Asparagus with Dijon mustard Mousseline
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Asparagus is at its best when served simply, as with this classic French sauce.
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Parmentier de Confit de Canard
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For all its 'bucolic romance' picking grapes in Burgundy is back-breaking work. Seemingly endless days are spent bent-double, snipping at sticky grapes while steadily hiking up hill. The work is relentless and monotonous and high point of each day is lunch!
Read MoreAn Easy Tarte Tatin
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There is no dish that represents autumnal French comfort food like a Tarte Tatin. Slow-cooked apples from the tree, sweet caramel loaded with butter and a puff pastry that crumbles and oozes in equal measure, all come together for what has rightfully become a culinary French classic.
Read MoreGrand Marnier Creme Caramel & Kumquat Marmalade
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Inspired by these welcome addition to an otherwise uninspiring trip to the local market, here is a recipe for a Grand Marnier Creme Caramel with a Kumquat marmalade. With a mirror-smooth caramel topping, velvet texture and zesty marmalade, this easily prepared desert is welcome as a warm afternoon and hints at better times to come.
Read MoreSaucisse de Morteau and Butter Bean Casserole
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In our cellar a few lonely root vegetables lurk, and after months in the dark they are starting to soften a little and need eating. Butter beans and other pulses are always in stock as well, and these hearty beans always soak up plenty of flavour and add some well needed protein for the muscles after a days cycling or digging in the garden.
Read MoreLemon Panna Cotta with Rosemary Shortbread
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Blossom flowered, birds sang, heavy winter jumpers were packed away, forgotten shorts were rediscovered and espadrilles were dusted off. Then the cold and rained returned. However this little taste of the balmy days ahead inspired some cooking. Rosmary, that survives the winter here, began to push out its pale and tender young leaves. Zesty lemons from Spain are still in the market and to help encourage the arrival of spring I set about making one of our guests favourite desserts.
Read MoreBraised Beef Cheeks and Dijon Mustard Mash
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A regular favourite here at The Hungry Cyclist Lodge is slow braised beef cheeks. Easy to prepare and unimaginably unctuous, they are full of flavour and the slow braise fills the house with glorious smells, perfect when returning from a days cycling and wine tasting in Burgundy. Paired with a creamy mash, flavoured with local Dijon mustard, this is a dish perfectly suited for autumn nights.
Read MoreOeufs En Meurette in Cream & Chardonnay Sauce
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Oeufs en Meurette is a Burgundian classic. A soft-poached egg swimming in a rich red wine sauce, it's a warming and hearty dish, perfect for autumn days. However as a hot summer has come to an end I have found that the same principle work of serving a poached egg in a creamy white wine sauce flavoured with herbs from the garden
Read MoreLemon Verbena Creme Brule for a Summers Evening.
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Here at The Hungry Cyclist Lodge we keep our grilling simple and this summers' favourites are 'magret' of duck and the smoky rib of Charolais slow-cooked over 90-year-old vine stocks, both washed down with plenty of local pinot noir.
Read MoreChardonnay and Agastache Poached Peaches with Grilled Pain D'Epices.
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Peaches from the south of France cover the tables in the local markets at this time of year, and the secret in this heat is to eat them as fast as you can before they turn. While there are few greater pleasures in life than taking on a peach whole, juices pouring down your shirt this recipe is a little more elegant.
Read MoreJambon Persille Recipe
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Boeuf Bourguignon, Oeufs en Meurette and snails all make the podium, but the often sidelined Jambon Persille is one of my Burgundian favourites. Hunks of dense ham set in a porky flavoured parsley and garlic jelly. There are few better foods to wheel out at a cycling picnic in Burgundy and the humble Jambon Persille could not be more historic.
Read MoreRadish Top Soup - Recipe
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One of the first plants to arrive is the glorious radish. The radish is the gardening equivalent of learning chop sticks on the piano. Easy to plant and with an almost instant reward. After only a few days young leaves appear and after two weeks the rose roots break the surface like sunburned bald heads.
Read MoreBraised Sprout, Smoked Poitrine & Bleu de Gex Winter Salad.
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There is something optimistic about eating salad at the end of February. The days are noticeably longer, furry buds gather on fruit trees and a salad feels like an early taste of the balmy days to come. In the garden at this time of year only a few proud towers of sprouts remain. After the heavy frosts the mini cabbages that cling to the stalks are extra sweet and even more so when braised with some smoked pork rib.
Read MoreBurgundian Wild Boar Stew
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Walking in Burgundy in the winter you have to take care. From September to February when the temperature descends and the days shorten, Burgundian men like nothing more than to get together, drink plenty of wine, eat well and hunt wild boar.
Read MoreBeef Cheek Boeuf Bourguignon
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The local classic that the region puts its name to is of course 'Boeuf Bourguignon'. First mentioned in cookbooks in 1903, by chef Auguste Escoffier, whose decedents still live in Beaune, it is likely this hearty, wine-soaked dish has it roots much deeper in regional history.
Read MoreDôme de Vézelay, Beetroot & Tarragon Salad
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We have plenty of tarragon here in the garden at The Hungry Cyclist Lodge and what isn't used to infuse vinegar is eaten in salads. Beetroot also grow well and provide a good burst of colour in the depths of winter.
Read MoreLa Choucroute - A Sunday Lunch Special
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This culinary tool kit of ingredients make up the famed French dish Choucroute (cooked cabbage). A Sunday lunch special in these cold winter months it hails from the proud mountain region of the Alscase. In this corner of France the pig is king and every morcel is utilised.
Read MoreBoudin Noir Aux Pommes (Blood Sausage with Apples)
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Winter in Burgundy is a time of heavy hearty food. There is plenty to do in the garden stripping ivy, cutting logs and digging beds and what energy isn't used on work is burnt trying to keep warm. While I hope the mill will be cool in the summer, at this time of year it is freezing cold. A fire in the evening and plenty of woollen layers help but coming in at noon it is a hard earned lunch that warms the soul.
Read MoreCourgettes Carpaccio with Citrus Olive Oil
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I ate the last courgettes from my garden last night. Lovingly wrapped in newspaper, and lined up like nuclear warheads, they were delicious and a fond memory of late summer. My first year in the vegetable garden here at The Hungry Cyclist Lodge has been a success.
Read MoreBoiled Artichokes and Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette
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Whoever discovered you could eat an artichoke? So well defended is the artichoke it’s baffling to imagine how we humans ever discovered they were edible. These armour-plated member of the thistle family look more suited to a medieval torture chamber than our dinner plates, yet get beyond their aggressive exterior pleasure await.
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