Gourmet Dinner at Home

Love it when we get invited to someones house; especially if the host or hostess is a gourmet cook. The other night, my husband and I were guests of our dear friends Fabrice and Yvonne at their lovely home. Gonz and Ana were the other lucky couple.

They had melon wrapped with prosciutto and Belgian endive with a stuffing of goat cheese, walnuts, cayenne pepper and olive oil. Judging by the toothpicks on my little plate, I think I ate most of the prosciutto.  The endives were delicious as well; the saltiness of the goat cheese, the crunchy walnuts were good flavors and texture to offset the slightly bitter endives. Thank God there was no way to see how many leaves I consumed as there were no traces on my plate.

Their son Christian joined us for dinner. For appetizers, they served goose foie gras with a side of truffle salt and some fig jam. This was the best I've ever had. If I had a ziplock, I would have smuggled some. I have never had it with the truffle salt or fig jam.....it was heaven.

Our main entree was Roasted Veal Chop. When I asked how this was prepared, Chef Fabrice said he cooked it with dried shallots, sage, chives, parsley etc. etc. then deglazed it with white wine. He served this with potatoes. I am sure that if I tried to replicate this it would not come close to what we had mainly because this was made with Fabrice's magic; a lot of love sprinkled all over.

For dessert, Christian made a Galette des Rois (Kings cake) which was appropriate for the feast of the Epiphany (3 Kings). He made this from scratch; from grinding his own almonds to making the creme patisserie.  I am not an almond fan but this was truly unbelievable. Instead of a king inside the cake, he had a snowman. Whoever gets the king, picks a queen or king and that unlucky person has to give the winner a present. I got the king....yeahhhh....so I picked my husband to be king and I asked for a pair of boots. I am still waiting......

Ana brought a pear tatin. That was very good as well. I got to have my fruit for the week. This was a healthy meal!

The family dog Stella, a Great Dane was not able to join us but this well behaved puppy just sat on the sofa. I hope he was able to sample some left over veal.

Cheers to Chef Fabrice and his queen Yvonne and pastry chef Christian.  Do you have any openings this weekend; table for 2 or 4 perhaps?