Séminaire Comenius Lycée Merleau-Ponty

Rochefort -France

Du 17 au 21 mai 2011

Traditional menu of the Poitou-Charentes

Merleau-ponty high school prepares every day 800 meals at noon and 150 meals in the evening. The meal has 4-euro (of which a part financed by the region for the introduction of the organic and local

products. A raising is made all year round with the pupils with animations, exhibitions and meals with themes. Sustainable development and feeding • Concerning both the Comenius project and sustainable development, we would like to propound to

our foreign partners a thinking about a recipe, a dish, a menu (that would be to define), whatever would represent our geographical area the best.

• This project has different goals : •

on the one hand, allow each partner, within each country, to think about this representative recipe • on the other hand, to share altogether our cultures, our traditions : this would make us talk about

our area, our local products, our economy (agriculture, fishing, industry....)

Cook's team

Menu du jeudi 19 mai 2011 lors du séminaire Comenius

Mouclade

Gigot d’agneau

Mojhettes

Salade

Jonchée Broyé du Poitou

Menu

Source : Wikipédia

Mouclade The French mouclade is a dish made with mussels.

It comes from Saintonge (the area of Saintes), and it is known in other parts of the region, as well as on the Atlantic coast or on the Mediterranean one. That is why you can hear about Mouclade from Brittany or from Sète.

The dish is baked with bouchot mussels *. It also contains shallots, butter from Charentes, eggs, Pineau or white wine or Cognac, garlic, fresh herbs, and cream. We add saffron in the recipe from Saintes, or curry in the one from Fouras.

The word “mouclade” comes from “moucle”, an old word to for mussel.

“Bouchot mussels” : mussels culture (in French “mytiliculture”) is made with “bouchots”, sticks planted in the sea on which the ropes where the mussles grow are tied in a spiral, with a net, to prevent the mussels from falling

Bouchots

Gigot d’agneau (Leg of Lamb)

Poitou-Charentes is the first region of production for butchery lambs in France. Lambs are raised outside, on natural fields grasslands. Sheepfolds are only used in winter. Lambs stay with their mothers for 60 days, then they are fattened up with grass coming from salt meadows (by the sea).

CURED HAM FROM VENDEE

The genuine cured ham form Vendée (a département next

to Charente-Maritime) is cooked according to a precise recipe, in which you can find a blending of fresh herbs. Then the meat is salted with salt from Noirmoutier, and briefly dryed out.

Benefiting of a « Label Rouge », a French quality label for meat, cured ham form Vendée comes from the gastronomic tradition.

Formerly, you could find at least one pig in every farm, allowing farmers to eat cured ham as well as assorted cold meats.

Les Mojhettes

(Beans) Beans, coming from the town of Pont-l'Abbé d’Arnoult, small village located 20 km from Rochefort, is known as « the black peral of the country ».

It comes from an old traditional market gardening.

To keep its distinctive features, local producers joined together to establish a quality label, based upon specific selection rules.

JONCHÉE

The jonchée is a small fromage frais, elaborated with curdled cow milk. It is made within a little rush basket, in French « panier de jonc », giving its name to the product as well as its specific taste.

Jonchée dates back to the Middle Ages and is known in several sea regions. Today it is a typical product of Charente-Maritime. Some even say it is a specific product of Oléron : elsewhere it is named caillebotte.

To prepare jonchée, bay-perfumed water is added to curdled milk, and the milk is drained on a small rush-made leaf which is rolled and wringed out. To eat jonchée, you have to roll it out, add almond and bay-perfumed water, you also can add a piece of sugar : its bitterness comes from the length of the draining.

BROYÉ

« Broyé »'s name would come from the way this very tough

cake was shared into pieces : it was put on a table and on

would give a big punch in the middle. It is crushed into different

sized-pieces that people can share.

Formerly, it was cut into small pieces and offered at church

during the days of wedding or communions. It was placed in a

basket, on a white cloth, and offered to the guests. Each one

could chose a piece according to his appetite or his fondness

for it.

In bygone days, this cake meant celebration.

Bon appétit