Discover the Conques Valley and taste Camargue bull

Europe 1 06:53, August 16, 2022

Discover the Conques Valley with Vanessa Zha

Head to Aveyron for a nature and heritage getaway, in the footsteps of Pierre Soulages.

Vanessa Zha takes us to a magical place in the north of the department, in the Conques valley.

One of the most beautiful villages in France where time truly stood still in medieval times.

To soak up this place, you have to come down from the north like the pilgrims who take the road to Saint Jacques de Compostela.

There, you will discover, placed in the middle of this valley, the abbey of Conques, which dates from the Middle Ages.

Around, which was not the case in the Middle Ages, there is a whole lush vegetation.

It is a very wild place.

The village has a lot of character, it is very small.

Its abbey church is interesting, because it is one of the canonical models of pilgrimage churches, a jewel of Romanesque art in terms of architecture and sculptures, among others the famous "tympanum of Conques" which is widely recognized.

The painter of black then, that on the contrary, this valley of Conques seems very luminous.

Painter of black with his famous Tableaux Outre-noirs, yes!

But a painter who hunts the light.

There is no black without light, nor light without black.

The painting must reflect the color.

And his work of light you will understand precisely in the abbey of Conques.

Imagine that he made stained glass windows, 104 windows, with the great master glassmaker Jean Dominique Fleury, between 1986 and 1994.

Eight years of work, why so many?

This is his genius: he passes the spectrum is bright and there can even be rays of color.

And this is the specificity of the stained glass windows of Conques.

Is there a hiking trail that goes through conques?

Yes, the GR 65, to follow in the footsteps of pilgrims.

1,000 years of history towards Santiago de Compostela.

And the Aveyron part of the GR takes you from the Aubrac steppes to the villages of the Lot valley, from the Marcillac valley to Livinahc le Haut.

Sheep atmosphere. 

And then, there is also a brebiscyclette hike, in the footsteps of Roquefort, in the Grandes Causses natural park.

A 62 kilometer cycle route that can be completed in four hours.

Well, the level is difficult.

We after the effort the comfort, we sleep where?

A guest house at the Château de Lunel in Saint Felix de Lunel.

Panoramic view of the Aubrac plateau.

And as it is to put you back on the path of spirituality, you have the choice between two rooms "Coeur simple de moine" or "Ambition l'abbé".

Taste the Camargue bull with Marion Sauveur

Like every day with Marion Sauveur, we discover or rediscover a product from our region.

Today it is meat. 

A fairly rare meat, that of Camargue bull.

Dark red in color, it is very fragrant and quite lean.

It is six times less fatty than farmed beef.

And it has a protected designation of origin (PDO). 

Camargue bulls live in herds.

This is the name given to herds.

They are bred for the races, but the selection is long and there are few chosen.

It is those who are not chosen for the race who end up on our plate. 

Only two breeds are part of the appellation: the Camargue breed (raço di biou) which is the original breed, they are rustic bulls;

and the Brave or Combat race, which comes from Spain.

The bulls are bigger, more corpulent. 

They spend their lives in the open air, in the beautiful expanses of the Camargue Regional Natural Park, made up of immense plains of exceptional richness.

In winter, the herdsmen bring them food supplements: hay and cereals from the region.

But the other six months of the year, they feed on their own with the plants that grow in these wetlands.

And it is these plants, such as grass, glasswort, reeds, which give the red color to the meat. 

And this meat, how do you propose to prepare it? 

The typical recipe of the region is the gardiane of bulls, a kind of Camargue beef bourguignon.

For a change, we are going to make bull meat empanadas, very tasty little turnovers! 

To tenderize the flesh of the meat, start by preparing a marinade made up of red wine, vinegar, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, onions and carrots.

Let the meat soak overnight. 

The next day we drain the pieces.

Fry the diced onions with the peppers and garlic.

Add the meat cut into cubes in a little oil.

Add Espelette pepper.

Cut discs of shortcrust pastry.

In the center, we put the meat.

The shortcrust pastry is folded over to form a turnover.

We add a little egg yolk on the dough so that it browns and goes to the oven! 

You have to eat the empanadas very hot, with a little Camargue rice. 

Every day, you ask a chef for a tip. 

Today, it is chef Edouard Beaufils of the Bec au Paradou restaurant in the Bouches-du-Rhône.

He advises you to cook bull meat on the barbecue and gives us a little trick to make it delicious. 

“What I like to do…is make a lacquer based on honey, sherry vinegar and soy sauce that I reduce all at the same time.

And just before putting the meat on the barbecue, I brush my piece with this lacquer.

And there, I'm going to grill, directly on the grill... and it'll caramelize slightly, it'll make the piece crispy.

We are going to have something that is going to be quite close to ribs”.  

In his Bec au Paradou restaurant, chef Edouard Beaufils offers modern cuisine based on local products.

On the menu this summer, a fillet of bull just seared, and accompanied by a brunoise of smoked breast, tuberous parsley and candied lemon.

A real delicacy... 

https://www.bec-restaurant.com/

Do you have a second address to recommend to us to taste bull meat this summer? 

Direction Nîmes and the Croizard restaurant.

Chef Vincent Croizard offers a bull gardiane, accompanied by red rice in vine leaves marinated in olive oil and flax and an emulsion of orange and sherry with fennel seeds.

Taste, taste, taste! 

https://www.restaurantcroizard.com

RECEIPTS 

Camargue bull meat empanadas 

• 500g Camargue bull meat 

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 sprig of thyme

• 2 sprigs of rosemary

• Salt

• Pepper

• 10g vinegar

• 150g onions (marinade) + 125g onions 

• 1/2 bottle of local red wine 

• 500g shortcrust pastry 

• 1 egg yolk

• 100g bell peppers, finely diced

• 1 clove of garlic 

• 2 tablespoons oil

• 1/2 tablespoon Espelette pepper 

Marinate the meat overnight in a marinade made up of red wine, vinegar, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, salt, pepper, onions and carrots. 

The next day, drain the pieces. 

Fry the diced onions with the peppers and garlic.

Add the meat cut into cubes in a little oil and to finish with Espelette pepper.

Cut discs of shortcrust pastry 10 to 12 cm in diameter.

In the center, place the meat.

Wet the edges of the dough.

Fold the shortcrust pastry over to form a turnover, pressing down the edges.

Brush a little egg yolk on the dough so that it browns and goes to the oven, preheated to 180 degrees.

Cooking takes about 20 minutes. 

Camargue bull meat on the barbecue, by Edouard Beaufils at the restaurant Bec au Paradou

https://www.bec-restaurant.com/

• 4 fillets or 4 bull ribs 

• 250g of honey

• 50g sherry vinegar 

• 50g of soy

To make the lacquer, reduce the honey, vinegar and soy in a saucepan.

Brush the pieces of meat with the glaze.

Place your pieces on the barbecue.

They will caramelize slightly.