Bastille Day

My flower arrangement in honour of the french flag

Tomorrow is the French National holiday Bastille Day. Last year I celebrated the occasion by hosting my own french party and cooking up a french feast. It was heaps of fun, and I really enjoyed making all the different french dishes. So this year I've decided to host the party again!

As a bit of a laugh I asked all my guests to come along dressed in the french spirit. The person voted with the best outfit would win a prize, a box of french truffles! (The chocolate variety). There were a variety of get ups. Daz came as a french mime, right down to the facial makeup. He even gave us an impromptu mime, I'm pretty sure the photo is of him trying to pull a rope, but it looks very similar to holding a gun or even pretending to be a magician. Hey...I didn't say he was a "good" mime.

I came as the mimes wife. I had pale face makeup, a perfectly position beauty spot and some tiny little bright red lips. It looked good at the start of the night, but slowly wore off over time.

There was an appearance of some french designer shoes. They looked awesome (despite a glitch at the start of the night...hence the gladwrap). They even have an added bonus, after you've finished wearing them they could double as dinner! I'm sure I saw these on all the catwalks last year. And the trend started at my very own little party!

The winner on the night was the french chef. She won with a massive majority. Because she couldn't vote for herself, she was the only person that cast a vote for anyone else....and it was me for the record. She looked awesome (see photo below). She had a pharmacists jacket as her shirt, a tea towel as her apron, a massive red bow, a chefs hat and a meat cleaver. She made everything herself, except the hat. That's right, she made the cleaver herself! No wonder she won, and she looked pretty awesome so I totally agree!

I don't have many photos of the food I prepared, this was way before I had my very own food blog. But I did have pictures of the desserts. We had pistachio and white chocolate cream cigars, you can find the recipe here.

I also had a live demonstration cooking event. Yep, Good food and wine show eat your heart out. I prepared crepe Suzette with cointreau. Considering the french chef was already fully prepared for the job, we gave her the honour of preparing the dessert, with my guidance.

I had already cooked one batch and I told her to take it easy on the cointreau. Since we were in a Little room and the very flammable curtain was right beside her, I didn't want her to singe her hat and burn my house down in the mean time. Some how, and I think everyone in the room was egging her on, she poured a little too much alcohol into the pan.

When she lit the match to get the alcohol burning, she took the safe option and turned around. A massive, but impressive fireball ensued (note: I have a tendency to over dramatise things). I have to admit though, her batch of crepes tasted alot better than mine did!

So onto this year, at this very moment I'm baking my 4th batch of macarons. Not because I have loads of people coming, but because I've managed to stuff three batches already! I thought I would post what I have on offer for Bastille Day. There is a french version and then an English version. Excuse me terrible french, I know at least 2 of those dishes named incorrectly, so please go easy on me. I'll post some pretty pictures in the next couple of days. So until then....Viva la France!

AMUSE BOUCHE

Purèe de Champignon

Gougères avec les Anchois et le Thym

LE ENTRÈE

Poularde au Champagne

PLAT PRINCIPAUX

Saumon à la Meunière

Salade Pommes

Epinads Mére Louisette

LE DESSERT

Tarte de Poire et D'amande

PETIT FOURS ET CAFÈ OU THÈ

Macarons

Truffes au Chocolat et Contrieu

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APPETIZER

Mushroom Puree

A mushroom puree topped with sautéed mushrooms and a drizzle of truffle oil

Choux Pastry with Anchovies and Thyme

Warm Choux pastry, made with gruyere and parmesan cheese, topped with anchovies and thyme

ENTRÉE

Chicken in Champagne

Bread crumb and herb stuffed chicken legs, slow roasted and served with a Champagne sauce and crispy sage

MAINS

Salmon in Burnt Butter

Crispy skin Salmon in a burnt butter sauce

Potato Salad

Potato salad, with a homemade herb mayonnaise

Spinach Louisette style

Sauteed spinach with miniature garlic crutons

DESSERT

Almond Frangipane Tart with Toffee Pear

An almondnfrangipane tart, encased in a sweet pastry chell, topped with vanilla bean whipped cream and dehydrated toffe pear slice

Petit Fours, Coffe or Tea

Macarons

Almond macarons filled with white chocolate and raspberry ganache

Chocolate and Cointreau Truffles

No explaination needed!