You’ll be tempted and seduced by the local gastronomy – the Averonnais are proud of it and visitors find it quite delicious!
To make at home: these easy recipes with simple ingredients will bring back happy memories of your holidays!!
MAMIE COLETTE’S FOUACE
For 1 kilo of fouace:
Ingredients
4 eggs (keep one white in reserve), 1 glass milk , 180g melted butter, 150g sugar, 2 soup spoons orange flower water, 40g baker’s yeast, 500g plain flour.
Preparation
Allow the yeast to swell in a little sweetened tepid milk. Preheat the oven to 260°C (mark 10) or to its hottest setting.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, the eggs (reserving one white), the sugar and the orange flower water and beat with a fork until you have a very smooth dough. Then knead the mixture by hand, adding the yeast and, slowly, the milk and the melted butter. You can add some dried fruit if you like at this stage. Form into a ring or a round and place on a baking sheet. Glaze with the reserved egg white.
Cook for 6 minutes at 260°C (mark 10) then 20 minutes at 180°C (mark 5).
The fouace will be even crispier if baked in a wood fired oven!
LA CROQUANDE
Ingredients
800g flour, 3 eggs, 20cl crème fraiche, 3 glasses sugar, 1 packet yeast, 2 teaspoons pastis.
Preparation
Mix all the ingredients together until the dough forms a ball and comes away easily from your fingers. Roll out or flatten by hand into a circle, then make slashes with a knife on the sides and cut a six-pointed cross through the dough in the centre. Fold back each point of the star so a hole opens up in the centre of the dough. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes at 210°C (mark8).
FARCOUS
(RECIPE FROM TOURISME AVEYRON)
Ingredients
The green from 4 or 5 leaves of Swiss chard, a good handful of parsley, an onion, a clove of garlic, 100g pork sausagemeat, 4 eggs, 2 soup spoons flour, 10cl milk (a little more or less, depending on the consistency of the mixture.)
Preparation
Chop finely the chard, parsley, onion, garlic and sausagemeat, then mix it all together and put aside. In a bowl, mix the flour and the eggs then add the milk until you have a batter just a bit thicker than a pancake batter. Incorporate the chopped ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Heat some oil in a large frying pan and drop small quantities of the mixture into the hot oil, pressing down to get the a round shape about 1cm thick. Turn over once browned and continue cooking the other side. Serve hot with a green salad.
CHEESE SOUP
Ingredients
One large crusty French loaf, several days old (the harder the bread, the better), 400g grated cheese (gruyère or mature cheddar), 2 onions, 3 or 4 cabbage leaves, chopped, chicken or vegetable stock.
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180°C (mark 5).Cut the bread in slices. (If it’s not hard enough, slice it the day before). In an oven-proof bowl make alternate layers of bread and cheese until the bowl is full, starting with the bread and finishing with the cheese. Finely chop the onions, heat some oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions gently until golden. Then add the chopped cabbage leaves to the onions along with a litre of stock and bring to the boil. (If you don’t like bits of onion in the soup add the stock before the cabbage and blend). Carefully pour the stock, cabbage and onions over the bread and cheese making sure that all the bread has soaked up the liquid.
Put in the oven for between 30-45 minutes then place under a hot grill for a few minutes to brown.
You can either serve the soup in portions with a ladle or mix it all together before serving to make a thick purée.
