Food Porn!!
It's been a long time, dear readers, since I was inspired to share a wonderful meal with you. Tonight was one of those meals.
N and I went to Cafe Campagne for dinner to support the Restaurants for Relief. A portion of their profits tonight go the hurricane relief. Beyond doing a good deed, I was on a mission. To introduce N to the splendid pate campagne at the Cafe.
When we got our menus, we noticed there was a prix fixe menu inset in the entree. For $25 we could get a green salad with roquefort or chevre, trout or duck, and a caramel pot de creme for dessert. We decided that would be an excellent idea, but I still wanted the pate, so we ordered that, too.
The pate campagne is a delightful, rustic pate of pork and chicken livers. (I can hear many of you say 'ewwww', but trust me, it's delightful.) The liver is not processed into a paste, as many finer pates can be. The livers are left in chunks and mixed with some that has been chopped finer and mixed with herbs. It's solid, hearty, goes great on crusty bread and was delicious with the glass of beaujolais we had. We were both in heaven. In fact, we chased the last tiny bits of pate from under the small pile of greens on the pate plate. :o) The salad vert was served at the same time...we had ours with the goat cheese. I found myself wishing I'd selected the roquefort because the chevre kind of got lost in the boldness of the pate. It was tasty, but not strong enough a flavor.
Then came the entree. We both chose the duck, which arrived in a small cast iron skillet with a sliced, fried potato seasoned with thyme. The duck itself tasted subtly of cinnamon and was also just incredible with the wine. I actually would have like a bit heftier red with the duck, but the beaujolais was just fine. The dish was a bit oily just because it was duck, but it was quite delicious.
Dessert, the caramel pot de creme, arrived at the table chilled with a small sprinkling of sea salt on the top and a little triangular shaped shortbread cookie standing in the little cup. The texture of the creme was at once rich and light...we both marveled at how smooth and decadent and yet still ephemeral it was. It's something I'm going to have to try and make, perhaps for a Vashon weekend. I had my dessert with a glass of Bunnahabhain single malt scotch...it was a little strong, but the caramel finish of the scotch was lovely with the caramel in the dessert. It probably would have been better with a molten chocolate cake, but I wouldn't have traded that little cup of creme for anything at the time.
So I'm home now, not stuffed, but darn close, having done a good deed and been well fed in the process. Who could ask for a better spent evening?
N and I went to Cafe Campagne for dinner to support the Restaurants for Relief. A portion of their profits tonight go the hurricane relief. Beyond doing a good deed, I was on a mission. To introduce N to the splendid pate campagne at the Cafe.
When we got our menus, we noticed there was a prix fixe menu inset in the entree. For $25 we could get a green salad with roquefort or chevre, trout or duck, and a caramel pot de creme for dessert. We decided that would be an excellent idea, but I still wanted the pate, so we ordered that, too.
The pate campagne is a delightful, rustic pate of pork and chicken livers. (I can hear many of you say 'ewwww', but trust me, it's delightful.) The liver is not processed into a paste, as many finer pates can be. The livers are left in chunks and mixed with some that has been chopped finer and mixed with herbs. It's solid, hearty, goes great on crusty bread and was delicious with the glass of beaujolais we had. We were both in heaven. In fact, we chased the last tiny bits of pate from under the small pile of greens on the pate plate. :o) The salad vert was served at the same time...we had ours with the goat cheese. I found myself wishing I'd selected the roquefort because the chevre kind of got lost in the boldness of the pate. It was tasty, but not strong enough a flavor.
Then came the entree. We both chose the duck, which arrived in a small cast iron skillet with a sliced, fried potato seasoned with thyme. The duck itself tasted subtly of cinnamon and was also just incredible with the wine. I actually would have like a bit heftier red with the duck, but the beaujolais was just fine. The dish was a bit oily just because it was duck, but it was quite delicious.
Dessert, the caramel pot de creme, arrived at the table chilled with a small sprinkling of sea salt on the top and a little triangular shaped shortbread cookie standing in the little cup. The texture of the creme was at once rich and light...we both marveled at how smooth and decadent and yet still ephemeral it was. It's something I'm going to have to try and make, perhaps for a Vashon weekend. I had my dessert with a glass of Bunnahabhain single malt scotch...it was a little strong, but the caramel finish of the scotch was lovely with the caramel in the dessert. It probably would have been better with a molten chocolate cake, but I wouldn't have traded that little cup of creme for anything at the time.
So I'm home now, not stuffed, but darn close, having done a good deed and been well fed in the process. Who could ask for a better spent evening?