Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Wine and Food of Le Tour 2020 Stage 10

A very different sort of route today as they travel from Île d'Oléron Le Château-d'Oléron to Ile de Ré. 
From the race director: Two islands linked by a stage of the Tour, that’s already a first for the peloton that will find it hard to make it bunched to Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The stage will be marked by the Vauban buildings in Royan, Rochefort or La Rochelle, but also by a course mainly set by the sea… and the crossing of marshlands swept by wind.

Ile d’Oléron Specialties:Marennes-Oléron oysters, shells, shellfish, mussels. Fish. Melon of Charente, onion of Saint-Turjan. Viticulture (pays charentais wines, cognac, pineau). Beer (Naufrageurs, Fort Boyard). Marine salt.

Ile de Ré specialties:  salt, wine (Rosé des Dunes, pineau), oysters, shells, shellfish, pastis of île de Ré, goat cheese.



Stage
: The news of the morning was the results of the rest day covid testing: 
- No rider has tested positive for COVID-19 or is considered a contact case requiring quarantine.
- 1 staff member each from Team Cofidis, AG2R La Mondiale, Ineos Grenadiers and Mitchelton-Scott have tested positive and left the race bubble.
- A technical service provider has also tested positive and has left the race.
Oh, and the race director himself, Christian Prudhomme tested positive.
Our break of the morning was Swiss: Küng and Schär.

Update from Le Tour:The bunch is near the Palmyre beach where Julian Alaphilippe, who hails from the center of France, saw the sea for the first time when he was a teenager! 
115 kilometers to go and the gap was inside one minute. They were being given very little of a gap. Perhaps there would be winds ahead.
With just over 100 kilometers to go, the two were caught, followed by a small split in the peloton.
Crash towards the back of the bunch! Many riders down and several would be slow to get riding again. At the front, Quick Step was continuing to go full gas, upsetting many. Replacing them at the front and slowing things down, Jumbo-Visma.
Out of the race, Sam Bewley.
Eighty kilometers to go and they were all together.
Sixty four kilometers to go and another crash. Among those involved, Pogacar and Guillaume Martin. They would make it back to the peloton.
The next predicted excitement would be the intermedia sprint at about 39 kilometers to go. Trentin, Sagan and Bennett the first three there. the green jersey standings were:
1. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), 155 points
2. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step), 146
3. Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), 118
4. Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), 117
5. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), 111
Another crash with Barguil involved. There was a lot of road furniture today, but that looked like it was more about the peloton turning a corner.
Thirty kilometers to go and the sprint trains were already setting up.
Today, by the way, we are just about halfway through the Tour. 
Another crash! Plus splits in the peloton. 
Coming up: a long bridge. Wind exposure would up the tension in an already reduced peloton. Yikes. Much of the Jumbo Visma team took the wrong way on a roundabout.
They were ten minutes ahead of the fastest expected race finish. 
Three kilometers to go and the sprint trains were ready.
Bennett! Well done. That was very close with Ewan.

The wine:
 Domaine De L'Ecu Classic
Let's see what the producer has to say about the wine, with some help from Google translate:
This wine is intended "Classic" only to stand out from a fashion tending to promote wines whose aromas have their origin neither in the grape nor in the soil ... This Muscadet is elaborated and vinified to be appreciated in its youth, "On the fruit".
Straw yellow, crystalline. Nose mixing smoky notes on a background of citrus and white flowers, fine notes of encaustic. The mouth is lurking, presents a beautiful volume but also a tension and a freshness that would not displease the amateurs of Muscadet. This wine will perfectly accompany a seafood platter, a fatty fish (mackerel / sardine / salmon type) and will of course be the perfect companion for your aperitif. Of course, it is the wine of the estate to taste your dozen oysters.
 

The Food: Whole Fish Baked in Salt Crust From Île de Ré 
Much more here
Adapted from Daniel Massé, Le Chat Botté, St-Clément-des-Baleines, France

Time: 45 minutes
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together coarse salt, fine salt, flour, thyme and fennel. Add egg whites and mix for 2 to 3 minutes to make a flexible and firm dough; if dough is too dry, add more egg whites one at a time as needed.

2. Roll dough out on parchment paper to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Put vegetables in the cavity of the fish, and place fish in the center of the dough. Wrap fish entirely with dough, using the edges of the parchment to help lift the dough over the fish. Transfer parchment with encased fish to a shallow baking pan, and tear off excess parchment from around the fish.
3. Bake for 25 minutes. Cut open and remove salt crust from fish. Remove the skin of the fish. Discard crust and skin, fillet the fish and, if desired, serve with a beurre blanc sauce.
Yield: 2 servings.

1 comment:

  1. Flat flat flat so flat and they always crash most when the peloton is gruppo completo.

    ReplyDelete