2018 - 8 - 12

August 12, 2018

Bonjour and Welcome to a French Country Dinner Edition of Food Porn, brought to you by The Burrow - we had some friends over for dinner tonight, so we decided to make a French Country Dinner for them - For appetizers, Ania made a Pate en Croute, using freshly ground lean pork, some pork sausage, a little lard for to keep things moist, and some chicken livers to enhance the rich flavor of the fresh herbs from the garden, along with just a kiss of ground cloves as a sweet aromatic note - this was accented with some moonshine marinated fresh blueberries - and all this was encased in a flaky short crust pastry, made with sweet butter and old fashioned (and in my opinion completely necessary) lard, and baked until the perfect shade of golden goodness.

Along with this, she made a Zucchini Terrine, a fluffy yet smooth custard with sauteed zucchini, and tarragon from the garden, all frosted with peaks of whipped heavy cream and more fresh herbs.

She served these with some of her always heavenly French Bread baguettes and a new, Keto-friendly bread made with almond flour, coconut flour, and crunchy flax seeds, which made a very light and moist bread that reminded me of a tropical island sunset.

The main course was a confit of chicken, slow simmered in olive oil, fresh thyme, sharp black peppercorns, heady garlic, and Himalayan pink salt for 14 hours, then crisped under the broiler - it was extremely rich, moist and satisfying. Along with this we served a gallatin of potatoes, thinly sliced potatoes and sweet onion layered into a dish and drizzled with olive oil and freshly chopped aromatic rosemary from the garden - also crispy brussel sprouts with smoked bacon and real maple syrup, along with some steamed baby carrots simmered in sweet butter and parsley.

Our guests, Nicole, Jessica, Howie, and Luke, brought along the dessert - a wonderful cannoli made with a light, crispy puff pastry that was filled with a soul satisfying sweetened ricotta cheese filling, dark chocolate chips and a light caramel glaze - this was served with a tart and surprisingly light lemon ice cream, that we all agree would make an incredible adult libation.

All this was accompanied by some wonderful wines, and even more wonderful conversation. Oh, and we would like to thank Nicole, Jessica, Howie, and Luke for the beautiful picnic tote they brought us as a gift - we shall put it to good use. And now for a nap!