What's the occasion? It's Friday.

What to cook to celebrate the end of the working week? I can't remember now what led me down the path of boudin blanc. Probably I was thinking minimal effort. Which I more than made up for in the effort it took to buy the goods while relying on public transport in peak hour. Live and learn. I never do.

Boudin blanc or white pudding makes me think of the old fairytale stereotype - good equals white, bad equals black. Because when I think of boudin blanc I automatically think of its evil twin boudin noir or black pudding - aka blood pudding because it's made with, well, blood. Gay Bilson really creeped me out when she wrote an article espousing the virtues of using one's own blood to make the sausage. I took her point (whatever it was) but still. Eww.


In fact I've eaten blood pudding and quite enjoyed the experience but I'd probably steer clear of convincing my dinner guests they could like it too. Boudin blanc, on the other hand, is the safe blonde option yes, but it's silky and voluptuous all the same.

What's the white equivalent of blood I wonder? Pork meat and rice apparently. But in the case of our sausages it was pork, some unspecified spices, mushrooms, brandy and porcini powder. Good stuff.

But first a little cheese. Blue veined sheep's milk cheese. No more to be said.


Blair denies this but whatever I'm preparing for dinner, he will suggest that mashed potato would go well with it. He had to settle for cold potato salad because it makes a good textural contrast to the sausage. After cooking the potatoes, I doused them in red wine vinegar and stirred through the dressing made from mayonnaise and sour cream. A little chopped mint was added for photogenic purposes.


The French theme made me think celeriac remoulade but then I remembered a French grated carrot recipe I'd just read about here. No way was I hunting down a celeriac. In the city. On a Friday night.

Dessert was cake. Iddy biddy cupcakes so I could choose more than one flavour. And if you're wondering why the icing has slipped off one of them, that is to illustrate my mad dash to catch the train home.

Menu

Blue veined sheep's milk cheese

Boudin blanc sausages with potato salad and grated carrot salad

Little cupcakes