Turkey and Trimmings from Café Léoube
A true highlight of the festive season, there is nothing quite like sharing a stuffed turkey on Christmas Eve with a delicious glass of organic red wine.
Chef Marion from Café Léoube shares his top tips on preparing the perfect bird – a tradition that begins with sourcing an outdoor reared turkey from our local farmer or butcher.
Stuffing:
150g stale bread crumbs
180ml cold milk
2 cloves
5g fresh ginger
30ml cold water
Handful of fresh cranberries
Generous pinch of salt and pepper
Sprig of thyme
Place the bread, milk, cloves and ginger into a bowl and allow to soak for ½ an hour. Next add the cold water, cranberries, salt, pepper and thyme and mix together to form the stuffing.
Turkey:
X1 6.6kg turkey
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
10g butter
2 slugs Léoube olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Tightly pack the main cavity with the stuffing. Cross the legs one on top of the other and tie together tightly with a string.
Place the thyme and rosemary beneath the skin of the neck cavity. Pat the skin dry and rub both the breast and thighs with the butter. Season well before generously pouring over the olive oil.
Place the prepared turkey in a baking tray with two cups of water. Roast in the oven for 3/12 hours, basting every 20 minutes as it cooks. Every oven is different so cooking times will vary – on average however, try to allow for 20 minutes per kg, plus an extra 90 minutes.
Remove the turkey from the oven and allow to rest for at least 30– 45 minutes before carving. Be sure to save the juices and reduce in a pan to form your gravy.
Cranberry Sauce:
350g fresh cranberries
water to cover
3 cups of white sugar
1 vanilla pod
Place the cranberries in a pan and add just enough water to cover. Add the sugar and vanilla pod, stir together and place over a low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the berries just begin to burst. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Pour into a wide shallow bowl and serve alongside your turkey with a squash pie and a delicious glass of organic red wine Léoube Collector.
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Recipe of Cream of butternut squash soup
This delicious winter recipe to taste with a glass of red wine.
This autumnal soup is one of our favourite dishes on cooler days, its vibrant colour and flavour bringing warmth and comfort. Delicious served with crusty bread and salted organic butter and also with a glass of Rouge de Léoube.
Ingredients (serves 4) :
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 200ml of double cream
- 600ml vegetable stock
- handful soft green herbs, roughly chopped (parsley, coriander or chervil)
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- Salt and pepper
Method :
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the diced onion and butternut squash for 5-10 minutes until slightly softened. Season with salt and pepper and add the curry powder. Stir together well over the heat.
- Pour in the double cream and vegetable stock (there should be enough liquid to cover the vegetables) and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and gently simmer for 20 minutes until the butternut is cooked and breaks easily when pressed with a fork.
- Pour the soup into a blender and blend until smooth, adding more vegetable stock if the soup is too thick. Taste to check the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve sprinkled with the fresh herbs and pumpkin seeds, and of course a glass of Léoube red wine, Rouge de Léoube.
Langoustine with candied ginger turnips and cauliflower purée
This delicious Valentine’s Day recipe to taste with a glass of rosé wine.
This indulgent dish is one of our favourite recipes for celebrating, making the most of the delicious langoustine we are lucky to enjoy from the Mediterranean. Simple to prepare but impressive to serve, it is perfect for Valentine’s Day with a glass or two of La Londe rosé.
Ingredients (serves 2) :
- 6 turnips, peeled
- 1 beetroot, peeled and sliced
- 10g vanilla butter
- 3cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 tbsp of Léoube wild honey
- Cayenne pepper
- ½ cauliflower, diced
- 150ml whole milk
- 8 raw or cooked langoustines
- 2tbsp Léoube Premium olive oil
- 4 Verbena leaves
- Salt and pepper
Method :
- Place the turnips in a saucepan with the beetroot and a little water over a medium heat. Bring to a simmer, cover with a lid, and cook gently for 15-20 minutes until the turnips are tender. Drain the vegetables, discarding the beetroot and returning the turnips to the pan with the vanilla butter, ginger, honey, Espelette chilli pepper and a little salt and pepper. Cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes until the turnips are slightly caramelised. Remove the pan from the heat and keep to one side.
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the cubed cauliflower and simmer for 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender. Drain, keeping the cooking water to one side.
- Place the cauliflower in a blender with a little of the cooking water and blend. Add 100ml the whole milk, blend and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place in a bowl or container and cover with cling film to avoid the puree drying out.
- If using raw langoustine, heat a little more vanilla butter and the olive oil in a frying pan. Once hot, add the langoustine and fry for 3-4 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for a couple of minutes.
- If using cooked langoustine, simply reheat in a frying pan with the butter and olive oil for 2 minutes to heat through.
- To serve, re-heat the turnips and cauliflower puree and arrange on a plate with the langoustine. Garnish with the verbena leaves and eat straight away.
This delicious Valentine’s Day recipe is made even more special when served with a glass of La Londe rosé.
Mango and passionfruit pavlova
Best served with a glass of Sparkling Rosé de Léoube, this light fruity dessert is the perfect end to any Christmas feast (created by La petite cuisine de Pauline).
(serves 6)
For the meringue :
- 4 eggs whites
- 225g caster sugar (or golden caster sugar for a golden meringue)
- 15g cornflour
- 1tsp white wine vinegar
For the filling :
- 200ml double cream
- 40g mascarpone cheese
- 10g vanilla sugar
- 1/2 mango, peeled and diced
- 1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored and diced
- 2 passion fruits
Method :
The day before you plan to serve your pavlova, make the meringues.
Preheat the oven to 90°C
Place the egg whites into the bowl of a food processor with the sugar and cornflour. Whisk on a medium speed for about ten minutes until the meringue is stiff and glossy and holds a peak when the whisk is lifted out. Add the vinegar and beat for a further minute.
Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Spoon the meringue mixture into a piping bag and pipe to form six meringue circles 8-10cm in diameter, piping an extra layer around the edge of each circle to form a nest. Alternatively use a spoon and simply divide the meringue between the circles, making a well in the middle of each with the back of the soon.
Place the meringues in the preheated oven for 1 ¾ hours or until crisp on the outside and dry underneath. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before peeling off the paper.
To make the filling beat the cream and mascarpone until you have a firm whipped cream. Add the caster sugar and beat for a further minute. Set aside in the fridge.
Halve the passion fruits and remove the juice ad seeds, discarding the skin. Cut the starfruit into six thin slices.
To assemble, fill each meringue nest with the whipped cream and top with a little each of pineapple, mango and passionfruit. Finish with a slice of starfruit to garnish and serve straight away with a glass of Sparkling Rosé de Léoube !
Our four medal-winning rosés by Drink Business
The 2020 edition of the Global Rosé Masters by The Drinks Business took place in London last month, bringing together a wide selection of the very best rosés from all over the world into one blind tasting competition. Not one or two but all four of our rosés this year won GOLD medals! You can find all of them available to purchase in our boutique at the winery and on our online shop. Here are a few tasting descriptors of each cuvee from the award notes:
Rosé Château Léoube – Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah & Mourvèdre – 93 points – ” Pale salmon pink Attractive nose, peachy, ripe and creamy. Almost vanilla and cashew as though oak there – or just lots of lees contact. Palate same, creamy, touch of marshmallow and cashew, peach and grapefruit core, citrusy acid, with nice touch of wild strawberry too, touch of grip. Very fine and persistent, with some apple freshness, but peachy ripeness too. Delicious. ”
Secret de Léoube – Grenache, Cinsault & Cabernet Sauvignon – 93 points – ” Very very pale salmon pink, barely pink at all Delicate nose with citrus notes, grapefruit, and touch of peach Palate though has surprising intensity, with oily white Grenache character, full and soft, with some pineapple and peach, touch of red berry too, long, persistent, with nice but soft acidity. Touch of warmth. But v fine layered rose – just barely rose in appearance. ”
Léoube La Londe – Cinsault & Grenache – 93 points – ” Very very pale salmon pink, almost no rose at all, more gris Touch of sweetcorn style leesiness on nose and some peach and pineapple but very delicate fruit Palate texture, oily, attractive lovely balance between peach and oils and soft citrus acid on finish. Fine but delicate fruit. Pretty, easy, and hard not to drink. Lovely balance. Pristine character. And likeable with slight sweetcorn lees note. ”
And let’s not forget our Love by Léoube rosé – 92 points –Grenache & Cinsault – ” Very pale salmon pink Delicate but pretty nose, with touch of peach and white cherry, inviting, not jammy, but not herbaceous. Palate similar, with some attractive peach and cherry fruit, touch of fresh orange citrus, and soft acidity, fine and lovely easy rose with gently oily texture, and nice balance and appeal. Very good. ”
The team at Château Léoube are incredibly proud to share these award results with you and hope to welcome many of you to the estate very soon.
At the olive mill
Twice a day during the harvest, our team brings the olives to the « Moulin du Haut Jasson » for crushing, an essential step in the transformation of the olive fruits into oil. This initial stage is done by Olivier Roux, who has been our moulinier for the last 15 years.
He places the olives in a washing machine to get rid of any dust, stone or other residual matter. The olives are crushed and mixed by cold-pressing to ensure no oxidisation occurs. The optimal temperature for this is 22°C. The pulp is moved into a ‘decanter’, a mechanical device which separates the oil from the paste. A juice composed of olive oil and water is recovered from this paste, and it is this extracted oil, that comes closest to the finished product.
The decanted juice is put through a centrifuge, which separates the oil and water, and captures the remaining solids through its centrifugal force. Our team bring the l’or jaune, or ‘yellow gold’ olive oil, back to the Léoube estate to make the final blends that go into our much loved premium extra virgin olive oil.