I’ve just got back from a long weekend in Paris visiting a friend and I am not only full of brie and love for my friend, I’m also extremely excited about spreading the news about all of the amazing food I’ve tried this weekend. It’s a bit of a long post, but every course deserved a mention!
Thursday – We intended on reviving after my travel from Exeter to Paris with a little light apéro (I don’t think either of us ever thought it would be particularly light, but I can pretend). I’m not going to list all of the drinks consumed over the time spent in Paris as I’m more interested in explaining the food, but you can safely assume that most of the following meals had a drink or two to keep them company.
Along with a large sliced crusty baguette, my hostess, the lovely Polly, piled the table with cheeses: brie and comté (aka gruyere de comté), meats: jambon and salami, a massive bag of salted pistachios, shallot oil (delicious, mild, almost sweet/nutty and perfect for dunking bread in), duck rillette, gherkins (never eaten before but now converted to the tangy crunchiness, perfect for cutting through the fatty duck) and a set of the most delicious pastes I’ve ever eaten. I’m hoping Polly will correct this list when she sees this as I’m about to get them completely wrong (I was so caught up in all the heavenly flavours I can’t remember which ones arrived together!). What I can say for sure is that the most incredible taste was the fig and demerara paste (they were all made on a base of garlic confit). As far as my overwhelmed taste buds can recall, there were also: olive, fig and cognac, green olive and chilli, mint and chili… one with ginger… eek… and I’m out… Polly?! Apparently a confit of garlic (used as a base for all of these pastes) is better for some recipes than raw garlic as it’s much milder so doesn’t overwhelm any other flavours.
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