Color – November markets brighten grey days
Squash & cabbage families reign in November
Beyond the mounds of yellows, deep violets and pink tints of Toussaint chrysanthemums, the Bergerac market never fails to brighten the first Saturday in November – always a foggy grey, often drizzly day. Heaps of bright squash and pumpkin are ready for slicing into wedges. Red, pale green and curly dark Savoy cabbage weigh in for soups and casseroles. What about roots? Grab the fringy tops of carrots, just-dug beetroot, purple-shouldered turnip globes, fennel bulbs to be gratinéed, or fill a sack with oval red Rosamonde potatoes. Delicate chanterelle mushrooms may still be around, but the meatier cèpes (boletus) are found in many markets now.
Select mushrooms - or chestnuts of your choice
Then, look for perfect, local persimmons – the glow-in-the-dark orange fruit visible on the farthest market stalls, or reach for rosy pomegranates packed in straw to cushion their journey to market. Whether the vagabond is in Brive or Bergerac, these nut growing regions never fail to supply wonderful breads for a simple market day lunch of salad (often endive with a mustard vinaigrette), nutbread and fresh cheese.
Artisanal breads, a market must
But what’s colorful about a loaf of nutbread? Just roll a round of chèvre cheese in pomegranate seeds, slip a slab of it onto your slice of nutty bread – not only colorful…. but juicy!
Simply chèvre & glossy pomegranate seeds
hello marolyn
what a nice story about market in bergerac , I agree I was there yesterday and every time I went , I found every much better than in Grand Frais, all the vegetables looked as they were just picked and so in season.
I love your suggestion of the chevre and pomegranate.
That pintade dish look also very appealing, just bought some pintade.
November 15th, 2009 | #
Inge! thanks for your comment – the dark meat of pintade, so close to game, is my favorite in autumn. how would you prepare it…with asian spices, perhaps?
November 16th, 2009 | #
Hello Marolyn,
I love markets and everything you describe at the Bergerac market sounds so yummy! pomegrane and chevre are among my favorite things….!
December 3rd, 2009 | #