Auvergne

I'm looking ahead and planning menus for Thursday and Friday; scroll down to my previous post if you are interested in what is for dinner tonight.

Stages 6 and 7 (10-11 July) both are in the region of Auvergne, which is known for the following foods:

• Cheeses: Fourme d’Ambert, Fourme du Cantal, Salers, Bleu d’Auvergne and Saint-Nectaire
• Green lentils of Le Puy
• Magnificent vegetables, including fresh-grown cabbages and potatoes
• A regional ham, Jambon d’Auvergne, and various pork sausages
• Abundant raspberries, blackberries and blueberries that grow wild in the forests of Cantal and Haute-Loire.

For an overview about this region and its cuisine, see frenchselections.com. This site also lists a handful of Auvergne recipes, but they unfortunately aren't hyperlinked.

Anne Willan's Country Cooking of France also includes a page that begins "The cooking of the Auvergne is not for picky eaters. Historically a poor region, the inhabitants were long considered the most miserable in all of France." (page 229) Here are a handful of the Auvergne recipes that caught my eye:

• La Truffade (Potato Cake with Cheese and Bacon), page 226
• Aligot (Potato and Cheese Puree), page 225
• Salad Tiede de Lentils (Warm Lentil Salad), page 253
• Omelet Auvergnate (Flat Omelet with Ham, Potato, and Cheese), page 45
  

Susan Herman Loomis's French Farmhouse Cookbook also has a few Auvergnat recipes:

• Potato Tart from the Auvergne (Pastis T Tertifle), pages 273-274
• Warm Lentil and Bacon Salad (Salade de Lentilles du Puy aux Lardons Chauds), pages 85-86