It’s amazing really, only a few days ago Mick and I had never heard of apéritif dînatoire, and today we hosted our very first one. But, this time there were no French-speaking Englishmen to help us out with the conversation.

Quite a few years ago now, Mick submitted his name as a competitor on Master Chef Australia, back when the program was targeting inventive, adventurous, good cooks and not chefs or would-be restaurant owners. He was not selected to compete, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying out some challenging dishes and experimenting with new tastes. He absolutely loves to cook.

We invited Monsieur D and Monsieur T to our (host’s) place for the apéritif dînatoire today at midday. And to be on the safe side, we copied the way in which they served the food and wine to us when we were at their home the other day. But, we sat at a dining table because the small cosy table is up a flight of tricky stairs and the food would have been down those stairs. We thought the stairs might become progressively difficult to negotiate as the meal progressed.

Mick had bought an organically farmed (frozen) rabbit from a local man in Fenouillet just over a week ago. He used that to make a filling for mini rabbit pies and also to make a terrine of rabbit. That gave him two courses.

He’d added pistachios, prunes and herbs to the rabbit breasts and offal before wrapping it in prosciutto and baking it in a water bath.

My job was to serve up the first plate of nibbles, like a mezze platter, and I did not get time to take a photo of that. My only homemade effort was hummus but Mick had made marinated fresh oysters he had shucked a few days earlier. The men loved them.

Then came Mick’s mini pies with potatoes ……

The final course consisted of an apple, pear and prune crumble served in individual plates. (Yes, I had made these at the same time as I made the larger one for the pizza competition guests). After several glasses of wine, I might have said that the dessert was made from potatoes (pommes de terre) rather than apples (pommes), and pepper (poivre) rather than pears (poires), but our guests were very polite and did not correct me. However, they did look a little surprised.

And the next final course was  coffee with the brownies I’d made earlier in the week, because I knew they loved them.

Monsieur D brought his famous homemade chocolate coated orange peel. Amazing!!

After the fifth course, Mick taught out guests how to play the didgeridoo. Monsieur D was easily convinced to give it a go.

FOOTNOTE:

When we went to the Super Lotto on Sunday, Monsieur D said he wanted the recipe for the brownies I had taken to his place for his apéritif dînatoire.

I initially panicked about that.

But, when he arrived, I told him I had a gift for him…….

…..it was a packet of the Brownie mix and a packet of walnuts (my variation to the instructions on the back of the packet) that I had used to make the wonderfully sweet treats he’d enjoyed.

Oh, we did all laugh – he had thought I had made them from scratch!