Food memories - Le Caveau, Skipton

Do you find that when you get that rare opportunity of a child free night and you know that you should probably take advantage of the fact that you can go out but you just can't be bothered with the dressing up part or the agreeing on a restaurant...?

During the recent long weekend Sibs went for a sleepover birthday party. Neil and I looked at each other, both willing the other to suggest staying in....



So we decided to re-create a meal from 'the old days' from a lovely little French restaurant called  Le Caveau in Skipton, North Yorkshire. (website HERE )

When I say little French restaurant, I mean little. If you didn't know it was there you would walk past it. It was on old 16th Century dungeon type jail, down some ancient stone steps on the corner of a cobbled street.
There was a tiny bar where you were greeted and where you sat to peruse the menu and enjoy a drink.

Le Caveau bar and restaurant.

I always knew what my entree choice would be...it was always the garlic mushrooms...always!

So I tried to transport myself back to Le Caveau days and remember the ingredients in order to make this dish. Yes, of course there were mushrooms and garlic and cream, but what else made it special?
I thought that I had it cracked when I remembered the blue cheese, and then Neil recalled that there was some bacon on the top.

It was put together and  in the oven and we opened a bottle of French Champagne (just to be authentic you know!)


I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but whilst it was cooking I decided to have a look online to see if the restaurant was still there...

Not only is it still there but look what was on the Spring 2012 menu -

Market Fresh Mushrooms
Cooked in garlic butter and fresh Dales cream, flavoured with Stilton cheese, topped with crispy bacon

Bingo!

Okay, maybe my cream wasn't from the Yorkshire Dales, or the Blue cheese wasn't the real Mc Coy stilton....but it was close.

Oh how that taste took me back....

There wasn't a real favourite with the Le Caveau mains, I would often just go with the special. So we cooked roast belly pork with parsnip and greens - real comfort food.



Our open plan Australian kitchen didn't quite hit it with the same intimate atmosphere of Le Caveau, but the reminiscing and the memories that we recounted made it feel like we were almost there...



(photos of the inside of the restaurant from the Le Caveau website HERE)

Funny how one dish from one restaurant can evoke such memories....

(I must put it on the list of places to go on our next trip back)