French Food, California Style

French recipes are my favorite to prepare for some reason. I think it's the savory flavors... I love Allspice, Herbes de Provence, and lavender. This time I prepared a repeat dish, Tourtiere. The meal just seemed so old-fashioned and elegant, I dug out my wedding china from the eighties. It fit just right.

HORS D'OEUVRES
California Caviar (Sturgeon)
Creme Fraiche

Baked Brie
et Craquelins

SALADE
Spiralized Zucchini, Carrots, and
Tomatoes with Olives Oil Spritz
and Truffle Salt.

SOUPE
Sherry Tomato

PLAT PRINCIPAL
Tourtiere with Sauce Aux
Champignons (Mushrooms)
Puree de Pomme de Terre
(Creamed Potatoes)

DESSERT
Glace a la Vanille Avec
Puree de Mangue (Mango)

French Theme at Dan & Denise's

Bon Appetit

Denise invited us in, and with a wave of her hand she said, ‘An ode to Julia’. Using Julia Child’s extensive cookbooks, Dan and Denise created an elegant French meal. I don’t know why, but I’m always surprised when other people go through a great deal of trouble to make every aspect of a meal from scratch. I just wasn’t raised that way. My mom made meals from cans, boxes, and from whatever she had in the garden. For example I’ve never made Pate du Campagne in my life.



That Cornichon is this amazing little pastry stuffed with
brie and bits of fruit.I ate too many.





This was my first experience with

Endive Salad. It’s one I plan to

repeat. I thought the endive had a

nice texture, and of course anything

with Roguefort is good!







The French Onion Soup was the best I’ve ever tasted period. It might be the way their daughter diced up the onions J





The Beef Bourguinon was so good I

asked for extra to take home. 

That way I could relive the

experience the next week at work.



And of course they finished with

dessert . . . I tasted the cake,but

I was so full by then I managed

two bites.





They challenged us to bring a French Blended wine. Unfortunately, Joe heard Italian Blend . . . we sampled for 2 weeks before settling on one, only to find out it was supposed to be French. I didn’t have time to taste any French wine, so I just bought a bottle from Bel Aire that had a cool label with a chicken on it J La Vieille Ferme. It was only 9 bucks, but it was good . . . third place, but good! Mark and Melissa took home the medal with Les Halos De Jupiter from Chateauneuf-Du Pape. Dan and Denises was D66! Couldn’t tell you much more than that except we drank every drop and it came in 2^nd.

“People who love to eat are Always the best people.” Julia Child



French Theme at the Cabin



The cabin



We were nervous, but it was our turn to produce the feast. My Step-Mom, Kathy, inspired me with another French dish; tourtiere (meat pie). We followed what is becoming tradition and invited the Wine Tribe to the cabin in Calaveras. We were a little worried about snow, but it stayed clear for us. Snow to look at, but not to slosh through. Plenty of firewood, food, and wine.



Cheese



We found a French wine to serve with the hors d'oeuvres. I decided to be serious about the cheese and chose only French creations (Grand Affinage Compte Herie Mons Affinage, Explorateur Triple Crème Brie, and Young Mimolette Isagny St. Mere). I set out salami rolled in herbs de province and another in crushed pepper. Imported mustard from Dijon France for dipping (Trader Joes).



Goat cheese layered with beets



Joe and I were at a winery in Sutter Creek and I found a recipe on a postcard for beets layered with goat cheese. I don’t know if that is a French dish, but it sure was fun to make as a sort of salad.



Tourtiere



I made a practice run with the tourtiere and fell in love with the softer flavors of allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. After much trial and error I decided on carrots glazed with whiskey and brown sugar, and toasted Brussels sprouts tossed with balsamic reduction and craisens (dried cranberries).



Dessert is NOT my forte, so I bought little French tarts and a late harvest Zin from Villa Toscana which never got opened. Even we have our limit.

Ah, the wine you ask . . . We chose Merlot for our tasting. When I first started tasting wineback in the 80's Merlot was a “transition” wine from rosé to red. It was light and fruity. Now it is returning to its ancient roots as a big bold varietal with almost no tannins. It was hard to find a truly traditional merlot, but HourGlass in Napa created a great bottle, so we bought it. Mark and Melissa brought Twomey, Dan and Denise chose Ehlers Estate.

Of course it was a close race, as always, but we won. The gold medal is hanging in my kitchen until the next gathering.

When we go to the cabin we extend the festivities to Saturday night, and I cook my spaghetti. This time Denise made her homemade crackers (amazingly delicious) and Mark made this chocolaty cake with a chocolate sauce drizzled over it. We put out the challenge to come up with the best wine to pair with the spaghetti. This may sound easy, but its not. My spaghetti is spicy. It wasn’t easy, but we had 3 spicy, firm wines to choose from. Believe it or not Michael David’s Seven Deadly Zins won over some pretty expensive wine. It just goes to show that American spaghetti is a truly peasant meal!