(Ideas from Languedoc and Roussillon, 2^nd ed., by Andrew Sanger)

If you serve food at your book group, try a selection of the following for your menu while discussing The Priest’s Madonna. You can find many of these foods in specialty food shops; some recipes for the entrees you can find online. The Joy of Cooking has a cassoulet recipe. Good luck! Let me know how it turns out . . .

 Hors d’oeuvres:

• cheeses—Roquefort (made from ewe’s milk), goat cheese, Passé l’An, and Bleu des Causses
• roasted chestnuts
• flaunes—light pastry with goat cheese
• gâtis—pastry or brioche with cheese, often Roquefort

Entrees:

• Turkey, goose, or chicken confit (the meat of a fowl cooked in its own fat)
• Cassoulet—bean and pork stew, often with bacon rind, pork fat, goose confit, knuckle of pork, loin of pork, and pork sausage
• Fish soup (brandade de morue). This is most often salted cod cooked with garlic in milk and olive oil.
• Ratatouille—eggplants, zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, with garlic and thyme
• Aigo bouido—garlic soup, herbs, bread, and eggs
• Civet—stew of hare or wild boar cooked with onions, the animal’s own blood, and red wine
• Civet de langouste—crayfish stewed in white wine with onions, garlic, and herbs
• Estofinado—dried cod with potatoes, eggs, nut oil, and milk

Desserts:

• candied chestnuts
• sugared almonds
• fruit tarts
• flans
• fresh ice cream

And, of course, some Languedocian wine from your local liquor store.