Staff Meal 81

Chicken rillettes, saucisson sec, fromage, and chicken fricassée.

Today’s staff meal leans a little toward French cuisine.

In other words, it is made up entirely of the fifth-generation owner’s favorite things.

First, the rillettes.

The beef rillettes served as an appetizer at Artisan, the teppanyaki restaurant that has been so kind to us, have a wonderfully rich flavor. These chicken rillettes, on the other hand, are milder and just right for spreading on slices of baguette.

Perhaps they are even smoother because chicken white liver has been mixed in.

The saucisson sec (dry sausage) was a souvenir from France given to us by a customer, and we enjoy it sliced thinly.

Its rich meat-and-spice flavor fills the mouth, and if you close your eyes, you can picture a charcuterie shop in Paris (though I have never been there).

It is not shown in the photograph, but French cheese was also among the items on the table.

Both were gifts: one was a 24-month-aged Comté, and the other was chèvre (goat cheese).

Cheese is also a favorite of the fifth-generation owner. We occasionally use Comté in our sushi, and tuna akami nigiri sprinkled with it is popular with our guests too. ^^

I particularly love chèvre in a salad: mix baby greens and lettuce with sautéed saucisson sec or bacon and chopped chèvre, then marinate with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt (Salies-de-Béarn salt works especially well!), and black pepper. I could eat it endlessly!

Somehow, this has turned into a cooking class…

And then there was chicken fricassée.

It is normally made with chicken thighs, but since the fifth-generation owner does not care for thighs, it was made with breast meat instead.

It is a dish in which flour-dusted chicken is lightly sautéed, then simmered with chopped onion and mushrooms in dairy.

The baguette we had prepared disappeared quickly with the rillettes, so we had the fricassée with plain white rice.

And it was delicious!

You could never serve French food as an accompaniment to rice at the restaurant, but this is a sushi restaurant’s staff meal, so please forgive us.

Ideally, one would enjoy the dishes above with wine, but I have never handled alcohol well, and my doctor has recently told me to avoid it as well, so I had sparkling water instead.

Once again, it was delicious. Thank you for the meal.