‘Spring Delicacies’ 

(Speciality Produce from the SW of France)

I was invited to talk about seasonal produce on a local radio programme where the theme was Art. The invitees included a wildlife artist, a poetry editor, a grand master of fundraising, and just before me a horticulturalist talking about artistic vegetable gardens.  Combining practicality, flavour and aesthetics in the kitchen is another art form altogether and even more fleeting by nature than gardening!

To avoid too many superlatives I stuck to the practical aspects and trusted the listeners to create their own culinary masterpieces. That said, I did refer to some tried and tested gourmet classics (posted at the end) in case inspiration, as in inspiration with a big I, decided to go on strike in solidarity with all the wonderful seasonal produce that I didn’t have time to touch upon in the allotted timeslot.

-Exert from Radio Programme 21.04.11- 

Skip the main text to arrive at the recipes:

Pascal has spoken about planting onions to protect your future carrot crops. But if you can’t wait for your own carrots, no sweat, there are market gardeners a plenty who are more than ready and waiting to pander to our cravings for primeurs  - that is ‘baby veg to you and me ’ - so finding beautifully sweet baby carrots this time of year is easy. I will post a recipe on the *a taste of Gascony* blogg spot for oven cooked baby carrots with almonds and tarragon. Daniel Letz , an Alsacian Michelin starred chef, taught me to prepare young carrots this way years ago,  and it is still the best way I know of featuring these delicate vegetables – particularly if you have guests and do not want to worry about timings and risk last minute steaming or cooking à l’anglaise.

Other vegetables that are at their very best at the moment are the white Asparagus from the Landes  –  and the French green asparagus will be here very shortly tooJ The white asparagus is one of SW France’s culinary specialties, and they are shipped to some of the finest restaurants in Europe with price tags to follow. But, here we are lucky enough to get them at local prices. The jury is out on the best way to enjoy them. Personally I think that  they are an absolute feast in them selves, simply eaten fresh on the day you bring them home from the market - just peeled, boiled or steamed, and savoured with a bit of butter, salt and pepper, or with a light vinaigrette dressing, (in the same way that you would enjoy the green asparagus)…But, if you want to use them for a formal dinner the classical French way to present them is with either a poached egg, or, with a warm sauce (hollandaise, béarnaise, Quatre Quarts etc.). A more contemporary approach would be to drizzle the Asparagus with a spring herb pisto and finely chopped hard boiled eggs.

A main course that works really well after an asparagus starter is slow cooked veal shank (jarret de veau) – and again we are lucky to be living where some of the best veal is produced. It is a little early in the season to get the outstanding free range calf meat at an affordable price - it is broadly sold as veau élevé sous la mère, and often with a ‘Blonde d’Aquitaine’ breed tag. But if price is not a barrier there is top quality veal available already now - especially if you have a good local butcher, or if your supermarket has an in-house butchering department that sources local quality animals. However, if you are not sure where to buy from, or feel a bit daunted by asking about the animal’s provenance a simple guide is to look for lightly rose coloured meat with a fine even distribution of fat. In other words, if you are cooking for a special occasion and are thinking of using spring veal  , ‘don’t buy it if it has the colour of chicken meat ’ – it may be tender, but it is not as flavoursome as the veal that is brought to market in mid June and again from late September J.

For this month’s featured recipe I have chosen to post a classic veal roast dish: a low temperature braised veal shank, (jarret de veau) - with a delicate lemon and rosemary flavoured sauce. The slow cooking technique produces a meltingly tender joint that perfectly captures the subtle sumptuousness of veal and the dish should appeal as much to Desperate Dans as to more delicate palates. And as there is not too much last minute fiddling around involved, it is comfortable to prepare when you are having people around and do not want to be locked away in the kitchen. Or, as far as I am concerned it is perfect for Easter Lunch -  But don’t worry,  for the traditionalists out there I am also posting how to prepare the same cut of meat from  Lamb (as before you will find it on the *atasteofgascony* bloggspot). As the butchers at the moment are concentrating on supplying everybody with their traditional Easter Sunday leg of lamb roast, gigot d’agneau, you may have to pre order it – a lamb shank is called une souris d’agneau, and is taken from the lower part of  the leg, the Gigot (which then becomes a gigot raccourci ),  but - and here comes this month’s value for money tip – precisely because most people are looking for the gigot d’agneau for Easter many butchers have a surplus of the other lamb cuts so it is a good time to pick up say neck of lamb for stew dishes, (and they freeze well too J)

That is it for this month, hope you all have a happy Easter and get to share some lovely meals ---- 

Tender Veal Shank with rosemary & lemon. (Recipe by G. Frascara)

1 veal shank – jarret de veau 1.5kg

3 sprigs rosemary (minutely chopped top leaves = 3 level tsp)

Salt & Pepper

1 tbsp plain flour

50 grams butter

1 glass white wine (dry)

2 large egg yolks

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 peel of lemon grated with micro grater (1 level tsp)

2 tbs chopped parsley

225 ml meat broth (not stock or fond, but Italian style cooking broth made from vegetables and lean meat only (no bones or gelatinous cuts)

Trussing string

Slice the veal lengthwise to the bone in several places. Stuff the finely chopped rosemary mixed with a small pinch of fleur de sel in the cuts. Tie the meat tightly from top to bottom with the string. Season with salt and pepper. Flour the veal on all sides. Put in a thick bottomed roasting dish and dab the butter onto the veal. Cook in the middle of the oven at 150˚C for 4 hours. Best to leave it be and be minimal basting wise. If it has not browned at all after 3.5 hours cooking you can turn up the temperature to 180˚C  for the last 20-30 minutes.

Remove the veal from the pan, cover and let rest for 10 minutes before de-stringing and carving. Pour off the fat from the pan, deglaze with the white wine. In a bowl beat the egg yolks together with lemon juice, lemon peel, chopped parsley and warmish broth. Pour the mixture into the pan, and over a very low heat let the sauce thicken slightly for about 1 minute.

Carve at the table or serve pre cut on a platter with the sauce poured over. Carve across the joint, not length wise, to provide the most even and tender meat portions.Accompany with a potato puree and a selection of seasonal vegetables, at the moment the oven steamed carrots described below would be perfect, as would steamed peas, coco beans and baby sucherines or courgettes.

Quantities: 1,5 kg serves 6  whether you have had the lower end or the cut closest to the knuckle. If you have a choice buy the knuckle end, but if your budget allows buy the whole jarret, including the ronde (see diagram below); it will  serve 10 easilly, and leftovers do not suffer from being gently reheated and also work well as a cold cut. Round up the other quantities for a larger shank but only add to the cooking time if you also plan to load you oven with many other dishes at the same time as you are cooking the shank.

The above gives the French and English names for Veal cuts as commonly found here in France, the lower part of the jarret is also frequently found in at butchers cut into osso bucco cuts  --For an arty veal picture try this poster of veal reproduced from an old French home economics teaching aid: http://www.art.com/products/p9784754698-sa-i5573582/french-school-veal-diagram-depicting-the-different-cuts-of-meat.htm

Oven Steamed  Baby Carrots.

 Scrub the baby carrots and cut the greens leaving half a centimetre. Place them snugly, but no more than 4 layers deep, in an aluminium container. Ad a pinch of dried French tarragon, and cover the carrots to about a third in height with dry white wine. Place a few small cubes of butter on top of the carrots. Cover the container tightly with aluminium foil and cook in the top of the oven at 150 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Midway through, turn the carrots over for even cooking, covering the container tightly again. Dry roast some finely sliced almonds and set aside. When ready (cooked through but still crunchy) take the carrots out of the oven, pour off the cooking liquid, sprinkle with the almonds and serve. If you cover them and leave them in a warm place they should keep warm for about 15 minutes, but omit the almonds until you are plating up.

·        The dish also works when you use very fresh young carrots. But you then have to peel them and cut them into evenly shaped batons - about 0.5x0.5x8cms in size - and you also need to remove, or core, the centre especially from the top half of the carrot.

Quantities: for a main course side dish, provide 4/6 Baby carrots pr person pending what else you serve, (or calculate for around 2 young carrots per person if you are making batons). For 6 people you need about 25cl of white wine, 35grams of salted butter, 1/4 tsp of dried French tarragon and 50grams of flaked almonds.

Technique for slow cooked Lamb shank.

 Cook the shanks - souris - in the middle of the oven in a close lidded cast iron cooking vessel, in France a cocotte, for either 2.5 hours at 180 ˚C, or for 3.5 hours at 150˚C. For both methods brown the shanks quickly before putting them in the oven, turn them over half way through for even cooking (also to check/adjust the cooking liquid level), and remove them from the cocotte and leave covered for 10-15 minutes after cooking to settle before serving. Also for both techniques; place the seasoned shanks on chunks of vegetables and add a dash of liquid. Apart from providing natural steam and stopping the shanks from attaching to the bottom of the cocotte, the vegetables will reduce down to a soft marmalade or puree that together with cooking juices will make a lovely sauce.  

For the higher temperature cooking technique you will obtain the best, or the most mouth melting result if you first tenderise the meat over night in a wine and onion based marinade. This rather pushes you towards a robust flavour palate (traditionally; garlic, onions and punchy herbs and spices), or towards using the classic Mediterranean vegetable combos (toms, peppers, olives aubergines). This time of year I think the latter is a bit of a wasted opportunity:  just one hour longer cooking time at the lower temperature will produce superbly tender meat with a delicate sweet flavour that marries beautifully with a wide range of regionally grown seasonal vegetables at their natural flavour peak.

·        From April to May fennel bulbs from France are at their best and whether cooked in the cocotte with the meat - or separately oven roasted, steamed or finely sliced for a raw salad, they marry beautifully with lamb. So do Parsnips, and though the French crop is coming to the end you can still pick up good ones. Carrots, celery and mushrooms also work well. Basically the time you have available, your budget and your personal taste preferences are the only dictates when you use this type of slow cooking technique.

Quantities: Provide one souris pr person. Vegetables for the cooking; volume wise you need enough to cover the entire bottom of your cocotte, no matter how many souris you actually cook. Cooking liquid; enough in volume terms to fill the cocotte up to 3cm height (without vegetables) for the longer cooking technique. For the 180 ˚C cooking technique you will have to add quite a bit more, but do it when you turn over the souris halfway through. 

This is a lamb I made for our village’s life-sized Christmas crèche. Considering how many souris I have cooked in my time it is quite embarrassing to see that this fellows rear leg is woefully underdeveloped. My excuse; I am no artist so at the time I was thinking more of getting the papier mache to work than working to poundage based on my cooking experience L