An ordinary duck breast, but very tasty.  Just grilled and rested in the oven.   Slices of carrot sauté with garlic and parsley, mixed with butter beans.   Fine green beans blanched in well salted water and glazed with olive oil.

Bought a guinea fowl and got some stock going for later.  The breasts started off hot in a pan, skin side down, then some butter thrown in.  When cooking was well under way, the breasts were removed and quickly wrapped with sage leaves in Bayonne ham and returned to the pan to complete cooking.
Slices of new potato had been sautéed in butter and simmered in a little water (fondant style) and courgette had been grilled.  These vegetables where finishing in the oven while the fowl was frying.
When the breasts were plated, the suc in the pan was essentially a beurre brûlé.  Lemon juice was whisked in and poured over the saltimbocca.  Yep, that's what it is, a saltimbocca of guinea fowl.  Saltimbocca means 'jump in the mouth' and is traditionally veal and sage wrapped in Parma ham (prosciutto).  It is often just the three things pinned together with a tooth pick.

Chop several ripe tomatoes and blitz briefly with a little salt and basil (or parsley), then hang in a jelly bag or muslin, unmolested, overnight.  The liquid you catch is jus de tomate or essence de tomate.  Clear in colour and a surprise when tasted.

Now what did I do with it?  There were no scallops at the fishmonger and I didn't fancy dressing a crab, so I bought some small pole-grown mussels (moules).
These were opened in a splash of boiling white wine with salt, pepper and parsley, then taken off the shell and placed in the fridge to firm up.  Then stir fried briefly in olive oil until just heated through and served in the cold jus de tomate.

Followed by magret of duck on potato purée with olive oil and garlic, well seasoned.
Wilted mâche and condimento balsamico.

Magret means the breast of a duck that has been fattened for the production of foie gras.  The word magret is from the French maigre, meaning lean; the meat is actually quite lean but covered with a thick layer of fat.  The skin can be scored with a sharp knife.  Put the magret skin side down on the grill pan before it comes to full heat.  This renders a lot of the fat out.  Sort out a way of pouring off the fat without loosing the meat and turn over when the skin is well browned.  Rest it and eat it as rare as you dare.

A speciality of the area is Farci de Poitou or Farce Poitivin.
It says on the jar, it is a terrine of cabbage, chard, spinach, pork and seasonings.   The secret would appear to be in the seasoning, because it is quite good.

Prawns fried with garlic and parsley.  They were over-boiled before I bought them.
I would much rather buy prawns raw, but they are hard to find.

No such problem with the oysters.  Bought fresh from the market, thirteen to the dozen.  A couple were excessively muddy and were discarded, but the rest were enjoyed raw with some lemon juice.

Lunch of duck paté, buffalo mozzarella and salad with cherry tomatoes and boiled egg.
The wine is Tavel rosé; still the best.

Dinner of potato gnocchi from the chill cabinet with a sauté of carrot, celery, garlic and marjoram.
Green beans and a rich bouillon of rabbit, monté au beurre.

A little unusually, the rabbit stock was used before the rabbit pieces.  These were marinaded for two days in olive oil, pepper and curry powder.  They were seared on a hot grill then roasted.  The kidneys and liver were added near the end.  The cat got the liver because we are soft-hearted, but we kept the kidneys to ourselves.
I puréed new potatoes with carrots and blanched garlic.

Potato and carrot mash can be called 'clapshot', though this has been described as potato and turnip mash, probably meaning swede.  There is often confusion here as the the Scots call swede 'neep', meaning turnip.  It is actually the rutabaga, also known as the Swedish or Russian turnip.

Anyway, forget the neep, I used carrot and added garlic.  This can be added in vast quantities if it is 'scared' first.   Throw the cloves of garlic in boiling water for half a minute then refresh in icy water.  Peel and put in fresh boiling water for another half minute and refresh.   Repeat for a third time, then mash with salt.
A few unruly leaves of mâche and a sauce of chicken stock and crème frâiche (this seems to be the best the French can manage and I will just call it cream from now on.)  

Now 'terre et mer', earth and sea.  Moules, mushrooms and artichoke.  The liquor from the moules and mushrooms was reduced with cream.

Followed by a trout roasted with parsley.   

The jus de tomate was so good, I made some more.  This time with some white clams that had just been steamed open and taken off the shell.  I managed to find the conical white bowls in the town of Cognac; it has been a long search.

To follow, prawns fried with tarragon.  Also squid flash fried for 40 seconds with lardons of bacon, garlic and parsley