Dining at Home
October 2009
In France.

At the wonderful Farmhouse of Goth in Serignac France I recently spent 6 days prepping and cooking for a wedding that was the funniest and friendliest wedding ever attended.
So many helpers!!! which was quite wonderful as the facilities were very sparse for a big party. Wedding breakfast consisted of many many mixed canapés prepared the night before and assembled first thing in the morning ready for the 12 noon wedding ceremony at the local Mairie.
Canapés are not the norm in that region of France....unless of course they consist of duck or goose when anything goes! However these were mainly fish and vegetable and some Italian dainties as well. ...all were consumed with the champagne and lasted a good two hours which gave us all time to prepare the evening meal...Huge Rib Eye Beef joints were to be barbecued on 3 wood fired barrel BBQ's...Smokin!

Lots of fine bean Ottolenghi style salads with seed dressings crunchy style....you can imagine my 'helpers' hands rising in horror when I said "Blanch them for no longer that 2 minutes" Oh dear...I then explained if the vegetables for the salad became brown or floppy they would be answerable to the bride and groom......French people in the deep countryside do NOT eat crunchy vegetables as a rule....well....they do now!

The beef was accompanied by a remarkably decent Sauce Forrestier made from wild and cultivated mushrooms and creme fraise and served hot....a very good point with BBQ's in the open air in Autumn....nothing as sad as a cold plate when you get back to your table...the hot sauce keeps the meat just right. As the great joints of beef were roasted whole and sliced at the serving the meat was nice and rare...anyone wanting well done just forked the steak back on to the BBQ and cooked it to taste...people love participating in BBQ cooking and that is the best way to do it....once everything is done so they can't mess up or get in the way.

Of course Barbecueing for a large number of men...especially when many are French...is quite intimidating for a woman cook. ( or 'cook woman' as some French like to call female chefs)...well luckily I have tough skin and determination...at the serving of the meat the felicitations flew and there was nothing left save the well done peices which were used for a meatball and spaghetti dish the day after. All the critics stated they would always cook BBQ beef that way in future :)

The French markets were wonderful as ever and even the fact that ONLY seasonal produce is sold...even in the big supermarkets...did not restrict our choices...we just adapted a bit.

The gentleman who grows English scented roses and sells via the markets gave the bride two huge bucketfuls as a wedding gift so the whole evening was heady with old rose perfume...it made such a change to see everything natural and the table decorations giving off their fragrance deep into the night just glowed in the candlelight...every rose hue you could imagine........no fancy expensive designer could have done better.