Spring Rains and Mushrooms...

 Suffering through a "tester" of white wine braised morels over toasted brioche(The things I do because I care! ), the first of what will hit the table for this Sunday's rabbit repas, took me right back to France.  Spring showers came and went almost daily in Charmé, demanding an extra log or two for the fire,  a splash more wine in the glass, and the chance to finish a book or two(or three). Each day though, rain would ease, clouds lift, and the sun would make it essential to get going. Into the garden that is, rubber boots in tow.
 The damp seemed to make everything more green, the flowers and blossoming fruit trees exploded, and there was no shortage of snails. Sorry to those without the taste for them, but we seldom miss the opportunity to add to Suzanne's collection cage, an old garde manger where the mass of shells go from shelf to shelf in ghost-like fashion, dusted in the flower that will help to purge. For those that know, and I don't claim to be one of them, there are also mushrooms. Never fails to amaze how they can be found in both quality and quantity within reach. Back here in the Bay Area, when the time is right, there are porcini in the Oakland hills, chanterelles up the coast, and even the afore mentioned morels in the southern Sierra.
 In our region of southwest France, there are chantrelles to be found, but cèpes(porcini) are the real find. Thick and meaty, beautiful cooked or shaved raw, cèpes are generously shared even if their locations tend to be kept... quiet. In the recent Brin d'Aillet, our village repas of a hundred or so friends and neighbors where spring garlic reigned supreme, stalks literally tossed  about the tables, one course acted as perfect statement for the season: omelets of contributed wild mushrooms, spring garlic, and herbs. With remarkable mushroom grower Bertarand Fradin in the village, the barn-based entity a short walk away, his shiitake and oyster varieties were used as well. An afternoon well spent, as we're looking forward to also this Sunday. Morels...

In Defense of Dirt...

 Dirt is good for you. A little dirt anyway. Took us more than a decade to see the ill affects of "cleansing" the nations youth(and adults) with anti-bacterial soap, thus rethinking that practice. The chemicals and additives that are allowed to be put into consumable products in this country are a bit spooky, all while eating live culture dairy products are strictly forbidden. A disclaimer: Just back in from France, and having saturated ourselves in the abundance of live culture dairy, we're now going through a bit of withdrawal. Who am I kidding... Climbing the walls for a piece of piece of stinky goodness(a... reblochon?!) that literally pops in my mouth on contact.
 Comme d'habitude, we buy and eat way too much dairy when we're back in Charmé, cheese of course, but also milk, yogurt, and even butter. Yes, the butter is alive! It does help to have a remarkable dairy farmer, Didier Moreau, so close his barn roof can be seen from the rear of our back field. Twice a day, morning and evening, he assembles the "girls" for milking. When we happened by one day's end to pick up a couple of liters, along with a kilo of his Dad's prized white asparagus, the milk funneled into waiting bottles was still warm from the cows. The smell was rich and sweet in the kitchen as two pots boiled on the stove with milk for the house. Katie passed on this, opting instead to head directly home to rennet, her cheese baskets, and the making of fromage frais.  (Interesting note: The rennet can only be purchased through a pharmacy, where precise care instructions are verbally given by the staff.)
 Good and good for you, all that bacteria doing the hard work to keep our bellies sound. When we came upon "live"butter at the Marché d'Aigre one morning, produced from a farm just outside of the nearby village of Villefagnan, we didn't hesitate to have a big chunk lopped off. Having the same rich silky texture we've come to expect in Poitou-Charente butter, there was also the added "medicinal" benefit. Even in France there's the need to be vigilant in securing a sound product, as seen recently by the rumblings out of Normandy(or more likely Paris) about discontinuing live culture camembert. So, clean up those farms that have become less exacting in their standards, tighten up inspections, but never let those gooey rounds fall prey solely to pasteurization. Otherwise... "To the baricades!"

Chez Gautier Cooking School: http://www.chez-gautier.com