Loire Valley Castle and Cuisine
All my life I have been a Francophile, spending every nickel I had on trips to France, books about France, French wines and French girlfriends.Short of asking for an immigrant visa, there remained one possibility in my ongoing quest to better understand this magnificent country. I had to explore French cuisine, not as a customer but as a creator! I have always loved to cook, but doing it in France was part of the cliché I wanted to experience, a little bit like asking the guy who sings in the shower if he wants to go live on, to actually perform a show.
To make the whole affair more authentic, I decided not to join a cooking class, but to take my family to France, rent a house, invade its kitchen for a week and cook. The fact that my French was a little bit rusty did not stop me. I assumed that with a couple of good (understand well illustrated) cookbooks I could get by. And I did!
Through the grapevine, I found Château de la Caillotière an enchanting castle, set in a beautiful park, on the western part of the Loire valley (read castles and wine country) only one hour from the sea so the fishmonger would be well provisioned. And of paramount importance, this enchanting castle was equipped with a large, state of the art kitchen.
We decided to fly straight to Nantes, the closest airport, and rent a car from there to drive the rest of the journey. When we found the iron gate, the tall pines trees and the sandy alley we had been told to look for, we knew we had found the estate’s entrance. We took the alley that leads to the castle, and there it was, standing at the top of a hill sloping gently toward the jardin à la française and a mirror-like pond. The vision we had in front of us immediately erased the fatigue from our voyage. It was peaceful and elegant, calm and majestic…
First things first, we had to get acquainted with our new domain. The kids disappeared immediately: "Look at the ponies!" "Oh, this doggy is adorable." "They have ducks and geese…" "Hey, the cat is hiding!" "Can we go play in the woods, on the swing, in the pool, on the tennis court?"
We knew immediately that they would be busy all week and we would be able to relax and enjoy the quiet all week! As for us, our tour was calmer, escorted by two charming French ladies, speaking English with an unmistakable accent. We explored the house: the two drawing rooms, the small and the formal dinning rooms, the new kitchen with stainless steel appliances and an enormous central island topped with black granite. On the second floor we had to choose between six bedrooms, all decorated with family heirlooms and offering dramatic views of the park. It would be a difficult choice.
On day one, we had decided to do very little in order to recover from the trip and immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of the château. One could get used to having breakfast on the terrace every day. It was a day full of simple pleasures, those that make life beautiful. We walked in the park to explore the arboretum planted 15 years ago which hosts around 250 rare species of bushes and small trees. We strolled around the piece d’eau and its double lane of lime trees. We had a little chat with Paul, the gardener, while admiring the vegetables in the walled garden. We mentioned that we would gladly purchase any produce he harvested during our stay. When my wife left the flower garden her arms were full of dahlias to bring back to the castle.
We swam and played tennis. The adventure of the day was an expedition around 7:00 p.m. to the nearby farm on the estate to go buy fresh milk. We got to see the cows milked and received milk straight from the producer to the consumer. Our kids will never look at the bottle of milk in our fridge back home with the same eyes!
In spite of my intentions to cook for the family, our first evening we went to an exquisite local restaurant, l’Auberge de la diligence, located ten minutes from the castle. It might have been a mistake to take my family to such a perfect meal before cooking for them myself.
The second day was a Monday, market day at the nearby town of Candé. Here I was with my big wicker basket, going from one stall to another, testing a strawberry here, some grapes there to make sure they would be delicious before buying them. My kids followed me reluctantly afraid we would spend the evening in jail for stealing at the market, but soon they realized that it is the local custom to taste before you buy.
We marvelled at the choice of fruits, stopped by the boulangerie, avoided the boucherie chevaline, resisted our kids' pleas to buy cute little ducks and furry big rabbits on the pretext that live animals on the plane back home might not go unnoticed.
On our way back home, we stop by the shop of Guisable, a chocolate factory. Every object you can name, they can reproduce it in chocolate, from a cellular telephone to a tool box, from a bunch of flowers to an evening gown. We left with a selection of their products and the firm intention to return before the end of the week.
The master piece of the day was a dorade en croute de sel, sea bream cooked in the oven, wrapped in a crust of rock salt and served with a local specialty, un beurre blanc nantais, a creamy sauce with white wine. For dessert there was a fondant au chocolat avec sa compote de rhubarbe, a chocolate cake with still creamy interior served with a sweetened rhubarb compote reduction.
The third day was dedicated to Dionysus! We headed twenty minutes south of our castle and drove along the Loire River, discovering its wine country. The first area we explored, situated around Ancenis is the region for Muscadet. We sampled it at lunchtime with a large platter of Belon oysters from Brittany. Even the recollection makes my mouth water.
After lunch we took out time to explore the sandy banks of the rivers, enjoy a little nap under a willow tree and a walk in the curvy streets of the old village of Saint Florent le Vieil.
Later in the afternoon, we reached another area of the wine country called les Coteaux du Layon, literally the hillside of the Layon river. In the village of Saint-Aubin de Luigné, at the poetic address of the Canal de Monsieur, we stopped by Mr Bloin’s domain to sample some of his production and bought some bottles of Coteaux du Layon beaulieu 2003 to bring home.
In the evening we headed back to Château de la Caillotière after stopping by the Treilles Gourmandes to purchase homemade foie gras that we then savoured, al fresco by the pool with some fresh traditional bread and a glass of our recent acquisition.
Day four was spent in the kitchen with the children. It seemed that being around so much food had aroused their interest. I took them to the vegetable garden where we helped Paul, the gardener, dig up some small potatoes, les charlottes, known for their delicious taste. The tomatoes where almost perfect, so we decided to beat the slugs and bring several home to let ripen on the kitchen window sill.
We found an enormous laurel topiary and cut some of its leaves to complement bacon in flavouring the baked potatoes for lunch. We made a feat of charcuterie, smoked ham from nearby Vendée, rosette de Lyon, the famous saucisson , and the rillettes of Le Man. The apotheosis was a dish of fresh strawberries with home made whipped cream!
We lost, or tried to lose, most of the calories gained on the tennis court and quietly finished the afternoon beside the pond, fishing for tiny fish that we immediately put back into the water.
We spent the fifth day visiting the famous city of Angers. It is well known for its medieval castle, its seventeen towers and its tapestries, both ancient (dating back the XIVth century) and modern (one by Jean Lurçat).
But the real discovery for us was the shop of Pascal Beillevaine, cheesemonger par exellence and the variety he had to offer: langres, livarot, selle sur cher, valencay, epoisse, tome… names we couldn’t even pronounce but that we certainly could smell. Half of the evening menu was purchases in his shop: appetizer cheese, main course cheese and even dessert cheese!
Food, wine, history, art, elegance and calm, we had found them all at the Château de la Caillotière, and best of all—according to my wife—we did not put on a pound. Have you noticed the slim silhouettes of the French people? It seems not only that their food delicious, but it is extremely well balanced.
And that was the argument which convinced us to come back… Bon Appetit.
Resources:
Château de La Caillotière
www.chateaudelacaillotiere.com
La Cornuaille, 49440
+44 (0) 207 584 9626
Guisabel
rue du Maine,Angrie
02 41 92 74 11
Mr Bloin’s Domain
02 41 78 33 53
Treilles Gourmandes
49220 Le Lion d’Angers
02 41 95 82 82
Pascal Beillevaire
Place de la visitation, Angers