RICHARD FRISBIE :: Dinner at Château des Monthairons

Where your intrepid reporter
endures unimaginable luxury
 just to bring you this story . . .

    Part of the benefits of being a food and travel writer is that I get to stay in some of the best hotels and castles in the world, where the service and appointments are impeccable. My WW I remembrance tour through Northern France to learn about the events commemorating the 90th Anniversary of the war's end was filled with such opportunities. Of all the lodging during the two week tour, the most memorable stay has to have been at the Château des Monthairons, in Meuse, France. I can say that because it was the most impressive looking place we stayed, it offered the most unusual rooms, and the service was over-the-top spectacular.



    The Château is situated on a 14 hectar park of verdant green lawns. It is surrounded by tall stone walls on three sides, and a river meandering through the distant fields on the fourth. It is an unbelievably picturesque setting, with sentinel trees lining the long drive in, and rustic gazebos on the shore. The turrets (two on the right in the picture), and the space between, make up the drawing room on the ground floor where we had apéritifs each evening before dinner. The room above (#24) was a large bedroom with little curved turret-rooms on each corner. So cute, and ideal for a family with kids. Above that was a huge loft bedroom (#25) with soaring ceilings and massive beams - my garret apartment for the two night stay. I loved that place!

 







   The amenities include a converted stable that houses a spa, with steam room, sauna, hot tub and a private room for massage. There is also an ancient glass house soon to be converted into outside dining lounge, a small pond, plus canoes and ATVs for the guests to use. This centrally located oasis is convenient to everything, but if you're anything like me you'll never want to leave its elegant doors.



    A large part of the incredible charm was the food. Chef de Cuisine Benoit Thouvenin and Chef pâtissier Herve Pierrat created some beautiful looking and delicious dishes for our enjoyment. A typical evening (if one could say we had a "typical" evening) went like this:

    Apéritifs were served in the library/drawing room, which was appointed with antiques, fireplace and gorgeous drapes, with comfortable seating in wing-back chairs grouped around low tables. Naturally, the walls were lined with shelves of leatherbound volumes. It was an elegant room in which one prepared for the serious matter of dinner. This evening we were treated to the classic Lorraine dish of "quiche lorraine" because earlier in the day I remarked that we'd spent nearly two weeks in Lorraine without tasting the signature dish. Arrangements were quickly made to accommodate my wishes (naturally) but when it was served we were assured it was hardly the normal fare and rarely cooked or served here. Apparently it is something one would order for a luncheon, and not for dinner at the château. Nevertheless, it was delicious!

                Quiche lorraine

INGREDIENTS
500g flaky pastry
5 eggs
10 cl creme fraiche
2 glasses milk
(I believe 1 cl equals 4g, but I have no idea what a glass of milk equals)
300 g smoked bacon
Salt & pepper to taste

Roll out pastry and place it into a large baking dish. (no size given, but large enough to hold all those ingredients) Prick bottom and sides with a fork.
Dice bacon and lay on the pastry.
Preheat oven to 210 C  Heat the milk in a saucepan.
Beat the eggs in a bowl with the milk and cream.
Season with salt & pepper and pour the egg mixture over the bacon.
Bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove and serve immediately

 






   After the quiche we repaired to our private dinning room where a beautifully laid table in front of the fireplace awaited our attentions. Here, course after course was elegantly served and boisterously consumed (we were a noisy crowd, hence the private dinning room.) I was in heaven!

    There was a shellfish course with heads-on shrimp, scallops, a pastry "bag" of delicious little scallops and chopped vegetables, salty and crunchy with three different sauces to try with them, red peppers and carrots in a pale green cucumber gelatin, spicy in a glass topped with a pink mayonnaise, all as tasty as the picture is pretty.


    Another course of lamb and foie gras terrine with whole duck livers that melted in my mouth, and an apple/onion salad, red on one side of the plate balanced by a green salad on the other. I ended up eating everything with the savory lamb gravy - oh so good!



    The fish course had large white asparagus wrapped in the locally cured jambon (ham) served warm with a cold asparagus sauce over it. Warm and cold with two asparagus textures and a buttery crisp white fish fillet that all fought in my mouth for dominance. It is a credit to the chefs that none won, and with the addition of the fresh farm cheese, each finally melded into a bit of perfection on my tongue.



    The cheese course was too many cheeses and as much as you'd like - so of course I had many! There was a camembert, a hard swiss, a French (naturally!) Gruyere and a couple other exceedingly local and equally good varieties that all went well with the savory walnut bread.



    And, of course there were too many desserts, with too much chocolate, and too many sweet nothings to accompany them. Oh, there was homemade ice cream too. There were ohhs and ahhs around the table, but I just picked at the fruit and gave the rest away. I'm really not a dessert guy.



    All this washed down with a delicious local red wine, Côtes de Toul Pinot Noir 2003, that was fruity but dry, almost astringent on the tongue, full bodied and complimentary to the wide variety of dishes we were served. (There was a nice white with the fish, too, but in my excitement I forgot to write it down!)



    All-in-all a perfect dinner with perfect dinner companions in a perfect setting. The folks who run the Chateau are so nice and so accommodating, I really felt at home. I hope that if you can get to France to follow in the footsteps of our WW I soldiers, you also take the time to pamper yourselves in an historic chateau in the verdant French countryside north of Paris in Meuse.

Château des Monthairons**** (4 stars)
55320 Dieue-sur-Meuse
Tel : +33 (0)329 87 78 55 – Fax : +33 (0)329 87 73 49
Internet : www.chateaudesmonthairons.fr
Official French Government Tourist Office website
www.franceguide.com
Air France
www.airfrance.us Meuse Department of Tourism
www.tourisme-meuse.com
www.tourism-lorraine.com/en/default.asp
Lorraine Department of Tourism
 
Richard Frisbie, FOOD Correspondent:

RICHARD FRISBIE is published twice a month to Gather Essentials: Food 
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BIO - Richard Frisbie writes culinary travel articles, is a columnist for his local newspapers, and is a regular contributor to the many Hudson Valley, Catskill Mountain and other regional New York publications. His most recent addition to that list is a wine column called "Fruit of the Vine" for Life in the Finger Lakes magazine. Online, he writes frequent articles for EDGE publications and Travel Lady, as well as Gather.

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