BUSY Saturday and Cooking Lesson #2 of Pheasant Dinner

November 23rd

It was a cold day with intermittent snow flurries in the low 30's, as we headed off to the Foire Cheval (Horse fair). With a 20% chance of snow/rain (yesterday it did hale), we were dressed warmly and off for a very busy day! As the mayor's wife (for the last eighteen years!), Soline knows everyone in town and stops most amiably to chat with one and all! (With elections coming up in March, Jean-Jacques has decided to run again, as there are things he still wants to accomplish! Soline kiddingly said, "If I want to know what Jean-Jacques has been doing, I just look in the paper!" His picture is throughout!)
By the time we stopped at the market for fruits, vegetables, and eggs, many of the horses had left. Some were waiting to learn if they had won prizes, and there were some ponies giving rides to the small children.

Jean-Jacques announces the winners

There was a banquet type luncheon afterwards for those who had participated in the fair, and we went. Soline said to me during the meal, "I don't think there are very many Americans who are having lunch today with the farmers in Auvergne, and eating tripe and 'head of the veal' with tongue"! And to set the record straight, I had exactly a small bite of each. My meal was a sort of scallop patty.

My entree, a scallop dish

Cooked head of the veal

Piece on right is the head of the veal; tongue is on left.

Piece of tripe Soline served me.

Christophe, Jean-Jacques, and I  before we ate.

Dessert brioche perdu with
caramel sauce and ice cream

This is what the tripe looked like before it was cooked. I spotted this when we were at the butcher's.


And there were several more stops before we headed home. At the butcher we got the sauerkraut, pork for the lardons, and kielbasi-like sausage for dinner. At the cheese shop Soline bought a selection of cheeses for the week.For a town with the population of 7,000, I am surprised by the shops here. It turns out that this is the shopping center for many near-by smaller towns, so the many shops are supported. For example, there are eight bakeries (boulangerie) which make and sell bread and desserts; shops which sell only desserts are patisseries.

Pheasant before Soline cleaned it the previous day.

Pheasant and lardons before browning

Once "at home" (a phrase Soline uses often in translations), we started to prepare the dinner. The lardons were browned in butter, and then the pheasant was added in the pressure cooker; then they were sealed and cooked for maybe one-half hour. The red and white potatoes, which she had dug from her friend Babette's farm, were cooked in another pressure cooker. (Babette's father had died and then soon after her 50 year old brother who was working the farm also died, so Babette managed the farm with the help of a local farmer, until she sold it.) The delicious salad was greens, small pieces of apples and cooked beet, parsley tossed with a vinaigrette dressing.

Four cheeses for the cheese course!

Jean made the chocolate mousse to die for!

Martine and Jean arrived at 7:30. I had met Martine at choral practice and the gym. She had been an English teacher before she retired.

Martine, Jean-Jacques, and Jean

Today, Sunday, I will go to mass with Soline at her magnificent Roman church, as she is participating in the service. Later there is a Chocolate fair (!). I still cannot think about food, after last night's sumptuous feast! However, I am sure that there will be some very interesting surprises in this day ahead!