Friends And Fig Tartes

Sunday evening we enjoyed dinner with visitors Gabby and Margaret. Here they are with Ken during the apéro phase (drinks and olives) out on the deck. The sun was out and it was around 70º. This time of year you take advantage of good weather when you get it!

Gabby, Ken, and Margaret enjoying apéritifs on the deck.

Dinner was an appetizer of roasted red peppers (from the garden) served on toasts with goat cheese, and a main course of brasied chicken in a tarragon sauce (the tarragon was also from the garden) with fried polenta triangles. This was followed by a cheese and salad course, then dessert: individual fig tartes.

Tartes aux figues.

We got the wonderfully ripe figs at the market on Saturday morning and I decided to make individual tartes rather than a larger one; that way I wouldn't have to cut it at the table! I spent the day cooking while Ken, Gabby, and Margaret were out touring around.

I made the tartes first thing in the morning, then roasted, peeled and seeded the peppers. After that I cut up the chicken and made broth from the carcass. The broth was for braising the chicken pieces later on. I made a batch of polenta and filled up four individual square tart pans. Once they cooled, I popped out the polenta squares, fried them to give them a little color, then cut them into triangles. The chicken got dredged in flour and browned before it went into the braising liquid, which was flavored with the fresh garden tarragon. While it was braising in the oven, I assembled the appetizers. Somehow salad got washed during all of this.

We washed everything down with a red Touraine from just across the river. Sorry I didn't get photos of the meal, but it was quite tasty. A big hello to Mary in California - wish you were here!