Fun in France

[escargot]

Thought I'd post this set of pics that I took yesterday over lunch & dinner.

Lunch - at her Grannies house.


Aperatif. Champagne, foie gras on brioche, radishes and some little cubes of laughing cow cheese.


A delightful chablis for with the starter (which was a seafood salad of sorts)


My son enjoying the bread!


The main course, a duck cassoulet (made the lazy way)


'95 Cotes de Nuits Villages - the perfect accompaniment.


The cheeseboard after it had been largely demolished


A bottle of Rose from their department. Not bad. Although on reflection, i'm unsure as to why we opened this after the meal, I think I was getting a bit pissed by this point


Dessert. Yumyum.

The end. (Of lunch).


Now, the next pic is the only one I had of this - by this point it's fair to say i'd had a bit to drink and really A) couldn't be arsed with pictures and B) Forgot anyway.

Dinner - at her uncles place.

Aperatif: More champagne. Lots infact. Saucisson, smoked duck breast and good old ready salted crisps.

Starter: Frogs legs fried in butter, garlic & shallots, sprinkled with parsley and served in the frying pan. Very sticky. Lovely. Wine was a white Beaune of some description.


The main: roe deer flambed in cognac and served in a reduced cream sauce. Utterly, utterly amazing. Gevrey-Chambertin with it. The bloke in the picture is my uncle-in-law, it's fair to say that he's a cracking cook as well as butcher (this is the bloke who gives me the boar & venison, gout etc)

Cheese: Gruyere, more Gevrey-Chambertin.

Dessert: Chocolate cake and the french equivalent to birds custard (the aunt-in-law got slaughtered for daring not to make her own creme-anglaise).

To finish: A degustation of various 'gouts'. Mirabelle, Kirsch & Poire. Plus some random Genepi necked just because we could.

I was so full after all this and despite the amount of food consumed, quite, quite pissed. All that said, I woke up today feeling absolutely fine - no headache or ropey stomach feeling at all.

One day we'll move here. Happiness truly resides in good food, good wine & good company.

[Puggit]

Great pics, a really French feel. Which department is it?

[escargot]

52 - Haute-Marne. Nobody has ever heard of it but it's NE France and the bottom of Champagne-Ardenne. Nearest city is Dijon and that's about an hour or so away.

[Mobile Chicane]

That looks great. Good to see mini Escargot sitting at the table with the grown-ups too.

I'm convinced this is why children on the Continent are so much better behaved in restaurants than their counterparts here.

[escargot]

I'm with you on that. We wouldn't have it any other way with Cedric. Eating at the table is a pleasure, not a chore.

[Bill]

escargot said:

I'm with you on that. We wouldn't have it any other way with Cedric. Eating at the table is a pleasure, not a chore.

And the only concession to your child's palate seems to be the Vache qui rit

[soad]

Duck cassoulet and doe deer both look absolutely delightful. My mouth is actually watering after viewing those photos.

[escargot]

Bill said:

escargot said:

I'm with you on that. We wouldn't have it any other way with Cedric. Eating at the table is a pleasure, not a chore.

And the only concession to your child's palate seems to be the Vache qui rit

Pah, that was for the adults!

L'anglais, ils mangent la merde, oui?

Cedric had a little bit of duck mashed up with the beans. He also tried a bit of frogs leg too. He's definitely 50% French.

[escargot]

soad said:

Duck cassoulet and doe deer both look absolutely delightful. My mouth is actually watering after viewing those photos.

The deer dish is extremely simple to make and in terms of effort vs reward, it's got to be right up there. It was made all the better by knowing that approximately a month ago it was shot & butchered by the chap in the pic.

What is also always made abundantly clear to me every time we come to visit is that really, presentation matters not a jot for them. It's all about the flavour. I can go along with that considering my artistic streak is non-existant.

Edited by escargot on Monday 12th April 12:33

[Bill]

Mine get everything we eat, including rare steak, which surprises a lot of people. Someone gave him a mini-Babybel the other day and he spat it straight out and asked for the proper stuff

[escargot]

I think it's the best way really. There's no way I want him growing up with ridiculous ideas about food. He absolutely adores a small piece of comte with a little bread and a suck of a finger dipped in the wine glass. Honestly, I wish I was as posh as he is at 7 months old.

[Bill]

You only have to look at the ingredients in French babyfood compared to English to see the difference in attitude: You won't find any of that foreign herbs and garlic muck in English food

[escargot]

Quite. I'm not ashamed to admit I was somewhat of a heathen where food is concerned prior to getting involved with a French bird. I consider every trip part of a gastronomic education.

Today's lunch? Andouille avec frites.

[Liszt]

Bill said:

escargot said:

I'm with you on that. We wouldn't have it any other way with Cedric. Eating at the table is a pleasure, not a chore.

And the only concession to your child's palate seems to be the Vache qui rit

They are actually called Apericubes and are little silvery foiled cubes of loveliness.

The staple of the aperitif, with sliced sauscisson, pate en croute and a few of the little cheese and herb biscuits.


My six year old son loves his trips to Nannies in the Charante. He gets to have moules, lapin au creme and merguez sausages. Proper little bon viveur.

[escargot]

Liszt said:

They are actually called Apericubes and are little silvery foiled cubes of loveliness.

The staple of the aperitif, with sliced sauscisson, pate en croute and a few of the little cheese and herb biscuits.

The world would be an infinitely worse place had the aperitif and accompanying sauscisson been overlooked.

I'm determined that his first words will be "Tu voudrais un apero papa?"

"Oui mon filston, allez!"

[Puggit]

We always stock up on Apericubes when we're over. I love the blue cheese ones and the olive ones!

[Gord2]

Looks Yum!

I do love french cooking

[shirt]

the roe deer looks amazing, as does the rest actually.

<goes off to look for a madamoiselle on plentyoffrogs.com>

[Mobile Chicane]

escargot said:

The deer dish is extremely simple to make and in terms of effort vs reward, it's got to be right up there. It was made all the better by knowing that approximately a month ago it was shot & butchered by the chap in the pic.

Recipe please.

I can see the Box Hill rabbits benefiting from this treatment.

[Jambob]

All looks fantastic, but is it just me that cannot see the Roe picture? Would be interested to hear a recipe also, always interesting to hear of different ways to cook it.