When we planned our week-long stay on the Île d'Oléron, we imagine eating fish and other "fruits of the sea" (fruits de mer) every day. We figure that with good weather we'd be able to eat lunch outside on a terrasse, where the dog would be welcome.
Instead, this is what we were faced with. The commercial fishermen were on strike, and the fishing boats were confined to port. The restaurants on the island had run out of fish. The fish markets at the island's main fishing port, La Cotinière, were shut up tight. Remember, plus de poissons means "we're out of fish" or "no more fish" it's a negative.
The only fish to be had was shellfish. Luckily, all three of us enjoy mussels, clams, oysters, etc. We didn't have the moules + frites in this place, but we were tempted. Instead, we shopped in outdoor markets and made dinner at the gîte. In fact, we went to only one restaurant all week. The first photo above shows the fish one of us had in that restaurant.
At an open-air market in La Cotinière, we discovered a new edible mollusk — one we had never heard of before. It's a small bivalve, like a clam but with a more delicate shell. It's a local fruit de mer, and it's called a lavagnon in local parlance.
We decided to try it. And we all liked it. It was easy to cook and very flavorful. We just the whole lavagnons, shells and all, in a pan, poured on some white wine, and heated everything up until the lavagnon shells popped open.
Seasoned with a generous amount of black pepper and chopped parsley, it was tasty and filling. Especially because it was served over spaghetti, to which the lavagnon broth gave good flavor. For nearly 10 years after that trip, we could find lavagnons at the Saturday morning market in Saint-Aignan. Sadly, the fishmonger who used to come here every weekend from Oléron and set up in the market, retired a few years ago. No more lavagnons for us, but we've found we can make the same pasta and shellfish dish with cockles (coques), which are equally delicious and sell for about the same price.
Unfortunate timing for your visit, but it looks like you survived. Photos are exquisite.
ReplyDeleteMoules frutes for breakfast. Yummy.y
ReplyDeleteDelectable pictures! Moules frites for any meal, chm. ;)
ReplyDeleteYes! What Mitchell said! :)
ReplyDeleteYour fish platter up top looks great. Tried to find the English equivalent of lavagnon but couldn't. I was going to guess cockles, but..the frites "agogo" sign reminds me of the 1960s.
ReplyDelete...all you can eat...
DeleteWith Ken along, no one ever has to go hungry! That seems to be the motto for this story! That dish looks so gooood!
ReplyDeleteMary in Oregon
I'm not sure I mentioned why we could get shellfish but not fin fish on Oléron during the strike. It's because commercial fishermen weren't taking their boats out, but you don't need a boat (or a commercial fisherman) to gather or grow bivalves like clams and oysters.
DeleteDiogenes: Ken taught me how to find English names for plants and animals: Go to the French Wikipedia, search for the item (lavagnon, in this case), note the scientific name (Scrobicularia plana). Enter the scientific name into the English Wikipedia to find the common name, which is "peppery furrow shell." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrobicularia_plana
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, Chris. In the article, they say that these bivalves are called lavignons, but on Oléron I head and saw lavagnons. It's a dialect word and there are variations. See this...
DeleteChissoup thanks for this! It never would have occurred to me.
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