This month the Café is focusing on the Loire region of western France. Following the longest river in France, the Loire, some of the area has shifted sovereignty throughout history between the French and the British, with even a bit of linguistic influence from the Celts in nearby Breton. Famous for its illustrious Châteaux, it also brings an incredibly diverse offering of wines and cuisine.

The first course is a Salade Tourangelle, which means a salade made in the style of the city of Tours, located the middle to middle-east part of the Loire region.  Common vegetables in the region are artichokes, asparagus, green beans, and mushrooms, most often the Champignon de Paris, so you’ll find the latter two marinated and then tossed in a creamy mustard vinaigrette for this salad.  We dress some celery with lemon and toss all this together to be finished on the plate with a couple rillons.  These are chunks of pork belly that are marinated with white wine and herbs for twenty four hours, braised and then crisped in fat to make a rich, textured addition to the salad.

The second course is Cuisse de Lapin aux Pruneaux.  Although often a dish made with pork, this rabbit variation is exquisite.  The leg is marinated in red wine, browned then braised in red wine and chicken stock.  The last half hour of the braising, port-soaked prunes are added.

The third course, the traditional Pain d’Épices, which literally translates as “Bread of Spices”, is a dense bread made with cinnamon, clove, cardamom, anise seed and honey.  The bread itself serves as a wonderful bed for a house-made honey ice cream.

We’ll have this available for dinner all month long.  We first started serving it last night and sold out of it by about 8:30! Needless to say, we’ll be happy to prepare more to meet the demand.   The whole meal is $35.00 per person.  Hope to see you soon!

Keep an eye out for another post later this weekend about the wines we’ll be featuring this month too!

Matt Longman

Bordeaux lies in the western region of Aquitaine, a province that was surprisingly under English control from the twelfth century, thanks to the marriage of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine until   the end of the Hundred Years’ War in 1453.

Geographically, the region is split from the northwest by the Gironde estuary, which is fed by two rivers: the Garonne which comes down from the Pyrenees and then turns northwestward from Toulouse, and the Dordogne, which begins southern central France in the region referred to as the Massif Central, near Limousin and Limoges.

As we focus our sights on Bordeaux and its culinary traditions, the breadth of the region’s lexicon of ingredients offers a veritable bounty of choices.  Mushrooms, in particular the cepe, are prominent in the pine forests south of the Gironde estuary.  Lamb and duck are prominent throughout, from the agneau de Pauillac, or “milk-fed lamb” to the famous foie gras of the more inland areas Périgord and Dordogne.  The Agen prune is the more flavorful European counterpart to our softer California prunes.  Walnuts are plentiful as well.  In fact, many locals have their own walnut trees, to the extent that many will harvest enough walnuts from their own property to sell them to the local mills for consumer production!

Located in the north and south parts of Aquitaine, respectively, Cognac and Armagnac are the world-renowned French brandies made in the specific areas surrounding the towns that are their namesake.  Finally, Bordeaux’s eponymously-name sauce, Bordelaise, includes a classic combination of red or white wine and marrowfat, with nearly infinite variations thereof.

Our French 101 menu in January showcases the Bordeaux region with a little bit of local northwest flavor.  Three course for $30, we begin with a haricots verts salad that evokes a classic dish from the nearby Périgord area , what we call Haricots verts en salade avec tartine.  Simple green beans are marinated in lemon verjus with parsley and garlic and topped with a large, toasted slice of peasant Levain bread, on which we spreadbeurre de gascogne, made from shallots reduced in red wine, cooled and whisked into rich clarified duck fat.  The second course is our Pleurotes Bordelaises.  Instead of the traditional cèpe mushrooms, we have sourced King Oyster Mushrooms from Vancouver to be cooked slowly in a bit of duck fat and finished with a sauce of parsley, garlic and white wine and paired with a house-made roasted pork sausage.  We finish the meal with Roquefort Coccinelle, accompanied by a couple of Bordeaux’s usual suspects: walnuts, toasted and steeped in honey, and cognac prunes.

Café Campagne will be celebrating Bordeaux with this unique dinner menu through the rest of January.  Please come in to take a little trip to Bordeaux with us!

Next blog post: By the bottle breakdown of the Bordeaux wine feature for this month!

Beaujolias Nouveau fever is about to break out the world over, although received with much yawn from our local press and pundits (too sophisticated I presume) this phenomenon still holds sway in diverse cultures around the world. From Japan, to Europe, India and of course the US sommeliers, cavistes and consumers await the new wine, eager to take part in the celebration of the newest  harvest, to take pleasure in the somewhat symbolic  act of sharing wine with friends and complete strangers from around the globe.

Long before fast airplanes and trains the local cafés and bistros of Beaujolais and Lyons would offer the young wine straight out of barrels (they still do), nothing fancy but with enough fanfare and reverence to inspire other cities in France to take on the tradition. Nowadays, it is hard to separate the logistical and marketing feat that Beaujolais Nouveau is from its true meaning, but every so often one needs to set aside cynicism and let be seduced by the simple pleasures of life.

I’m planning on doing just that this coming Thursday, hope you can join.

Cyril

IN THE HEAT OF THE BATTLE

Hey Friends,

here is a shot of me during my Iron Chef America battle against Bobby Flay.

We are having a viewing party on October 11th starting  at 6PM.  The entry is $25 for assorted charcuterie and snacks.  There will be a cash bar. Reservations are required.  If you can’t make it to the party, be sure to tune in on the Food Network

Once again the annual Bastille Day celebration at Campagne and Cafe Campagne was  just fantastic.  Folks in Post Alley gave their all in celebrating the revolution.  Diners upstairs  at Campagne enjoyed a set menu in a no less spirited atmosphere. Here are a  few shots of the beautiful lamb dish we served as part of the upstairs prix fixe menu. We gently roasted parsley and anchoide stuffed leg of lamb from Anderson Ranch in Oregon.  The roast was served atop assorted market vegetables.  We found the tiniest carrots at Stoney Plains Organic Farm’s stall at the University District Farmers Market as well as the baby russet potatoes.  Merv Dykstra from Yakima brought us those tender garlic cloves and Alm Hill Gardens was the source of the beautiful French breakfast radishes.

The markets are exploding with produce now and we are very excited about the rest of the season.  Merv will have tomatoes in a couple weeks and we will put them everywhere on the menus upstairs and downstairs until you say uncle.

Cheers,

Daisley

Of the many trips I have taken to France, one of the most memorable was a three week tour of Provence in September of 2005.  The first few days were non-stop rain, which actually gave me a chance to get a bit of rest.  The balance of the trip was blessed with the kind of sunshine and beauty you can only find in the south of France.

It seemed that at so many of the  small cafes  and  restaurants we visited, we were treated to a little snack of black olive tapenade on or with crostini.  These little tastes added to the enjoyment of the  fantastic pink wines of the region.  I want to share a bit of that experience with you.  Join us every Friday in Campagne’s lounge for a special Provence  happy hour from 5PM to 7PM.  We will feature great pink wines, special cocktails and complimentary southern French snacks.

Hope to see you,

Daisley

Three course prix-fixe for $30

Available Sunday – Thursday

First Course

Choose from our selection of petit plats and charcuterie de Campagne

some exclusions apply

Second Course

Choose any of our entrées excluding the Campagne Steak

Dessert

Make a selection from tonight’s dessert menu