Seizing the opportunity to use the delicious ripe pineapples adorning our bar in the kitchen I decided to make a cake for Nick who was due for dinner that evening. Nick is the chef and owner of one of our favourite restaurants in Sezanne.... 'L'Esperance'. Him and his wife Lydia have recently become new parents and since he was home alone while she visited her family we invited him over to dine with us for a change.
Nick has been a chef for 22 years and his food reflects this experience. Born in the U.K. and immigrating to South Africa as a child, meeting and marrying Lydia, who is French, while working in London this eclectic life has an influence on his food. As he has owned his restaurant in Sezanne for 7 years the style of his food is also influenced by the palate of his mainly French patrons. We love his take on traditional French dishes that have just enough difference to please our Antipodean palates...fresher, crisper and greener with a cleaner finish...
Always a challenge to have a chef to tea but I decided to make a Upside Down Pineapple Cake for dessert that has its origins loosely in Nick's native South Africa....ground spices, lots of brown sugar, zest of a lemon and the juice of an orange...
Now being one of those clumsy days that you have every now and distracted by the cat throwing up I managed to cut a chunk of my thumb off while slicing the pineapple....Brilliant!! Just what I did not need with a busy weekend and full house ahead...and it bleed like there was no tomorrow!! All strapped up I finished the cake 'carefully'.........
With snow on the ground and minus 7 it was a pleasure to do a necessary dash to Epernay as the countryside looked fantastic...this left Mike on dinner duties. He decided to make a simple Fish Pie with lots of spinach and a creamy parsley sauce...it was huge and very good!
We had a great dinner and it was fantastic to have a chance to chat with Nick....we are keen to hook up with a chef to do cooking classes for guests and I think it will work well with Nick...either at his restaurant or in our kitchen......some gorgeous aperitifs with a glass of Champagne that Nick prepares while you relax at the bar or full meals with hands on cooking experience...we look forward to developing this idea further....
Unfortunately Nick does not eat dessert, nor does Mike, so I was home alone on the cake....it was very moist and the spicy batter gave it a nice contrast to the caramel but no recipe today as I feel it needs a bit of work to make it blog worthy...watch this space.....
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