This cooking class at UBC featured the food and wine of the Bordeaux region of France, which includes the Basque region, so it was appropriate that we started with a Basque-influenced Fisherman’s Soup of cod, fresh corn, tomato and chorizo, perfect for late summer when tomatoes and corn are ripe, and the nights are getting chillier. I loved this soup and have made it again.

Here are the basic ingredients: fresh corn scraped off the cob, one yellow onion, 3 cloves of garlic, one medium potato, one celery stick, Spanish dried chorizo, 1/4 fennel bulb, one carrot, cod, and Roma tomatoes, along with spices and white wine. We used the rest of the fennel in the Warm Fennel Salad appetizer, and the small amount of fennel in the soup made it a perfect lead-in to the appetizer.

Spanish-influenced soup from the Bordeaux region of France

This was served along with a Leek & Goat Cheese Tart with Warm Fennel Salad. Both courses were accompanied by the local white wine from the Bordeaux region, which is Sauvignon Blanc. This particular wine was a 2007 Dourthe No. 1 Bordeaux, was tart and went well with the soup and salad.

the starter course was fennel salad on a goat cheese tart from the Bordeaux region of France

The main course was Grilled Steak Bordelaise in Wine Sauce and pear-shaped Potato Croquettes; the wine a Chateau Puy-Blanquet St. Emilion Grand Cru 2007. Going with the concept that wine from the region pairs perfectly with food from the region, especially in the ‘Old World’ where they have centuries of experience making it work, you can pair any of the Bordeaux reds with the grilled steak. So a Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot or Petit Verdot would all go well, and to make the pairing even more perfect add a bottle of cheaper bordeaux to the wine sauce.

the main course was steak, bathed in a wine sauce that contains a bottle of one of the less expensive Bordeaux wines, and served with pear-shaped potato croquettes from the Bordeaux region of France

pear-shaped potato croquettes from the Bordeaux region of France

Finally, the dessert, Cannelés, delectable rum and almond cakes, soft inside and crunchy outside.

the desert was a rum and almond cake from the Bordeaux region of France

Chef Eric posts many of his recipes on his website: http://www.911cheferic.com/