It is a totally miserable day here today, rain lashing down and wind howling.
The Meteo tell us that a storm has been created in the Mediterranean by the action of the Mistral on the warm sea and that this storm is being stopped in its progress north by the Massive Central, the very plateau which usually protects us from the bad weather from the North.
We have a lovely couple from Waterford staying with us, its their third visit, they came to escape just this type of weather in Ireland and I feel personally responsible for the state of the place.

To offer them some warm comfort (and to allay my own cabin fever) I am cooking them a special dinner this evening.

The Starter will be my Tranche St. Remy , a recent rediscovery of mine from Elizabeth David. Tonight (I vary this quite a bit) the base will be a good short and buttery pastry, in layers along this will be three fillings, first little cubes of tuna which I will barely sear in olive oil, once these are cool I will mix with a little very olive oil mayonnaise and some stoned green olives. Middle filling will be some prawns, large wild ones, these I will shell and then cook in a sauce of fresh chopped tomatoes, spicy with garlic and a touch of paprika. The third filling of the Tranche is the one which makes it truly from southern France, this is some very long slow cooked onions, cooked until melting and starting to caramelize, these will be then criss crossed with anchovies and studded with black olives.

Main course tonight is some of my village butchers excellent lamb from the Ardeche. Tonight I am cooking a loin.
This I have boned stuffed, with onions, chopped prunes and walnuts bound with a very little breadcrumbs , and I am going to serve a little bowl of grape and orange jelly with this.
With this they will be eating a dish of dauphinoise potatoes, another of glazed carrots and – for freshness- a bowl of barely cooked spinach which is at its best just now.

After the cheese (I have some nice local Goat, some Blue from the Auvergne and my great favourite some aged Comté ) I am going to give them a special dessert.

I have been experimenting lately with various versions of the French Pain d’Espice which is very like our own Gingerbread.
Using a combination of the two recipes I have produced my present favourite version.
This is sweetened with half French honey and half Irish treacle and in it are chunks of stem ginger, chopped dates and walnuts. Slices of this I am going to toast at the last minute and then top with a few quickly sautéed apple slices (courtesy of my Normandy neighbours ) and top with a boule of my coconut icecream.

This will all be digested with the help of some of my Vin de Noix.

I hope this will make up for the appalling weather.