tables under the grapevines. After our morning in the market, we feel we have a more intimate connection with the food on our table.
Lunch menu
- Farmer’s Market Table with roast beets, large white radish, small red radishes, cucumber, carrot, red bell peppers, 4 kinds of olives
- Bread, cheese
- Fresh fruit plate with watermelon, grapes, pineapple
- Dipping Sauce
- White beans
Dipping sauce
Combine yogurt, crème fraiche, mayonnaise, small amount ketchup, squeezed garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice
Beans
– olive oil
– onions
– beans, soaked overnight
– water
– salt, pepper, seasonings of choice
Combine ingredients and cook until beans are tender, add salt at end
Dinner Menu
- fish soup
- tabouli
- salmon
- pear in caramel sauce
Fish soup
– chicken pieces
– fish trimmings
– coconut milk
– lemon
– chopped ginger
– salt and pepper
Make soup base by simmering chicken and fish for 1 and ½ hour
Strain and pick out chicken pieces, remove meat from bones
Add ginger coconut milk, lemon juice and salt to base, warm and serve
Tabouli
– lemon juice
– olive oil
– cous cous
– chopped tomatoes and cucumber
– mint
– salt and pepper
Prepare cous cous according to package directions. Cool and mix with rest of ingredients
Pear in Caramel sauce
– Pears
– sugar
– water
– caramel sauce (The following recipe for caramel sauce is from Cooking Light Magazine. For Nese’s caramel sauce, you’ll have to watch her make it. )
– shaved dark chocolate
Peel pear cut in half. Place in boiling sugar water, turn down heat and simmer ½ hour and turn, continue simmering until soft. Place on plate cut-side-down
Make caramel sauce* and pour over pear halves. Sprinkle with shaved chocolate
* Caramel Sauce
– 1 ½ cups sugar
– 1/3 cup water
– 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
– ½ t vanilla extract
Mix water and sugar in heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over low heat for to 10 miutes, until sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Increase heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm brown about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Watch closely as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. Simmer until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth and thick. Pour over pear.
