Appetizer idea to compliment a meal of Boef Bourguignon
I am making Julia Child's Boeuf bourguignon for my friends birthday dinner. Can anyone recommend a good appetizer to start the celebration? Not too heavy but complimentary to the meal that follows. Dinner is tonight ... YIKES!
Since you're exploring Julia; why not a nice poached fish. If not that, be French and dive right in but have a composed salad after featuring lots of root vegetables. Or even go all out and have crepes suzettes. The possibilities are endless
As your time is short I'd suggest perhaps a chicken liver pate on crouton (crostino). Lately I've been messing around with combinations of watermelon radish and blood orange; shaved fennel, marcona almonds and other crazy ideas. It's dead on beautiful and would compliment the boeuf.
Boeuf Bourguigon is so rich and filling, how about a salad of bibb or assorted lettuces, shaved fennel, radishes with a simple french vinegarette? Maybe choose one of Julia's salads to keep with cooking theme. I agree with Pierino about the watermelon radishes (if you're lucky enough to find them) & Marcona almonds (two of my faves).
I'm making another French stew at the moment, boeuf en daube, and thinking something very small to start, with some sort of green salad to follow. It's really nice to have a salad after the heavy course. I like pierino's pate idea and also lloreen's gougeres, though they're both a bit heavy and you'd want to make sure you kept the portions small. You might want to pass on the stuffed mushrooms for this meal, as your bouef bourguignon also has mushrooms. If it were my birthday, I'd start with a flute of Champagne and oysters.
Since you're exploring Julia; why not a nice poached fish. If not that, be French and dive right in but have a composed salad after featuring lots of root vegetables. Or even go all out and have crepes suzettes. The possibilities are endless
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As your time is short I'd suggest perhaps a chicken liver pate on crouton (crostino). Lately I've been messing around with combinations of watermelon radish and blood orange; shaved fennel, marcona almonds and other crazy ideas. It's dead on beautiful and would compliment the boeuf.
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Boeuf Bourguigon is so rich and filling, how about a salad of bibb or assorted lettuces, shaved fennel, radishes with a simple french vinegarette? Maybe choose one of Julia's salads to keep with cooking theme. I agree with Pierino about the watermelon radishes (if you're lucky enough to find them) & Marcona almonds (two of my faves).
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A light salad for the first course but if you mean something to pass around with drinks, how about stuffed mushrooms and gougeres
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I'm making another French stew at the moment, boeuf en daube, and thinking something very small to start, with some sort of green salad to follow. It's really nice to have a salad after the heavy course. I like pierino's pate idea and also lloreen's gougeres, though they're both a bit heavy and you'd want to make sure you kept the portions small. You might want to pass on the stuffed mushrooms for this meal, as your bouef bourguignon also has mushrooms. If it were my birthday, I'd start with a flute of Champagne and oysters.
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Gougeres!
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