Lip Smacking

 

 

Time may go by without much happening, but we always have to eat.  Since "Le Restaurant Gouttenegre" is so close, at Champagnac-la-Prune, we tend to go there once a week.  You will recall that this is the little restaurant without a menu.  You eat what's being served.  But every bite of what is served is yummy, tasty, delicious!

 

This was this week's offering.

 

 

A tomato-based broth with vermicelli noodles and tiny vegetables, chopped very fine.  What flavour!

A wholesome entrée of tomatoes stuffed with a savoury meatloaf filling.  To die for!

Pieces from a whole roasted chicken, with lots of onions on top.  I can well imagine that the broth will be used for tomorrow's soup.  Also, a bowl of various veggies and potatoes.

 

 Cheese platter included Brie, Cantal, Comté, Salers, Bleu d'Auvergne, and Gruyère.

Speaking of cheese, let me add that the two from this area, Cantal and Salers, are both absolutely top rate.

Both are considered a "semi-hard cheese", not soft like a Brie.

A well ripened Cantal has a vigorous taste, reminiscent of cheddar, while a young cheese has the sweetness of raw milk.  Its smell is of earth and pasture lands.

Salers is often compared to and confused with Cantal cheese.  It must be made only from the milk of cows that graze on mountain pastures in the summer.  In the Salers region, mountains are covered with snow half the year, which gives the summer grasses a special richness.  Gentian and blueberry grow here.  It is a strong cheese and can be matured up to 18 months.  It has an original and complex taste, unique and very tasty.  A delight to savour.  The cheese's crust is thick and has a grey colour.  Its pâte is firm, yellow, relatively hard and has a fruity smell.  

These two cheeses are now part of our "favourites".

The dessert was a pear flan: a pastry crust filled with custard and topped with thin pear slices.  Icing sugar powdered on top.

I don't know who the "Mémère" is who does the cooking in this restaurant, but she is one heck of a cook!  I asked Anne-Marie if "Mémère" would allow me to spend an afternoon with her to watch her create her dishes, but no, that would not be possible.  Of course I would pay her for the privilege.  The reply was still no.  The idea didn't go any further. 

On another occasion, the déjeuner repeated some dishes from past meals, such as pumpkin soup and veal, but had a different entrée and dessert.

This entrée was smoked ham along with a half avocado filled with quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Dessert that day was a bowl of fresh fruit served with what she called "un biscuit".  To me, a biscuit is a cookie.  This spongy little cake triangle tasted just like my Mom's roll-cake recipe.  Mom used to bake this cake in a rectangular cake pan/cookie sheet.  Once slightly cooled, she'd add strawberry jam (spooned from a CAN with a plastic top cover once the can was opened), score the cake edges then roll up her cake with the help of a dishtowel and waxed paper. A slight sprinkling of powdered icing sugar also prevented any sticking.  Once it had set, she would slice huge portions for each of us.  I loved it!  It was even better when she added chocolate to the batter to make it extra special.

***

 

 

Here we are, back at the Sommelier Bistrot (next to the Tourist Information) in Tulle.

 



Entrée was marinated salmon (like lox) with marinated scallops, topped with a lemony salsa with capers, and a little green salad.

For me, magret de canard, foie gras, a mixture of veggies that looked like ratatouille but had a completely different taste, purée of yam, and roasted potatoes.

Karl had lamb chops in a mushroom sauce, roasted potatoes, and purée of yam.

 

We both ordered profiteroles.  Little did we know it would be this ginormous!  There were three "cream puffs", one with mint ice-cream, one with café ice-cream, and one with vanilla ice-cream.  A generous pouring of chocolate sauce and a giant mound of Chantilly. 

I do believe we had a difficult time waddling back to our car that day...

***

 

 

While we're on the subject of food and restaurants, I can say that we've only come across one place that was not worth writing about, or taking pictures.  Le Baluze, also in Tulle, turned out to be a real notch below expectations.  It's reputed to be a "meat restaurant", but I certainly wouldn't classify it as a steakhouse.  Questionable art work on the walls, a pork pâté that had way too much liver and fat, a slice of veal in mushroom sauce that was tough as leather...  When I mentioned to the waitress that the veal didn't meet my standard, she offered to fry up a "better quality piece of meat".  What - you just serve the good stuff to people who complain?  I told her not to bother.  The dessert was a "chocolat fondant" that I've seen in the pastry section at Super U, the local supermarket.  The restaurant's cook didn't even microwave it for 30 seconds to get the chocolate melted.  No artisan touch on that dessert!

 

Not a stellar meal, but perhaps a memorable one just the same.

 

 

 

***