Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Dinner In La Sechere

les maigrets raw, with the fat side scored
in the fire place
perfect, rare...let them sit for a minute
a table!
That was the plan, maigrets de canard, broiled on the fireplace grill with pommes de terre saute aux girolles and a nice garlicky salad...The trick is not to over cook them. They have to be rare. I served them with a bowl of our home made fig and hazelnut confiture. The potatoes came from my garden and the girolles came from the forest at the end of the road.....

2 comments:

mud_rake said...

My son would LOVE that meal as he is a 'rare earthy' kind of chef. Did the wood in the fireplace add its taste to the meat?

What is 'fig and hazelnut confiture'?

microdot said...

Yes, indeed. I used a mix of chestnut and hornbeam sticks to get coals...I think that is what it is in english. Here it is charme.
Confiture is Jam.
I have 2 huge fig trees. Fig Jam is not too sweet and a very nice accompaniment to wild meats and duck.
I also have many hazelnut trees so, we roast the nuts, crush them and add a little hazelnut oil to the jam when we make it.
If you have never eaten duck breast, a nice big maigret is like steak. I like it better than steak. It comes from big male Barbary Ducks which are the size of geese.
The mushrooms were yellow girolle (chantrelles) and came from our forest.
I didn't post the dessert...perhaps a separate post.