This guy weighed in at 750gms/1lb 10oz!
I’m making a simple fresh tomato sauce with garlic and basil…
First we go to La Fête du Pain, [the Bread Festival] in Lautrec. I find a convenient parking place–not easy.
Kids welcome you with an entrance sticker and a little sack of Lautrec flour (the village has one of the oldest working windmills in the South West!)…
and wish you “Bonne Journée ” with eager faces.
Charming.
A percussion group climb up to the village in front of us.
Baritone and crisp side drums keep a good rhythm, making it sound like Sienna on Palio day.
We reach the square and “BANG”–du monde–too many people–too much noise!
I’m not grumpy–just not geared up for the crowd.
I leave Meredith there with her camera and drive home (losing the parking place).
Starting the sauce
I start the sauce* and feel better.
Meredith rings and says there’s a stall grilling lamb and sausages.
I rally and make my way back to Lautrec (retrieving the parking place).
After waiting in line for an age, we sit down with two plates of meat in the upper village square.
I buy two small glasses of red–1 euro each–and break the pledge a day early. We feel no guilt.
It’s definitely a “Jour de Fête“–happy crowds “milling” [jour du pain!] and “teeming” .
Plenty for the kids to do too–like learning to make pizza….
Eager students...
and “Guessing the Grain”…
"Older children"--guessing which grain is which!
and I’ve cheered up too!
Felicitations, LAUTREC!!
Simple fresh Tomato sauce
1 1/2lb/700gms–ripe tomatoes
4 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 fat cloves of garlic–sliced finely
a few basil leaves–chopped
s&p
Heat the oil in a pan.
Sauté the garlic gently in the oil until it starts to colour.
Chop the tomatoes–scooping out and leaving aside much of the seedy liquid.
Add them to the pan.
Cook them over a medium heat, stirring from time to time, for about 20 minutes.
When you can divide the red sea with a spoon and little pock marks appear in the sauce is done.
Season and serve as you like.
Robin Ellis 