Shopping the Saint-Aignan market

Goat cheeses, shaped into pyramids or logs or rounds, are the specialty of the Cher river valley and the surrounding area. The towns of Selles-sur-Cher, Valençay, Pouligny, and Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine all have their own goat cheese appellations.

Above, a display at the farmers' market in Saint-Aignan. Below, cheeses in the window of a shop in the town of Selles-sur-Cher.


At the market in Saint-Aignan, there are two poultry vendors. They sell chickens, including hens and roosters, as well as turkey, guinea fowl, ducks, and geese. So far, avian flu hasn't reached our region and the poultry business hasn't been disrupted. Pintade is guinea fowl, and effilée means that the bird has been gutted.


Here's the guinea hen (assuming it was a hen) that we cooked after shopping the market a couple of weeks ago. Walt poached it in a broth with bay leaves, onions, and carrots, and then we took it out of the broth and put it in the oven to brown.

The side dishes are sautéed mushrooms, purchased from the mushroom lady at the market, who grows them and sells them, along with galettes de pommes de terre — puff pastries made by incorporating mashed potatoes into the pastry dough (made with flour and butter). To finish the meal, a good lettuce salad, some bread, and a bottle of Chinon wine. A feast.