Bonjour French Market Friends,
Tonight our Pres. Cyril will read out his SONA address, that is if he can get into Parliament – currently the city traffic is snarled up, in and out, due to road closures in preparation. I drove past a couple of military vehicles tucked in amongst the trees on the route in from Newlands, it was bizarre seeing armed soldiers in camouflage uniform on our peaceful roads. More disruption has occurred with a vegetation fire that has just broken out on the upper highw
ay, so that road has been closed as well, causing more chaos. Hopefully Cyril will make it into the partially renovated Parliament building and address the Nation with some good news.
Paris is often described as the City of Love, with romantic streets, moonlight walks along the banks of the Seine, dinner high up on the Eiffel Tower overlooking the whole of Paris. There is a multitude of wa
ys to celebrate St Valentine’s Day in this beautiful city, particularly if you are sipping a glass of Champagne.
The apparent first record of a St Valentine’s love letter was penned by Charles, Duke of Orleans from his prison in the Tower of London in 1415, after he was captured at the battle of Agincourt. He was 21 and his wife was 16. In his letter he wrote that he was lovesick for his gentle Valentine. Sadly, he was held captive for 35 years and never saw his wife again.
Happily, the festival of St Valentine continues to be widely celebrated with red roses, red hearts 
and gifts. We had some beautiful Valentines heart-shaped cakes made for us this week. They are suitable for 2 people to share. Our raspberry heart cakes have already sold out. We have 2 chocolate hazelnut heart shaped cakes left. As numbers are limited, please message me if you to want to order one. Alternatively, we have our regular shaped cakes which are greatly enjoyed, they taste amazing. I suggest pair these cakes with a glass of Louis Roederer Rose champagne, the beautiful pink shade will pair well with roses. We have also made little red bags of Baci chocolate to share with your bestie, and we have boxes of Baci chocolates too.
We have finally received some French cider and Calvados from Normandie, after a lon
g waiting period. Made by the famous Christian Drouin family from apples and pears in their region of the Pays d’Aude, the Drouin family has been awarded over 300 medals for their products. The cider is “brut bouchée” dry with fine bubbles and a pronounced fruity flavour. The alcohol content is only 4.5% so a refreshing drink on a hot summer’s day. The Calvados VSOP from the pays d’Auge is an apple brandy made predominantly with apples and some pears. It is rich in flavour, has a fine amber hue, and copper highlights. At 43% alcohol one needs to sip it carefully.
Other new stock this week includes Boquerónes, white anchovy fillets marinated with garlic and parsley from Spain. Serve these as a tapas, on a thin slice of baguette paired with some juicy green olives.
In our cheese counter we have received new stock of Roquefort, the strong and salty blue sheep’s milk cheese from the dry and hot region of Aveyron in the South of France. From other regions of France we have raw milk Emmental, Comte and Raclette from the mountains, Pont l’Eveque and Camembert from Normandie, Epoisses and Delice triple cream from Burgundy, Munster from Alsace Ossau Iraty sheep’s milk cheese from the Basque region, Goat’s milk cheese from the Loire Aquitaine, Brie with a layer of truffle cream and soft handcrafted Brie from the Vosges, to mention just a few.
From Italy we have a new stock of white truffle flavoured butter, Malpighi Balsamico di Modena IGP Gold, a 15-year-old balsamic vinegar from Italy and Asetra caviar from the northern Italian mountains.
For my recipe this week I decided to share a chilled soup that I based on a vichysoisse but
morphed it into a more Asian flavoured dish with lemon grass, sweet potatoes, coconut cream and some chicken satay on top (see last week’s recipe) because I wanted to pair this with the new Cidre bouchée and the fruity flavours worked well together.
I wish you a Very Happy Valentine’s Day – may you meet up with your perfect Valentine, if not, solace yourself with some great French Cheese, rich chocolate cakes and a bottle of Champagne.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team