Bonjour French Market Friends,
I hope you had a great Festive time with your families and friends. Everyone from around the world appears to have chosen 
Cape Town as their place to celebrate, which is understandable given our sunny climate and beautiful mountain and beaches. We were inundated with shoppers right up to closing time on the 24th looking for platters of cheese for festive meals. The “million” panettones that I brought in, and the Chocolate Christmas logs sold out on the 24th, however, as planned, we still have plenty of stock of cheese for the New Year’s Eve celebrations.
For the final great meal of the year, here are some of my suggestions. A New Year’s Eve celebration dinner has to include Caviar. We have caviar from Italy and Madagascar, where the sturgeon are
raised in the freshwater lakes high up in the mountains. We have stock of 30gr and 50gr tins. If you would like Beluga caviar from Italy, we can supply this on a pre-order basis. Caviar is best served on its own so that you can enjoy each mouthful. A decorative alternative to caviar roe is the pink salmon roe which are larger sized than caviar with an attractive pink colour, as well as having a lovely fishy taste, ideal for a cocktail nibble.
We have a few packs of the fresh, wild caught Alaskan salmon left and plenty of the frozen Scottish Loch Fyne smoked salmon in 100gr and 200gr packs. These are deep frozen so very practical if you have unexpected guests, or you are travelling and want to keep it well chilled. I like to serve the salmon thinly sliced, with salted capers and our triple cream Delice cheese on a neutral flavoured base, such as the Italian salted crackers.
We can also organise fresh oysters from the West Coast for you. These need to be preordered before evening of Sunday 29th if you want them for New Year’s Eve.
For a special course, we have fresh black autumn truffles from Italy, serve these thinly sliced on top 
of scrambled eggs that we bring in from the farm. Because the truffle flavour is delicate, I recommend that you serve the scrambled egg with fingers of toast spread with truffle butter as well.
For the next course I would recommend serving some of our Mousse de canard fro
m the Southwest of France, we slice it according to your requirements. This duck liver mousse is rich and creamy and really delicious, serve with a lightly toasted brioche style bread or some melba toast and a confit of onio
n.
For main course my favourite is always duck, we have plenty of the confit de canard and we have Cassoulet de canard. This is a traditional dish made with white coco beans, saucisse de Toulouse and duck confit in a tomato, garlic and herb sauce. You just have to heat it up and you have a whole meal ready to serve.
Next on my New Year’s Eve menu, I like to serve a fresh green salad tossed in a dressing made with the Edmond Fallot traditional Dijon mustard into which you stir in red wine vinegar from Dijon plus olive oil.
Then the following course in France would be the cheese platter, because the cheese is usually served with the red wine that you enjoyed with your main course. Here at the other end of Africa, many people prefer to serve the cheese after the dessert, accompanied by Port. We do have stock of Taylor’s Port to pair with our Stilton.
For your cheese platter, our unique, pyramid shaped Pouligny St Pierre is at its best at the moment, this is a classic French raw milk goat’s cheese, it has a depth of flavour but not overly pungent on the taste, and a creamy texture as it warms up in our local sun. With the Pouligny I would also serve an authentic Camembert de Bocage from Normandie or a Brie from Meaux, both are full of flavour. Then a soft smelly cheese such as a little Munster from Alsace or an Epoisses from Burgundy. Then I add the mountain cheeses such as Reblochon, Morbier and Comte. To finish off the platter I add a slice of blue cheese such as
Roquefort, Bleu d Auvergne or some Stilton from England. Serve this with freshly baked baguettes that we bring in frozen from France and you just bake at home.
If you would like to serve a warm cheese fondue than I recommend our Mont D’Or cheese which is a great treat – cut thin slits in the top of the cheese, pour in some of the local wine from Arbois (which comes with the cheese), pop it in the oven and you have an instant fondue.
For desserts, from Belgium, we have some frozen chocolate profiteroles filled with bakers’ cream. These are a great time saver as you just defrost a short while before serving. They can be served by themselves or added to a platter of fresh fruit or ice cream. I like to serve a sweet wine such as a Sauternes or glass of champagne to finish off the meal.
We will have some Galettes des Rois made for the traditional festival of the 3 Kings. I expect these to be ready in the shop later on Friday 3rd accompanied by a golden crown. Please let me know if you wish to order one.
For my recipe this week I am sharing one of my favourite desserts, a Marquise au Chocolat. It is a completely decadent, very rich chocolate mousse which I first tasted when I stayed in France as a teenager, and I loved it. It was made for me by 
my hostess, Chantal, Vicomtesse de la Salle and I have never forgotten it. This is a beautiful dessert to serve at a festive dinner. I found a recipe in my traditional Good French Food Cooking book by Mapie, Comtesse Toulouse Lautrec which I adapted slightly. It is not too difficult to make but can be quite messy and I always end up with chocolate all over the kitchen. I add some fresh berries to decorate the dessert when I serve it, I find their freshness balances the richness of the mousse and they make a beautiful colour against the white cream. I recommend serving this with a Pol Roger champagne to really enjoy it. See recipe below.
For our shop hours, we will be open on 27th (tomorrow) and trade up to 5pm on the 31st, closed on 1st then back to normal on the 2nd.
I wish you a very Happy New Year and I thank you sincerely for all your support that you have given my French Market business this year.
Regards and Bonne Annee
Suzanne and The French Market Team