We were driving back with our bellies full of bread, ham and cheese and musing over where to go next year. "Anywhere that has a beach!" said our five year old. "Anywhere that has great food!" I said, and "Just anywhere" was my wifes' response.
The exchange rate made food expensive so we had resulted in nights of barbeques followed by ice cream or walnuts from the owners of our Gite. A drizzle of honey made them more wonderful than they already were.
The barbeques we had were lovely. Sausages, poulet , steak onglet, and beaucoup de pain d'ail (Garlic bread). After a few days we realised that we hadn't eaten a vegetable yet. I decided to make my tried and tested tomato salsa.
Rub the bowl with fresh garlic.
Chop enough tomatoes to feed the five thousand.
Chop a couple of shallots from the market. I use red onions in England.
Mix olive oil with red wine vinegar at the ratio 4:1 (Usually 3:1 but the tomatoes are quite acidic back at home)
Chop an array of herbs from your garden and throw them in and stir. I use parsley and/or marjoram, thyme, chives.
Throw in a good pinch of salt and ground pepper and leave for a few hours for the salt to draw the moisture out of the tomatoes and the flavours to mix.
Serve with and barbequed meat of your liking. The residual liquor in the base of the salsa bowl is great for dipping your leftover bread in to.
We visited a local market in Jonzac where we got some wonderful clams and our vegetables and cheese. It was noisey and husteled and busteled with locals all out to get their produce. It was great to see a market thriving in a small village.
 |
| Clams with pasta and white wine sauce |
Only 50 weeks until next years holiday, wherever we go........
No comments:
Post a Comment