On a recent visit to Avignon, flavours associated to my early childhood tickled my nose, once more. First meal, I ordered a Gardiane de Boeuf, a speciality of the area, now made with beef, yesterdays with bull meat.
Growing up in Nimes with a bullfighting aficionado for a dad, I had my fair share of bull meat. Gardiane was always on restaurant menus and always a family favourite.
Bull is now replaced by beef, as sourcing bull is complicated. Guardiane is a dish typical of Camargue, the Rhone delta, a wonderful swamp where flamingos, local horses and bulls live roam.
Bull is now replaced by beef, as sourcing bull is complicated. Guardiane is a dish typical of Camargue, the Rhone delta, a wonderful swamp where flamingos, local horses and bulls live roam.
The dish called Gardiane as it was gardians' pack lunch. Gardians are horsemen who tended to bull herds, in another words a cow-boys and gardiane is a sophisticated boeuf bourguignon.
The meat needs to marinate over night. This is a dish with strong flavours which requires rice and/or wild rice to soak up the lovely juices.
Have a peep at the ingredients:
1 kg stewing beef -diced- serves 4 to 6 people
2 onions -peeled and chopped-
2 carrots- peeled and sliced
3 or 4 cloves garlic, left whole
3 anchovy fillets
green olives as many as you like
1/2 bottle of red wine
2 onions -peeled and chopped-
2 carrots- peeled and sliced
3 or 4 cloves garlic, left whole
3 anchovy fillets
green olives as many as you like
1/2 bottle of red wine
500ml beef stock
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Peel and slice the onions. Peel the garlic cloves and leave them whole. Place in a bowl with herbs and a little olive oil. Marinate overnight.
The next day, Heat a pan with a little olive oil. Add beef pieces, mix and allow to color slightly, retrieve the meat and replace with the onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, rinse, peel and cut the carrots into thick slices. Add them to the pan, stir.
Add the anchovies, bouillon. Salt and pepper, add the olives and cover with red wine.
Simmer with a lead on for 2 hours.
When cooked, taste to check the seasoning. Increase heat to reduce the juices
Serve Camarguaise rice, a delicious French rice, firm and rather plain in flavour often mixed with black wild rice.
Inside the Palais des Papes in Avignon - Article soon on Trip Reporter
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