The third Monday has arrived, and the third table is ready! This time it was quite a brain teaser. Since I’ve had to put so many dishes on the table in the past two weeks, my big Recipes Encyclopedia was a bit confused in my head. And that was because I already served you many dishes as a starter last week, so I could no longer use them as side dishes.
Somewhere in my head I knew I was missing something. I didn’t have enough main dishes I thought. I had fish and meat … And then it occurred to me when I was talking to my husband and a friend. A light went on in my head: what I missed of course was a vegetarian dish! And I made that dish out of my thumb in about ten seconds and voilà. I wrote it right away, but I can’t share it with you yet. Otherwise I don’t have any nice recipes to share anymore! But then I also thought, damn it, should I come up with a smaller vegetarian variant now? And again I changed my table schedule and then I realized that I could make the same small appetizer snack with meat and vegetarian. That’s how I ended up with the traditional Bouche de Reine. You can of course make this in a meat variant and a veggie variant!
What am I showing you today? Two types each of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes, surrounded by a lot of side dishes of vegetables! First comes breakfast, then starters and then? Of course the main courses! In France I would have had enough if I were eating with my family now, but of course you always continue to eat during the Christmas season. In 2005 I gained more than four kilos by spending two weeks with my French family. I didn’t even fit into my theater costume anymore!
And what is more important than the healthy side dishes that we all long for? Vegetables are central in our house, we really love them! In restaurants I like to choose vegetables and never fries as side dishes, because I just love vegetables very much. Sometimes I can also get really annoyed when I go to eat somewhere and there are just no vegetables. This is also because I like to eat vegetables. I also think that restaurants should often offer more vegetable dishes instead of three different types of fries. But this is of course my own opinion.
I think one of my favorite side dishes are the forgotten vegetable pan with butter and the gratin dauphinois. But fried green beans in garlic butter should not be missing, just like a delicious fresh salad that I got to know in Murcia! And I also love oven-roasted vegetables, just like a portion of Aubergine Parmigiana, my own recipe! Tomates Farcies is a dish that I have not eaten or made for at least fifteen years. I can’t wait to share everything with you!
And what beautiful main courses I will show you: a pan with French stew meat, a sea bream from the oven, after a recipe from Luis’s father, to make my father very happy, a vegetarian dish that I made up my mind, and a recipe I’ve been looking forward to making for weeks, a ceviche with a special story behind it! I’ll tell you more about that later this week.
Everything is freshly made in-house. The pot roast took two days and the rest was prepared on the spot by moi, with the help of Luis and my father. I only followed two recipes, because I followed a special recipe for one dish and another dish was still completely unknown to me, and yet I was able to give everything my own twist! We stood in the kitchen for exactly nine hours to prepare everything, and you know what? This time I thought it would be easy because many of these recipes have parts that can be made beforehand like the Bouches de reine, the stew and the blanching of vegetables! No, it was another great cooking day. The * mise en place * takes a lot of time, and I also only have a ceramic hob with only 3 burners.
And if I have to be honest, I actually really enjoy preparing and presenting these tables, but I really miss normal meals, haha! Fortunately, December is only once a year, because I have already gained a few pounds. Or could that be because of the fudge?
Today we visited my in-laws to get our first Christmas ham, which is a very sweet and thoughtful gift from them. It has been almost exactly a year since we were here on holiday, and now we live here, we have to celebrate with a nice ham for Christmas. Yummy, but watch out for the extra pounds! And when we went to visit I took a pan with stew and gratin, plus fruit bread for the breakfast that I had left! So you see, everything you see on this site goes into our mouths, and nothing ends up in the trash. The fact is also that giving food away always makes me feel good. They say (food) sharing is caring, right?
Hopefully you had a good Monday. Ours started out a bit rough but eventually turned in the right direction! And rest assured, next Wednesday I will share a healthy recipe that is on this table! Fasten your belt, Monday has arrived and the week of the table tour has started again!
Have a nice evening, friends!
