This weekend we celebrated the Fête Nationale of our 'patrimoine adoptée' with some very good friends and, of course, some very good food. We started with an apéritif at 12h30, and finished at 21h00. Some lunch!For the entrée (n.b. America: this means starter, not main course!) we had a classic local Soupe de Poisson (a cousin of bouillabase) which I bought ready-made from the local poissonerie, and served with the traditional grated cheese, croutons (made from small slices of baguette, not diced bread) and a home-made rouille (a tangy, goopy sauce to dollop on the croutons). For those not so keen on the strong, fishy taste there was terrine de campagne. On this occasion I bought the terrine from our excellent boucherie, but I do have a very good recipe which I will post another time.
For the plat (main course) I prepared 'Côte de boeuf en deux cuissons, sauce béarnaise'. It was the first time I had cooked côtes de boeuf any other way than grilled over vinewood, so I was a bit nervous for our dinner guests, but they were incredibly good and I can't wait for an excuse to cook them again. The trickiest bit was the sauce, which requires a lot of attention, but if you follow the steps correctly it's no problem. Just be sure to have all your ingredients prepped and to hand before you begin cooking.
For the side dish, I took some boiled, diced potatoes, a diced aubergine, a chopped red onion and threw them all in a frying pan with some butter and olive oil. I seasoned and let them cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes then stirred in about a handful of freshly grated parmesan before turning out into a serving dish.
For the cheese course we had some fantastic, locally-made cheese, then for dessert we had my Moussey Chocolate Tart. The dessert was prepared a day in advance as I was fully prepared to be incapable of serving anything complicated by the time we got to the fourth course. And I was right. Bonne fête indeed.
With the beef: 'Caracterre' 2007 Merlot Cabernet, Maitres Vignerons de Gallargues.
