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Life in rural France - Food - Friends - Wine - Cheese - Comments
Welcome to French Food
Focus. The name describes the intent of this blog. I'll focus on food
and because I live in rural
France the stress will be upon French food. There are numerous posts
concerning life in France and, certainly,
opinions
about anything that strikes my fancy.
If
you have some good recipes or if you want to rave
about any great French
restaurants this
is the place to do it.
I hope you enjoy my ramblings about rural France!
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I love a bargain!
As
posted over on eGullet we went to our favorite restaurant for lunch this
week. It was delicious and a terrific bargain. I didn't go into detail in
my post, but can here.
As an aside, ever notice how some bloggers make a point of linking
virtually every post they do on eGullet to their blog. Not content with
mentioning in their signature they stick in links. Some of these are
pretty contrived. The self promotion sort of makes me uncomfortable.
Anyway, the favorite restaurant (Le Vieux Pont in Belcastel) has a 27 Euro
three course set menu for lunch on weekdays. (The main menu is 51 or 43
Euros depending upon whether you have just a fish or meat course or
whether you have both.) But what they do is to include all the little
extras that come with the more expensive menus. In effect we ended up with
7 courses as follows:
Amuse One. A board with two miniature pancakes on sticks (one was with
fois gras & the other smoked ham) plus a little pot containing a vegetable
puree with herbs over minced shallots & a touch of horseradish.
Amuse Two. Mashed avocado (almost a guacamole) over tabulla.
Our Entree. A flaky pastry disc covered with flaked steamed cod topped by
roasted tomato with basil & chives. Very delicate & very good.
Our Plat. Traverse de porc (meaty pork spare ribs) that had been confited
with soya & sweet herbs. In a separate bowl were rice noodles with
julienned vegetables; these mixed well with the porc. Strong flavors, but
very good.
Cheese. A generous wedge of local goat's cheese cut to your wish at table
with a sprinkling of fresh walnuts.
Pre - dessert. Macaroons with chocolate & orange and a chewy toffee loaded
with pistachio nuts.
Dessert. Fruit salad with finely minced fruits & in the center a crisp
sugar biscuit roll filled with passion fruit. Light & wonderful. By far
the best "fruit salad" I've ever had.
Post - dessert. Lemon granita with basil & cream.
All beautifully presented and served with charm. (in this restaurant
everyone works to satisfy their guests. Each member of staff does whatever
is necessary to make thing run smoothly. Even the co-owner/ Maitre d'hotel
is not above clearing courses if needed.)
For wine we had a delicious Cotes de Roulission at 21 Euros. Well,
actually we had 2 bottles.
What a deal is all I can say. The ambiance is every bit as good as the
food & the prices.
So for those who spurn Michelin starred places, I say just keep trying.
There are other places that equal Le Vieux Pont. The trick is in finding
them.
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