A real treat from the market

Le Marché de Talensac, located 10 minutes by bus down the street on Rue Paul Bellamy, is a real hidden treasure in the middle of Nantes. A huge indoor and outdoor market, le Marché is open every day, except Mondays from about 7:30 to 1 :00pm (it stays open a bit later on Sundays.) Produce (fruits et légumes), poultry (volailles), pork, beef (Boucher), cheeses (fromages et crémeries), Flowers, pastries, seafood… you name it, the marché has it.
My roommate and other friends started going a bit at the beginning of the year, but it has now become very habitual to go to the market, especially on Sunday mornings to pick up our produce for the week. It is not an exaggeration when I say that produce bought at the market lasts ten times longer than produce bought from the supermarket or any other store. That statement might sound extremely intuitive, but it is not until I experienced supermarket-bought tomatoes spoiling after only one or two days that I realized how lucky I am to have a market so close to my home, but also how important it is to conserve small local and responsible farming and food production organisms.

At a stand called « Volailler Delanoë » I got the most delicious paupiettes de canard et de lapin (duck and rabbit paupiettes.) These are thinly sliced pieces of meat, which are stuffed, rolled, and then secured with string. My favorite was my duck paupiette, which was stuffed and seasoned a la Provençale featuring red and yellow bell peppers, and olives. These I believe are common flavors from Provence in the South of France. I bought the two paupiettes already prepared and ready to be baked. I asked the butcher how to prepare them, and he told me 20-25 minutes in the oven would suffice. I accompanied the meat with two quick side dishes of spinach and red onion and boiled parsnips. YUM !

It was the perfect meal for a chilly, rainy afternoon.