M-D and I had our two French grandadaughters, Clémence and Eléonore, stay with us last week. It was the final week of the school holidays so our last chance for a while to have them stay. While they were here, we ate Veal and Creamed Mushrooms. The recipe on the site uses regular mushrooms (out of a tin even), but we are so lucky in France to have an excellent supply of gastronomic mushrooms readily available (at a price!). When we are on The Isle of Man, we are somewhat limited in our choice, so we make the best of it when we are here.
On this occasion there was a fresh supply of Chanterelles (known in France as Girolles) in the local supermarket so we waded in and chose the best before anyone else could get near them (yes, I know, we’re not very polite are we!). However, we made allowances for nine-year-old Eléonore who decided a long time ago that she didn’t like mushrooms, and we bought some fresh asparagus for her.
So, as I began to prepare the meal, I thought I would just verify that she was okay with asparagus (she’s not particularly fussy, but it’s always as well to check!). She asked what we were having and I told her – Girolles – and she decided that maybe she like those and that the asparagus could wait (kids!!). Okay, fair enough, we’d taken more than enough Chanterelles for three, so spreading them amongst four wouldn’t hurt! Well, not much anyway!
Now, I beg you, if you can get hold of veal and Chanterelle mushrooms, try this recipe because it’s just so darn easy, but it’s food fit for a King.
Trim the ends off the mushroom stems, cut any oversize ones in two, then wash them well. Drain and add to a large frying pan with a tablespoon of duck (or goose) fat in the bottom. Season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until tender (you’ll need to drain off the excess liquid as they cook, since they give off quite a lot).
When the mushrooms are nearly cooked, heat another frying pan, add a very small amount of fat, just to grease the pan, season the veal scallops and toss them into the hot pan. Depending on the thickness of the veal and the way you like it, you’ll need to cook them for between 3-4 minutes on each side. Once cooked, remove the scallops from the pan and keep them warm on top of the mushrooms. Add a couple of tablespoons of white wine to the pan in which the veal was cooked and, with a wooden spoon or spatula, scrape the pan to collect the meat juices from the veal. Bring the wine up to simmering and add a couple of tablespoons of thick cream or crême fraiche. Stir well without letting the mixture boil then add the veal and mushrooms and coat with the sauce. Place the veal onto serving plates and spoon the mushroom and cream mixture over the top… Mmmmm
And now for a confession (but don’t tell my granddaughetrs!)… it was so good, we had it again last night!
So be on the lookout for “unusual” mushrooms. We particularly like Chanterelle (as you may have gathered!), Cèpes and Morels. The Morel (shown on the right) is from the mushroom family “Morchella” and is closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi. These distinctive mushrooms appear honeycomb-like in that the upper portion is composed of a network of ridges with pits between them.
Prized by gourmet cooks, Morels are hunted by thousands of people every year simply for their taste and the joy of the “hunt”. They have been called by many local names; some of the more colorful include dryland fish, merkels, molly moochers or sponge mushrooms. They are truly an excellent mushroom that you can eat with Duck Confit, for example. Just take care to wash them well, because they are often quite sandy.
Cèpes is the local name (in France) for one of the Boletes group of edible mushrooms (of which there are over 100 species!). Probably the most common is the Boletus Edulis, commonly known as penny bun, porcino or even cep (in English). Commonly prepared and eaten in soups, pasta, or risotto, the mushroom is low in fat and digestible carbohydrates, and high in protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. It’s also very, very good (again) with such as Duck Confit. Because the cap holds quite a lot of moisture, you do need to fry Cèpes for longer than regular mushrooms (but not so much that they dry out and go hard).
We keep a few jars of Cèpes in oil in our food cupboard (they are easily available in the supermarket here). If you want some mailed to you, try our favourite gourmet supplier, Godard where you can also get dried Morels (look for Morilles Séchées Extra)
So be on the lookout for good gourmet mushrooms. The different flavours are something you need to experience if you have not already done so. And finally, thank you to our granddaughter, Eléonore, for eating some of the Chanterelles intended for our plates… it simply meant we bought even more of them after she had gone home!!
We had an interesting summer on the Isle of Man with three lots of visitors from France. First of all there was Pierre and Claude who stayed with us for a week (and fitted in a year’s worth of sightseeing!). There are so many curiosities to see on The Isle of Man for the first time visitor. One that amused Pierre and Claude was the Great Union Camera Obscura on Douglas Head (opened in the 1890s and is one of only a tiny handful left in the British Isles.)… I’m the lazy one with his hands in his pockets!
Of course, food is never far from the minds of French people, so we introduced them to a typical British picnic (complete with table and chairs). This time, I’m the taller one with the wine in his hand!! Included in the picnic were such British delicacies as Scotch Egg, Melton Mowbray pork pie and also we served radishes as part of a salad, which is not in the French culture (they eat them on their own as a starter, with salt and butter). Surprisingly, we also discovered that your humble Heinz Salad Cream went down a treat, since there seems to be no equivalent in France – the nearest being mayonaisse.
We were also pleasantly surpised by the warm reception our guests gave to the local eating places. The French can be a little snooty about their food, so we weren’t quite sure what sort of reception basic British “grub” would get. Our minds were put at rest after a delightful lunch at 
Our next arrivals were M-D’s cousin, Anne-Marie, and her husband, Jean. They stopped with us for a little under one week since they were then heading off for a hiking holiday in Scotland. Again, they seemed to appreciate basic British “picnic grub” like the pork pie and Scotch egg, We also introduced them the delights of 
For Jean and Anne-Marie, I think the attraction of The Isle of Man was simply the delightful country cottages and quaint streets of the old fishing village of Peel. Naturally, they enjoyed seeing all the other natural attractions the island has to offer (like 
Our final guests of the summer were M-D’s sister, Christine, and her younger son, Corentin. Christine has visited The Island before but, for Corentin, it was his first time, so we naturally did all the “tourist” bits like the electric trams, the Great Laxey Wheel, The Isle of Man Steam Railway. the horse trams, and everything else than contributes to making the Isle of Man a unique place to live and work.
During their stay, we celebrated Christine’s birthday with a visit to our favourite restaurant on the island, 