A popular dish in Tahiti — very light and delicate. It’s made with freshwater prawns called “chevrettes”, but any type of fresh prawn will do.
Carpaccio aux deux thons
You may be dubious about raw fish, but I can assure you that this tastes superb and is a very elegant and original starter (if you can get hold of the fresh tuna of course). It’s very rich — you only need small helpings.
Asparagus gratin
Sounds fairly ordinary, but the unctuous sauce makes it special. An excellent way of stretching a little asparagus to serve a lot of people.
Mounjetada, or cassoulet ariégois
I must confess I am not fond of cassoulet as it is served in the Aude — too stodgy and grease-laden — but this is something else entirely, lighter and much more digestible.
Mounjettes is the name given to dried haricot beans. They do need to be good quality for this dish, and preferably the new season’s harvest. The dish is much more liquid than cassoulet de Castelnaudary, and it’s traditional to serve the sauce first as a soup, with bread broken into it, followed by the beans and meat. We also had a lovely green salad with this, freshly plucked from the garden.