SUMMER COOKING - 18-25th May 2008

    WHAT THE WEEK IS ABOUT
     
    This is a week of celebrating all that is good about an early French summer! Think peaches and sunshine and cool fruity wine. Think baby artichokes and tiny broadbeans, wild rocket and asparagus, fragrant cherries... Grilled lambchops, salads and seafood dishes...
     
    What can I say? Is there a better way to learn how to use all this beautiful fresh produce in fabulous dishes that you can reinvent and re-adapt to every season (and your mood) when you're at home?

    And then there are all those excursions and tastings to learn all about olive oil, wine, cheese and honey... Sure, isn't it like heaven?
     
    WHAT THE WEEK INCLUDES

    • 7 nights accommodation in simple but tasteful surroundings
    • all meals including all wine - both at home and in restaurants
    • all transport to and from the airport and on all excursions
    • all demonstrations and tutored winetastings
    • small intimate course, limited to 6 people with private accommodation
       
    WHAT THE WEEK COSTS - 1250 euros - ALL INCLUSIVE
     

    ITINERARY
     
    day 1 sunday - pick-up from Carcassonne at 9.50am; straight onto the foodie openair market of St Chinian; an aperitif on the centre-village terrace to absorb the 'cosmopolitan buzz', then via the picturesque village of Roquebrun onto the Gorge d'Heric for a picnic. For those who feel like it, a (gentle) hike up to the gorges of the Orb river is a must; home to settle in, then dinner in the candle-lit courtyard.
     
    day 2 monday - breakfast is followed by a talk on flavour combinations and a cookery demonstration; after lunch time for a little relaxation then a tutored wine tasting. Dinner at home.
     

    day 3 tuesday - after breakfast another cookery demonstration; lunch is followed by a visit to the old olive presses of OLIBOU in Bize and to the vineyards of Terres Georges where its passionate owners Roland and Anne-Marie Coustal (who still make their wines by hand) will give us a tasting and talk; then we'll turn towards home for dinner.
     
    day 4 wednesday - after breakfast a trip to the pretty port of Marseillan for a guided visit to the cellars of Noilly Prat; onto Bouzigues to see the fresh oysters being hauled in - which we'll then eat on a wooden terrace over-hanging the water; a return journey via the ancient fishing port of Sete*); before dinner, a cookery demonstration using Noilly Prat in various dishes.
     
    day 5 thursday - after breakfast, a trip into Narbonne to visit its famous covered foodmarket (as well as its openair market, its cathedral etc); lunch in local restaurant; at home time for a little relaxation followed by a cookery demonstration with the produce we've bought in the market; dinner at home

    day 6 friday - breakfast, then a cookery demonstration on cooking impromptu meals from your cupboard and freezer; after lunch a visit to Laurent Miguel whose winery is larger and more modern than that of Terres Georges (and whose wines are available in Dublin), followed by a stroll along the Canal du Midi from Mirepeisset to the Porte Minervoise for a relaxing drink at the waterside in pretty village of Le Somail (with the option of a boat trip), then home for dinner.
     
    day 7 saturday is a day off. We can arrange to drop guests off in the centre of Beziers for shopping and sightseeing. Or at Beziers station for a day-trip to Montpellier (we can collect in the evening from Beziers station). Alternatively guests can pool together and rent a car (taxis are not expensive either) to visit a beach, visit the medieval city of Carcassonne or just lounge and read around the pool; our final dinner will be at home.
     
    day 8 sunday - after an early breakfast, an 8 o'clock departure for Carcassonne airport for the flight home...
     
    Guests will go home with a collection of recipes containing all the dishes demonstrated during the week... and hopefully with happy memories and a firm resolution to return the following year, either for another course or for a carefree B&B holiday!
     
    *) Excursions may be subject to change according to weather etc. Students also have the option of swopping the destination of planned visits - to include perhaps an excursion to a beekeeper, a goatscheese farm, the saltpans or an artisan baker...
     
    The school also offers a variety of art weeks, to include creative writing, painting, photography and printmaking. (see creative courses)
     

     
    For more information, please contact info@petracarter.com