French cottage pie, Hachis Parmentier, was created in Paris. It honours the pharmacist Antoine- Augustine Parmentier who made potatoes popular in France. He thought that potatoes would end the famine cycles in France.
The original dish was based on potato purée and minced meat. Nowadays some chefs experiment with new vegetables. I twisted the recipe with sweet potato purée and used very lean minced meat for a healthier and more modern variant.
2 servings
About 350 g lean minced meat, 5% fat
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried Provençal herbs
Freshly ground black pepper
For the sweet potato purée:
2 small or 1 large sweet potato
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. bread crumbs
Peel the sweet potatoes and chop into chunks. Cook in boiling water for about 20 minutes until soft. Discard the water saving about 4 tbsp. for he purée. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and crush into a purée.
Warm 2 tbsp. olive oil over medium- high heat in a frying pan and fry the meat until it starts to get a bit of colour. Lower the heat to medium and add the onion, garlic, herbs, and black pepper. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes stirring now and again.
Preheat the oven to 200° C. Oil a smallish gratin dish. Place a thin layer of the purée in the bottom, cover with the minced meat and top with a layer of the rest of the purée. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and cook in the oven for 15- 20 minutes.
Serve with a green side salad.
In search of a short hike near Valberg, we came across this nice
and relaxing loop starting from Col de l’Espaul (1749 m). We knew the
col from many previous hikes.
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Leaving Col de l'Espaul
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La Roya Haute Valberg
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Starting from the col (signpost #7), we ascended above the parking and headed
west in open terrain, climbing gently. We had great views towards Valberg. We
passed a few abandoned houses at la Roya Haute. The path descended a bit
before signpost #6 above Col des Huerris where the Valberg Golf court was
located.. We forked right (northwest) and walked through a short forested
stretch then forked sharply right. We now ascended along Crete de la Maure
with a 360° panorama. We reached an unnamed grassy summit (1913 m), then
headed northeast. After a short descent, we climbed to
Tête de Charnaye (1972 m) with a telecom mast on the summit.
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Above Col des Huerris
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Péone and Tête de Méric
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Crête de la Maure southern flank
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Crête de l'Houesti
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The trail was well marked all the way. Still heading northeast, we descended
steeply along Crête de l’Houesti, first along an alpine meadow then in a
picturesque larch forest to signpost #8. We then hiked back to our starting
point along a dirt track.
Distance: 5,7 km
Climb: 270 m
Duration: 2h 30
Map: 3640 OT Haut Cians Valberg
Fricassee is sometimes described as “halfway between a sauté and a stew”, sauté has no liquid added while a stew includes liquid. In a fricassee, cut-up meat is first sauteed , but not browned, and is then simmered in liquid.
English fricassees were usually thickened with egg yolks, like in this old recipe from countess of Ségur. She was a French writer who also cultivated good life style and eating well. The following recipe is my twist of her recipe in the French magazine ELLE.
2 servings
2 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Olive oil
2 handfuls of sliced mushrooms, champignons de Paris
1 egg yolk
300 ml chicken stock
100 g heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley
Warm 2 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat in a heavy cocotte such as Le Creuset. Sauté the chicken for a few minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and some black pepper and continue sautéing for a while. Add the chicken stock, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.
Warm 2 tbsp . olive oil in a frying pan and cook the sliced mushrooms until golden brown. Set aside.
Remove the chicken from the cocotte and set aside. Increase the heat somewhat and reduce the chicken stock by half. Then reduce the heat again to low.
Whisk the egg yolk with the cream in a bowl and pour the mixture into the cocotte. Stir on a low heat. Add the chicken and mushrooms into the cocotte and stir.
Serve the fricassee over quinoa or brown rice and decorate with chopped parsley.
The real lure of the hike from la Baumette (Péone) to
Col de Crous (2204 m) lies in the dramatic Alpine landscape higher up
in the Tuébi Valley. In the 1930s, fortifications were constructed at
the mountain pass as part of the Maginot line. Many of them were never
completed.
Today Col de Crous is also one of the gateways to the Mercantour National
Park.
After reaching Péone, we drove up to la Baumette (at 1470 m and 3,5 km to the
north) where the road ended next to Chapelle Saint Jean Baptiste. 100 m
further north, near some houses, we located signpost #94, our trailhead.
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Start from la Baumette
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North of la Baumette
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Crossing rockslides
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Easy stretch to Col de Crous
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| Large rockslide |
We first ascended in a mixed forest along a good trail. The incline was
never very steep as the path zigzagged in the terrain. After about 1700 m
elevation, the incline temporarily petered out and we hiked past Alpine
meadows before reaching Fuont Freye, a spring.
The terrain became rockier and we walked past large rockslide areas. At one
point, an alternative routing had been built as the original trail had been
cut. After some steep sections, we came to Peira Grossa with remains
of a concrete bunker. Across the Tuebi Stream in the west, the steep face of
the Maleterre Ridge and Rocamaire were particularly
impressive.
The last stretch to the col was steep but again the winding trail
helped. Historically, the mountain pass had been a trading route between the
Var and Tinée Valleys. The northern face of the col comprised vast Alpine
meadows, so different from the rocky southern side. The trail continued down
to the Valley of Roya. Among the summits in the north, we spotted las Donnas
above Auron.
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Impressive geology under Col de Crous
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| Under Col de Crous |
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| At Col de Crous |
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| Tuébi upper valley |
The col was windy and we descended a bit for our break before returning to
our starting point. It turned out to be another super hike in a tranquil
Alpine valley. We met nobody on the path in spite of the sunny early autumn
day.
Climb: 750 m
Distance: 9,8 km
Duration: 4 h 40 active
Map: 3640 OT “Haut Cians”
Clementine is a hybrid of mandarin and sweet orange. The clementine season in the South of France is from November to January. Most of the French clementines are cultivated in Corsica.
The following sauce recipe is perfect for scallops but also for fish such as salmon or halibut. In the recipe, two clementines can be replaced by one orange.
2- 3 servings
2 organic clementines (or 1 orange)
3 tbsp. olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
A pinch of salt, optional
Freshly ground black pepper
Chopped chives to decorate
Grate the zest of the clementines. Peel and chop them. Warm 1 tbsp. olive oil in a saucepan over low heat. Add the clementines and their zest and infuse for about 20 minutes.
With a handheld mixer, purée the clementines with 2 tbsp olive oil, juice of ½ lemon, and some black pepper. Press the purée through a sieve for a smooth sauce.
Divide the sauce on the plates and top with seared scallops. Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve with a good country bread to mop up the sauce from the plates.
The following hike above Ste-Marie in Vars (1638 m) followed ancient farming trails on the western side of the village. Some of the farmhouses seemed now to be secondary residences or gites.
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| Leaving Ste-Marie |
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| St-Marcellin Vars |
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View to north from trail
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We started next to Ste-Marie chairlift (large parking) where the first
signpost guided us to the north (Lac de Peyrol, la Mayt etc). The path
crossed a ski run then a wood before we briefly used a narrow paved road
before forking left along a dirt track. The ascent was rather steep in
places. There were small fields between the larch woods. We passed a place
named le Grand Forest then Rebrun. The stretch from here ascended in the
woods to a crossroads at 1901 m where we forked left (signpost Lac de Peyrol
2,8 km) following an unpaved road, heading south. The road undulated in a
beautiful forest with some small hay fields in places.
We had great views of the valley as well as the Crête de Vars. The summit of
Pointe de Razis dominated the landscape in the west. We reached Peyrol (2142
m) and walked past the lake. On the day of our hike the chairlift was not
running. There were nevertheless some hikers and tourists who had taken the
4x4’s.
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| Near Rebrun Vars |
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Great forest in Vars
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Near 1901 m crossroads
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| Crête de Vars |
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| Pointe de Razis |
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| Peyrol Lake |
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| Trail to Ste-Marie |
We walked past the chairlift. The ski run was apparently closed for hikers
(cattle fence) but a good marked path was shown for hikers back to the
valley. The trail was not shown on our map. Another trail just before Peyrol
was reserved for mountain bikers. We used the nice
pietons trail (our track image below) which mostly descended in the
woods. We crossed the ski run again before reaching our starting point.
Climb: 520 m
Distance: 8 km
Duration: 3h 45
Map : 3537 ET Guillestre Vars.Risoul
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| Egg-Parma ham muffins |
These tasty small bakes make a nice light lunch served with a green side salad and whole wheat or rye bread.
2 servings
4 slices of Parma ham
4 eggs
Olive oil
A small handful of baby spinach leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh herbs to decorate
Preheat the oven to 180° C.
Oil 4 muffin tin cavities with olive oil. Line each cavity with a slice of Parma ham. Place some spinach leaves in the bottom. Crack 1 egg into each cavity and grind over some black pepper.
Bake for 10- 15 minutes until the egg whites are solidified. Sprinkle over some chopped fresh herbs.
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| Egg-Parma ham muffins out of oven |
The summits immediately south of la Plagne Villages are actually
peaks on a long ridge starting from Roc du Diable in the east stretching to
Mont Jovet (and beyond) in the west.
Starting from the upper part of Belle Plagne (2080 m), the easternmost
of the villages, we ascended south along the main service road, then forked
right after about 470 m now heading southwest along another dirt track. We
walked under the Colosses chairlift and took a shortcut under its upper
station. We reached a ski run and climbed south as far as to the ridge. We
climbed further, heading west, to la Grande Rochette (2508 m) with a gondola lift
upper station and a restaurant.
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Leaving Belle Plagne
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Near Colosses chairlift
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Ascending to la Grande Rochette
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Crête de la Grande Forcle
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La Plagne Villages from la Grande Rochette
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We headed southeast, descending rapidly to Col de la Petite Forcle
(2408 m). The following ascent was to Roc des Verdons (summit 2502 m)
with antennas but also a viewing platform with information.
After a break we descended to Col de la Lovatière (2417 m) where we
had the narrow eastern ridge of Roc du Bécoin (2594 m) in front of
us. The ascent was steep in places and certain surefootedness was needed. We
crossed a few antecimes before the narrow summit. The 360° panorama was
spectacular.
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La Grande Rochette in background
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Vanoise peaks seen from Roc des Verdons
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Courchevel seen from Roc des Verdons
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Roc des Verdons signpost
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Nearing Roc du Bécoin summit
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Summit of Roc du Bécoin
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One hour to Belle Plagne
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From the summit, we descended towards la Plagne Villages (signposts) then at
2393 m headed east, taking some shortcuts when possible. We reached the
Verdons Nord chairlift station and headed east. At this point, Belle Plagne
was signposted, still 1h 10 to go! The trail Circled above Plagne 1800 and
Plagne Soleil. At le Dou du Praz (2125 m) we came to a restaurant where we
had an excellent blueberry pie and coffee before the final stretch back to
our starting point.
Climb: 790 m
Distance: 13 km
Duration: 6h 15
Map: 3532 ET les Arcs/la Plagne
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