Hello French Market friends,
Y
esterday, in the port of Les Sables d’Olonne on the west coast of France, while we were all celebr
ating Freedom Day, South African solo sailor Kirsten Neushcafer, won the Round-the-world Golden Globe 2022 race. She is the first women to win this race. Competing with 16 other entrants, the race covered 30 thousand miles in 235 days in small yachts. Participants are not allowed to use modern navigation technology but rely on celestial navigation to plot their courses. In addition to being the fastest in the race, Kirsten took time to rescue another sailor which would have added to her distance but still came in first. I feel so proud of her achievement and I am sure she is enjoying delicious French cheese now she is back on shore.
In direct contrast to the ocean, back here in ZA in the Tankwa Karoo, 4 hours drive inland from Cape Town, the annual Afrikaburn festival is taking place, where artistic creativity has freedom of expression. The only possible link between these two events is the range of jars of French terrines that we sell in the shop, which are ideal as tasty snacks for long distance sailing and overland camping. (Image courtesy Mysudafrica)
This week we also have stock of the delicious freshly sliced, creamy duck mousse and coarse textured traditional French pork terrine, which you can spread on crisp baguettes and serve with crunchy, salty cornichons in the comfort of your own home.
With the onset of the chilly winter weather, now is the time that everyone starts making hot dishes from various types of French cheese. The simplest one is slices of Raclette which you melt, either in front of a fire, or in a pan over heat or microwave, you then scrape (“Racler” in French) the melted cheese over potatoes or bread.
Another great treat is to bake a whole cheese in the oven to make a fondue (melted) cheese. The Vacherin Mont D Or cheese from the French Jura, is the most famous of this style of fondue. The cheese is a 350g wheel wrapped in a thin piece of pine bark, which gives the cheese a unique taste. It contains about 45% butter fat content which makes it very rich. The cheese is baked on its own as it has a beautiful flavour, however, you can add some garlic slices or sprigs of rosemary. Currently we have a couple of Mont D Or in stock in the shop. You can also bake a whole camembert, which come in smaller sizes if you want a little fondue for 1 or 2 people.
In our dry goods range, we have received new stock of traditional Italian Couscous medio, in addition we have Couscous pearls from France, these are little pearl sized balls of couscous, and we have Fregola Sarda which are toasted couscous pearls from Sardinia.
In our fresh produce range this week we have an assortment of colour to offer you including fresh red chillies, dark purple aubergines, bright yellow lemons, green leeks and creamy avos, orange potatoes, red cabbage, red pomegranates, orange butternut and plenty more. We have jumbo sized chickens’ eggs from Worcester, I think those chickens must be the size of ducks!
This week I made a recipe for my gourmet lunch group of friends. This is always stressful as we have to make a dish for the first time, then pair it with three wines. I decided on strawberry tartlets topped with meringue and decorated them with pomegranate seeds. I was most concerned about the meringue not setting, but it did, and it did taste great. I paired this with some rose champagne, a Kir royale made with strawberry crème de fruit and a sweet Moscato wine. My preferred pairing was the Rose Champagne.
I hope you have a great weekend filled with good food and friendship.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team