Delicious dining aboard Saroche

Captain Jason’s partner in barging and life is Chef Dawn, whose food is the final piece in the luxurious Saroche experience.  She produces three incredible meals a day (plus delectable bites with a daily champagne aperitif) from a diminutive galley.

Breakfast

Every breakfast featured croissants or pastries from the local boulangerie, plus an assortment of yogurts, cheese, and sliced fruit (my surprise favorite was bananas with lime zest).  Dawn also makes eggs to order, though we generally saved our appetites for…

*

Lunch

Always served on deck upon our return from an excursion, our lunches included such menus as:

• Individual cheese tarts with sliced garden-fresh tomatoes
• Tartiflette (potato, bacon, and wine baked in a casserole) with salad
• Pork pâté with pickled black walnuts, served with bean salad and rillettes
• Tarte paysanne (potatoes and cheese encased in a rich pastry crust) with carrot salad
• Smoked salmon with 3 kinds of asparagus (green, white, and wild), poached egg, and hollandaise

There was a light dessert too, and plenty of white or rosé wine.

*
Hors d’oeuvres

As our afternoons wound down, it was time for “bubbles du jour” and a little nosh – homemade pâté en croute, foie gras bites, sensational blue cheese sablées with walnut.  Always just enough to leave us wanting more.

*

Dinner – les entrées

In France, entrées are appetizers.  Dawn’s choices ranged from classic (cheese soufflé) to creative (gingerbread with foie gras and grilled halloumi).  I particularly loved her homemade ravioli with lemon zest, and the escargot made with absolutely fresh, plump snails from just up the road.  No canned snails here!

*

Dinner – les plats principaux

After we finished our entrées, it was time for the plat principal or main course.  Dawn’s attention to detail shines here with beautiful plating, and of course there are more creative touches like homemade mustard ice cream paired with cod.

*

Les desserts

Most of Dawn’s desserts were fruit-based, though of course done in a very elegant way.  For example – a stone fruit “ceviche” served in a martini glass, apples with calvados and salted caramel cream, a poached pear with tiny palmier, and a whole baked peach.  And one night, just to mix things up, we had a totally decadent chocolate fondant.

*

Les vins

Jason is an expert on Burgundy wine, and so in addition to our daily Champagne, he served white and red Burgundy each evening with dinner.  Each bottle came with a story, so I learned a lot both about the specific wineries and about Burgundy more generally.

One of the most special bottles was from the Hospices de Beaune auction, where barrels of Burgundy (equivalent to 300 bottles) are sold to support both the modern hospital and the historical site.  It was fun to hear about the event, and even more fun to try the wine!

***

We were beyond spoiled with the food and wine on Saroche and all of us were bereft when we left Dawn and her magical galley.  But she emailed us a treasure trove of recipes recently, and while I doubt I’ll ever be ambitious enough to make mustard ice cream, I definitely have my eye on the recipe for blue cheese sablées…  Stay tuned!