chateau d'ermenonville

we are up at the chateau d’ermenonville, which is another landmark building renovated and made into a luxury hotel. it's about 70 km from paris.  i have found a great deal – 2 nights, breakfasts and one dinner included for a very reasonable price. well, it IS february – good time for deals. this is our “valentines/early anniversary/no child/try to forget that there’s no child” weekend. just had quite the meal at the chateau. started with amuse bouche (the tiny in between courses course)– a couple of little canapes, one served on a flat silver spoon, to shovel into the mouth.

then my appetizer was “l’ile flottante de queue de boeuf en vinaigrette, foie gras poele et son consomme de pot au feu” which was beef tail meat with fried fois gras on top, beef consomme poured over it with little floating islands of chewy sweet eggwhite balls. it was really good. interesting flavors, varied textures and subtle, soft beefiness. p had raw oysters on top of leek and truffle cream soup. then we had another amuse bouche in between – creme of rocquette greens, mozzarella, cream o f tomato puree on top. for main course – i had duckling breast on top of a bed of a caramelized navette turnip, and fried spaghetti stuck in it, forming strange curling sculpture. the duckling was a little tough, but the fried spaghetti was fun and overall, tasted good. then we had a cheese course. the little cart came around and i chose THREE goat cheeses one covered in ashy green mold(just looked it up, could be an “ash pyramid” valencay), one a long rectangle with outside like camembert and a tall white bell shaped one, livarot (our new favorite) and the maroilles.

p had roquefort, maroilles,calvados coated one, and st. marcelin. the green chevre was very good, the camemberty one was a bit boring but the decapitated triangle was great. it had garlic and peppers inside and a nice soft peppery flavor. need to find out name of that one. especially went well with the peppery red wine we had. we started with a givry and then had some bordeaux. then, because we hadn’t yet had enough courses, they brought us a “dessert appetizer”. a PRE dessert amuse bouche. it was a pistachio flavored creme over raspberry sauce. then dessert was really special. we ordered the “poire belle helen”, which i assumed would be some poached pear on a cake with some chocolate or something along those lines. instead we got a wonderful science experiment. a pear shaped glass with pear balls and other mushy and crunchy, crumbly stuff inside. in the opening sat a chocolate funnel shaped cup filled with whip cream. on top of this was a thin wafer of a slice of dried pear – the top down slice through the center, so it was a perfect representation of the pear. the waiter then asked if i wanted hot chocolate poured in. how could one refuse? he poured it into the chocolate cup, it sat for a moment, and then the chocolate cup sprang a leak and the hot chocolate poured into the goop in the bottom of the glass. the whole lumpy mass with crunchy, chewy, mushy textures and chocolate and pear flavors. it was a constantly changing set of flavors and textures. but wait! we’re not done yet. we then had coffee (well, p. did) with a plate of macaroons and pate de fruit (fruit jelly) of lime and cassis – very tart and delicious! we are very, very full. p. had to take the dog for his last walk of the day. he said that it was beautifully clear out with the stars shining and a lovely mist hanging on the moat and island. (i forgot to mention there is a moat and island.  and the moat is filled with water.  i love moats.  they should always be filled.  i've seen chateaus with dry moats.  it seems like a missed opportunity!)

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