Sally Mara Art

FRENCH

LEÇON

 #4

Ah la Vache!

(Holy Cow! Oh my God! WOW!)

LE PAYS CATHARE

In my previous post, Niki and I had arrived in Céret, (Monday March 16th, 2015) a petite village full of artists, all things cherries, good food and good wine.
We had lunch at Restaurant La Fountaine and then meandered through the streets before heading to the 
Musée d'art moderne de Céret

Raoul Dufy

The next morning was clear, from our terrace we could see new snow on Mont Canigou, an auspicious start for heading to the Châteaux Cathares, about an hour away......

if you don't get 
LOST

And par for the course, we missed our exit, and drove an extra 20 kilomètres before finding an exit to turn around......

et finalement we arrived at 

QUÉRIBUS

the last Cathar  stronghold (for a Cathar refresher click here!)

First mentioned in 1020, Quéribus was built in the 11th century.  It is the highest of all the Cathar castles in the Languedoc region and was a military outpost of the Counts of Barcelona. One of the "five sons of Carcassone", Quéribus was a masterpiece in defense.  Guardian of the mountain pass Grau de Maury and perched on a narrow rocky peak, 728 meters in altitude it overlooks the Corbières, Fenouillèdes and the Roussillion plains. During the crusades against the Albigensians, the Château was the last Cathar refuge, until it finally fell to Catholic crusaders in 1255.

 The view probably hasn't changed much at all in centuries

We stopped in Cucugnan for lunch and a stroll

Chez La Table du Curé we had a velouté aux lentilles Lauragais avec et un verre de vin blanc de Corbières
being touristas is a hungry business

View of Quèribus in the distance

then we drove to Peyrepetuse ( for the history and better pics click here!)

Heading off again, it all seemed like clear sailing, the cliffs diminishing, the road empty and no rain...
HOWEVER, 
who's story is this?
ah la vache! 
and then we were driving through....

Les Gorges de Galamus, 
described as one of the world's most dangerous roads (click here)

Niki, photographer in residence

Perfect location for 007's next chase scene

Fortunately it was late winter, no traffic, and not raining
(to experience this drive click here!)
 fair warning, take some dramamine....

at the end of the road we stumbled on Ermitage St Antoine de Galamus, which is 1/2 way down the gorge.  You can hike down to see it and thank all the saints for making it

Being an Ah La Vache! sort of day, no surprise that we took another wrong turn.....

and ended up in the middle of a pink fantasy

Flowering peach trees everywhere

 Finally realizing our mistake we retraced our steps, happy that this wrong turn turned out to be right

RECETTE  
pour 
LA FIN D'ÉTÉ

Now it's late August, the height of peach season
 and 
since our trip this past March was rather a deconstructed but delicious mess

Galette aux Pêches 
de-con-struct-ed 
PEACH PIE 
*
Crust
 1 1/4 cups flour 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter
1/4 cup ice water 
*
in a bowl combine the flour and salt
cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs
slowly stir in the water, mixing with a fork, until it forms a ball
wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes

meanwhile, get the peaches ready
Filling
4 cups sliced fresh peaches
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar 
(or a bit less if the peaches are super sweet)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
*
toss the peaches and lemon juice in a large bowl 
in a small bowl blend the flour, sugar and ground cinnamon
Add to the peaches and gently mix

*
on a pastry mat or parchment paper, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle 

 place on a baking sheet

 pour the peaches in the center of the crust and spread out leaving an approximate 2 inch border

fold edges of crust over the filling

lightly brush the edges of the crust with 1/2 tablespoon cream and sprinkle with sugar

bake in a 375 preheated oven for 55 minutes or until the crust is brown and the filling is bubbly

cool before serving

Raoul Dufy

best served outside somewhere beautiful with friends,
and when it's gone everyone will say

AH LA VACHE!