La Chatte Gitane (or The Gypsy Cat) was the name we chose for our cottage in France at the time. We chose it while on the road, moving house the first time round, from Ireland to France with 2 dogs and 7 cats in the car.
This blog began its insignificant life as a recipe book for friends and family who would ask me repeatedly for a recipe of this, that and the other.
Since then it has taken many different directions, like we did and like gypsies tend to do. Sometimes making a U-turn and revisiting familiar roads and taking a break when necessary.
You'll find recipes here, but also musings about the places we've called home, the gardens that we've established, not always successfully, the homes we've improved and the environments we've lived in. Currently, after yet another stint in Ireland, we're back in France @ Le Mas d'Ayen

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The Party Food

Salmon paté with dill pickle. In the background : Tiger prawns with garlic.

 Pork Rillettes (potted pork from our own pigs) not made by me but by the French charcutier who is on the Wednesday market in Kenmare.

Pork paté with a very boozy gelatine.


Porchetta. Rolled pork belly with herbs. Serious crackling.

 Panzanella

 Green bean, feta and pomegranate salad with a lemon, ginger and mustard dressing.

 Nigel Slater's pears and shallots to go with the ham. Big, big hit !


The best ham ever ! Thank you piggies.

One of the many loaves of bread.

 Talk about a retro kitchy cake.  The last time I made this was probably when I was 16.

I bought the tacky embellishments especially for this cake.

There was more, much more and there still is. So time to portion off some food and vacuum seal it ready for the freezer.
I will be putting up recipes further along the road of some of these dishes.

I've got achy bones and muscles.
Is it worth it ? All that work for a binge fest that lasts all of 5 hours?
Definitely ! Love my friends !

Patricia xxx...x
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5 comments:

  1. Sue8:32 am

    A feast for the eyes as well as the tummies :-)

    It looks lovely, and I love that it's home produced.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patricia (La Chatte Gitane)11:37 am

      Thank you Sue. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction, the home producing.

      Delete
  2. Simple Living10:39 am

    It looks so scrumptious, you are a very good cook, A vacuum sealer is something I am thinking of getting, any recommendations? x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patricia (La Chatte Gitane)11:34 am

      Thank you. I'm certainly not afraid to tackle something adventurous in the cooking department. Lol.
      We bought our sealer somewhere in June. After reading a lot of reviews we opted for one from foodsaver.com , model V2860. It was about 200 euros at the time. The bags are very expensive though, so we're always on the lookout for deals on Amazon or e-bay and a while ago we bought some at Lidl in special offer.
      If we didn't have the pigs we might not have bothered though. Or maybe bought a smaller household model.
      It has come in very handy indeed.

      Delete
    2. Simple Living2:27 pm

      Thankyou I will take a look and do a bit more research, but would be great as we could make better use of the freeze then x

      Delete

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