The first Padrón Peppers of the season are here! The harvest is late this year and we don’t have a lot on hand, but come and get these while they are fresh. Picked this morning! To serve, sauté the peppers in Spanish olive oil until each side is blistered, then remove from the heat, top with sea salt and serve as a tapa. Easy and delicious.
If you’re going to any outdoor Seafair events this weekend, take some great food and beverages with you. If you stock up at Paris-Madrid Grocery, you’ll eat better food, probably save money and avoid waiting in long lines. Here at Paris-Madrid Grocery, we’ve got ingredients to make Spanish-style bocadillos (sandwiches), cheese, crackers and nut assortments, tins or jars of French pâtés, seafood rillettes, and a range of tinned fish. Our selection of canned ciders and wines keeps growing and now includes a Basque rosé and Broadbent vinho verdes. These are delicious, light weight, and super portable.
Our shipment of outdoor paella cookers (butanos) and paelleras arrived last week. We can help you find the right-size burner; we’ve now got sizes that serve from six to fifty people. Cooking paella on one of these burners is perfect in the summer and guests love to watch it being prepared. It seems to taste better when made outdoors!
Jambon de Bayonne is back in stock, pre-sliced in 3 oz. packages. It is produced by Agour, a 40-year old Basque cooperative of farmers located in the southwest of France. A certified IGP ham (guaranteeing the authenticity and origin of the ham), it is made the traditional way with salt from Selles-de-Béam and cured in the Adour Basin, an ideal location for curing ham. Agour’s Jambon de Bayonne is made in small quantities, due to the modest amount of pork raised in the region so we snapped up what was available. Excellent for sandwiches, diced and served with scrambled eggs, or served on a charcuterie board.
Also from Agour, we have these Basque sheep-milk cheeses in stock: Ossau-Iraty (a hard cheese with nutty undertones and a buttery finish), Arpea de Brebis (sweet, delicately flavored and creamy with a brine-washed rind) and Ardi Gasna Petit Agour (a raw-milk cheese with a paprika-rubbed coating, Ardi Gasna is mild, sweet and nutty with very creamy center).
Brillat Savarin Frais, 200 gram wheels A stellar triple cream cow’s milk cheese, the 200 gram wheels are an excellent picnic-size cheese. Fresh and soft, made of pasteurized cow’s milk with a hint of earthy tang, it is plain luscious. Stunning with fresh or dried fruit on a mixed cheese plate.
Buche de Luçay is a French goat milk log that we’ve fallen in love with. The outer rind is very soft, almost spreadable, while the inner core is firm and a bit chalky. The flavor is complex, tangy and intense with a citrusy hint, enveloped in a downy white rind. Excellent on its own or in a tossed green salad. Goat cheese lovers, you must try this!
WINE CORNER:
Paul Chollet Crémant de Bourgogne Brut ($22.00) When you simply must have sparkling wine, get a bottle of Chollet Crémant de Bourgogne Brut. A producer known for making great Crémants (Crémants are sparkling wines made using the Champagne method, but come from outside Champagne). The Bourgogne Brut is made from estate-grown fruit and aged on lees for 24 months, developing a depth of richness and complexity. Rich and bright, it shows notes of white fruit, great balance and elegance. A blend of 70% Pinot Noir, with the rest Chardonnay and Aligote, this versatile sparkling wine pairs wonderfully with cheese.
Moulin de la Gardette Cuvée Tradition Gigondas, 2019 ($45.00) If barbeque lamb or beef is in your future, the Gardette Gigondas is a perfect wine to serve with it. With enticing fruit aromas, it delivers notes of spice and hints of pepper underneath a robe of red cherry-plum fruit. Bright, fresh and silky, this graceful wine is complex and appealing, one you’ll keep drinking. The grape are certified organic, grown on vines up to 100 years old. Fermented with native yeast and only lightly filtered, it is aged in oak casks for 12 months. 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre.