La Meilleur de la Montagne
As you may have garnered from my previous posts most of my trips abroad focus around food. My most recent excursion took me, as is often the case, to France where I experienced both mountain and metropolitan delights. As I have already regaled you with tales of metropolitan sophistication I will move onto a story of mountain nostalgia.
Anyone who has been to the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps will be familiar with the rich, cheese dominated, cuisine of the area. Although I am a fan of both fondue and melted Vacherin especially when accompanied with viande des grisons (the Savoie equivalent of the Italian bresola) the culinary highlights of skiing are, for me, not specifically from Savoie. This is largely because every year my father and I visit our favourite Alpine restaurant which does a variety of traditional pan-French dishes. Which brings me on to the subject of my photo.
My father’s response to chanterelle mushrooms is that “they taste like dishwater.” However my opinion is considerably more favourable particularly when cooked with parsley, garlic and butter, as shown here, in what the menu calls ‘a la provencal’. The reason why I so particularly associate this delicacy with the mountains is because of the place where they are served. It was at this restaurant that I first tasted these wonderful morsels. Their salty and earthy taste is given an extra pungency by the parsley and garlic. And by simply frying the mushrooms their pleasingly chewy and slightly silky texture is maintained. By introducing me to an indulgent vegetable beautifully cooked the restaurant earned itself a particular importance in my culinary education which was further entrenched by their chicken liver salad and omelettes aux fines herbes (admittedly neither eggs nor herbs are particularly unusual but the omelettes you receive are sublime and make both the eggs and herbs taste unusual in the purity of their flavour).
Sometimes it is difficult to explain why you find food so interesting and exciting. I often think if everyone who is intrigued by my obsession with food could eat one meal at this Savoie restaurant they would appreciate how something which is so everyday can be so fascinating.
Anyone who has been to the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps will be familiar with the rich, cheese dominated, cuisine of the area. Although I am a fan of both fondue and melted Vacherin especially when accompanied with viande des grisons (the Savoie equivalent of the Italian bresola) the culinary highlights of skiing are, for me, not specifically from Savoie. This is largely because every year my father and I visit our favourite Alpine restaurant which does a variety of traditional pan-French dishes. Which brings me on to the subject of my photo.
My father’s response to chanterelle mushrooms is that “they taste like dishwater.” However my opinion is considerably more favourable particularly when cooked with parsley, garlic and butter, as shown here, in what the menu calls ‘a la provencal’. The reason why I so particularly associate this delicacy with the mountains is because of the place where they are served. It was at this restaurant that I first tasted these wonderful morsels. Their salty and earthy taste is given an extra pungency by the parsley and garlic. And by simply frying the mushrooms their pleasingly chewy and slightly silky texture is maintained. By introducing me to an indulgent vegetable beautifully cooked the restaurant earned itself a particular importance in my culinary education which was further entrenched by their chicken liver salad and omelettes aux fines herbes (admittedly neither eggs nor herbs are particularly unusual but the omelettes you receive are sublime and make both the eggs and herbs taste unusual in the purity of their flavour).
Sometimes it is difficult to explain why you find food so interesting and exciting. I often think if everyone who is intrigued by my obsession with food could eat one meal at this Savoie restaurant they would appreciate how something which is so everyday can be so fascinating.
posted by Lucy at 9:56 am
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