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!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 2:13 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.