So this is our final week on “The Rock” before heading back to France. It’s been a short stay this time and the weather has been dreadful with rain most days. Hope it’s not an omen for the summer! Last year we had a thoroughly splendid summer and we went walking almost every day. Unless something changes soon, this summer could be a washout, just like 2012.
By way of marking our return to France, we invited our friends and neighbours, Terry, Julie, Dominic and Kate to dinner last night. We kicked off in normal style with a glass or two of Kir, using a rather nice Chardonny that had travelled back with us in January. When we settled at the table, we started with Monk Fish in Bacon with Parsley Cream which we haven’t done for a little while, but never fails to please. It’s light, tasty and visually pleasing, so it easily meets all the right criteria. We served the same Duc de Morny 2012 Picpoul de Pinet that we have served a couple of times recently. It’s light and fresh and it’s a wine that won the Medaille d’Or in the 2013 Agricultural and Food show in Paris.
After which, we resorted to one of our regular favourites, Confit de Canard and although it may seem that we are “over-relying” on this, having eaten it a few weeks ago, we are conscious that it is simply not available in provincial Britain so, while we may be used to it, our guests always seem pleased to have it placed in front of them. As usual, we served it in traditional French style, simply with a potato/mushroom mix. For this, we prepare Sautée Potatoes but we add cepes and/or porcino mushrooms (same family – Boletus edulis, commonly known as penny bun). The secret is to gently cook the mushrooms on their own first, to remove the water and then mix them into the potatoes at the last moment.
One of the joys of this main course is that just about everything can be prepared beforehand and then quickly warmed just before serving. I leave the stove on very low beneath the potatoes and the confit while we eat our starter. Then, I return to the kitchen turn up the heat, flip the confit so it is skin-side down (important to get that skin nice and crispy!) and it’s ready to serve in just a few minutes. We served it with a Gaillac – a Chateau d’Escabes 2008. This lovely ruby-coloured red wine from just north of Toulouse has an intense ‘nose’ of red fruits, spices and vanilla while remaining silky in the mouth. It worked well both during the main course and the cheese that followed.
Our dessert was a chocolate and nut gateau that M-D had made using walnuts from her daughter’s garden in The Loire region of France. We served this with orange slices sprinked with orange zest that had been cooked in cinnamon sugar and, just to give a contrast, we mixed normal oranges and blood oranges as we arranged them on the plate. Naturally, there being plenty of chocolate in the cake, we served Mas Amiel with its dense and concentrated inky black Grenache grapes and its complex nose of tobacco and garden herbs.
Coffee and chocolates took us into the wee hours until we finally crashed and left the washing up until today – lovely getting up to a mess, isn’t it! What was lovely, however, was spending a few hours in good company. We all know each other well enough now to simply be ourselves and not worry about being politically correct or having to choose our words with care. So an evening of good food, good company and good conversation seems like the ideal way to once again leave The Rock and head back to La Belle France.
We’ll be back!
White wine with Crême de Cassis is known as “Kir” in France and is a popular apéritif drink named after Félix Kir (1876–1968), mayor of Dijon in Burgundy, who popularized the drink by offering it at receptions to visiting delegations. Besides treating his international guests well, he was also promoting two vital economic products of the region – blackcurrants and white wine.
The main course was the “salty” end of the recipe with 
Once the chicken has been treated with the Boursin, you build a complete casing for it using coarse salt, flour, rosemary, thyme, baies, peppercorns and egg whites. It ends up looking like a bomb, but part of the fun of this recipe (and, yes, food should be fun too!) is, prior to serving, showing your guests the cooked “bomb” and seeing if any of them can guess what’s inside. Then, of course, you take it back to the kitchen and remove the salt crust (which takes a certain amount of brute force and muscle!)
Once you have opened up the crust, you will find (every time without fail) a perfectly cooked golden brown bird, ready to be segmented and served in portions or, very simply, placed on a serving dish and carved at the table. We served ours with mini Brussels sprouts and new potatoes. No need for any sort of sauce or gravy, the moist chicken meat was more than enough – particularly when helped down with a couple of bottles of Domaine du Landetran, L’Ame des Schistes 2010 (well, come on, be fair, there were four of us!).
For the main course, we took an easy option (for us) and served 
After a selection of cheeses (with a little more St Emilion!), dessert was a Gâteau Creusois and a Carpaccio d’Oranges à la Cannelle (Orange slices with cinnamon). Together, a nice simple, refreshing and tasty way to finish the meal (particularly since it took a new bottle of Saint Emilion to help it go down!).
Meanwhile, a combination of storms and high tides has given The Island a real pounding with many of the sea walls damaged, some shops and homes flooded and everybody huddled indoors waiting for summer! Fortunately, the island is hilly, so we don’t get many places where water lays on the land for long periods such as they are experiencing in Somerset.
However, all’s well that ends well because Penny is coming round tomorrow night to help us finish the raclette ingredients that we had with Terry and Julie last week! We have just enough for three people, Steve’s away and Penny’s not on call, so it sounds like a good excuse to dig into the wine cellar and see what’s available – I love it when a plan comes together! Who cares about the weather?