Nobody can go to Perpignan only once. Like the second breath after a free dive, the second visit is usually the longer one. It’s culinary history begins in the early Roman settlement and limps through the middle ages until the Arabs dig a deep foundation of sugar and spice and then layer upon layer of royal food follows. Perpignan was in the middle of a tug of war for centuries and has known it’s fair share of kings. James the 1st made it the capital of Majorca, Phillip the 3rd died there after Aragon gave him a little more than a cold shoulder & in 1344 Peter 4th returned it to the county of Barcelona, only to see half the 

population succumbing to the black death a year or two later. It was only in 1642 that Perpignan became French again – and then only because Spain had to cede it back in the Treaty of the Pyrenees. It stands to reason then, that Catalan cuisine predominates in the region and even the simplest of restaurants, like the one near the train station at Avenue de Gaulle produce excellent food with a eternally strong Catalan flavour - Perroquet seems to have been there for ever! Even the more upmarket restaurants like the Côte de Théâtre offer a menu based on Catalan cuisine. Close to Elne the Canet-Plage or Argeles-sur-Mer is found, both with broad sandy beaches. When walking along that boulevard with it’s ancient palmtrees, there is peace whilst simultaneously it calls up memories of too long ago. Sorbets, souvenirs and sand merge with the still clear waters of the Mediterranean and if you close your eyes for a second, you can imagine the times gone by and long long tables set uo on these same beaches, bedecked and bejeweled with feasts fit for kings.

SOUPE DE POISSONS DE ROCHE

Fish Soup

Ingredients

• 4 kg fresh fish (use what is available locally), cleaned throughly
• 4 leeks, cleaned and diced
• 2 large onions, cleaned and diced
• 2 carrots, cleaned and diced
• 8 large tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 6 cloves garlic peeled
• 1 bunch flat leafed parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 4,5 liters water
• 250 ml white wine
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 sprig origanum
• Croutons
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 large lemons, zest only

Method

• Lightly fry the onions, carrots and leeks in a large pot until they are translucent.
• Add the tomatoes and 4 of the garlic cloves and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Place the fish on the vegetables, pour on the water and the wine with the rosemary, thyme, orginanum and lemon zest.
• Simmer briskly for 20 minutes on medium heat.
• Puree the soup very well so that you have a silky smooth consistency and if you aren’t satisfied with the consistency, pass it through a sieve.
• Set aside and keep hot.
• Rub the croutons with the rest of the garlic and fry in a mixture of butter and oil.
• Serve the soup with the croutons and rouille*

ROUILLE

Spicy chilli sauce

Ingredients

• 2 ripe sweet peppers (bell peppers, pepperoni)
• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 strong small red chilli
• 1 g saffron strands
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 large floury potato boiled in the skin, skin removed
• 200 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200 C

• Bake the sweet peppers in a pre-heated oven until the skin begins to blacken in places.
• Place in a paper or plastic bag and allow to cool down.
• Remove skin, inner ribs and seeds.
• Pound all the ingredients in a pestle and mortar and mix to a thick paste.
• Add the olive oil, drop by drop whilst beating constantly.
• Alternatively, place everything in a food processor and process, when smooth add the olive oil drop by drop until you have a thick puree.

The Knights Templar were only permitted to eat meat three times a week, having to eat vegetables on all the other days. They weren’t allowed to talk to one another but could read holy books at the table. Taking into account the bounty of the region and the fact that they were allowed three meals a day, that wasn’t really too difficult at all!  The Palace of the Kings of Majorca, famous for it’s banquets and where many seafood recipes originated near Perpignan and Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali loved the food of this city – fish based recipes, such like the  bullinada, flavoured with saffron and cooked with potatoes. Wild boar, a large variety of charcuterie, guinea fowl and sea food are part and parcel of the cuisine of the region. One is spoilt for choices but this unusual combination octopus with artichokes and walnuts is too delicious to exclude.

SUPIONS AUX ARTICHAUTS, VINAIGRETTE À l’ORANGE ET CRÈME AUX NOIX

Small octopus with artichokes and savoury walnut cream.

Ingredients

• 400 g small octopus, cleaned and rinsed
• 4 purple artichokes
• A mixture of flour, water and lemon juice to poach
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons ground walnut paste
• 100 g fresh goatsmilk cheese
• 2 tablespoons Banyuls wine
• 1 tbsp wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly fried until just translucent
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 150 ml walnut oil
• 1 large lemon, zest only
• 1 large orange, zest only
• 4 tbsp Banyuls wine
• Sea salt and freshly gorund pepper to taste

Method

Vinaigrette

• Infuse the walnut oil with the orange and lemon zest – heat it up a little a day before you need it and stir the zest into that.
• Reduce the Banyuls wine by half and add this to the oil, seasoning it with salt and pepper to taste

Walnut cream

• Puree all the ingredients with a blender and chill in the refrigerator.

Assembly

• Remove the stalks adn leaves from the artichoke and scrape out the choke with a spoon (much to my horror I discovered that some retailers sell the chokes in pre-packs – do not consider buying those under any circumstances as they not only discolour, but the handling impairs the taste and texture terribly).
• Poach the hearts gently in the flour, lemon juice and water mixture for about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Fry the octopus very quickly in some of the olive oil, remove and place onto about 4 warm plates.
• Cut each artichoke heart into neat slices and arrange around the octopus.
• Drizzle with vinaigrette and serve with some of the walnut cream – beware the walnut cream is very rich.
• I like eating this with bread – but then I like eating bread with everything.

There are a host of local dishes to try on the weekend here - Cargolada, small grilled snails, Ollada for the colder weather and escalivada (a dish of baked vegetables) are all worth trying. The traditional charcuterie include Botifarres ( small black or white puddings) or fuet, a thin dried sausage. For the sweet toothed there are bunyetes (custard doughnuts), braç de Gitano (rolled cakes stuffed with cream) and coques.  Rouissillon is famous for fruit. Céret is where the first cherries ripen and the Rouge de Roussillon, a red tinged apricot can only be eaten in Roussillon because it travels badly. The peaches of Riberal are legendary as are the apples of Canigou. Fig trees are found everywhere and in the mountains are masses of berries – it would be unfair if we didn’t include something sweet and for this reason we chose something a little more unusual.

TATIN D’AUBERGINES AUX POMMES

Aubergine (eggplant) and apple tatin

Ingredients

• 4 big Golden Delicious apples, peeled and cored
• 2 Aubergines (eggplants)
• 100 g butter
• 100 g sugar
• 1 roll frozen flaky pastry (bought from the pastry shop or made yourself)
• 1 egg yolk

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200 C

• Slice apples into 12 evenly sized pieces per apple.
• Slice eggplants thinly and neatly.
• Melt the butter in a round non-stick cake tin or tatin tin/dish.
• Add the sugar gradually and allow it to caramalize.
• Remove it from the heat and arrange alternative slices of apple and aubergine in a circle over the caramel on the bottom of the pan.
• Scatter small pieces of butter over this.
• Make a second layer of fruit.
• Place this in the oven for 15 minutes until the cake is lightly browned.
• Thaw the pastry sufficiently to roll out and cover the tart.
• Put the dough ontop of the fruit topping and brush with an egg yolk.
• Bake for about half an hour.
• Turn upside down and serve so that the pastry is the base.
• Serve with fresh cream