Villefranche-sur-mer fall 2021 - 6 Mac and Cheese à la Côte d'Azur

 Dear Friends,

Sundays are usually days with nothing on our schedules so we often go out to lunch somewhere.  We particularly like to walk to the marina in Beaulieu-sur-mer.  Over the years we have found that the restaurant that we prefer the most is La Maison de Beaulieu (here).  Last Sunday, we went there again.  

One of our favorite dishes at this restaurant is the "Mi-cuit de thon rouge, sauce Bon'gù", that is to say seared tuna.  Jane really prefers her tuna more like medium and has a hard time convincing chefs that she will not complain if it is a little dry.  In fact the last time we were at the restaurant the chef agreed to cook her tuna a little more and then apologized profusely about the slight dryness.  This year Jane was prepared and told the server that she wanted her tuna more well done.  They then went on to negotiate how well done her tuna would be.  They agreed to half way between mi-cuit (seared) and bien cuit (well done).  So here is how they came out.  Here is the dish done as it should be.

Here is the compromise dish.  You might also notice that Jane ordered the vegetables, and I ordered the salad.  The salad was fine, but the vegetables were great.

Jane's was perfect for her, mine was perfect for me, and the chef and server were happy.  Of course we had to have some wine.  Unfortunately for the rest of our day, I ordered and we drank a whole bottle.

As you can see, Jane was very pleased with the beautiful day and the wonderful meal (as was I).

I splurged and had some mousse au chocolat.  It was just as beautiful, smooth and rich (but not overly sweet) as it looks.

But now to get to the point of the whole blog  -  Mac and Cheese à la Côte d'Azure.  It is clear that if you are on the Côte d'Azure you can't just have Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or even Annie's.  You need something more special.  Well La Maison de Beaulieu has just the dish for you  -  "Linguine dans la meule de parmesan" to which you can add truffles for just another 8 euros.  It is made table side.  The word meule has several meanings in France.  This morning we bought a meule de pain - a round loaf of bread.  In this case it is referring to a whole wheel of parmesan cheese.  In this picture the server has just rolled out the cart with the meule de parmesan on it.  As you can see it is quite big and has been hollowed out a little over time.

The next step is to flambé some Jack Daniels.  

Once you have gotten the Jack Daniels flaming hot and the alcohol burnt off, you add the liquid to the meule de parmesan.

The hot Jack Daniels will melt the cheese, and you begin to scrape it off the inside edge of the meule.

Once you have scrapped most of the cheese that you want, you add the fresh homemade pasta.

You continue to stir the pasta and scrape more cheese off the sides until you have just the right amount.  At which time, you put the pasta and cheese mixture onto the serving plate and add the cream sauce (with truffles).

The final step is a few homemade croutons.  

Et Voilà!!

If you have a meule of parmesan, fresh homemade pasta, some wonderful cream sauce with truffles and a few homemade croutons, you can make Mac and Cheese à la Côte d'Azur faster than Kraft out of a box.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

PS The photos of the making of the linguini dans la meule de parmesan were taken by Jane.