Tag Archives: desserts

Cheese, Chicken, Desserts, Salads, Salmon

Christmas 2018

December 31, 2018 needarecipe Leave a comment

Florence, Damien, Marie-Danielle and Graham

We spent an informal Christmas Day this year in the company of two good friends, Florence and her son, Damien. We also decided to keep it simple, so we kicked off with smoked wild salmon from Olsen Bornholm, a specialist smoke house and curers, just a mile from where we live. But we dressed it up a bit and turned it into Julie’s Salmon and Prawn with Lime. This is such an easy recipe and it’s been a huge success every time we’ve done it. Damien was more impressed with Marie-Danielle’s hat. And a mighty fine hat it was too! Florence, Damien, Marie-Danielle and Graham

For the main course, we cooked Chicken in a Salt Crust (or Poulet a l’ail en Croute de Sel if you want me to be pedantic). It’s a simple, straightforward recipe and I know from experience that the salt crust takes a bit of breaking. In fact, I often employ the help of a hammer. So it was a racing certainty that Damien would find this amusing. Nothing like getting someone involved in the kitchen at an early age – even if it is only with a hammer!

Happy 2019 from Marie-Danielle and Graham Florence lives in the heart of Paris and she had brought with her some truly wonderful cheeses that we took our time over. She also brought the deserts – delicious hand-made cakes from one of the best patisseries in the capital. We would have been happy if she had just brought herself and Damien, but the cheese and desserts were an added bonus.

Incidentally, I used Florence (with her permission) as a model for one of the characters in my book Web of Tangled Blood. It’s the story of a couple struggling to understand their past as they search for their long lost son.

So, finally, I hope you’ve enjoyed following this blog. I leave you at the end of 2018 with all my best wishes for the year ahead. May you enjoy health and happiness. Everything else will follow from there.

Beef, Desserts, Lamb, Salads, Shellfish, Slow Cooking

Top Five Recipes for 2017

December 31, 2017 needarecipe Leave a comment

This post actually isn’t going to be the top five things I’m grateful for. That would turn into a top 150 list and it would be annoyingly long. Instead, this post is the top five most viewed recipes on Need A Recipe in the last year!

Which, I guess, actually leads me to talk about something I’m thankful for. I’m really, really, thankful that you read this blog! Or even just scan through the pictures. Seriously, I wish I could serve you the recipe of your choice through the computer screen every time you visit the site and browse around.

Building the Need A Recipe list of good things to eat, and blogging like this is fun because of the interactions that I get with other people, and those other people are you! Thanks for keeping it fun for me and helping Need A Recipe grow in leaps and bounds in this last year.

Now, let’s eat! The Top Five Need A Recipe recipes for this year are:

Julie’s Salmon & Prawn with Lime is dedicated to Terry and Julie, our neighbours on The Isle of Man, who served us the most stunning starter in the field of human culinary endeavours! I promise you – you eat this and no starter will ever seem the same again. M-D and I were transported to a place that few ever get to see… the pinnacle of goodness and taste and salivating cherubs floating on clouds of… er, yeah, okay, I got a bit carried away there. But so will you when you try Julie’s Salmon & Prawn with Lime Julie's Salmon & Prawn with Lime

A Trio of Scallops is a simple and very effective starter course or, as you will see when you follow the recipe below, you can extend the choice to make it a “quad” of scallops. This lovely dish is perfect for serving when entertaining since it can mostly be prepared beforehand and then will take only four or five minutes to finish and serve.

The most effective way to serve a Trio of Scallops is in long individual dishes that are separated into three sections. If you cannot find these, you can use Chinese soup spoons (the ones that have a flat bottom so stand up on their own) with one scallop per spoon. And failing that, just use scallop shells (one scallop per shell). The finished scallops should be placed in the correct order on the plate and eaten from left to right. No – this is not food snobbery, it’s simply that the taste begins gently and builds to a crescendo.

Beef Wellington – oh beloved food for an evening with friends (or your partner’s boss who you are supposed to impress!). Just occasionally, I get an inkling to make Beef Wellington – the tenderest of Angus beef smeared in mustard or horseradish, smothered with mushroom duxelles, wrapped in Parma ham and put to bed in a cover of golden puff pastry. Traditionally, Beef Wellington was coddled in a layer of pâté, but I prefer the mushrooms and Parma ham version. It’s actually a lot easier to make than it looks, and the result is fantastic. A great idea for all beef-lovers (and partner’s bosses who need to be impressed!).

Some people use thin pancakes to wrap around their beef. The idea is to stop the pastry getting wet. However, I’ve always found that overlapping prosciutto works just as well, and tastes 100 times better. Beef Wellington

Lamb Shanks in Deep Rich Gravy gained an easy fourth place. It’s a magical recipe, especially if you want to have your guests guessing at the secret ingedients. Even though the recipe uses anchovies (a very salty fish) you can’t taste it in the finished dish but it totally transforms the meat and gravy, bringing out the delicious flavours.

Incidentally, 3lb (1½kg) of shanks is usually about 2 or even 3 shanks. If your butcher offers you one large one, reject it – at that size, it’s probably old mutton! If you have any problems, simply use a leg of lamb instead. I often do that. Lamb Shanks in Deep Rich Gravy

Double-Take Apple Flan is so called because there are two ‘stages’ to the cooking and also because it tastes so good, there’s no way you won’t go back for another helping. “Double-Take” Apple Flan is a winner, no matter what the occasion, and the extra little trouble in preparation and cooking is well, well worth the effort. Your guests will love you for it. Double-Take Apple Fla

Desserts, Personal Stuff

No Justice for me

September 11, 2015 needarecipe Leave a comment

I’m not huge fan of apple pies but Double-Take Apple Flan wins me over every time. I don’t know whether it’s the vanilla or the texture of the flan, but I could happily sit down and eat the whole thing. Imagine my dismay then when, having made a Double-Take Apple Flan the other day, my wife hijacked it and fed it to the neighbours!

Double-Take Apple Flan is so called because there are two ‘stages’ to the cooking and also because it tastes so good, there’s no way you won’t go back for another helping. It’s a winner no matter what the occasion, and the extra little trouble in preparation and cooking is well, well worth the effort. Your guests will love you for it. That’s if you have guests! In my case, I think the neighbours were very grateful for my time and effort!

Okay, you’re probably wondering why my neighbours were happy. You see, in France, we live in an apartment in what the French call a ‘Residence’. That’s a block of apartments that share a common access and common maintenance. For each résidence the owners appoint a professional ‘Syndicat de copropriétaires’ to manage the properties and deal with the maintenance. Day-to-day decisions are taken by a ‘conseil syndical’ – an elected group of owners. The other evening (after I had made my Double-Take Apple Flan) my wife went to a meeting of the conseil syndical, taking the flan with her…. and that was the last I saw of it! The greedy buggers ate the whole lot. Then they had the termerity to ask for the recipe!

Guess I’m just going to have to make another. But this one is not leaving my sight!

Beef, Desserts, Duck, Personal Stuff, Wine

Terry’s Secret Treat!

January 6, 2015 needarecipe Leave a comment

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.

What 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?).

Our 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 Wines For 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!

Desserts, Lamb, Mussels, Seafood, Wine

Goodbye 2014 – Hello 2015

January 2, 2015 needarecipe Leave a comment

Robin and Rebecca I 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!

As 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 bottles For 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.

After 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!

The 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)!

Desserts, Fish, Personal Stuff

Poor Man’s Lobster

May 31, 2014 needarecipe Leave a comment

Archeres Apartments Last 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!

Starter 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!)

Main 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.

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????

So 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-Danielle While 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!

Chicken, Personal Stuff, Salads

Welcome to the cousins!

April 8, 2014 needarecipe Leave a comment

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.

To 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.

So, 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.

After 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!

Desserts, Duck, Fish, Isle of Man, Mushrooms, Personal Stuff, Seafood, Vegetables, Wine

Between a rock and a hard place!

February 22, 2014 needarecipe Leave a comment

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!

Desserts, Duck, Isle of Man, Mushrooms, Salmon, Seafood, Wine

That good old Confit de Canard

February 4, 2014 needarecipe Leave a comment

Last Saturday evening we enjoyed the company of Steve and Penny who live about 100 metres down the road, along with Steve and Jeanette (my brother and sis-in-law). Penny is a pharmacist at the local hospital and was on call, so had to curtail her alcohol intake to virtually zero. Unfortunately, Steve (not brother) is a pilot, so he’s away quite a lot and last Saturday was the only time their diaries and ours coincided!

We started with our current favourite, Julie’s Salmon & Prawn with Lime. It really is so simple but so delicious. It’s one of those recipes made in heaven! We’re always aware that Jeanette, my sister-in-law, is alergic to crustaceans, so make sure that the salmon and prawns never touch during the preparation. It also means, of course that her salad is missing one of the ingredients, but it’s wonderfully delicious nonetheless! We served this great starter with a Duc de Morny 2012 Picpoul de Pinet which is a wine that won the Medaille d’Or in the 2013 Agricultural and Food show in Paris (a rare accolade).

confit de canard duck For the main course, we took an easy option (for us) and served Confit de Canard with a mixture of Sautée Potatoes and Cepes (penny bun or porcino mushrooms). It’s easy for us because we bring from France big tins of Confit and also tins of Cepes. So peeling and cooking a few potatoes is no hardship. However, for our friends who would not normally get to eat confit, it’s something different and fun – particularly when served with a bottle or two of Château La Caze Bellevue, a smooth, velvety 2010 Saint Emilion!

Orange Carpaccio 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!).

Damage on Douglas Promenade 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.

castletown2robinwootton_500x333 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?

Beef, Desserts, Fish, Salads, Salmon, Seafood, Shellfish, Wine

Glorious evening of simple, tasty food.

October 18, 2013 needarecipe Leave a comment

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.

We 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 !

Our 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.

After 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!

Need a Recipe Food Blog