This is my friends account of her typical Christmas in France - doesn't it sound lovely?
"Every year on Christmas’ Eve, my large French family meets in a beautiful little estate lost in the middle of large agricultural fields dormant in the dead of winter. As we gather in the dining room, near a lively fire, we start the celebration with some Champagne.
"Every year on Christmas’ Eve, my large French family meets in a beautiful little estate lost in the middle of large agricultural fields dormant in the dead of winter. As we gather in the dining room, near a lively fire, we start the celebration with some Champagne.
Des amuse-gueules/bouches (bite-sized dishes) soon arrive from the busy kitchen, especially,
warm and crispy feuilletés
d’escargots (snail pastries) are an accompaniment de rigueur,
brought by my mother from a local snail farm in the Anjou region.
After a
protracted introductory course, all sit down. The long oak table has been set
with a array of silverware, plates, glasses and many other Christmas ornaments,
as well as the ever-present bread in baskets and butter. L’Entrée (the appetizer) consists
of raw & cooked oysters, saumon
fumé (smoked salmon) and foie gras served with un
vin moëlleux (semi-sweet wine) like a Vouvray, Côteau du Layon, or liquoreux like a Sauternes (very sweet wine).
For the plat principal, we find some viande rôtie (roasted meat)
like chapon (capon
- castrated rooster), pintade
(guineafowl), agneau (lamb), chevreuil (roe deer), dinde aux marrons (chestnut-stuff turkey), accompanied by des petits légumes (small legumes): haricots verts (green beens), courgettes (zucchinis), champignons
(mushrooms). For proper food pairing, this part of the meal showcases some
good, robust red wines.
Following
a refreshing green salad comes an assortment of fromages presented on a
circular wooden board. The tradition demands that one offers at least three
different types of cheeses: lait de vache (cow’s milk), de brebis (female
sheep) et de chêvre (goat).
Une bûche de Noël is
the traditional desert, a buttercream cake in the shape of a log,
topped with colorful little Christmas figurines, and cut in individual slices
for everyone.
Bon
appétit
