Europe in many dishes 24: Classic French Sunday lunch

We made a lovely big classic French Sunday lunch the other day for my sister and brother in law and family. Bought great stuff at the market for a simple but colourful entree--small delicious tomatoes, stuffed capsicums, marinated anchovies, olive and preserved lemon tapenade and melon--as well as three excellent cheeses for after the main course: Brillat-Savarin(a classic soft cheese from the Parisian region); two St-Marcellins(again, classic soft cheese, but from the Dauphine region this time) and Crottin de Chavignol, a goat's cheese from the Loire region. Main course was a delicious rare beef roast with a mushroom(ceps), garlic, onion and sour cherry sauce; sauteed potatoes, and green beans. A green salad followed, then the cheese, then the cakes, which we got at the patisseries: a Paris-Brest, a lovely concoction of choux pastry sandwiched together with coffee butter cream and almonds; and a Kouing-amann, a traditional Breton yeast caramalised cake, both absolutely delicious.

Europe in many dishes, 23: Perigord plate in Auvergnat restaurant in Paris!

This classic duck-centred dish, une 'assiette Perigourdine', featuring duck foie gras, thin slices of duck breast magret and slow-cooked duck gesiers(neck meat)on a bed of salad vegetables,  was served to me the other day in an Auvergne restaurant in Paris. Okay, so you might think Perigord and Auvergne aren't exactly the same thing, and they're not--but I felt like one of these, and it was really delicious!

Europe in many dishes, 22: Copenhagen menu-on-a-plate

In a very nice, unpretentious cafe/restaurant, Cafe Nytorv today, on Plads Nytorv, not far from the National Museum where we had spent the morning, we had one of the nicest meals we've had in Copenhagen: a whole Danish  menu on one plate in a way, and with an avkavit(schnapps) shot to begin with. Basically it was three excellent smorrebrod pieces on one plate: a delicious sweet-cured marinated herring with onion and capers, breaded fish with a great remoulade sauce, dill and salad; and a lip-smackingly tasty roast pork slice with scrumptious crackling and sweet-sour red cabbage--each on thick dark seeded rye bread. The avkavit(which you have only just before the meal, but with a little rye bread) was really nice too, mellow and smooth. And the price was very reasonable for such a large and satisfyingly good meal--each plate being 148 kroner(around $30) and the avkavit 30 kroner(around $6). A good note on which to end my round-up of eating traditional Danish food around the country!
Off to France tomorrow but will be having a break from posting as no internet the first few days. Rendezvous in southern France in around 10 days' time!

Europe in many dishes, 21: Fishy delights in Copenhagen covered food markets

Gorgeous local delicacies in show and for sale!

Europe in many dishes, 22: Glorious cake in La Glace, Copehangen

Since 1870, Copenhaguers have been coming in droves to this fabulous 'konditori'; as patisseries are called here. And you can see why when you see the array of beautiful mouthwatering cake on display! We had afternoon tea there--a very expensive proposition, but a delectable experience!
Nearly all the cakes were gorgeous layer cakes--these types of cakes are Danish favourites--featuring lovely cake layers sandwiched with whipped cream or custard or mousse. The cake we chose(and shared!) was called Volmer Sorensens Jubilaeumlagkage, and was a deliciously extravagant concoction made of layers of creamy nougat in whipped cream, with a macaroon base, apricot jam, vanilla custard, marzipan and green hazelnuts. The bill for coffee and tea and one cake came to 175 kroner--around $37! But never mind, it was one of those things you should do at least once!

Europe in many dishes, 20: Tartare, Copenhagen style

Which basically means cooked! Not ones obviously for the raw concoction that is classic Tartare, but liking all the stuff that goes with it, the Danes have dreamed up their own version: good minced steak patties cooked medium rare and served with raw egg yolk, capers, salad etc! Pretty tasty even if not exactly what you expect when you first see it on the menu..

Europe in many dishes 19: smorrebrod!

I'd been looking forward to smorrebrod--those lovely Danish open sandwiches--since we arrived but Odense was not the place for such things(Odense in my opinion was disappointing in terms of traditional food!)and in the other places where we ate, we'd gone for other things..but Copenhagen is where we ate our first, take-away smorrebrod, and they were great, interesting and tasty combinations. Mine was pork and sour-sweet red cabbage with plum, peach, gherkins and salad; David had a  fried fish one with those lovely little fjord shrimps we've got quite fond of, and salad. The unpretentious little place where we bought these had a whole selection of delicious combinations(some illustrated). We'll be back!