LES PÊCHEURS

Fishing in France is a bit of a national pastime. Fisher'men' and it is 99% men, are everywhere on the rivers and canals. As they obviously want to catch things the waterways are restocked, probably courtesy of the EU. Adjacent to Soraya, just before we came back to Blighty, there was a lot of heavy vehicle movements and chatter. We came out of Soraya to a mass of activity and fish being unceremoniously decanted from huge tanks on a lorry, weighed, recorded and introduced into the canal.

Roach (Le Gardon) and Bream (La Brême)

Pike (Le Brochet), very popular when served with Beurre Blanc.

recipe

The "beurre blanc" sauce is the emblematic recipe of the Nantes region. It goes very well with fish, especially Le Brochet.

Recipe from M. Gueho, restaurant l'Atlantide 1 star Michelin

Directions

1. Finely chop the shallots
2. In the frying pan, boil together the shallots, the vinegar, the muscadet and the ground black pepper.
3. Leave it on a low heat and then slowly let it reduce.
4. Add the double cream and bring it back to the boil.
5. Mix in the cold butter cut in pieces.
6. Whisk the butter energetically into the sauce. Keep it warm over a low heat.
7. The "beurre blanc" sauce is served with the shallots, and goes very well with pike or hake.
8. ( In the culinary tradition of Nantes, the "beurre blanc" requires no cream, but the trick to make it more stable is to add cream).

Margaret chatting to Franck Le Capitaine du Port regarding the fish restocking and no doubt the nuances of the Beurre Blanc recipe!