| |
French food,
a lot simpler than
it makes out
French food, famous throughout the world, is a lot more straightforward than it's reputation. The basis of french country cooking is fresh, local ingredients, cooked simply to taste great. The french are incredibly resourceful when it comes to home cooking. They are true masters of creating a four course lunch from a meagre vegetable plot and a near-empty fridge.
It is easy to ensure our vegetables are fresh, as we can go to the vegetable garden and pick them. We all know that home grown, fresh vegetables taste completely different.
With meat and poultry it is not only the freshness that is an issue when it comes to eating quality. Animals obviously have somewhat more complicated needs than vegetables! Not only is the food they eat of vital importance, but equally the environment in which they live. The frequency and duration of travel, especially to the abattoir, has a direct effect on the eating quality of the meat, not to mention their well-being. It is not complicated to have happy animals but it does take diligence, hard work and long hours. All our farming methods have animal welfare as the primary concern.
We cannot grow everything we need in the kitchen, so anything else we try to source locally. There are a multitude of small regular french food markets and other farmers producing for selling direct to the public. Where this is not possible, for example with coffee or sugar, we try to purchase ethically.
With all our ingredients sourced in the garden, on the farm, or from the local area, it is a delight to cook. Knowing your food will taste superb, and that all the animals involved had a contented life, really does make a difference. French food demystified.
"Thanks for a week full of rest, excitement, good food and great company" Sophie, Scotland.
Home produce
During your stay we offer you a range of home produced food. The abattoir for our beef and lamb is only 12km away, for our poultry, even closer in La Souterraine. We sell free range eggs, a large range of seasonal fruit and vegetables, as well as honey, home made jams and preserves. In late summer the woods are full of blackberries, nuts and mushrooms to gather.
See our farm shop
Dining at La Tuilerie
The kitchen in the restored farmhouse provides all the facilities for home cooking. Each tipi or yurt has an adjacent outdoor campfire with appropriate cook pots and utensils. We also have gas camping stoves available. Cooking on a campfire is great fun and not that difficult. It need not be cremated baked potatoes and toasted marshmallows. Although we all love toasted marshmallows!
"This farm Rocks!" Molly aged 12, England.
See campfire menus
Table D'Hôtes and Pizza nights
Every Tuesday evening we fire up the stone pizza oven. The Danish Granite oven needs 2-3 hours of a good going wood fire to get the temperature up. Then in goes the garlic bread, (which takes about 3 minutes to cook), and everyone enjoys a glass of wine, while the heat in the pizza oven evens out and it becomes ready for cooking the pizzas.
Home made bases and home made tomato sauce are, of course, the basis of any good pizza, we can't claim to produce the cheese or the olives, but all the other toppings are from the farm and garden. So whether it's a Margherita or a 'just put everything on', they always taste great.
Once the pizzas are cooked, there is a lot of heat left in the oven and for the more carnivorous guests we usually throw in some marinated lamb chops, beef kebabs or even tandoori chicken. The intense, all around heat of the stone, gives a unique flavour to the meat.
Every Friday night we offer a 'table d'hôte' dinner. This is a 4 course dinner with wine, which is served in the restored farmhouse or more usually outside in the garden. There is a set menu (kids and veggies options are available) and we all eat together.
This gives Paula the chance to 'show off' the very best of all the farm produce, how all the different ingredients that are grown on the farm can come together to make an extremely memorable meal. Up to 75% of all the ingredients come from the farm, and if you exclude wine, seasoning and staples such as flour and sugar (which we simply cannot produce), then about 95% our your meal will be from La Tuilerie. The idea of 'table d'hôtes' is to experience home produce, in a relaxed, family atmosphere.
See some sample table d'hôte menus.
"The stuff of happy memories." Regina, Ireland.
Book your holiday.
Return to home page
|
