July 13, 2009

Bastille Day

French flowers
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.

Daz as a french mine

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.

me as a french mine's wife

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!

french designer shoes

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.

cream cigars

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.

french chef making crepes

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.

french chef making crepes 2

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!

crepe suzette

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

-----------------------------------------

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!

11 comments:

Simon Leong said...

AWESOME. love themed parties. croissant shoes HILARIOUS! food sounds wonderfully delicious!

Rilsta said...

What a fabulous idea and it looks like you had an amazing french feast!

Excited to see how your macarons turn out!

Julesgourmond said...

That sounds amazing!
Vive le France!

lex said...

Love the outfit (and the menu)! the French would be proud haha

Betty @ The Hungry Girl said...

oh wow! the french feast sounds amazing! love the theme & costumes!

Arwen from Hoglet K said...

The menu looks great, especially the mushrooms and the desserts. I like the way you've got petit fours to finish too! The dressing up is a really fun idea, and I love the designer shoes.

CC11 said...

Looks like you had tons of fun - as someone who loves staying home this would be a good idea for a get together.

Gustoso said...

Oh wow. Looks like a fun night.

Melissa said...

I just found your website.. I love love love french food! The costumes at your party looked awesome, would of been a blast!

Love the blog, the cupcake challenge you've got going is a great idea :-)

Agnes said...

Love the photos - hope your French party goes well and you get some more hilarious pics out of it! ;)

Maria@TheGourmetChallenge said...

Hi Simon - The shoes were very entertaining, and they lasted the whole night too. I would have thought someone would have eaten them at one point or another!

Hi Rilsta - It was a great night, I should do fancy dress party's more often, they are a laugh.

Hi Julesgourmond - I knew I spelt it wrong, damn!

Hi Lex - Would they be proud or dissappointed....I think the latter! lol Hey at least we drank like the french!

Hi Betty - Food was good....real good....even if I say so myself! I never said I was modest!

Hi Arwen - Gotta have petit fours...the meal never ends if these arent last!

Hi Chanel11 - Oh its heaps of fun, you gotta try it!

Hi Gustoso - It was fun!

Hi Melissa - I love french food too, you're a girl after my own heart.

Hi Agnes - Sadly no photos this year, we got to the french brandy a little too quickly. I think I forgot my name by the end of the night. lol