Thursday - An Old Friend Came to Dinner

In 1969, I started working for an electricity supply company as a clerk, I was just out of secondary school and relatively unqualified. There I met Roger, a couple of years older than me, who has been my friend for more than 40 years. He was a great success at the company we worked for (I wasn’t really, too lazy I think). Later on he was my best man, and later still I was his, and I’m Godfather to his son. Sadly, his wife died a couple of years ago after a long illness.

Anyway, Roger came to dinner last night. We ate:

My BLT starter (this is boiled eggs stuffed with egg yolk, pancetta and mayonnaise with a crispy pancetta slice on top, tiny plum tomatoes and some garnish – much prettier than it sounds).

We followed this with Daube à la Niçoise (posh beef stew with dried cèpes) which I cooked, very gently, over 2 days. Served with tagliatelle in the Niçois style.

Chocolate Mousse made by Alison to Raymon Blanc’s non-dairy recipe (easily found on line and wonderfully tasty) with her home-made sable biscuits.

Overall it was a pleasant – if slightly rustic – meal. Best of all, there’s leftover daube for later!