Bonjour French Market Friends,
We are almost there, Christmas, with just a few days to go before the wonderful celebrations with family and friends. The City is full of international visitors from all four corners of the Earth joining their friend and families in Cape Town. Adderley Street Christmas lights add to the feeling of Christmas.
Despite planning months ahead for this peak Foodie Fest, one of the challenges of importing your own products is that when an intermediary loses a key import document, you risk running out of cheese. This week a large Christmas cheese shipment was stuck due to someone, somewhere, losing a key import document between Paris and Cape Town. In the end we had to fly in duplicate clearance certificates. We only got the release this afternoon. Literally, with tears of relief, I raced out to the warehouse to bring in the cheese to the shop.
Now we have so much cheese there is not a square inch of space in our fridges. It was such a relief to know we have more than enough for everyone to last until the New Year. Orders are literally 
pouring in from around the country in addition to the shop. This week alone, we have couriered cheese across the country from Plett to Pretoria, Ballito to Johannesburg and many more places. Do let me know in advance if you wish me to prepare an amazing French cheese platter for you to share with your favourite people, so that you don’t have to queue, we have all our cheese in stock. Its probably best to Whatsapp me on 0833006725 and we can deliver around Cape Town before Christmas.
Today we also received our Chocolate Christmas Logs – Buche de Noel from our French baker They look stunning, there are two
types of chocolate log, one made with hazelnuts and a more delicate one made with praline, They are 12cm long, that’s about 5 slices of richly decadent chocolate, which you can eat on your own, or if you are really kind you can share a little with your Besties. Contact me if you would like to reserve one as the stock is limited.
We again have a small stock of fresh black autumn truffles in the 
shop this week. I prefer to serve fresh truffles sliced thinly on a slice of crusty fresh baguette layered with French salted butter. The truffle flavour can be so delicate, this way one can enjoy the truffle without any other flavour interfering. The stock is limited so please book one if you would like to get one.
In our wines and spirits section we have some Louis Roederer Cristal, some Louis Roederer vintage champagne and some Louis Roederer Rose champagnes. My favourite is the C
ristal, it just tastes amazing. We also have Pol Roger and Schroeder Schlosser champagnes. These champagnes are ideal for celebrating the Festive season. We have a wide variety of wines and spirits including Calvados, Armagnac and Cognac, Gin, Sherries, Ports, Vermouth, Black Foret Kirsch and Poire William, Marsala and Prosecco. In addition we have Creme de Cassis from Dijon. We received some Louis Roederer Chassagne Montrachet which is
a top class chardonnay from Burgundy. We also received some La Parde, Chateau Haut-Bailly, vintage 2017. Located in the heart of the Pessac-Léognan region, Château Haut-Bailly vineyards benefit from an ideal location. At the heart of the estate, beneath the windows of the château, lies one of Haut-Bailly’s smallest vineyards, of hundred-year-old vines which give the
wines of Haut-Bailly their consistency. La Parde wine is smooth with a beautiful deep red colour. It has a great depth of flavour, with fruity tastes of blackcurrant. This Grand Vin de Bordeaux, wine is made from 65% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. I recommend pairing this wine with the duck confit recipe below.
Many of you are entertaining visitors over the holidays and will be looking for new recipe ideas and tastes to serve your guests. Dishes with Duck confit (preserved duck meat) are very popular. Traditionally the duck is slow cooked for about 8 hours then the 
meat is preserved in its fat. We sell the ready cooked Confit in tins and in frozen packs. Duck confit is counted in cuisses (thighs) even though the lower leg is also included for preserving. Confit is an easy dish to prepare as you just heat up the preserved Duck gently in a frying pan or in the oven. The duck fat in which the meat is cooked is perfect to roast potatoes as it gives them a delicious taste and makes a good accompaniment to the duck. When you lightly sprinkle the truffle zest over the top of the roast potatoes it adds an amazing aroma. See recipe below.
Please note for my recipe last week, I left out the cooking time. The Christmas pudding should be boiled for about 3 hours, apologies for that omission.
I hope you have an amazing Christmas with your families and friends and lots of wonderful tasty treats. I look forward to seeing you in the shop again soon.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team