Bonjour French Market Friends,
Tomorrow sees the start of the annual Inter Celtic Festival (FIC) (Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant) in Lorient, Brittany. The Celtic tribes originally were located from the Black Sea to Ireland. They were defeated by the Romans, 
but their culture and language continued, mainly on the western edge of Europe, in Bretagne (Brittany), Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall and Isle of Man. With over 1 million people still speaking Celtic, this annual Festival is the most important celebration of Celtic culture attracting over thousands of visitors, over 10 days. Visitors enjoy all elements of Celtic culture including competitions of traditional music of harps and bagpipes and dancing. Food includes Celtic dishes such as The Breton Galette (pancakes made with sarrasin-buckwheat flour) and Haggis. (Image courtesy wikipedia)
Whilst France enjoys the heat of summer, back here in Cape Town we are slowly moving towards Spring. 
Flowers are coming out on the side of the mountain and the temperature surged to 25C midweek before dropping back again to chilly winter. In our cheese selection this week we have cheeses to suit every palette, whether you prefer white bloomy rind cheeses such as Brie, Delice and Vacherousse to the pungent washed rind cheeses Epoisses, Munster and St Nectaire, or the deep flavoured raw milk aged mountain cheeses such as Comte, Morbier, Tomme de Savoie and Emmental which are so tasty when melted into Galettes.
In our meat range this week we have the smooth and rich textured duck liver Mousse de Canard from the Landes region; we have coarse textured country pork terrine which we slice to order. We have lots a range of French meat preserves with different flavours including pork and duck rillettes (slow cooked meat that is shredded and packed in fat). We have frozen packs of confit de canard (French slow cooked duck legs packed in fat) which make great winter dishes such as Cassoulet. We have saucisson sec style salami and thin sliced Prosciutto crudo from Italy. We also have some powdered veal stock which is really diffi
cult to find.
In our freshly baked range, in addition to our Sourdough baguettes and addictive French patisseries, we have Canneles. These are traditional small cakes with fluted sides, originally made by the nuns in Bordeaux, like a rich textured sponge flavoured with rum and vanilla. We have crisp, sweet, puff pastry Palmiers which are nicknamed “pigs ears” because of their shape; almond meringues and freshly baked cheese straws.
Back in stock are cocktail size blinis from La Beyrie in France. The blinis come in packs of 20 and are ideal for serving decorative starters such as caviar or smoked salmon on cream cheese.
In our Frenc
h wine range, we have received new stocks of good value table wines. Pavillon St Pierre is one of my favourite. From Maison Bouachon in the Rhone area, it is a typical Rhone blend of Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre, Carrignan and Marsellan with aromas of fresh black fruits and hints of cinnamon, with lots of flavour and smooth texture. (R270)
For my recipe this week I am sharing two more ea
sy to make Amuse bouches (bite sized treats). One is the delicious Picandou creamy goats’ cheese flavoured with truffle, topped with toasted walnuts and drizzled with truffle flavoured honey from Italy. The other Amuse bouche is small chunks of brie baked in mini vols aux vents, then topped with a fig and truffle preserve. These are really easy to make!
Looks like our weekend weather is going to be cold and wet so come and get some French treats, wrap up in front of a fire with a good bottle of French wine and a platter of real French cheese.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team