Les Halles De Lyon

Train travel spoils you. No need to get to the airport 2+ hours before your flight, no waiting in long security lines, no strict weight and size limits on your luggage. You arrive a bit before your train is scheduled to depart, stow your bags, find your seat and away you go!
Living in Paris spoils you too. You quickly learn that much of France and many parts of Europe are just a few hours from the city. (and escaping from time to time is good for le moral)

Feel like going to Amsterdam? No problem! Jump on a train and you'll be there in just over 3 hours. Want to taste some wine in Bordeaux? It's only 2½ hours away. Craving some bouillabaisse and time on the beach? You can be sitting in the sun in Marseille in a little over 3 hours.





And of course there's Lyon, a city that is considered paradise for the French food lover and a place that had both intrigued me and been recommended to me by several friends over the years. So last summer I hopped on the TGV and just 2 hours later was climbing up a steep flight of stairs in La Croix-Rousse neighborhood to meet up with old friends.

Lucy, a brilliant cook and owner of the cooking school, Plum Lyon, who I met in Gascony at Camp Cassoulet almost a decade ago, and Mardi, the writer of the fabulous food blog, eat. live. travel. write, who I met in Paris several years ago, were waiting at Lucy's house to welcome me. The first thing we did after I dropped off my bag was head to the covered food market, Les Halles de Lyon.

I instantly fell in love with this place, for the cheese alone! The quality of the food on offer was superb and the people working at the market were genuine and helpful. There was no snobbery here, just people selling products that they believed in and wanted to share with us. I noticed the same thing at the restaurants where we ate. The chefs were proud of their dishes, but they didn't do a great job for the recognition, they cooked amazing food because they are chefs, and that's what chefs do. The lack of pretension was so refreshing.

It was a whirlwind trip, and with Lucy and her family's help, we packed a lot of delicious food, cheese, wine, walking and laughter into 36 hours. But that's all the time it took to convince me; if you love French food, you can believe what they say about Lyon.
It is paradise!

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Photo du Jour - Les Nems

Ah, les nems!

We actually went out to lunch. In a city.
In other words, I got my you-know-what out of bed early enough to feed and walk the dogs, have coffee, take a shower and get dressed and all pretty, and drive 35 minutes to Narbonne.
All of this before noon!

You see, I had to get to les Halles to get some cheese for la Fête du Fromage as I've pretty much exhausted all of my cheese sources here in the Minervois. Husband was easily enticed along by the promise of lunch in a little Chinese (i.e. Vietnamese) resto that we enjoy.

It was fabulous to Get Out of the House and Get Out of the Village.

And the cheese I found in les Halles - amazing!
Lunch was pretty darn good too. No rosé and no baguette, just nems and fried wontons, Tsingtao beer, super spicy sautéed chicken and steamed rice and Vietnamese chicken salad.

All in all, a great afternoon. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Potimarrons

Le Potimarron - a succulent, dense, chestnut flavored squash that makes delicious soup.

Potimarron Soup
serves 4

2 pounds potimarron (a.k.a. Hokkaido squash), peeled and cut into one inch cubes
4 cups chicken stock
2-3 teaspoons sugar, depending on the sweetness of the potimarron
4 tablespoons crème fraîche or heavy cream
salt
freshly ground white pepper
4 small slices Fourme d'Ambert cheese

In a large stockpot mix together the cubed potimarron, chicken stock and 2 teaspoons sugar.
Bring to a boil over high heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Taste and add more sugar if necessary.
Blend until completely smooth with a hand blender or in a food processor. Use caution with hot soup!
Just before serving, bring back to a boil and whisk in the crème fraîche or cream. Add salt and white pepper to taste.
Ladle into 4 bowls and lay a slice of Fourme d'Ambert on top of each serving.
Enjoy! Pin It

Photo du Jour - Scallops and Sardines

Scallops in le Marché Couvert in Cognac were only €7,90 a kilo. Down here in the Languedoc they cost more than twice that.
And check out those enormous silver sardines! (on the right) Pin It

Photo du Jour - Cheese Tasting

Some of the goodies I found in les Halles in Cognac. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Les Halles

Fresh seafood in les Halles in Cognac.
I was drooling! Pin It

Photo du Jour

I've walked by this at least two dozen times and I never really noticed it before yesterday. It is just around the corner from les Halles in Béziers, on a little side street that winds its way toward the Cathedral.

La Beurrerie Moderne - Is that like une Laiterie or une Fromagerie? Is this where someone used to make and sell butter? Pin It

La Journée Nationale du Fromage

Today is la Journée National du Fromage.

I expected a grand tasting event at les Halles in Narbonne, maybe a little parade or perhaps even a young woman crowned la Reine du Fromage. (hey, why not?)
Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that the closest fromager celebrating the event is in Toulouse, an hour and a half away!
Nothing in Narbonne, Béziers, Perpignan or even Montpellier!

So, we're celebrating on our own.

What did you do to fête le fromage? Pin It

Photo du Jour

Ballotine, Pâté en Croûte and Pâté.

Pâté with apple, one with pistachio and one with truffles. Then the two ballotine on the left.
How do you choose? Or do you just go ahead a try a bit of each? Pin It

Photo du Jour - Spicy!

A colorful array of spices at les Halles. Pin It

I Love Christmas In France!

It's all about the food, family and friends. I love it!

There were hordes of people doing their food shopping at les Halles in Narbonne this morning and they were all in a good mood. Everyone. The shoppers and the salespeople. It was wonderful!


a little something to start with


un mélange


main course


the cheese course


don't forget the dessert


all presided over by one of Santa's elves and his reindeer Pin It

Photo du Jour

It's Tuesday, la Fête du Fromage, so what better photo that la fromagerie? Pin It

Photo du Jour

La Journée National Slow Food in les Halles in Narbonne.

We handed out dozens and dozens of delicious, creamy, Mona Lisa, Eden and Hermine potatoes that had been steamed and drizzled with olive oil. Pin It

Photos du Jour

La Place de la Madeleine in Béziers.

We were in Béziers yesterday for a hair appointment and to drop off some papers, which we accidentally left at home. Merde.

The skies were grey but the temperature was perfect for walking around. I went to my favorite fromagerie in Les Halles to buy cheese for La Fête du Fromage and we had crêpes at La Table Bretonne.


Crêpe Vallé d'Auge: buckwheat crêpe with Camembert, emmental and homemade caramel au beurre salé.

A savory-sweet creation with oozing, melted cheese in a crisp, hearty wrapper. Sublime!
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La Fête du Fromage - Chèvre à la Sarriette de Provence and Romans Part Dieu

This week I had the good fortune to be in Béziers for something other than the dreaded French bureaucracy. It was a welcome change which allowed me the opportunity to pick up some cheese at one of the fromageries in les Halles, where I had taken my sister back in May. The owner has a great selection of artisanal and fermier cheeses so after consulting my list I chose Romans Part Dieu and Chèvre à la Sarriette de Provence.

After being seduced by its fragrance, I purchased a sarriette plant a few weeks ago, having absolutely no idea what it was. Sarriette, also known as Pèbre d’Aï, is French for winter savory, an herb used in making Herbes de Provence. 

The Chèvre à la Sarriette is a little disc of goat's cheese, about the size of Banon, that is sprinkled with sarriette leaves and left to mature, all the while being infused with the alluring aroma of the herb. Its texture was a bit gooey around the rind and chalky and creamy in the center and the flavor was that of a typical chèvre with sarriette's lovely, woodsy flavor adding a certain je ne sais quoi. 
We really loved this cheese!
 Pour a glass of Costières de Nîmes to drink with this special chèvre.



The beautiful, moldy rind of the Romans Part Dieu attracted me immediately.
This is an artisanal, unpasteurized cow's milk cheese that comes from the Dauphiné region in the Rhône-Alpes. It is similar to St. Marcellin in both method of production and its origin, but different in size and not as runny. We found it creamy, rich and nutty with a bit of a barnyard aroma. It is one of those sublime, melt in your mouth cheeses that I highly recommend.
Try with a glass of either light red, fruity red or dry white wine such as Mâcon-Villages.




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Photo du Jour

Les Halles in Narbonne. Foodie heaven!
Inside are around 80 food stalls including fishmongers, poultry and beef vendors, charcuteries, boulangeries, organic food stalls, wine merchants, bars, restaurants and most importantly, four fromageries. Pin It