I love entertaining and, even more, I love eating. With our busy lives, we don’t always get time to cook for ourselves – but when fate and time allow it, I invite friends over for a dinner party

My blog for this week is on one of the best dinner parties I’ve been to in a while. Two of my girlfriends and I were invited to a dinner party in the city. Armed with a variety of red wines (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Shiraz) we headed off to the south of London where we were going to be entertained à la Française (the French way). That can only mean: delectable food, excellent wine, engaging company and, certainly, world music.

My friend Brice, who played host, is from the French countryside, from a town called Villaines-les-Rochers. The population is 922, and they’re known for wicker baskets and the fact that most of the population lives in semi-troglodyte houses (caved dwellings). However – more importantly – he is French and the French are known as gastronomic geniuses. We felt very privileged to be invited over for a mouth-watering French dinner.

Menu

Aperitif
An assortment of stuffed green olives, cashew nuts and side nibbles accompanied by a very strange liqueur called Ricard, which is France’s favourite drink and was founded in Marseille by Paul Ricard. Not to be taken lightly, you have to mix it with water and can only take in about a quarter of a small glass (otherwise you might pass out before the party starts). The liqueur – an acquired taste – wasn’t really popular with us ladies, but when in France, do as the French do.

Starter
We then sat down for our first course of the meal, the starter: Salade de Chèvre Chaud. Chèvre Chaud is basically goat’s cheese served hot. Brice served this with a green salad and parma ham with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar vinaigrette. The choice of beverage was a Touraine wine brought all the way from France.

Main
For the main course we had Civet de Canard au vin rouge (duck). He served this with flavoured steamed potatoes. This was accompanied by another one of our infamous reds. The duck was so succulent we left nothing on our plates.

After main (cleansing the palette)
Pain de campagne (country bread) and Le Rustique Camembert cheese.

Dessert
Chocolate cake with ice cream followed by a very chilled bottle of the well known bubbly Moët et Chandon.

I had such a wonderful evening that taking my hat off to the chef seemed a small gesture; hence I wanted to share this with you: we didn’t have to go to France to enjoy what it has to offer. In this multicultural, global world we live in, we know at least one person who can introduce us to something new. What better way to do that than break bread together. I can’t wait for you to share your memorable dinner parties with me. Happy eating!