And the winner is...

Having spent most of the day on my feet making chutneys, pickles, ketchups, sauces and jellies I'm now wondering why I didn't go to bed earlier last night and leave the draw until Friday!

But in a crazy fit of excitement I stayed up till just after midnight so that I could ensure that all entries were received, and then get on with drawing a winner.

All the names were listed in order of the comments being posted and then I simply used a random number generator tool to pick the winner for me.

I know the time stamp is wrong but it was after midnight UK time!

And the lucky winner is... Danny aka FoodUrchin aka Daisy! (Who managed to freak me out on twitter earlier today when he asked, with strange prescience, whether I knew who the winner was yet!)

Congratulations, Danny!

Danny wins a box of 12 Artisan du Chocolate Couture Collection chocolates. The box will contain two each of Banana & Thyme, Tobacco, Green Cardamom, Coriander Praline, Feuillantine and Verbena.*

Danny, please drop me a note with your postal address and I'll pass it on to Artisan du Chocolat who will assemble your box and post it directly to you. I hope you'll love the chocolates as much as I do!

*If any of these are unavailable on the day the box is assembled Artisan du Chocolat will substitute others from the Couture Collection.

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Last Chance To Win Top Quality Chocs!

Just a reminder that today is the last day to enter my fabulous competition to win a box of delicious Artisan du Chocolat Couture Collection treats!

Just leave your name (and contact information, if I don't already have it) in a comment on this post.

The competition is open to UK residents and entries will be accepted until midnight today (July 14th 2009).

A winner will be picked using a random number generator and the results posted later this week.

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Restaurant Review: Les Remparts, Vannes, Morbihan, Brittany

Somewhat galetted and creped out, Pete and I decided to treat ourselves to a resolutely foodie lunch on our last full day in France. Finding ourselves in Vannes late that morning, I checked both my (Eyewitness) guide book and the printed recommendations I'd garnered online and found they both converged in an enthusiastic recommendation of Table des Gourmets. Having phoned to check they were open for lunch, we duly enjoyed an amble through the beautiful streets of the old town, pausing in two chocolate shops and a covered food market, as you do!

Vannes

But when we finally made our way to the address (6 Rue Alexandre-le-Pontois), directly opposite the beautiful old ramparts of Vannes, we realised that a new restaurant had taken the place of Table des Gourmets. It hadn't occured to me to verify the restaurant's name when I'd called - I'd asked only whether they were open and if they had both a la carte and fixed price menus available.

But the menus posted outside Les Remparts looked appealing and the welcome was warm so we decided to let fate guide us. We were quickly seated inside by the window.

Lacey net curtains obscured the view out, which is a shame, given the location just across the road from the Château d l’Hermine and the beautiful formal gardens infront of it (laid out in the former moat). They also concealed the more mundane sight of constant traffic, so not entirely without merit!

The interior successfully balanced a traditional décor with a clean, modern finish. Dark panels on the lower walls and dark, bare wooden tables on a tiled floor were lifted by buttery yellow paint on the upper walls and lots of natural light. Walls were adorned with a few simple artworks and hanging blackboards listing specials, set menus and wine lists.

Menus

With our menu we were bought a pot of soft white fish meat with a basket of little toasts. Fresh, light, moist fish delicately flavoured with fresh green herbs, it was a lovely start.

M Bertrand - the owner of Les Remparts

As I more commonly go for seafood than fish, I was unfamiliar with many of the French names for fish but the waiter was happy to describe them to me (in French) along with their preparation. Pete had an easier choice, as he didn’t feel like fish (in which the restaurant specialises). As well as the a la carte menu we could also have chosen from a lunchtime menu, a daily suggestions board and a special set menu.

I went for the set Menu Gourmand at 36 € for starter, main, cheese and dessert. Pete ordered a starter and main from the standard menu; we decided to share the cheese and dessert from mine.

Bread and "the" butter!

Orders taken, we were served a basket of fresh white bread and a pat of butter, perched on a large pebble. And oh, that butter! The waiter (who by then, we’d discovered was also the owner, Bertrand Séjourné) saw our delighted expressions and nodded sagely as he explained it was a local butter and that Brittany excels in producing high quality dairy. On the evidence of this butter alone, I was willing to concede superiority on behalf of the rest of the dairy producing world!

Foie gras mi-cuit

We both started with the Foie gras de canard mi-cuit, chutney carottes & dattes. We adore foie gras mi-cuit and the slabs we were served did not disappoint; buttery-rich, velvety-smooth and utterly self-indulgent.

St Pierre (John Dory)

The main on my Menu Gourmand was St Pierre smackée, blettes & aperges, marmalade de champignons. The John Dory was simply and perfectly cooked. The vegetables were flavoursome though, as is the French style, cooked softer than would be common in London restaurants. (And it’s we Brits with a reputation for boiling our vegetables to death!) The mushroom marmalade, which I’d describe as duxelles, was packed with earthy funghi flavours. I enjoyed this all the more because of it’s rarity for me – I most commonly order meat or seafood over fish, when given the choice. No bad thing for me to be channelled into a bit of a change as I really enjoyed it.

Chicken

Pete chose Blanc de volaille laqué, légumes croquants, émulsion d’herbes which was so much punchier than it’s description suggests. The chicken meat was very moist and tender and most wonderfully flavoured with a red marinade on th meat and a green herb oil alongside. The vegetables were cut thinly, lightly cooked and balanced the dish well.

I’m afraid I neither took a photo nor notes on the cheese plate, though we did enjoy it. Only one of the cheeses was relatively local (from within the province but not the department). Given the high volumes of dairy production, I expressed surprise that Brittany doesn’t have the plethora of local cheeses common to most regions of France.

Gratin de fruits rouges

The Menu Gourmand allowed me to choose our dessert from either the specials board or the main menu. I opted for Gratin de fruits rouges which was a fantastic choice. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and cherries were all the best of their class - fresh, ripe and oozing berry goodness. These were blanketed in a light, sweet sabayon with gratinated sugar. Though the fruits had a wonderful natural sweetness the fruit and sabayon combination was irresistable!

During and after our meal we chatted to M Bertrand about our visit, about our difficulty in finding small local artisan food and drink producers open to visits from tourists and about many things food!

The wine menu

He also told us very proudly about his wine list, virtually all organic and certainly all produced using natural methods. "Des vins d’auteur", he called them, and then, in English, "wines with soul". This, as well as the provenance of his ingredients (something I’d have liked to discuss with him in more detail) is clearly something he is passionate about.

Bill paid, we continued on our way (to the impressive standing stones of Carnac), having been able to give just the briefest of greetings to the female chef who ventured shyly out of the kitchen once the lunchtime service had ended.

Our chance find had been a serendipitous one - this self-styled Restaurant & Bistrot à vins had delivered good quality ingredients simply and deftly prepared - certainly our best meal of the week.

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Kavey's Coriander-Marinated Mango

Dinner first...

Tonight I thought I'd make an effort to use up more of the contents of the mixed fruit and veg box we received from Abel & Cole last Friday.

Burgers with mushrooms and spuds

Wednesday's dinner was simple - Waitrose fresh beef burgers served with mushrooms (chopped and fried) and royal jersey potatoes (boiled and served with butter).

For dessert I figured I'd better eat the large mango - it was feeling soft and ripe and might well be past it's best by Friday, when we'd next have a chance.

But, as regular readers will know, I'm a mango snob. I prefer the wrinkly green-to-yellow Asian varieties of mango of which alphonso and kesar are the stars. The depth of flavour and the heady perfume of these mangoes put the fat, rounded red-green ones in the shade.

Sure enough, when I cut into the mango, which was perfectly ripe, it was neither as sweet or as flavoursome as I would like, though nice enough.

Mango - great condition, ripe but lacking flavour and sweetness

What to do?

A while ago I particularly enjoyed a salsa (served with empanadas in a South American chain restaurant) and guessed that it contained mango, tomato, red onion, mint and coriander. With that in mind I decided to combine coriander and mango into a dessert dish.

And for dessert - Kavey's Coriander-Marinated Mango

I chopped up the flesh, threw in a few spoons of white sugar, mixed in lots of chopped fresh coriander leaves and left it in the fridge for just under an hour.

Delicious! Though you can't see the juicy syrup that was created!

When I came to eat it the sugar had drawn some of the juices out of the mango flesh to create a delicious syrup and the coriander had imparted it's unique taste. The combination was absolutely terrific, even better than I'd hoped, and one I'll definitely do again.

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As sharp as a knife!

Whilst I was delighted with the quality of Abel & Cole's chicken their fruit and vegetables continue to be a mixed bag (or should that be box), just as they were when we finally cancelled our order back in 2007.

I've already posted about the rubbery carrots and the slightly yellowing giant spinach leaves. The fruit was in far better condition and I looked forward to biting into the smooth, attractive nectarines. Small but perfectly formed, these nectarines looked beautiful!

When I did so on Tuesday evening, they were perfectly ripe, soft and full of juice - but oh so very sharp!

Now, I'm known for my overly sweet tooth so I passed the fruit over to my husband - he has a taste for much sharper fruit than I. He too dismissed the nectarine as far too sharp to eat. I bit into nectarine after nectarine until a pile of 6 nectarines sat next to me, each one with a small bite taken out of it. Not one was sweet enough to eat and yet so soft and juicy with ripeness they could not have been left any longer without rotting.

Determined not to waste the fruit I roughly cut the flesh away from the 6 small fruits and threw it into a small pan with some white sugar and stewed it for several minutes until the fruit released some of it's juice and this mixed in with the sugar to create a tasty sweet syrup.


Still a touch sharp for my tastes, I should probably have added a little more sugar. I ate these as they were but they would have been lovely with a dollop of creme fraiche or mascarpone.

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Chicken & Spring Onion Risotto

As I posted a couple of days ago , we cooked the whole chicken (sent to me for review by Abel & Cole). The cooking liquid turned into a fabulous stock, which was frozen in two generous portions. The meat was divided into four portions, with two of those frozen as well. The carcass and neck was put back into the slow cooker that night with fresh liquid to create a second serving of stock, which went into the fridge along with a portion of the meat.

We ate the first portion of meat in a crunchy summer salad on Sunday evening.

Chicken & Spring Onion Risotto

On Monday night Pete used the stock from the fridge to make a delicious creamy risotto. To the base he added a portion of the chicken meat and the spring onions from the fruit & veg box, both finely chopped. A little seasoning salt was all that was needed to elevate these simple, good quality ingredients into a lip-smackingly tasty weekday dinner.

It doesn't appear as creamy in the photograph as it felt and tasted on eating!

How many meals can you get from one good-quality, 1.9 kilo free-range chicken?

Given that we have enough chicken meat and stock (two portions of each) in the freezer for two further meals, possibly more depending on what we use them for.

So it looks like the answer = at least 4!

We may well make chicken risotto again at least once but would love to read your suggestions on other ideas for the chicken meat and stock. Thanks!

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Book Comp Winner

Congratulations to Rosie Goldsmith who wins the copy of Carole Matthews' "The Chocolate Lovers' Club" that I was given at the recent Artisan du Chocolat Westbourne Grove store opening. Her description of a decadent chocolate fountain/ fondue with fresh fruit sounded wonderful. Rosie's prize is on it's way!

You also have until July 14th 2009 to enter a competition for fabulous Artisan du Chocolate treats. All you have to do is leave your name and contact information in a comment to the competition post! Please pass the competition link on to any chocolate-lovers you know!

And keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming competition for another tasty treat purchased during my recent trip to France!

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