Displaying items by tag: french foodie

What a brilliant idea of Pascal and Karine Canevet (from Bury's superb Maison Bleue) to create a French take-away menu that is served in simple, elegant glass pots. I ordered a family meal last Saturday, originally planning to eat it on Sunday as a casual lunch, but blown away by the delicious menu of seasonal French dishes we decided instead to set the table and sit down to a candlelit dinner on Saturday. What a menu! Every item that Pascal has created works so well in the mini Kilner style jars. There were 5 starters, 5 main courses and 5 desserts to choose from, the kind of menu that you have to dither over, as everything sounds so good. I started with a velvety smooth, brandy laced chicken liver parfait topped with a Port gelée, others in the family tried the pork, pheasant and sultana coarse paté with cranberry and also the salmon and smoked salmon rillettes with cucumber. Nobody was willing to part with their pots or share so I didn't get a taste. Crisp toast was also packed in the food parcel to accompany the pate and parfait. Any misgivings about eating food from a jar (I do like a plate) were allayed by Karine when collecting the meal who told me ' You must eat from the jars' and also seeing the care with Pascal's presentation. We couldn't possibly turn these out! Main courses which were in bigger pots took 20 minutes in the oven at 160 degrees to heat through - the contents already being cooked, so no worrying about cooking times or burning your food. There's a microwave in about 2 minutes option too, which might be easier if you are dining solo or choosing to eat for a quick lunch. My cod, tarragon and carrot stew produced forkfuls of glossy white cod, aromatically flavoured with tarragon; the King of french herbs, with sweet chunks of carrot and celery. A thickened buttery and wine infused sauce met with pomme puree at the bottom of the pot. Mum's Beef Bourguignon was so generous that she couldn't manage it all, maybe is was the side dish of Gratin Dauphinois Mum ...  Mr SFoodie chose Pork Belly with Le Puy Lentil (again, not sharing but declaring as tender, with lots of herbs) Scarlett ordered the Smoked Haddock Cassolette, which would have been my second choice for a main course. Lovely lovely smoked haddock with prawns and rather delicious and fragrant pilau rice with hints of lime and coriander. Three courses make the meal a set price of £19.95 and I'd seen the images of the Mont Blanc on Insta and wanted one. It's one of my favourite desserts, I even have a vermicelli press bought in Switzerland years ago to make my own. To be honest if it had been the size of Mont Blanc I could have managed to eat this one, with a tangy blackcurrant puree cutting through the sweet chestnuts. Mum had Rhubarb Panacotta, light, vanilla infused, creamy and wobbly. Chocolate Mousse with salted butter Caramel disappeared in front of Mr SFoodie. But what was simply 'magnifique' was the Pineapple, Brioche, Chantilly. Oh la la!

• Chicken Liver Parfait, Port gelée
• Pork, pheasant and sultana coarse paté, cranberry
• Salmon and smoked salmon rillettes, cucumber
• Pork Belly, onion compote, “Le Puy“ lentils
• Cod, tarragon and carrot stew
• Smoked haddock, black tiger prawn, leek and pilau rice cassolette
• Léa “Mont Blanc” with chestnut, white chocolate and black currant
• Pineapple, brioche and Chantilly
• we drank Chatau Vari Monbazillac with the dessert, which is why I have no photos of the chocolate mousse and panacotta
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Had to go and see why everybody's been wow-ing about the Southern French, wood fired cooking at Sardine. (Hoxton of course). There's was a taste of Italian and Spanish cuisine on the menu too, which at lunch time was a short and precise offering, with an excellent value 'prix fixe', £20 for three courses. The space is small with a large communal table in the middle and a few smaller tables for those less sociable. Food was as delicious as it sounded, slightly rustic but flavours punching above their weight. Not many places these days that settle for simple plating but that's just what we loved about it. Not a tweezer in sight.

• Le Menu
• Courgette flowers fritters
• Chicken liver parfait with cornichons
• Onglet steal, Domino potatoes and mustard herb butter
• Braised courgettes, polenta and Parmesan
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The perfect pre-drink drink. Drink on a hot summers day, after cutting the grass.  Mix the French bitters with pilsner or a wheat beer for a perfect apertif. Or nip to Duck Soup in Soho and enjoy with a plate of green beans, anchovy, soft boiled egg and sour dough crumbs.

• Picon biere
• green beans, salted anchovy, soft boiled egg, sour dough crumbs
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It was hardwork over that fire - one minute burning your eye lashes, next minute only just hot enough. But the Junior Johny Cakes' Caribbean experience came to the fore as they stoked it just right, and Inspector x's menu was the best some of the guests had ever tasted, expertly delivered by her hand-picked team of family waiters. And it was a perfect summer evening to be in the woods - so warm and still that even the candles stayed alight all night.

Last call for our joint venture with Pettafiesta. There is still time to book your space at Le Pop-up this weekend...