Last night, M-D’s daughter (Muriel), son-in-law (Vincent) and their children (Clémence and Eléonore) came over so we could have a joint birthday celebration for M-D and Clémence (M-D’s was a few days ago and, while Clémence’s was in February. We weren’t here in France to celebrate it, so decided to have an evening together to mark the two birthdays!)
Naturally (as you do) we kicked off with a couple of bottles of fine Vranken Champagne Demoiselle Brut Premium Cuvée (it helps wash down the apperitif biscuits and olives!!)
Unfortunately we had had a bad shock during the afternoon. Down in the cellar are several bottles of 1989 Chateau de Cayrou – one of the very finest Bordeaux wines you will ever taste. We brought some bottles up and opened them to let them breathe and discovered to our horror that they had maderized (the wine acquires a rather bitter sherry-like character). In the end, we opened some 2002 Chateau Martet (one of the Grands Vins of Bordeaux) but I confess there was some residual disappointment about the Chateau de Cayrou. We have a few bottles of 1990 vintage… I guess we should open one of those and find out what’s happening with it.
Anyway – on with the meal! We started with a lovely simple recipe, Monk Fish in Bacon with Parsley Cream. Not only did this work like a dream but Vincent (son-in-law) who really enjoys and savours his food and wine, declared that it was “one hundred percent”, and christened me “The New Gordon Ramsey”! Well, I don’t know about that, maybe it was the Champagne and the Chateau Martet speaking, but for sure the fish was cooked to perfection (moist and tender) and the marriage between the succulent fish and the crisp, salty bacon was divine.
So, The New Gordon Ramsey went back in the kitchen and emerged moments later with the main course – Rich Gravy Leg of Lamb. In terms of the recipe, this is identical to my Rich Gravy Lamb Shanks recipe, except that I replaced the lamb shanks with a 2kg leg of lamb and increased the other ingredients by about 50%. I served it with a few simple vegetables and then, as we ate, we played the guessing game … what’s the secret ingredient in the sauce? It took a lot of clues from us and lots of guesses by our guests before Clémence suggested anchovies (the correct answer)!
Well, the Rich Gravy Leg of Lamb was an absolute hit with everyone (2kg of lamb disappeared in minutes) and Vincent was, again, effusive in his praise! I know we already have a new Pope, but being elevated from The New Gordon Ramsey to The New Pope was fine by me! And the two secrets that made an evening of entertaining seem effortless were nothing more than:
- Simple recipes that either don’t have many ingredients or can be prepared well in advance
- Recipes that work alongside each other in the kitchen (I never changed the oven temperature from the monkfish starter right through to the desert)
Our guests were ecstatic (we lumbered our way through cheese and a warm apricot and almond desert before Vincent dozed off on the settee with a contented smile on his face!). So entertaining (and being elevated to Pope) doesn’t have to be complicated. I used two very straightforward recipes that kept kitchen time to a minimum yet produced outstanding results. And, before you ask, there were a total of five empty wine/champagne bottles this morning, which is, perhaps, a little excessive for four adults, but then it’s not every day one becomes Pope!
We’re heading back to The Isle of Man in a few days. We’ll be there for a couple of months, but we probably won’t get much relaxation! We bought a three story Victorian town house in August 2011 and it came complete with ivory-coloured fluffy carpets throughout! We have replaced the ground floor with parquet but the stairs and two floors of bedrooms still need to have something done to get rid of the ghastly dust trap underfoot! Our plan is to dump the carpets, strip the pine boards back to original state, tint them just to help the colour a little, then apply a matt varnish. On the stairs and landings, we’ll get new carpet runners and paint the edges white (a bit like it would have been originally except maybe the colour).
Last Saturday evening, we had a dinner for six of us. In addition to M-D and myself, there was Loius and Monique who live close by and keep an eye on the apartment here while we are on The Isle of Man, Jean-Luc who was a neighbour until recently, and is now living in Brittany and Pascale, a new neighbour who bought his apartment from him. We decided to keep it simple so I produced that gastronomic delight, 
We followed up with a traditional French dish, 
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 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.
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 
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, 
Now when you are cooking for eleven, it’s essential to reduce the level of complexity to a minimum and Muriel had done exactly that. Her starter course was foie gras which is, of course, pre-packed and just needs slicing. Her dessert was a chocolate brownie cake that Clémence had made, and her main course, and pièce de résistance, was 
Restaurant L’Ostéria was our rendevous with M-D’s former boss and his wife. Jean-Pierre had been the head of the Belgium office when Marie-Danielle had worked there a few years ago and now, like M-D, had returned to France.
