We recently enjoyed a French dinner at home with two other couples with whom we share an appreciation for French food and France. The emphasis was on Provençal cuisine, but not all of the dishes were unique to Provence. Each of the other couples brought dishes, and I prepared dishes.
The menu was:
Appetizer: Baguette with a Provençal tapenade, which one couple had brought from Provence. The baguette was a Fresh Market artisanal baguette
Soup: Soupe au Pistou, a Provençal soup, which I made with an excellent Ina Garten recipe.
Main Dish: Daube, a Provençal stew, which one friend made. His was much tastier than the daubes I have tried in Provence.
Side Dishes:
1. Pâté de Campagne (country pate), a terrific Epicurious.com recipe, which I made.
2. Champignons à la Grecque (Greek mushroom salad - a French recipe. I made it, but thought it was nothing special.)
Dessert: A delicious home-made vanilla ice cream, which one of our friends made. She brought delicious two provençal toppings - chestnut (marrons) and cassis (blackcurrant)
The wines I served were:
- Parallele 45, a Grenache-Syrah Côtes du Rhône by Paul Jaboutlet Aîné - with the appetizer
- 2009 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe "La Crau" Châteauneuf-du-Pape with the soup and main dishes. This elegant wine is a mixture of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Cinsault. It deserves its 94 point rating from Wine Spectator.
- 2005 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel - with the main dishes (This outstanding wine is from Paso Robles, Ca from a winery with roots in the southern Rhone area of France. The grapes are all French types - Mourvedre, Syrah, Grenache, and Counoise. California wineries that produce such wines are known as, "Rhone Rangers." I strongly recommend visiting this winery if you are in the Paso Robles area. The winery is great and the countryside where it is situated is beautiful.)
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