In a land where food and wine trump all, you can imagine that MUCH attention is given to the Christmas feast. Time to pull out all the stops, including the cork on the very best champagne. Having had the good fortune to have eaten many a Christmas meal at a French table, I thought y’all might want to share the experience. Maybe some of these ideas will make their way to your own table this Christmas. (Photo, a medieval village church near Balleure, on a snowy Christmas eve).
1. To kick off the feast, there will of course be that most festive of drinks, Champagne. We won’t add a touch of cassis or other liqueurs today, as we usually do, because we’ll be breaking out the GOOD stuff. We’re dining with friends at the château chez Nicole and Pierre, and their special occasion favorite is Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque.
2. Let’s talk starters, called entrées in France. On this day more than one starter might be featured, and there are three that are traditional. Foie gras is one, but as an animal lover I’m not going to go there. Up next, fresh oysters, raw or baked. Since we South Carolinians are used to cooked ones at lowcountry oyster roasts in Charleston, Nicole spoils us with her famous baked, stuffed oysters, or huîtres farcies, a recipe she has graciously shared with us today. The third one is smoked wild salmon, which will traditionally be served with lime wedges, crème fraïche, and blinis. Yum.
3. The main course will be a bird, either a capon, a duck, a turkey, or a goose. And chestnuts, of course: on the side will be either a purée de marrons, or chestnuts cooked in the pan juices from the bird. This year Maria is making soupe de marrons instead.
4. Dessert: bring on the bûches, Baby! I’ll be making the yule log this time, but of course les pâtisseries all have gorgeous ones in every flavor. I highly recommend this seductive ‘music video' (from the Paris by Mouth site) called Bûche It, featuring all the bûches de Noël that the very fancy Paris pâtisseries are doing this year. I’ll take that orange one with polka dots, please, or maybe the one with the gold leaf balls. (Amuse bûche: photo from our local pâtisserie. Will it be raspberry, Chocolate Pistachio, or Coffee?).
5. I’ve never thought of living in Provence, but when I heard this I almost changed my mind: they serve 13 desserts for Christmas eve dinner! The number 13 relates to the 12 days of Christmas, plus Christmas eve. They’re put out buffet style, and they are particular desserts by tradition, most of them symbolic. They include nougat, dried fruit and nuts, candied fruit jellies, stuffed dates, fresh fruits, and a yule log or thin waffles. Eating a sample of each brings good luck in the new year. And that is my wish for you, a lucky new year and a Joyeux Noël too!
RECIPE: Huîtres Farcies au Château
Plan on 4 oysters per person for a light starter (we greedy goats gobble up 6 or more)
- Coarse salt for pan
- 2 dozen medium shucked oysters
- 12 ounces (300 grams) white or cremini mushrooms
- ¼ cup crème fraïche, or sour cream
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- One heaping tablespoon each of:
- Fresh chervil
- fresh parsley
- fresh basil
- fresh chives
- ½ cup fine bread crumbs, made in food processor from a French country loaf at least a day old
Shuck the oysters. Remove the oysters, drain juice, and put them back in the half-shell. Arrange them in a large shallow pan with a layer of salt in it (this is to stabilize the shells in the pan). Pre-heat oven to 400F (200 C).
Remove stems from mushrooms, save for your soup pot. Put the mushrooms in a food processor and pulse a few times just until they are finely minced. Move them to a bowl and mix them with the crème fraïche or sour cream. Stir in the herbs, sea salt and ground pepper. Spoon mixture over oysters. Mix a bit more salt and pepper into the bread crumbs and sprinkle over oysters. Bake for about 15 minutes or until oysters are hot and bread crumbs are golden (start checking at 10 minutes). Serve immediately, with champagne.
Favorite Reads: More gifts for Christmas,with France in mind. Today, some lighter fare: The film Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis was a HUGE sensation in France when it came out a couple of years ago. It's cute and funny, and it absolutely nails the great French north-south character divide. Watch it for fun and for French insights. (You can now get it for zone 1 US DVD players, as well as the European zone 2). For humourous books, it's hard to beat the highly irreverant Brit Stephan Clarke, who lives with the French and loves to skewer them. He has a whole Merde series; Try In the Merde for Love. Now for some great ART GIFTS: see below, Our Reader's Blogs.
In the Comments: Merci for all the nice Christmas wishes. Don't miss Julie's photo of Père Noël climbing in a window–you find these sneaky Santa's all over France. Thanks Julie, I was wishing I had a picture of them. Ido, happy to know you can track Santa on Google Earth!
Our Reader's ART Blogs: Among our readers, three of my favorite artists, with affordable art for gifts: Barbara Andolsek, Barbara Redmond (of the A Women's Paris blog), and Kristin Dam (Kristin's just moved to France, so stay tuned for French landscapes!). Please take a minute to peruse their art, some of it Oh So French.
14 thoughts on “5 Ways to Frenchify Your Holiday Feast”
Well, darling Lynne, this came JUST in time for my party next week (“Crunch Time Christmas Cocktails”), which will feature three types of martini: red, green and traditional…now I think I must do oysters! AND foie gras, AND already was planning on smoked salmon with chive cream cheese on party rye rounds, so whoopie. I’m JUST getting over a wicked asthma/pneumonia one/two punch so this will be fun.
I’ll save the good champagne for opening presents on Christmas morning.
Oh…good, good, GOOD tip for less than stellar champagne: slice some crystallized sugar into quarters and toss a few into the bottom of the glass…fabulous!
And…I have always wanted to do that 13 desserts thingie, but I could never find out what they were! I’m on dessert this year while my daughter makes the tenderloin, so here goes nothin’! We have a great Italian market that brings in the best candied almonds I’ve ever had, AND homemade marzipan for stuffing the dates, AND I’ve made buche de Noel before (go for it, it is NOT that hard to make. Really!)
If you do tenderloin, or other beef-y things at your house, I HIGHLY recommend this: 2 days before you are going to cook, marinate the beef in equal parts soy sauce, bourbon and olive oil. I’m telling you, it is so good your Santa socks will roll up and down! (Maybe do only one day if you do individual filets which we are having this year).
Merry Christmas/ happiest of holidays to all. I am so grateful for your wonderful blog!
Love the “Buche It” video — it has already inspired my contributions to the Christmas Day desserts. Thanks for sharing!
Josh/Earth2
In my humble opinion, French desserts are the very best. Works of edible art without a doubt. Thank you fro mentioning my artwork (Barabara Andolsek) and for the video clip that had me from the beginning.
Wishing you & yours a very, very Merry Christmas!
I have to say I love this blog. I just discovered you recently but have enjoyed every post (and some of the other blogs you have recommended). Your Christmas posts have been particularly useful since I’m a high French teacher. I’ve been sharing with my students the French traditions through your eyes. Merci!
You’re killing me!!!! Absolutely great oyster recipe- I HAVE to try that~! Merry Merry dear Lynn!
Hi Lynn, always look forward to your posts ! The “13 desserts for Christmas Eve” is really appealing to me ! If a sample of each brings good luck, I’m sure I would really be lucky ! Merry Christmas to you and yours and a very Happy New Year !
Joyce
Joyeux Noel Lynn…your plans and feast sound lovely!
We have a tiny new chocolate store in Boulder …will stop in and pretend I am back in France!
Thanks so much for the oyster recipe….question: Do you have to wash the shells before you put the oyster back in to bake? Thanks
Hi, Lynn. As soon as I read the message in your e-mail about funny French films (before I read your blogsite), I immediately thought of “Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis”! I watched it on a flight over to France, and liked it so much I watched it on the flight coming back too! I recommend it highly, too, even if one has to read the subtitles and miss all the subtle plays on words.
I fear I may have to unsubscribe from your blog. Reading it gives me SUCH an envie to be in France, that I may just abandon husband, daughters, and dogs, and catch the next flight over! Meanwhile, I’ll live there vicariously through your posts. Thanks. Je vous souhaite un Joyeux Noël et que cette nouvelle année vous apporte bonheure, santé, prosperité!
Amicalement,
Augusta
Joyeux Noel, Lynne, et sante a la nouvelle annee!
Amities,
Suzanne
PS I’m going to stick with my southern scalloped oysters (with cream and Ritz crackers). But I’ll add some chestnuts to my Christmas Eve menu, if I can find them.
I enjoy all your posts – especially as I am fellow honorary Burgundian – in fact I have been inspired to start my own blog.
We are going down to our new/old (120 year old) farmhouse on Cape Cod to celebrate a mixed traditional Chanukah with our 4 kids (14 – 23 plus 1 girlfriend)…latkes & brisket on Saturday night & we’ll go oystering & try Les Huitres Farcies au Chateau on Sunday evening! Will be a fun & festive fete for all!!!
Now those are some fancy sweets!! Love the 13 dessert idea – perhaps a new Arizona tradition
Merry Christmas Lynn
The Bûche It video was great! Funny and delicious. It’s just amazing what talent the French have in creating la bûche, isn’t it? Wonderful holiday posts, Lynn. I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas!! Happy New Year, too : ) xo