Pays de la loire is located in the western cost of France and covers 12,390 square miles, the capital is Nantes. The region is France’s second leading agricultural region and a third of its 3.2 million people is under 25, making it a young region. The main cities in this region either lie against the Loire rivier( or river that contect to it) or the Atlantic coast. The region is best know for their seafood dishes but most of all their Vendée-Atlantic Oysters dishes.
Specialities
Pays de la loire fresh produce are Grapes, Dairy, Vegetables and Salt Flowers.The specialities from the Fresh produce made in Pays De La Loire are wines,cheese and milk, food dishes and salt.
The cheeses that are particular to Pays De La Loire are:
Vieux Pané is usually produced in the shape of square and is wrapped in three layers of wax paper. The cheese is made from the sheep's milk and has salty, spicy taste. People usually eat it spread on bread with a glass of white wine or spirits. The period of ripening is about three months and the content of fat is 50 per cent.
Port-Salut is all so known as Port du Salut. This cheese is made with cow’s milk and the rind of the cheese is slightly moist and coloured, with regular traces of the plastic-covered cloth used in production. It has a very faint smell. The pate is elastic, cream-coloured, soft, and supple. This cheese takes one month.
Curé Nantais is a soft, chewy and made from cow's milk. This cheese has been repeatedly washed in the local white wine, Muscadet, for three weeks. Its medium strong flavour is an interesting mix of mild spices, mushrooms, creamy butter and salt.
The vineyards in this region produce some of the best wines anywhere, the notable wines for the region are Gros-Plant du pays Natais, Muscadet and AOC Coteaux du layon. The region cuisine is influenced by its proximity to the sea as most of their dishes have seafood as it is a big part of their food dishes. Some repices from the region:
Recipe 1: BEURRE BLANC:
There are two recipes for beurre blanc, the first one so called classic one and the other one called "a la Nantaise" (from Nantes): as it is a well know sauce for fish dishes for the region Pays de la Loire.
Beurre Blanc:
3 shallots, finely chopped
15 cl white wine vinegar
15 cl fish stock
3g cracked pepper
125g of salted butter cut in small dices
Direction :
1) Place your fish stock, shallots cracked pepper and vinegar in a thick bottom sauce pan.
2) Allow to reduce by half.
3) In the mean time, put your dices of butter in the freezer (or at least in the fridge) for 5 minutes. The butter has to be as cold as possible to ensure that the sauce does not split at the end.
4) When the reduction is ready, take your pot off the heat and whisk in all the butter in one go. At the end, the consistency of the sauce must be creamy. Season well with salt and pepper.
Some will strain the sauce before serving some would not. The choice is yours. Do not re-heat the sauce after wards, it would split.
If, you add a tablespoon of creme fraiche to your beurre blanc at the end, you will obtain a more stable sauce (it can be re-heated to a certain point, not to the boil thou!) and a beurre blanc called "a la Nantaise"
Recipe 2:Oysters in Chablis Jelly
Ingredients :
Oysters in Chablis jelly (4 servings):
24 specially fattened greenish oysters (size N°3)
3/10 liter (a large cup or nearly half a bottle)of Chablis wine (note of the translator: if you can find it, a true Chablis, from Chablis, a specific wine area of Burgundy)
1 thinly chopped shallot
freshly ground pepper
For the 'mousse' :
1/2 bunch of watercress
100 grams (1/4 pound) of mascarpone cheese (or another stained cottage cheese)
10 sheets of gelatine softened in cold water
table salt and freshly ground pepper Direction :
1. Open the oyster shells, get the oysters out of their shells and the oysters with their the sea water(*)
2. In a saucepan, boil the wine with the shallot, reduce it to half quantity then add the gelatine sheets after you have pressed them in your hand
3. Make it boiling then thinly sieve it and let it cooling it down to room temperature.
4. Remove the stalks from the watercress and pour the leaves into boiling water during 10 seconds then in chilled water. Stain it and mix it with the (seasoned) marcarpone to make a mousse.
5. Put a little of mousse in the bottom of each shell, then put 1 oyster in each shell then some jelly not fully thickened yet. Then keep in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
(*) I do not use the sea water brought up by oysters because too many people would find the dish too much salty.
