Apero dinatoire

We took a selection of delicious snacks and nibbles with us to share with our hosts when we went to the Charente-Maritime last week. A spread like this is known as an apéro dînatoire.

Clockwise from bottom left: a jar of tapenade; cherry tomatoes; a jar of chutney given to me by a French friend, whose parents had received it as a gift from some English people and it was too weird for them to consider eating; my homemade baba ganoush; my homemade dolmades; my homemade beetroot and walnut hummus; sliced baguette from a bakery in Saint-Agnant; artisanal heart-shaped raspberry flavoured biscuits from near Issoudun; Badoit fizzy mineral water; Charentais melon and strawberries; corn chips; a prize winning Sainte Maure de Touraine goats cheese from Limouzin frères, whose farm is just over the hill from us; rillons (slow cooked cubes of pork belly) from the charcutier in Preuilly; pork rillettes (slow cooked pork belly that is shredded into a paste) from the charcutier in Preuilly; my homemade pickled mini peppers, stuffed faisselle (fresh white cheese) that I had beaten finely chopped herbs into. Out of the picture was a jar of carp rillettes from Fish Brenne; some gherkins and some green olives. The sparkling wine is Milliard d'Etoiles from Domaine de la Garrelière near Richelieu.

Homemade beetroot and walnut hummus, with baba ganoush in the background.

 Homemade pickled mini peppers stuffed with fresh cheese and finely chopped herbs.

Recipes I used:

David Lebovitz's baba ganoush.

Instructions for preparing my own vine leaves on The Spruce Eats.

Ken's dolmades filling and method of cooking.

Clotilde Dusoulier's recipe for Beetroot Hummus, substituting ground walnuts and walnut oil for the tahini.

Instructions for pickling peppers.


The delightful setting for all of this was supplied by the Hays family. This is the table on the terrace by their back door. You may already be familiar with it, as it appears regularly in Susan Hays' blog Our French Oasis.

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