Le Marche

This is why people move to the south of France. Some images from the markets around Olonzac.

What I ate today: pig's face terrine salad??

After a second failed attempt to eat at the Hotel D'Alibert in Caunes-Minervois (it has been closed for lunch twice so far), we happened upon a little restaurant in Rieux-Minervois, Le Logis de Merinville. It is run by a couple, Cathy and Pierre Morin, who have been there for 35 years. He is the chef and she works front of house. The decor was quirky, the food very authentic and homely. We opted for the Menu de Jour, which included this interesting salad of terrine, cucumber, lettuce and tomato:

We believe the terrine was made from pig's snout, ears and tongue with some aspic to glue it all together. The flavour of the meat was very nice, but personally, I'm not a fan of aspic. It lends everything a gelatinous texture that just quite doesn't work for me with savoury dishes. Perhaps I'm not comfortable enough with traditional French dishes (I don't know how Julie Powell made it all the way through the aspic chapter of Julia Child's book). The flavour of the salad dressing was delicious, though and the vegetables very fresh and crisp.