Tag Archives: wine

Old friends, new adventures

lock on Canal St MartinTwo of our good friends from the Isle of Man came to visit us a few days go. This is not Penny or Steve’s first trip to Paris by a long way, so Marie-Danielle and I scratched our heads as to what we could find that would amuse them. Then it came to us… Steve and Penny both like boats and have enjoyed several barge holidays on British canals so what better than to discover a different aspect of Paris in an unusual way, idling down the Canal St Martin through a series of nine locks, two swing bridges, and a 2 mile long tunnel that passes under the Bastille. Problem solved. For 2½ hours, we lazed our way through an almost unknown Paris without a care in the world.

Parmentier de CanardWe’ve wined and dined with Steve and Penny on many occasions, so wanted to come up with something a little different. On their arrival on the Sunday, we did a simple Parmentier de Canard (a shepherd’s pie using duck instead of lamb). In fact, this is a bit of a cheat because we use Confit de Canard which we can obtain easily here in France. All I needed to do was drain the fat from the duck, remove the skin, and pull the flesh with a fork. I peeled and chopped some shallots, browned them gently in some of the duck fat, added some chopped parsley and a little seasoning, then covered with mashed potatoes. A bit of oven time and we ate like kings and queens!

2002 Chateau MartetSteve is a big fan of red wine (so are we!) and duck demands a decent full-bodied red. A few weeks ago, we celebrated some family birthdays and discovered half-a-dozen bottles of dusty but interesting-looking 2002 Chateau Martet. The wine was truly wonderful and, since there remained a few more bottles, we grabbed hold of some to go with the Parmentier de Canard. An excellent choice. A marriage made in heaven even!

Monk Fish Steak with SaffronOn the Monday, when we had our day out on the Canal St. Martin, we ate in a little restaurant in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Tuesday, we dined at home and I prepared Monk Fish Steaks with Saffron, a delightful feast of colour, taste and smell. In addition to creamed potatoes, I braised some fennel which complemented the fish. And to help the meal down, we pulled some bottles of Pouilly Fumé from the cellar.

A great few days with some great friends.

A new Duck Discovery

If you have followed this blog, you’ll know that my wife, Marie-Danielle, is French and that we live in France for half of the year. So I am ‘exposed’ to the delights of French cuisine more than most people.

Recently, Marie-Danielle’s daughter and her family came up from near Orleans to celebrate two birthdays (both of which had already passed!). So what do you give to five French foodies? M-D came up with the answer and it was something I had never heard of before… a Pithiviers de Canard (or what I christened, a Luxury Duck Pie). This is a pie that includes such gastronomic delights as duck breast and foie gras. But add to that a little sausage meat, some cream, whisky, onions and parsley, and suddenly you have a whole new delight on your taste buds.

Pithiviers de CanardThe recipe for this tasty treat is at Pithiviers de Canard and it’s ridiculously easy to make. Until you try it, you’ll never understand the stunning combination of flavours that make this ‘pie’ something rather special.

2002 Chateau MartetAnd what do you drink with a Pithiviers de Canard? Good question, and we raided the wine cellar to find some dusty but interesting-looking bottles of 2002 Chateau Martet – a cheeky little Merlot that complimented our ‘Luxury Duck Pie’ perfectly.

We had to let it breath for well over an hour before it became drinkable, but once it had oxygenated, it was a truly stunning accompaniment to the Pithiviers de Canard

Summer Pudding RecipeAfter a nibble of various cheeses, we ended up with something light and refreshing – one of our old favourites – Summer Pudding

A pleasant evening of good food, good wine and good company. What more can you ask for?


Birthday Veal and Booze

Fortunately, we only have birthdays once a year, otherwise I’d be even older than I am… and that’s quite old! Last weekend saw me hit another of those awful ‘big birthdays’ with a zero at the end. Though I would have been happy to have let the day pass quietly, my wife, Marie-Danielle, decided otherwise. Unknown to me, she had invited the whole tribe to celebrate. In the end, one son couldn’t make it, and my other son’s wife and little boy were ill, so he had to come on his own. But M-D’s daughter, Muriel, and her family drove up from Orleans, so there were still seven of us sat round the table

Veal MarengoNormally, it is me who does the cooking, both on a daily basis and for special events. This time, because I was getting even older, Muriel had prepeared a Veal Marengo which she brought with her in a large Le Creuset and served along with fresh tagliatelle (that’s after the foie gras and before the home-made Black Forest Gateau). We made sure to wsh it all down wth copious amounts of a rather welcome 1989 Chass Spleen.

The Norfolk SelectionHowever, I must be getting some sort of reputation for boozing (or have I had that for a while?) because my birthday gifts included three bottles of excellent ‘liquid refreshment’. My son, Ian, brought an exquisite bottle of mixed spirits from English Whisky Co Ltd – the only English distillery of whisky. And what a great distillery it is. It’s situated at Harling Road, Roudham, about 7 or 8 miles north-east of Thetford in Norfolk. If you get a chance to visit – don’t hesitate (they’ve recently opened a café/restaurant which has already gained an enviable reputation for quality.) The ‘Mixed Spirits’ bottle is a combination of Perdo Ximenez sherry and their own single malt whisky. They use sherry casks to mature some of their whiskys, so I guess they ship the casks over full!

Château Cardinal Villemaurine and Château D'YquemContinuing with the alcohol theme, My other son, Justin, sent over a Magnum (1.5 litres) of 1982 Chateau Cardinal Villemaurine, a rather splendid Saint-Emilion Grand Cru. I suspect I shall end up taking it over the the Isle of Man when we go in May. I know just the neighbours who would help me dispose of that!

And to make my birthday complete, my lovely wife, gave me an excellent bottle of 2007 Château D’Yquem. This wine is the crème de la crème of Sauternes. Wines from Château d’Yquem are characterised by their complexity, concentration and sweetness, which is balanced by relatively high acidity. With proper care, a bottle will keep for a century or more, and the fruity overtones will gradually fade and integrate with more complex secondary and tertiary flavours. In a poor vintage, the entire crop is deemed unworthy of bearing the Château’s name and sold anonymously; this happened nine times in the 20th century! On the other hand, in July 2011, an 1811 bottle of Château d’Yquem sold for £75,000 ($117,000) at the Ritz in London to a private collector, to become the most expensive bottle of white wine ever sold. Looks like we’ll have to choose our moment carefully before we open that one.

Maybe I should have another birthday next year after all!

Lunch with the cousins

Marie-Danielle has a handful of cousins here in France. Some are far away, others a little closer. Two of the closer ones, who live not a million kiometres from EuroDisney, came for lunch (and a long catch-up) yesterday. So, what to serve two people we know well?

Avocado with Grapefruit Chutney and Smoked SalmonFor a starter, we decided on Avocado with Grapefruit Chutney and Smoked Salmon because we know it tastes good and we can make the ‘chutney’ the day before. In France, they refer to small starters like this, served in glasses, as ‘verrines’. Verrine glasses are availble from most good cook shops, and also online at places like Amazon.

This particular verrine freshens the palate while delivering a bundle of flavours. With just a touch of bitterness, the grapefruit chutney contrasts the gentle taste and texture of the avocado and is lifted by a hint of ginger. The smoked salmon (or trout) adds the final touch with just a suggestion of saltiness

Beef WellingtonFor our main course, we indulged in a glorious Beef Wellington. It’s a delight that is best enjoyed when everybody eats their meat cooked to the same level and all four of us like it rare – so rare we got! About 40 minutes at 200°C until the middle of the meat was at 48°C then ten minutes to rest, and we all dived in for more. A main course fit to grace any table anywhere

For the starter and the main course, we stuck to a bottle or two of 2011 Chateau l’Eveche Origami from the Bordeaux region. It was fine too, to accompany the cheeses. And then, for the dessert (a fresh, fruity, Cognac-flavoured Pavlova) we moved onto a young Bonnezeaux. The Bonnezeaux appellation lies within a small part of a single commune – Thouarcé – on the right bank of the Layon, across three south-facing slopes.

Two good WinesBonnezeaux is recognised as a leading appellation. The steep, south- facing slopes and the outstanding thermal properties of the shallow soils encourage early development and over-ripe harvests which gives a sweet white wine. Intensely coloured; soft gold, developing coppery highlights over time. As they age, Bonnezeaux wines develop notes of acacia, verbena and orange peel before reaching an extraordinary level of aromatic complexity with notes of ripe quince, cooked apricot, caramel and tropical fruit and an underlying layer of spice. As an aperitif, with pan-fried foie gras, shellfish, fish in creamy sauces, blue cheese,and desserts with pears or almonds Bonnezeaux is ideal. The bottle we drank was luscious and powerful with a robust, full body, giving a perfect balance of richness and vibrancy. Lovely way to finish the meal.

Terry’s Secret Treat!

I noticed a while back that our neighbour on the Isle of Man, Terry, was due for a birthday on January 3rd. Being a sharp-eyed individual, I also spotted that the 3rd fell on a Saturday this year. What better excuse for a party!! So I quiety contacted Terry’s wife, Julie, and we arranged to hijack his evening with a meal at ours. We also invited Kate and Dominic who are close neighbours. This is the “team” that M-D and I refer to as “The Big Six”… Terry, Julie, Kate, Dominic, M-D and myself! In fact, Julie and Kate were friends when they were young then, just a few years ago, discovered that they were living on opposite sides of the same street! Small world.

Christmas WreathWhat we didn’t know when we planned to hijack Terry’s birthday was that it was Julie’s birthday on 31st December. And what they didn’t know (until M-D told them) was that it’s mine on 6th January. So you can imagine that the aperitif was more alcoholic than normal (and normal is pretty good!). We repeated a little fun presentation that we had done at Christmas by making a sausage wreath out of cocktail sausages and that buttery, flaky, Vienna-style pastry used to make croissants. The bow was a red pepper that underwent M-D’s surgical skills and the bowl in the middle held Dijon mustard for dipping. It seemed to be well appreciated since it disappeared at a rapid rate of knots (is that a nautical term?).

Millefeuille de PintadeOur starter for the meal was a combination of Millefeuille de Pintade au Foie de Canard and Roulades de Jambon au Foie de Canard en Gelée au Sauternes. We get these (as you can see from the links) from an excellent supplier called Godard in the Perigord region of France. Washed down with a glass of Château Haut-Theulet Monbazillac 2002 (the colour of golden straw), this was a perfect starter for a great meal.

Two Excellent WinesFor the main course, we repeated a dish that had served us well at Christmas – Beef Wellington. This time, there were no problems with timing as there were on Christmas Eve. I correctly guessed that our guests would be happy with meat that was less cooked than I had done at Christmas and “the beast” arrived on the table in good time and in good shape and was helped down with a glass or three of Château de Sarenceau Saint-Emilion 2000 which we served right through the rest of the meal. And then came the famous Trou Normand – sorbet with calvados poured over the top – to help our digestion (I think!).

After the cheeses, we served Gâteau Creusois with M-D’s hand made Chocolate Mousse which is actually very simple to make, but very tasty. And another pleasant evening ended with happy campers all round. Cooking is fun, but the joy it brings to others is even better!

Goodbye 2014 – Hello 2015

Robin and RebeccaI have a niece called Rebecca who, a year or so ago, went to live in New Zealand with her new partner, Robin. Since then, we’ve all got to “know” Robin via Facebook, but none of us had actually met him. Rebecca decided to rectify this gap in our knowledge and she and Robin came to the Isle of Man to spend Christmas and New Year with her parents (my brother and his wife, Steve and Jeanette). And so, on Christmas day, we at last met Robin and discovered for ourselves what a really nice guy he is.

During the conversation, Robin observed that, while New Zealand is famous for its lamb, it was very expensive over there because much of it was exported. So, since Rebecca had recified the gap in our knowledge, we thought we would rectify Robin’s lamb shortage and invite them for New Year’s Eve. Therefore, on December 31st, Robin, Rebecca, Steve and Jeanette arrived at ours and we enjoyed an evening of good conversation, good food and good company.

For part of the aperitif, we produced a plate of green-lipped New Zealand mussels with a garlic vinaigrette (similar to the Left-Over Mussels recipe only with king-size mussels!). It was an instant hit with our visitors because, while they can obviously get the green-lipped mussels, they’d never thought of adding a garlic vinaigrette and eating them cold!

Tuna-Stuffed EggAs a starter, we tried a little recipe of tuna-stuffed eggs which, I have to say, was rather uninspiring and it’s one we won’t be repeating.So, rushing past the bad news and onto the main course, we’d done one of our favourites, Lamb in Deep Rich Gravy which is so very simple and looks after itself in the oven. We’ve noticed that, despite buying the largest legs of lamb we can get without buying mutton, there is never anything left and, sure enough, New Year’s Eve was no exception! In addition to feeding the poor Kiwi Couple with lamb, it gave is a chance to show off the quality of our locally produced Manx Lamb which is an excellent product.

wine bottlesFor Christmas, Marie-Danielle had bought me a case of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (both red and white) so, never being one to waste a good Christmas present, we enjoyed both the red and the white with this meal and it truly was a great Christmas gift (I even have a few bottles left!). Robin is a programmer and runs his own company, Aotea, in New Zealand. Partway through the meal he tried out a new App that he was working on which, when complete, will pick up the image of a wine label and return all the data on that wine. So we pulled a few bottles out and gave it a test run! It didn’t recognise the 1985 Chateau Balestard La Tonnelle (St Emilion) or the 1986 Chateau L’Eglise-Clinet (Pomerol) but I’m sure Robin will get it to function in due course.

Orange CarpaccioAfter a “Trou Normand” (calvados, served over sorbet) we moved on to the cheeseboard before actually celebrating the changing of the years and watching the London firworks on TV. After the last firwork had died out, we sat down to Orange Carpaccio with Gâteau Creusois which proved to be an excellent way to end a family New Year meal and welcome in another year of culinary delights!

New Year's Day SwimThe postscript to this pleasant evening was that, the following day, Robin and Rebecca braved the harsh Manx winter and took part in the New Year’s Day swim on Peel beach. Dressed as viking invaders, they did New Zealand proud! A couple of days later, they left the island and (going via England and Paris) they eventually found their way back to New Zealand with temperatures of 31ºC (91ºF)!

Poor Man’s Lobster

Archeres ApartmentsLast night we hosted a little dinner with some friends who have eaten with us before. It was actually a bit like an unofficial meeting of the conseil syndical de copropriété (the elected committee that help administer the day-to-day running of the apartment buildings). The conseil syndical ensures that lightbulbs are replaced, graffitti is painted over, cleaning is done properly, lifts work, doors and locks are maintained, and other stuff like that. They are elected each year at an AGM of all the owners and last night we had Yvon, Louis and M-D who are already on this committee, Pascale who is putting herself forward for election this year, Louis’ lovely wife, Monique, and of course, myself. So after a short spell on the balcony looking across the whole résidence (photo above), and then an aperitif in comfy chairs, we settled in for some serious eating!

Roulades de Jambon au Foie de Canard en Gelée au SauternesStarter was nice and simple – foie gras and roulades de Jambon au foie de canard en gelée au sauternes. And if you are wondering what that is, it’s foie gras rolled in ham which we get from Godard, France (they will mail all over the world). In fact, we were cheating a little because our foie gras was maybe not quite enough for six and the “roulades” augmented the plate and seemed like we were also offering more choice (no good getting old if you don’t get sneaky with it!)

monkfish medallions a l'orangeMain course was a repeat of something we have done before (for other people), monkfish medallions a l’orange (Monkfish in Orange Sauce). Monkfish is sometimes called “The Poor Man’s Lobster” since it has a nice firm flesh and is so very, very tasty. With it, we served Champ and Braised Fennel. And what a success it was… so much so that both Monique and Pascale asked for a copy of the recipe (a sure sign that something has been appreciated). And for Monique, it seems it was the first time she had even eaten fennel, so another first!

With the foie gras, we served a sauterne – a Barsac called Cyprès de Climens 2004 which, I confess, hit the spot rather nicely. With the fish, we served one of our “easy-going” favourites, Duc de Morny 2012 Picpoul de Pinet. Though, Yvon doesn’t drink white wine so we served him a rather succulent red wine called “Bordeaux Origami”. It’s one of the Grand Vin de Bordeaux from Famille Capdevielle and is almost totally unknown but (quite correctly) scores high in all the good wine guides. It’s a young wine (2011) but has a really deep, rich quality that you normally associate with older, more expensive wines.

raspberry and caramel crunch After a course of cheese and salad, for dessert, we served another of our old favourites, Raspberry and Caramel Crunch which never fails to please. In fact, Monique (who has a notoriously small appetite) was last seen scraping her dish and looking somewhat sad that there was none left!

I thought I had cooked enough of everything for more than six people, but very little remained at the end of the evening. So, a very pleasant “meeting” of the conseil syndical, full of good food and plenty of good humour. All meetings should be like that!… and guess who had left-over monkfish medallions for lunch today????

locks on the river SeineSo to walk it all off, M-D and I went for an afternoon ‘constitutional’ along the river Seine this afternoon. The massive locks there are for the big barges that use the river (some of them up to 100m long) for moving mostly sand and shingle. It’s fascinating watching them manoeuvre into the locks which have a height difference of about 4 metres at this point. Marie-DanielleWhile walking, I spotted a brightly-coloured wood nymph! (see left).

And then, this evening just to round it all off, we had a simple, but tasty Tarte flambée (also called Flammekueche) – an Alsatian dish composed of bread dough rolled out very thin, which is covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, thinly sliced onions and lardons. It is one of the most famous specialties of the region. So – a very pleasnt 24 hours!

Welcome to the cousins!

Monday saw us having lunch with M-D’s cousin, Jean-Louis and his partner, France, who live on the east of Paris. Also, M-D’s sister, Christine, came down from Lille in northern France. We had planned eating at about 1 o’clock, but circumstances worked against all of us!

First of all, the chicken that we had planned cooking in its salt crust was decidedly “off”. Though it was a farm-bred, corn-fed beasty that was well in date, there was something going on inside it that shouldn’t have been, and it became very obvious when we removed the packaging! So I dumped it straight in the garbage and drove to the store to get a replacement.

As I was gone, Christine rang from her car. She was stuck in a jam just outside Lille due to an accident. Then we had a call from Jean-Louis… they had been advised of a parcel delivery that still hadn’t arrived, so he was having to wait before they could leave the house.

tomato and mozzarella saladTo cut a long story short, we had a long “apperitif” with Jean-Louis and France while we waited for Christine, and then sat down to eat just before 3pm! Fortunately, the Chicken in Salt Crust is a very tolerant recipe that can stand a lot of messing round. We had started it late, so it sat happily in its little salt ‘oven’ while we enjoyed a Tomato and Mozzarella Salad starter (except that I used Feta, for a change!). This is a great starter because it’s fresh, tasty, easy to make and (apart from adding the vinaigrette dressing) can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge. Be sure to serve some nice fresh chunky bread with it to mop up the dressing… it’s far too good to waste.

Chicken in a Salt CrustSo, at about 3pm, the “bomb” that held the chicken was presented to the table. Of course, it takes a degree in mechanical engineering to open it, so it doesn’t get undressed at the table – it goes back to the kitchen to be exposed and dissected! As it happened, France had never seen one before, so she joined me in the kitchen and attacked the crust with a large, dangerous-looking carving knife.

Chicken in a Salt CrustAfter a few minutes of cursing and hacking, she succeeded in exposing “the beast” and then left me to carve and present it to the other diners! The joy of this dish is that the chicken is “loaded” with Boursin cheese between skin and flesh and this melts to create a really succulent chicken with rich flavours. It might seem like a waste of coarse sea salt, but I can assure you that the end result is well worth it.

With the chicken, we served a Ratatouille and, for fun, some “curly potatoes”! M-D discovered a little gadget that drills the inside from vegetables, leaving a core like a spiral of vegetable. So I par-boiled the spirals and then sautéed them. Visually they looked great, and they tasted good too! There was very little left of either the chicken or the vegetables when we had all finished.

Since Jean-Louis and France don’t drink alcohol, there were just three of us sharing the excellent bottle of Pinot Noir that hit the spot nicely for all the courses. After the cheeses, we served Gâteau Creusois and a Carpaccio d’Oranges à la Cannelle (Orange slices with cinnamon) – something we’ve done a couple of times recently (we must stop being lazy and falling back on all the simple recipes!), However, it’s a nice simple, refreshing and tasty way to finish a meal – which just left me loading the dishwasher while the others had coffee and chocolates! – Hmmm – and they say a woman’s work is never done!!

Lovely way to spend a Monday amonst friends!

Between a rock and a hard place!

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.

Monk Fish in bacon with parsley cream sauceBy 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.

Confit de CanardAfter 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.

Orange SlicesOur 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!

 

Tastes of the Sea and the Salt Air

Last night, our friends Bruno and Jill came for dinner and we followed a sort of loose “sea & salt” theme throughout. We kicked off (as we always do) with an apéritif. “Apéritif” is a French word derived from the Latin verb aperire, which means “to open.” So an apéritif is an alcoholic beverage usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite, and is therefore usually dry rather than sweet. Common choices for an apéritif are vermouth, champagne, pastis, gin, rak?, fino, amontillado or other styles of dry sherry and any still, dry, light white wine. The word also refers to a snack that precedes a meal. This includes an amuse-bouche, such as crackers, cheese, pâté or olives.

Our own apéritifs will always include a light, dry wine (or champagne) which we often flavour with ‘Crême de Something’ (depending on the person’s choice). We discovered a long time ago that ‘Crême de ….” costs a bomb in UK! We searched hard and all we found was a Black Raspberry Liqueur made by Chambord. A bottle of just 20cl (about one-third of a pint) cost us over £10 (€12 – $16). So now, when we come from France by car, we load up with 50cl (¾ pint) bottles which we buy for about €3 each (£2.50 – $4).

We have a great selection now of Crême de Pamplemousse Rose (pink grapefruit), Crême de Pêche de Vigne (Vine Peaches), Crême de Framboise (Raspberry), Crême de Mûres (Blackberries) and Crême de Fruits Rouges (Red Fruits). Curiously, what I don’t have is the all-time classic, Crême de Cassis (Blackcurrant) which was the original drink.

Crême de CassisWhite 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.

So, due to our collection of different flavour liqueurs, we can offer guests a choice and, in fact, outside France it can be a great talking point as guests sample first one and then another! Last night, we served our Kirs using a lovely crisp Chardonnay that we happen to have sitting in the fridge. And as an amuse-bouche, we also served large green-lipped mussels from New Zealand. We buy these already cooked from the local supermarket and I then finely chop garlic, sprinkle it over the mussels in their shells and drizzle a generous amount of Salad dressing over them. They are really delicious and our guests certainly seemed to appreciate them.

For a starter course, we once again resorted to Julie’s Salmon & Prawn with Lime which has become a real favourite. Jill cleverly guessed all the ingredients in the salad dressing and also spotted the horseradish and crême fraîche mixture for what it was. The salmon was wild Pacific Keta Salmon (sometimes known as chum or dog salmon for its dog-like teeth). It has a lower fat content than other salmon but is a really rich, tasty and healthy fish. With the fish starter, we served the same Duc de Morny 2012 Picpoul de Pinet that we served last week when we had “the Steves” with us.

Chicken in a Salt CrustThe main course was the “salty” end of the recipe with Chicken in a salt crust otherwise known as Poulet a l’ail et aux Fines Herbes en croute de Sel Parfumée. This is a great way to serve chicken since it always comes out tender and succulent and the taste is just out of this world.

In fact, you start with a chicken (nice corn-fed, free range one for us) and you insert Boursin Soft Cheese with Garlic and Herbs (Boursin Ail et Fines Herbes) between the skin and the flesh. During the cooking process, this “melts” into and around the flesh leaving a taste that has to be tried to be believed.

Chicken in a Salt CrustOnce 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!)

Chicken in a Salt CrustOnce 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!).

After the cheese, we had planned serving M-D’s “Parfait” but Bruno had made a chocolate cake so we got stuck into that instead… and very good it was too. (Particularly washed down with a glass or Maas a Miel).

And so passed a very pleasant evening in good company. Bruno and Jill found their way home at about 1:30am and I eventually got to bed at 2:45am after clearing the mess I had made in the kitchen (better that than face it the next morning!)

Entertaining is fun, particularly with people you like… and we really DO like all our guests. They are all different. They all have different tastes. The conversations are always different. But the one common factor is a convivial evening spent around the table with good food and decent wine. It makes life worth living!