Fête de Dîner et mes amis francais!

I loved my time spent abroad in France. I loved the food I ate. I loved the things I saw and learned and the ways that I grew. But most importantly, I love the people I got to spend my time with! And our group has been pretty good about staying in touch throughout this year. We periodically have French dinners where we all get together and have a French spread and reminisce about our days abroad, occasionally speaking a phrase or two of French.

We each take a specific course or portion of the meal - salad/soup, main dish, bread and cheese, and dessert. Lauren has been gracious enough to host us almost every single time in her lovely, homey apartment. (She always has decorations for whatever holiday is coming up!)


Lauren also agreed to make our main dish this time - cassoulet! Man, was it yummy! We all have fond memories of eating cassoulet during our "spring break" in the Languedoc region of France. (Let me just say, I ate more duck than I think I will EVER consume again during this trip, since Languedoc is known for it's duck dishes.) We ate cassoulet on two occasions - one at our professors' home and once at our lovely hotel. Anyway, cassoulet is a slow-cooked stew composed of meat and white beans. It is slowly simmered until the meat is tender and the beans are kind of mushy and wonderful. In France the dish had a LOT of meat with bones. Lauren cooked a huge pot that included andouille sausage, pork, and beans. It was delish! And, man, was it a HUMONGOUS pot!

Here's a pic of my plate loaded down with French-yummyness! We talked away the evening and just enjoyed each other's company, fabulous food, and a comfortable atmosphere. Very relaxed and lassez-faire, si tu veux...


Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the dessert I made... We got so caught up in conversation, the tranquil atmosphere, and enjoying our moment of peacefulness, that, well, I plum forgot to photograph them. But they were a big hit! Super rich... No one could finish them, even. I found them over at this blog: Tartelette. I made her heavenly Creme au Nutella as a tribute to one of our favorite French (well, European) food items. I think we all had a jar at one point or another. Some of us, I won't point fingers, had a jar we carried around in a backpack so as to never be without that famous Nutella. Nutella even played a starring role on our trips as we inserted "Nutella" into in and every song to pass the time (and speak in English, hehe.) I'll never forget the famed "Under My Nutella... ella... ella" rendition that we all belted out during our Spring Break car rides. So thanks guys for being great friends! I'm so glad we went to France together and have made our friendships priorities. Je vous aime!!! (Et toute la nourriture!!!)


Creme Au Nutella:

Serves 6

200 gr. dark chocolate (bittersweet)
1/4 cup Nutella

3 egg yolks
100 gr. sugar
3 cups heavy cream, divided
50 gr. powdered sugar

In a heavy saucepan, heat 2 cups of cream to boiling point. Remove from heat and stir the chocolate and Nutella. Let stand for a couple of minute. Stir until fully incorporated (like a ganache).
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale. Slowly stir the chocolate mixture whith the yolks and sugar. Return to the saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened, about 5 - 8 minutes, much like a pudding. Do not let this boil.Pour the cream in glasses or dishes and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
When ready to serve, whip the remaining cup of cream with the powdered sugar until soft peaks form and divide among the glasses.