How to entertain on a budget

Before my holiday fades into the mists of time I want to tell you about a meal we had on the way home at the Auberge de Chassignolles in the Auvergne, my new favourite place in France.

Their evening meal is a no choice, 5 course prix fixe dinner which basically makes use of local ingredients they've bought from local suppliers or grown themselves. At 24 euros (£20.62) they're not making that much of a margin on it, particularly when you bear in mind that includes service*.

The meal that evening included:

A ham, fig and rocket salad (above). Slivers of country ham - probably not much more than 30g per person, I'd say - home-grown figs and rocket.

A fresh tomato and basil soup. Could have been home-grown but even if they'd bought the tomatoes they'd have been dirt cheap at that time of year (end of August). Soup is a great filler.


Lamb boulangère. Probably the most expensive part of the meal though I imagine the lamb was sourced from a local farm and the potatoes and onions of the boulangère (potato bake) would have been cheap. That was served with a green salad - more home-grown leaves.


A local cheeseboard. Cheese too is costly but again they probably bought it direct from the producer. You could help yourself, though, which was generous.

Apricot soufflé - a wildly impressive dessert but cheap as chips. Home-grown apricots, I'd guess, eggs and sugar.


It was a delicious, balanced, healthy meal which perfectly reflected the time of year and goes to show if you make use of produce which is in season - and are lucky enough to grown some of your own - you can entertain your guests royally at very modest cost. All you need to know is how to make the best of it . . .

* If you're staying there for a few days you can get a half board rate of 110€ per day, per couple for dinner, bed and breakfast

* Afterthought. Are these kinds of meals are easier to put together in France than in the UK? I think not - it's just a question of the mindset with which you approach them - but what do you reckon?

Why it's easy for the French to eat healthily

As you know I was going to give the blog a break but I've been overwhelmed at the quality of the produce in the south of France since we've been here. The apricots and grapes above come from a marvellous greengrocer in the small seaside resort of Le Grau d'Agde. It's open year round but is at its peak at this time of year. Our lunch yesterday consisted of tapenade and goats cheese, bought at the daily market, a bunch of hot peppery radishes (1 euro or 87p at current exchange rates) a couple of huge, misshapen but sweet, sweet tomatoes (€1.20/£1) and 5 fat figs (82 cents/71p). 4 out of our recommended 5 a day in one meal.

It's so easy to eat healthily - and the weather so hot you don't feel like doing anything else. Cooked food, especially meat, loses its appeal. All I want to eat is salads, fish, the occasional bit of cheese and fruit. Endless fruit.

Every stall in the market is laden with peaches - you can buy them for as little as 5 euros/£4.34 a tray (about 3 kilos I would guess) They're so ripe you can barely touch them without bruising them. You're lucky if they survive till next day - which is why, of course, we don't get fruit of this quality at home. They have to be picked earlier, refrigerated, transported the 600 miles or so across France and however many miles to a depot then distributed across the country. No wonder they don't taste of anything and cost three or four times as much.

What I can't understand is why we pay so much for fruit and vegetables we can grow perfectly well. Lettuces for example. In the greengrocer here they have five or six varieties - at around 90 cents (78p) and they're huge. Of course you have to wash them which people are no longer prepared to do back home but the flavour is wonderful - crisp, crunchy and sweet.

It is actually possible I might lose weight on this holiday (though I wouldn't bet on it given the amount of baguette I also manage to stuff down). I'll certainly end up a great deal healthier.

Cheap cuts aren't cheap - and nor is anything else, it seems

I finally found a beef cut that's popular in France but hard to find here (back in England) - cotes de boeuf or beef ribs, ironically sold at my local organic butchers as pot au feu. It's not ridiculously expensive at £8.75 a kilo (though that includes quite a lot of bone and fat) and should easily serve four. But it would have been no more than 8 euros a kilo (about £6) in France.

It underlines just how pricey so called 'cheap cuts' have become - including mince and braising steak. The only thing that's really cheap still is offal and how many people like offal? Not a lot.

I managed to spend £33 just now on restocking the fridge and storecupboard - admittedly just over £19 of that at the health food shop (on yoghurt, eggs, granola, oatcakes, crackers, hummus and two different cheeses for which I realise they've managed to overcharge, not intentionally I'm sure). That's just this weekend's eating.

Prices have definitely gone up in the month we've been away, but why are they so much more expensive here than in France? There'd be rioting on the streets if the shops charged as much there.

What to bring back from France

Frantic last-minute packing - no idea why it's always this chaotic.

However enough time to zap down to the local supermarket (Intermarché) and stock up with a few foods (and the odd drink) that are more expensive in England than France. Or which it's not easy to get hold of back home.

I didn't buy all these but made a hit list:

Cheaper than in England
Top of the list is Dijon mustard - far, far cheaper here than in England (.56€/43p for 320g, less if you buy a bigger jar)
A string of garlic. Better price. Better quality
Ground coffee. Much cheaper - €2.95/£2.26 for 2 packs - don't know why
Saucisson sec (not a great deal cheaper but nicer. And good for picnics en route)
Jambon sec (ditto)
Small jars/tins of paté - these can be incredibly cheap - I spotted some at €1.75/£1.33
Tinned fish, especially mackerel in white wine (€2.11/£1.62) and aged (yes, really) sardines (€1.11/85p)
Tins and jars of beans and chickpeas (Spanish ones are particularly good if you can get hold of them - about €1.32/£1.01 for 540g - enough for 4)
Dark chocolate - I spotted an offer today of 2 x 200g bars for €3.29 (£2.52)
Cheap Nutella substitutes - if you're addicted
Olive oil - sometimes. Not always cheaper than in UK
Wine. Obviously. Buy local.
Vin doux naturels (port-like wines) such as Banyuls. Ridiculously cheap at €4.32/£3.31 for 75cl
Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) - €3.75/£2.88 for 75cl
Non-alcoholic 'sirops' for cocktails and mixed soft drinks (see also below. As little as €1.46/£1.12 a litre)

Hard to find in England except at an exorbitant price
Herbal infusions such as Verveine (lemon verbena) and Tilleuil (lime blossom)
Jars of fish soup and rouille
Tins of cassoulet and/or duck confit
Cornichons - Look like but taste better than gherkins. I like the fact one brand is called Christ.
Jars of white asparagus (about €2.89/£2.22 for 395g)
Aperitifs such as Guignolet (cherry-flavoured aperitif - about €4.65/£3.57 a litre) St Raphael and Picon bière
Pastis
Artisanal rums from the French Caribbean (about 16€/£12.27)
Orgeat - almond-flavoured syrup for cocktails

One thing you might make a mental note to bring with you next time you come to France is tea. They just don't get it here.

Will now be on the road until the end of the week. Next instalment from Bristol.

Being a 'locavore'

Bit of a lapse from grace to report. Two restaurant meals in the past 48 hours. Maybe it's the realisation we're due back in England next week and will no longer be able to sit in the sun pretending it's June.

Neither meal was wantonly extravagant. The first was at what is basically a seafood caff called Chez Loulou which serves some of the most brilliantly fresh shellfish and fish I've ever eaten. The second was at a restaurant that overlooks the oyster beds at Bouzigues.

I'm not going to tell you the name because it's a mercifully Brit-free zone which is becoming increasingly rare in this part of France. Not that I mind my fellow countrymen, I just don't want them to outnumber the French.

I justified the whole exercise to myself on the following grounds

a) I was eating local food and drinking local wine. Being a 'locavore' (someone who does just that) is very PC these days

b) Oysters are ridiculously cheap here - about 8 euros (just over £6 a dozen - enough for two)

c) Grilled fish and oysters are hugely healthy

d) Oysters were at one time the food of the poor so I was just undertaking a bit of historical research . . .

Still, not exactly frugal, I must confess.

The French Paradox

Most of you will, I guess, be familiar with the French Paradox: the strange situation where the French have a lower rate of heart disease than the rest of the western world while knocking back vast quantities of wine, cheese, charcuterie and other foods rich in saturated fats.

I must say it surprises me. The classic French diet is veggie lite as we're discovering to our cost. A typical day's eating is baguette for breakfast, some kind of meat for lunch, rarely served with veg other than as a superfluous garnish and a couple of oeufs a la plat (fried eggs with yet more baguette) or occasionally a bowl of vegetable soup for supper. All followed by cheese.

The only veg the French seem to really like is 'salade' as in the old dictum 'jamais un repas sans salade' (never a meal without a green salad).

It's not that the food shops don't have any veg or fruit just that they all seem a bit tired and out of season. As in the UK they're flown in from warmer climes, largely Spain and Morocco. And seldom, it seems, make their way into restaurants where there's clearly no call for them. My mother-in-law, who has lived in France almost all her life, actually pushes the veg to the side of her plate if she's unlucky enough to be served some.

How do the French stay so healthy? Beats me, particularly as ready prepared meals seem to be taking over a larger and larger proportion of the supermarket. For this particular frugal cook, keen to eat as much fresh, local produce as possible, it's quite a struggle.

Vive la frugalité!

Like many Brits these days we split our time between England and France. We have elderly mums in both countries both of whom like us to spend as much time as possible with them. This month it's my French-based mother-in-law's turn.

So the frugal eating experiment moves to France. It'll be interesting to see how much cheaper it is. Unfortunately the exchange rate isn't too great at the moment but food generally costs less than in the UK.

Vive la frugalité!