I have a terrible sense of direction, and a memory that is becoming as bad. I knocked on a door, and found myself being ushered into a party, and had to shout ‘I’m at the wrong house! Sorry!’ before running next door to Amie’s. It was the night before Halloween but our evening was going to be far more sophisticated; a French-themed fourth instalment of our Come Dine with Me competition.
The kitchen was warm and full of tempting aromas. The lovely hostess was gorgeously attired and incredibly calm. I was the first to arrive…or so I thought until surprise guest, (the seldom seen) Mish descended the stairs! With Amie’s two housemates also joining us, Amie was cooking for 10! I’d struggled to cook for 8 people, so I was astounded by her calm demeanour as she was cooking for the largest number of guests so far in the competition.
The table was of course beautiful, and contained what has become the CDWM staple - sparkly table confetti. But there was more than just sparkly stuff on the tables…olives and marinated artichokes too – I hoped the others would turn up soon! The promise of a feast was making me hungry!
Eventually the other guests arrived and we enjoyed our aperitifs (bubbly enhanced with crème de cassis) before taking our seats and taking part in the ritual of reading the menu.
Amie had created not one, but two menus! One entirely translated into French! We were invited to ‘Come Dine With (A)mi(e)’, and enjoy an ‘Autumn Evening in Paris’.
We had a selection of hors d’oeuvres to start – saucisson, pate (home made by Amie’s uncle in France), and towers of French toast, with a tomato salad, along with the yummy olives and artichokes which had marinated nicely.
So far so good, but I was somewhat filled with trepidation at reading the next item on the menu….
I’d never eaten snails before. If offered to me at a restaurant I’d politely but firmly decline. But hey, this was Come Dine With Me and everything had to be sampled for the good of the competition. Armed with only cocktail sticks, we tried our best to skewer the elusive snails inside the shells and very thankfully they tasted good! The garlic, parsley and butter sauce was actually quite heavenly – I love garlic, and was particularly good when mopped up with the crusty bread.
We were certainly in need of a palate cleanser after all the garlic and a lemon, lime, mint and gin sorbet did the trick. The serving was huge and left our mouths feeling lemony fresh, (leading to some awfully low quality humour about cleaning products).
But enough of that – it was time for mains! Chicken Chasseur in a mushroom and red wine sauce, with French beans and an absolutely indulgent creamy potato gratin. We were quietly told that this dish actually originated from Amie’s (welsh) grandmother, but it was most definitely sophisticated and accomplished enough to pass for French!
Photo by Jerome Taylor (of course!)
It wouldn’t be a French meal without a plateau de fromages though, and the even though we’d stuffed ourselves, we soon cleaned the cheese board. Amie had sourced a particularly lovely selection – the brie stands out in my memory, but I remember enjoying it all.
Somehow, we still had space for dessert – and I’m so glad we did as it was an extravagant one! Orange and ricotta cheesecake with a chocolate base, and I have to say the BEST meringues in the world! A last minute addition (they weren’t even on the menu), these were incredible – firm but slightly soft and squidgy on the inside – I’d never had any that good before!
Another photo from Jerome - many thanks!
All good things must come to an end, and very finally was home-made coffee ice-cream. I don’t drink actual coffee, but this was perfect – it was an intense hit of coffee flavour, but cold and milky and sweet and the ideal thing to end the feasting.
The evening, in true CDWM style, carried on until the early hours (we even utilised the extra hour that accompanied that night’s move back to GMT) with much noise and laughter. As I finally fell into bed (I’d been partially wearing my pyjamas for about 4 hours at this point), I was almost sad that we were nearly at the end of our competition, where we’d been treated to home cooked feasts that had all been put together with endless amounts of effort, attention to detail and innovation) but one final meal remains, (and very best of luck to them – the standard remains impeccably high!)
