Category Archives: Beef

Glorious evening of simple, tasty food.

Last night, our old friends, Paul and Valérie came round for dinner. They arrived early and left late (which is always a good sign!) and they insisted on taking away with them the recipes for our starter and dessert.

Julie's Salmon & Prawn with LimeWe kicked off with a starter that our neighbours, Julie and Terry, on the Isle of Man had made for us just before we came back to France… Julie’s Salmon and Prawn with Lime. This simply is one of the tastiest starters I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. We “smoked” the salmon ourselves which not only tastes better but also allows you to slice it thicker than normal. The dollop of cream and horseradish with the fish has a lovely fresh taste but the real delight is the salad dressing which includes limes, honey and fresh ginger and comes as a mouth-watering surprise when you put a forkful of salad leaves in your mouth.

Naturally we helped this down with a little drop of France’s finest… a Duc de Morny, Picpoul de Pinet 2012. It’s a crisp white from the Languedoc coast but, even though it was a young wine, it won the Médaille d’Or at the renowned Agricultural Show in Paris, so it wasn’t a bad drop at all !

Daube ProvençaleOur main course was Daube Provençale (one of our regular favourites) which consists of large chunks of slow-cooked beef with lots of tasty secrets like orange flavours and fresh olives in the gravy. This always works well because it really does taste of France and it can be prepared well in advance. Also, we serve it simply with potatoes (which we crush into the gravy with our forks – bad children!) so there’s not a lot of work preparing the vegetables.

Paul brought an excellent bottle of something deep and rich and red from Bordeaux but I’m darned if I can remember the name of it and the bottle is now being recyled somewhere in deepest, darkest France! Whatever it was, it worked extremely well with the Daube.

Citrus ParfaitAfter the cheese, we finished off with M-D’s famous Citrus Parfait which we totally demolished since everybody went for a second helping! We helped it down with a glass or two of Edelzwicker from Alsace in North-East France though I confess, it didn’t need too much help!

Valérie and Paul were impressed enough to insist that we give them the recipes for the starter, the “self-smoked” salmon and the dessert (they already had the recipe for the Daube). And the real beauty was that – as so often with a good meal – almost everything had been prepared in advance, which allowed “cheffy” to sit with everybody else and enjoy the conversation.

The salmon had been “smoked” two days earlier, the salad dressing for the starter had been made during the afternoon and put in the fridge, the Daube was made the day before and just allowed to slowly reheat, and the Citrus Parfait was from a supply that we keep in the freezer all the time because we know that this dessert is a winner, so it’s always available. In fact, the only thing I had to do was boil a few potatoes – now how hard is that?

I know I’ve said it before (and I’ll probably say it again), but the secret of French cooking is simplicity. While the French are very good at combining various flavours, unless you eat in one of the really top restaurants, you are likely to be served something that is uncomplicated but truly tasty.

I suspect we might be serving these same starters and desserts again at some point in the near future!

What do you eat after Christmas?

The age-old question, “What to eat after Christmas” has a somewhat unpredictable answer in our house! If you read my previous post, you’ll see that we have made thorough pigs of ourselves the past few days, so you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s time for us to ease back a bit and let nature sort out the overload. However, nature didn’t take into account the fact that none of us could be bothered to don socks and shoes and go to the shops for something to eat tonight.

Yesterday, my sister-in-law’s sons polished off most of the left-overs before jumping on their trains and heading home, so yesterday evening was a nice simple vegetable soup. Which, today, leaves us with the question of what to eat. Lunch isn’t a problem since we have some nice cooked ham in the fridge, along with a few leaves of lettuce, we’ll be fine. Dinner this evening, however, poses more problematical logistical issues – i.e. no-one wants to go shopping for something to eat!

Obvious answer… the freezer cabinet! And what did I spy, peeping at me from under a pack of Manx kippers? …. Probably one of the most delightful beef recipes ever – Daube Provençale!

It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that I have a passion for Daube (it’s pronounced slightly more towards “Dobe” than “Daub”) so the idea of finishing off the old fashioned vegetable mix that I prepared yesterday (Purple Majesty potatoes, parsnips, green Romanesco Cauliflower and carrots), along with a good old-fashioned recipe like Daube appeals to my natural instincts (and to my unapologetic stomach!)

So here we go again… the table is already laid!! Happy Christmas Graham!!