Taste le Tour, Gabriel Gaté - I'll have that
"there's something so satisfying about living vicariously through Gabriel alongside SBS's superb live coverage of the Tour de France."
I have been a bit remiss about Le Tour de France this year for some reason. Normally you find me in the latter stages of the evening half-watching the race whilst battling with sudoku. And I usually never miss the day before's highlights so that I am up to date with what is happening. This year I haven't seen any highlights at all, and so don't really know what is the progress of the race. I also don't watch the start of the evening's screenings and so I miss Gabriel Gaté and his short but entertaining little bits about the food and wine of the region the tour is passing through that day. But the other day we both caught it and this is where the "I'll have that!" comes from. They were in the Alps and Gabriel was making an Alpine cheese and ham loaf/cake. David saw it too and immediately said that he would have it for his Friday evening special meal. So that's what I am going to make:
It's a bit of a curious thing, not really what you would think of for dinner, and I suspect my husband was tempted by the salad with which it was served. But it did look very simple and so I am going to give it a go. It's probably a bit like a savoury muffin or scone and it's supposed to be served warm, so will be perfectly fine for dinner.
The original recipe included olives and walnuts with the ham and cheese, which sounds pretty yummy, but I thought I would mix it up a bit and have one half with that and another half with onions and celery and maybe some capsicum. Or perhaps I'll make two smaller loaves. That will be a last minute decision.
I tried to find out something about the origins of this dish but got nowhere. There are lots of low key recipes for similar things though - mostly in French I have to say. Some of them have yeast, some of them not. I don't think I saw one that had olives, or walnuts in, so I suspect that that is a Gabriel Gaté innovation. But he does refer to it as a type of recipe rather than as a classic dish. So a real homely French dish.
Gabriel Gaté himself is interesting in that he is also a bit under the radar. You could say he is a celebrity chef - he has done a lot of television and written a lot of books in his time - bestsellers all, and yet he is not a celebrity chef here in Australia like, say, Curtis Stone, George Calombaris, Maggie Beer or Shane Delia. There are lots of others. Somehow or other I don't think Gabriel Gaté is taken seriously. Which is sad for his recipes are simple, French and often have a modern and personal touch. The French have acknowledged him with La Croix de Chevalier dans L'Ordre du Merite Agricole, which is one of their highest honours. The Victorian government too almost always has him as an Ambassador at their Australia Day Honours dos. And, of course, the SBS Tour de France presentation just would not be the same without him.
I think, that in a way, people regard him as a bit of a cartoon Frenchman - somehow not really French. But he is. He grew up in the Loire valley, became a chef and worked at some of France's top restaurants before falling in love with an Australian and moving here to live. So he still has a French accent and he does sometimes don a somewhat over the top French costume. But mostly not. Anyway all power to him and all power to Le Tour de France and to SBS for giving us such an informative and entertaining look at the event. This is his fourteenth year of doing it. And I bet he really enjoys it. I mean look at the photograph above. And these two below:
I think for at least one year his spots were actually filmed in Melbourne, tricked up to look as if it was France, but in recent years he has definitely been in France.
I suppose I love it so much because I love France, but I think there are thousands and thousands of Australians who tune in every night, some to cheer on our Australians, but probably most of us to cheer us up on our cold winter nights. It's a promise of sunnier times as we watch those millions of Frenchman, and tourists, who line the route - I do mean millions - with their funny costumes and their painstakingly built little set pieces which flash across the screen for just a moment. There is such civic pride in France - you see it everywhere - particularly in their roundabouts, almost all of which are decorated in some way, and their flower festooned villages. Then there is the spectacular scenery - natural or man-made. It is an absolute gift to French tourism.
The race is complicated but SBS again does a wonderful job of explaining it all and introducing us one by one to virtually all of the participants and all the extras - the lady who sits on the motorbike with the time to the next group on her handheld blackboard, the masseurs, the managers - on and on it goes. And this year they managed to do the FIFA world cup at the same time - with a budget that is pitiful no doubt.
Love le Tour, love SBS, love Gabriel Gaté and hope I'm going to love his Alpine cheese and ham loaf this evening.
