My first news of "French" - can you guess, is about my resident French guy, who alerted me gently this morning that he wants to be known not as "French guy", but as "Antoine" ("my real name!"). So, I will refer to him accordingly, he seems to be so happy when his name appears in my work...I have yet to mention him again on my radio show but from now on, his name will link to my March blogs; read up on "Two French Guys" to learn what all this rambling is about.
Starting on Monday, for Tuesday, Doll (my beautiful sister) and I prepared a meal for about 70+ people - Coq a Vin - and all the accoutrements, including dessert. The complete menu:
Chicken Liver Mousse with toast points
Cheese variety with crackers
Mushroom Palmiers (savory mushroom-filled puff pastry)
Coq a Vin (chicken in red wine with mushrooms, bacon, pearl onions)
Noodles
Roasted string beans, carrot, onion with tarragon
Baguettes with butter
Apricot cake with slightly sweet, mildly-spiced whipped cream
Sparkling pink lemonade
OK so here was the deal. Monday we prepped the appetizers, made the dessert, and got the chicken started. The mousse unfortunately had the color of I-won't-say-what, but while it is a Julia Child recipe and incredibly good, that did not end up translating all that well to our guests because, that color really kind of was a turn-off. As for the Coq a Vin, the initial chicken prep included cooking the bacon - good. The desserts came out fine - very good.
One other time Doll and Suz (our other sister) made a French dish that famously became known as the "12-step entree" because it was so incredibly involved and at that hour was also prepared for about 70 guests. Really, I think this chicken on Tuesday was nearly that kind of commitment (for 70 different guests). Let me try to recall if it was 12 or less steps (I am sure it was more than 12) and who did what even though truly, Doll gets full and complete credit for this dish as I promised everyone, I promise:
- Cook bacon (reserve fat, of course; everything from now on gets sauteed in that!) - Doll
- Clean and halve mushrooms - Di and Doll
- Boil pearl onions - Doll
- Peel pearl onions - Doll and Di
- Chop shallots (we actually used onions, don't tell) - Di
- Chop garlic - Di
- Saute mushrooms - Di
- Saute pearl onions - Di
- Saute onion and garlic - Di
- Brown chicken pieces - Doll
- Prepare seasonings - Doll
- Cook chicken with wine and all of the above - Doll
- Reduce sauce for serving - Doll
I really should run this by Doll to see if I forgot anything, but since I was there for the duration, I think this is pretty accurate. Yes. We should have enjoyed a bottle of some nice Bordeaux after all that. But, we didn't.
Anyway, it all went over tremendously well. Each of our lovely guests seemed to enjoy everything and there we had it, yet another labor of love. The best part being, we got to be together, and eat El Burrito Jr on Tuesday for lunch - a Dolls tradition that had, up til now, been relatively shelved. We've just love our bean&cheese burritos since we were kids.
Last night, Antoine (formerly known as French guy) decides (with good reason; he'd had a relatively crappy day) that he is homesick and thinks he wants to go home to France for a visit, maybe in June. Just to see his family, be with them, see their new farm-chateau home that he only saw under construction last year at this time, see the farm animals that he loves, eat his mother's cooking...I cannot blame him. In June there is a music festival day, around the 20th, and last year he was particularly homesick on that day.
Here is a time when I wish I could just wave a magic wand and take someone's hurt away, but, since I can't...I made his favorite roasted tomato pizza last night and we sat up late talking, way past my bedtime but never mind. We chatted up things like he loves that the beautiful Sebastien Frey is one of the objects of my obsession because he's French and plays Italian football. And, that the equally beautiful (Italian) Luca Toni is another, because for he plays in Germany with Franck Ribery from France and, he used to play for Fiorentina with...Sebastien Frey.
The UEFA Cup is going on right now we both hope the final - 14 May I just learned - will be Fiorentina (did I mention ... oh yes. I did) and Bayern-Munich (as in, the beautiful Luca Toni).
There are also rumors flying around the continent that Frey could be going to AC Milan during this summer transfer season. I can't begin to tell you how happy that would make me.
And, having said that, turning from French to Italian for a moment, stay tuned for my next blog. It will entertain you silly while it gives circumstantial evidence - yet again - that I can speak enough Italian to be dangerous, and not enough to get myself out of trouble.
And one last note -- my beautiful sister Lisa (whom I mentioned earlier as Doll), in her vast spare time, has now brought up the home page for our new Melting Pot Tours - please have a look!
Au revoir for now.
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