Last month’s foodie radio spot on seasonal produce and local specialties found favour, thank you, and will now become a monthly feature. I shall continue to post the recipes I refer to during the programme here and will also, when time allows, post the segment with a few extra tips that I can not fit in on the show. I should be glad for your feedback, questions and ideas for future programmes or in the blogspots. You can add comments in the box at the end of the page, or contact me by email: atasteofgascony@gmail.com

If you are logging on after the emission to check out one of the recipes, please find them by scrolling down to the highlighted headings below. Thank you for listening, Babette. 

SCENTED STARS OF MAY -  and how to come out smelling of roses after eating garlic -

I don’t know about you lot, but this last month I have been completely sidetracked by my garden; With the very warm spring we have had, the second hottest on record, it seems that everything is flowering at the same time, roses that I normally have budding with at least 3 weeks between them came out simultaneously. Flowers, herbs, scrubs and trees have all put on amazing displays, and the air has been heavy with unusual scent combinations. With my somewhat one track mind this of course made me think of scents and aromas in cooking, and I will be talking about some seasonal products with distinct scent profiles that can either delight and enrich a meal, or with the wrong treatment turn it into a trial best forgotten.

Fragrances, perfumes or aromas are after all what get our mouth watering well before we even see a plate of food and get to enjoy a meal. Of all our senses smell is in fact the strongest memory trigger our brain has available and the brain constantly analyse smell signals to help us function as humans. Scientists have for a long time known that smell recognition was hardwired into our primeval brains in order to alert us to food that is off and therefore dangerous. Conversely, that nice smells help us to identify food that is healthy or good for us. It is such a well developed, if subconscious sense, that when asked to describe a dish or meal partaken in the past most people will actually use more aroma and smell terms than taste references.

Recent studies also show that body’s smell, or ‘odour’, determine the sexual attractiveness of somebody, not simply due to the impact of sex hormones, the pheromones, but due to complex sets of smell signals that indicate a person’s health and genetic compatibility. And what we actually eat and drink has more influence on our body odour than any number of expensive perfumes. This has - surprise, surprise - not passed the food conglomerates by and I recently read that one of them have cleverly tied a scent molecule to a sweet flavour ingredient; after eating it the body will give of a dominant smell of roses - No doubt future pre teen girls will be spending their pocket money on rosy chewing gum ….

Meanwhile, I am not sure if the old fashioned ways of using roses in cooking actually help us to smell of roses – but it is certain that roses can be used in numerous ways and taste as delicious as they smell. The trick to using them is to balance the fragrance with gentle and complimentary, rather than contrasting, tastes: If the smell is too overpowering it tends to prejudice towards impressions of toiletry products and can create a barrier against the delicate flavours inherent to the flower. But I had better come clean and admit that I am not an expert on the culinary use of roses. I have never been able to successfully reproduce the delicious and beautifully balanced rose marmalades and jellies that one finds in the Middle East, and I am still tweaking, or aspiring to achieve a convincing dish in the trendy ‘Fish Cappacio on roseleaf salad’ style. However I am confident when it comes to the classics, and without fail come May, I am out in the garden cropping scented roses to freeze for a bit of winter cheer and my annual batch of concentrated rose wine. I use one of the excellent local sweet wines (Juraçon or Pacherenc du Vic Bilh ) as the base for it and it is easy to make and keeps well. It is also a useful substitute for culinary rosewater which is not straight forward to get hold of here in the middle of rural France. It is an intensely aromatic wine that can be used in a variety of ways ; adding a couple of drops to lift a sparkling wine aperitif, or incorporated in a sugar glaze to enhance delicate almond Madelines and to the cream for macaroons to name but a few. [Please scroll down to se recipe]

Another strongly scented flower that is a seasonal delight in the kitchen is the sweet and fresh tasting flower from what locally is called an Acacia tree. This year the trees are flowering profusely and although the high temperatures we have enjoyed may mean that they are dropping sooner than normal, you should still be able to find some on northern slopes up to the middle of May. The traditional way to use them is in beingets, a deep fried dessert fritter. A slightly more health conscious dessert is acacia crepes;   thin pancakes, where the flowers are scattered onto the crepe in the pan before it has set. They require a bit of skill to make but are naturally sweet and burgeoning with vitamins so you can treat yourself without feeling too bad about itJ But if you are not into desserts, no worries: the taste of the flower encompass distinct hints of green iodine freshness, similar to the taste of young sweet peas and as they also have a slight crunch they work well in salads (or scattered raw to enhance meat and fish). And, if you have the time, a delicious way to enjoy them is in fresh ravioli with a filling made combining the flowers with slightly salt ricotta, or fresh goat’s cheese, a bit of egg yolk and smoked paprika. [Please scroll down for preparation technique]

The final scented star of the season is believe it or not garlic shoots or baby garlic, here called Ailletts, and which you can buy everywhere at the moment - completely different from mature garlic, the aillets do not have a pungent taste or odour.  Used simply in an omelette, or finely sliced in a salad, they taste like sweet mild young onions or chives, with a light touch of garlic taste and aroma, though little of the heat associated with the mature bulb. It is the aillets that cooks in southern Europe traditionally use for spring dishes like ‘lamb on a bed of a 100 garlic heads’, but which over the years have been poorly transcribed and now regularly get misquoted in Northern European magazine recipes as if they were made with mature garlic cloves. Misunderstandings like this, and a general lack of knowledge about how to use and prepare garlic, has in the past left garlic with an unfair ‘acquired taste’ reputation and made many a diner pong so unpleasantly that it was banned for ever after in their kitchens.  Below you will find a delicious and easy to make recipe for roast chicken stuffed with aillets, parsley and lemons.  This dish perfectly illustrates that when used correctly even a mild tasting meat like chicken is enhanced, rather than overpowered by garlic– and the recipe calls for a lot of it too!

Though it doesn’t fit with a seasonal theme in the strictest sense, I should none the less like to finish off with some general tips for how to use mature garlic, and in particular how to avoid off putting body odours after eating them. You may not end up smelling of roses, but at least the people around you will be able to breathe naturallyJ

• There are two golden rules to follow, which incidentally will also improve the taste of your dish. Always, always, slice the garlic clove in two and remove the central germ (and the base) before you use it. It is this central part that when cooked can give an acrid taste to your dish. You should also remove it when you use raw garlic as it contains the greatest concentration of the chemicals that actually bind the strong odour to your body after consumption.
• Also, never let garlic overheat or get remotely burnt. It is a myth that it will intensify the heat in the garlic and the resulting smell is so strong that it overpowers other aromas and blocks many taste receptors. Just flavour your oil or butter with it and remove it before it changes colour. In fact many chefs simply rub the inside of the pan or serving vessel with a clove to perfume a dish.
• And finally to further reduce the impact on body odour from Garlic, try combining it with parsley. Parsley naturally contains a chemical that binds the odour component from garlic, it will not remove it completely but it will help neutralise the smell. Taste wise it is also an excellent combination that is a strong feature in numerous traditional French dishes: a famous one that has stood the test of time being snails in garlic and parsley butter.

I hope this has given you some ideas for how to play with early summer scents in your cooking, and especially how to avoid the year round menace of garlicky body odour. Bonne appetite

Rose Concentrate  (sweet rose wine)

Collect unblemished and open, but not overripe roses from strongly scented varieties which have not been chemically treated. It is important to do it in the morning on a warm dry day. The heat later in the day will cause the aromas you want to capture to be released into the air, and in cool and rainy weather the aromas are not sufficiently developed to transmit a richly aromatic flavour profile to your wine, just the top and potentially bitter base notes. The latter also applies to immature and over ripe roses. Old rose varieties like Jacques Cartier give the best results.

• Delicately peel, or break off, the petals from the base, discarding any bruised leaves, the stem and the stamens. Pack the rose petals densely without bruising them in an airtight plastic or glass container; match the container and contents to avoid empty air space.
• Cover with a good quality sweet desert wine. The local varieties Juraçon and Pacherenc du Vic- Bilh (doux) are excellent for this purpose. You can also use desert wines like Muscat de Beaumes de Venise and Sauternes (generally dearer, as are the Austrian and Hungarian sweet wines). Or, use the slightly more robust and mature tasting sweet wine from Portugal, Moscatel de Setúba, or somewhat in the same vein, try a sweet quality Sherry from Spain.You will loose the rose perfume if you attempt to make it with a spirit, or use dry white wine with sugar added as your base. 

• Leave to macerate in a cool dark place for between a week and 14 days. Check occasionally to ensure that the flavour is developing and perhaps gently turn over the leaves to get an even maceration.
• When ready filter the liquid from the petals and pour it into a glass bottle and close firmly. The wine will keep for many years if kept in a cool place and out of direct sunlight. The older it is the more intense the flavour and perfume, but even just made you will need very little to impart the scent of roses to your other ingredients, drinks and cocktails.

NB. You can make a refreshing rose cordial/aperitif for immediate consumption with the used leaves:  seep them for an hour or so in 1/3 white wine and 2/3rds water, adding sugar and or an acidic fruit juice to taste and serve with crushed ice.

How to prepare Acacia Flowers

Collect fresh (cream coloured) flower gapes. Look for ones where the majority of flowers have opened and none or few have turned limp or started to go brown on the edges.  The ideal time to collect is generally early to mid morning on a dry warm day. Though they are fairly robust transport them gently to avoid bruising. Do not rinse the flowers except if dusty or from a tree where adjacent fields have been chemically treated.  Left on the stem they keep fresh in the salad section of the fridge for a couple of days, (remember to let them return to room temperature before use). As close as possible to use, sort and clean the flowers by discarding small unopened buds and flowers that have become bruised or gone floppy/brown edged. Pending your recipe you then either completely remove the petals and stamens from the little brown base caps of the flower, or leave the caps on and simply use fine scissors to cut them from the stems as close as possible to the base. General guide: for finely tuned recipes where you mainly are looking for delicate sweetness and ambrosia perfumes, discard the base cap. Leave them on when you require extra crunch or they get exposed to a lot of heat and or robust ingredients.

Simply Aromatic Chicken  with spring garlic, parsley and lemon.

Serves 6. Preparation time 10 minutes, cooking time 1hr.25 min., sauce & dressing 10 min. Simple to make and delicious. Detailed step by step recipe.

Ingredients:

1 large free range chicken

3-4 untreated juicy lemons

2 bunches of curly parsley

3-4 bunches of ailettes (garlic shoots) or 2-3 fresh young garlic bulbs.

2-3 tbs. of fruity olive oil, a tsp. of butter, a dash of water and salt & pepper.

Optional: a glass white wine or home made chicken stock to deglaze - thyme flowers and roast pine nuts to dress

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 220˚.
• Clean the chicken. If you do not have access to an old fashioned free range bird, take particular care to remove the fat from the interior and under the skin. Set aside bird, giblets and the neck, keep to room temperature.
• Rinse the parsley, discard yellow or old leaves, but leave the stems on, cutting away only the dried tip. Dry thoroughly. Separate the leaves from the stalks, chop them roughly, leaving the base stalks as is and set aside. Optional: mix the butter with the leaves to give a slight coating.
• Cut three of the lemons into four length wise, remove pips. Very finely ‘Micro Grate’ the skin from the third lemon. Press the juice from the interior and set aside.
• Trim the base and chop the dark green tops of the aillets, leaving the bulbs with about 5cms of shoot. Discard the first outer layer if it is looking tired. If using young early summer garlic, separate the cloves out, trim the base and the outer layers, and remove the central germ segment. 
• Lightly season the interior of the chicken. Stuff the chicken, taking care to layer the ingredients to get even cooking and aroma infusion. Place half the quartered lemons, peal side down in the chicken, then half the aillettes, then half the parsley stalks. Now add all the parsley leaves (with the chicken liver if you have it in the middle) and repeat with the rest of the ingredients in the inverse order, ending with the lemons facing peal side out. The bird should be densely packed, almost bursting. Close the cavity with trussing string or cocktail sticks, and fold in the wings. Lightly baste the skin with olive oil and salt.

Cooking and finishing:

Place the chicken breast side down in a snugish roasting tray with a raised grill bottom (or raise the bird from the tray by placing it on several ss forks set sideways). Add a wine glass of water to the tray. Cook it in the middle of the oven at 220˚ on top and bottom heat for 35 minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 180˚, adding a dash of water if the first lot has mostly evaporated. Repeat 20 minutes later when you turn the chicken over and put the neck and giblets under it. Also baste it quickly with a mix of 1/4 of the lemon juice and a tbs. of olive oil. Cook for another 30 minutes, basting with the pan juices + olive oil if necessary to get a nicely crisp skin. Increase the heat to 220˚ at the end if it is not crisping, or if available use the fan assisted function for the last 20 minutes.

Take the chicken out of the oven, open carefully and quickly pour all the juices from the bird’s cavity into the roasting tin and scoop out the ingredients into a bowl. Cover the meat and set aside to settle (10-15 min). Add the remaining lemon juice and the finely grated lemon peel to the pan juices and deglaze. Optional: stretch the sauce by deglazing with a glass of dry white wine/chicken stock, the parsley leaves from the stuffing and if reqd. a bit of butter or olive oil for balance. Season the sauce with fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper and pour over the garlic shoots and parsley leaves (& if appropriate, a slice of the chicken liver) when you serve. The meat will be very succulent and flavoursome and the dish works well served simply with rice or chunks of country bread and a vegetable on the side