My French Adventures: La Belle Provence

La Belle Provence - ooh la la! We pulled into our lovely gîte in Valréas yesterday around 4:30 p.m. The owners are presently in Cancun, but they had made arrangements for their parents to be here to welcome us. Not only did they show us around the house, but they had also stocked the fridge and cupboards with a few provisions including a couple of bottles of wine. How kind! I made Roquefort pasta accompanied by salad, baguette and a good bottle of wine. We were all pretty tired after dinner so it was an early night for all.

Our home away from home in Valréas

It is definitely cool today and the Mistral has moved in. It is also threatening to rain. After breakfast, the boys walked to the city centre to do a bit of a reconnaissance while I had a shower. Afterwards, we were going to the market in the nearby village of Valaurie. Unfortunately Brian had woken up not feeling well, so he decided to stay home and rest while Keith and I headed out on our own. After buying a few goodies at the market, it began to pour so we started to walk back to the car. En route, we passed by a building with a sign called the Pause and went in. The mayor of Valaurie was there with one of the councillors along with a few of the locals. We were offered a glass of wine or a coffee and opted for a coffee at 11:00 a.m.

The mayor of Valaurie is on my left.

Next stop was the commune of Grignan. It is a pretty village dating back to the 12th century. One store we visited was filled with local products from the region. By the time we left, we had a bag filled with duck confit to have for dinner, a bottle of organic wine, olive oil infused with herbes de provence and some crème de marrons. By this time, we were getting peckish and noticed a sign for Le Claire de la Plume. This was one of the restaurants recommended by our hosts. Without checking the menu, we went in and were immediately asked if we had a reservation. Needless to say we didn't, but there was a table available overlooking the courtyard. I can only imagine how stunning it would be to eat there in the summer when the vines are in full leaf and the weather is good.

It was a beautiful place with white linen table cloths, French blue and white place settings and sterling silverware. Once seated, we were asked if we would like a glass of champagne. Neither of us refused.

I took pictures of everything we ate because the presentation was so magnificent. I will share most of them in this blog. The first picture is the house appetizer including pigeon eggs (prepared like small devilled eggs) petite cream puffs filled with crème fraîche and small bits of bacon (or so we thought) and palmier like sticks with a mousse of some sort. All were delicious.

This little tidbit, my entrée, was a crouton with cheese shavings and a spinach leaf on top and a ball of foie de gras rolled in ? The presentation was simple, but effective.

This was Keith's entrée of fresh peas over proscuitto wrapped asparagus with parmesan shavings and small baguette crisps.

We both enjoyed the plat du jour - quail with a souffle and a sauce made with orange and citron.

Keith had the dessert which was a Granny Smith apple mousse on a biscuit base surrounded by caramel. The green dollop was sorbet with the same intense Granny Smith flavour topped with an almond paste flower. He loved it!

It was a very special lunch that took us several hours to eat and one that we will both remember not only for the flavour, presentation and ambience, but for the superb service as well. After our splendid meal, we noticed a sign for the Domaine De Montine, a local winery. At lunch, I had had a glass of wine from that winery that I really enjoyed, so we popped in for a visit. We tried a few different varieties and bought a bottle of both red and white wines.

The village has a beautiful chateau and church atop the hill. We didn't have time to climb to the top, but plan on returning to make that trek. in the meantime, here are pictures taken from the road below.