Recipe with a chef

around the pelardon

Pélardon is one of the oldest goat cheeses in Europe. It has been made for centuries in our Cevennes mountains. This cheese, which has had a Protected Designation of Origin since August 2000, has known a large number of names before taking the definitive name of Pélardon at the end of the 19th century.

A meeting with the chef

The appointment is made at the restaurant le Coq Hardi, located at 7 rue Mandajors in Alès. It is a traditional cuisine restaurant installed in the city center since 1993.

The atmosphere is very warm, the room, human size, allows to fully appreciate an inventive cuisine focused on the Cevennes specialties: goat cheese, tripe, snails and other fresh products are in the spotlight.

Let’s push the door of the Coq Hardi, this Alesian sign loaded with history, a symbol of the disappeared Old Alès. The Chef Gilles Benet welcomes us to share his recipe around the pélardon!

Gilles studied at the Lycée Hôtelier Marie Curie in Saint-Jean du Gard and then moved on to seasons in La Grande-Motte because he loves working with fish, in addition to his loyalty to Cevennes specialties.

We will discover a simple and original way to cook this small cheese made from raw goat’s milk.

It can be tasted in different aspects: creamy, firm or hard (with a bluish rind and a much stronger flavor). As an accompaniment, multiple wine pairings are possible depending on the preparations.

The recipe

Guinea fowl breast with pelardon, spinach, rosemary jus.

For 4 people:

Preparation 30 minutes – Cooking 30 min

Ingredients:

4 guinea fowl fillets, 100 g fresh spinach, 2 pelardons, 50 g sun-dried tomatoes, 2 carrots, 1 veal stock, 1 onion, garlic, rosemary and Espelette pepper

Open the guinea fowl supremes without splitting them all the way through.
Salt and pepper each fowl breast.
In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat then sauté the spinach for 3 minutes.
Cut the pelardon into cubes.
Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into pieces.
Once the spinach is cooked, coarsely chop it.
Place a sheet of foil on a board, place the fillets on it and season well before stuffing them with the pelardon, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Close the supreme, season and roll with the film to form a ballotin.
Bake in the oven in steam for 30 min.

For the sauce: fry carrots, onions, garlic, rosemary and Espelette pepper and let brown for a few minutes. Deglaze with white wine, reduce and moisten with the veal stock, salt and pepper before straining. Just before serving, remove the ballotin from the cling film, arrange on the plate and decorate with a sprig of rosemary…

You can accompany your supreme with fresh tagliatelle, which will go wonderfully well…

Happy tasting!”

Guinea fowl supreme with Pélardon cheese

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