Couples Cooking Week

Well I never thought I would say this but with Ryanair offering such fantastic low flight deals (£5 each way) from London Stanstead to Dinan our local airport what a bargain for our students in the south east of England! Thank you Ryanair!

Particularly so as French Dining School have this wonderful facebook offer running at the moment where couples (not necessarily co-habitating) are offered a fabulous all inclusive deal - only 800 euros for two persons on a five day cooking course this autumn! This is probably the best cooking school offer ever seen on the net!

The courses will of course maintain the highest professional culinary standards expected of a top cooking school with Michelin trained chefs and Eurotoque credentials!

We enjoy being up there with the best cooking schools in France but also take pride in our friendly and hands on expertise allowing all out students to feel properly involved in the courses. We know adults learn by doing and so all students are fully involved in the preparation and cooking of all the dishes - that is a total of 40 individual dishes in five days - no mean task for anyone in the kitchen these days!

Courgette Flower

Ask any gardener what they have most of in their gardens this time of year and they will probably tell you tomatoes or courgettes! We have an abundance of the latter! Now ask a good chef what is the best thing you can do with a courgette and if they are honest they will probably, at this time of year, tell you to throw it at someone you don't like! Well to be fair there are lots of other exciting things you can do with courgettes in the kitchen and my favourate is to bake them along with leeks and a good strong cheese. We keep a nice local goat cheese just for such purposes.

However it is the courgette flower that I wish to refer to here. Again there is an abundance of beautiful courgette flowers around at the moment and it is a wonderful opportunity to practice your tempura and plate dressing skills. This is a wonderful dish to prepare with students as they go through the whole process from picking the flowers in the garden, removing the stamens, cleaning, preparing the filling; stuffing the flowers, deep frying, drying and finally dressing the plates. It is also one of those recipes where seeing it done is absolutely vital rather than reading and working from a recipe book.
I like to use a sweet potato, goat cheese and pine nut stuffing and this dish can be served with a wide variety of engaging delights. One of our most popular side dishes include puy lentils salsa with garlic aioli. I look forward to doing this with you and don't worry we have never thrown a courgette at anyone yet but you have been warned!

Cooking Classes - photos

Recent cooking class - photos

Great Deals on Facebook

Special 2 for 1 weekend deals cost E350 and are inclusive of all accommodation, meals, wines and course fees for two persons. Book via facebook "Kerrouet Cooking School" or Tel 0033296344381.

Panna Cotta with fresh fruits

1/2 Liter of fresh cream
1 Vanilla pod split lengthways, seeds scraped out
50 gram of sugar
2 gelatin leaves
Little bit of lemon zest

Fresh fruit sauce or whatever is in season
150 gram strawberries chopped
150 gram plums chopped
1 Orange file
Tbsp of honey -to taste
Grand Marnier or Framboise liqueur to taste

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a small pan and heat up to simmer

Soak the gelatin leaves in a little cold water until soft.
Squeeze the water out of the gelatin leaves,
then add to the pan and take off the heat.
Stir until the gelatin has dissolved.
Divide the mixture among 6 -8 small ramekins and leave to cool.
Place into the fridge for at least 2 hour, until set.

Fresh fruit sauce
Method
Mix the chopped strawberries, plums orange filet and flavor it with the liqueurs and honey

To serve, turn each panna cotta out onto a serving plate and serve it with the fruit sauce

melt a bit of dark chocolate and decorate the plates

5 DAY SUMMER COURSE 2010

Monday

We start at 10am with introductions, course program, safety issues (use of knives etc). We discuss each daily menu before we commence preparation and actual cooking.

Lunch
Chicken stock making for the week
Starter: Bruschetta on toasted bread
Main: Salmon fish cakes on a garden salad with homemade sauce remoulade
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses

Dinner
Starter:Artichoke in a citrus soup
Main: Langoustine stuffed chicken leg with mushroom sauce
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses
Dessert:Panna Cotta with fresh summer fruits

Tuesday

Lunch
Starter: Gazpacho
Main: Turkey breast marinated in soya, ginger and chili
served on a salad with toasted pine kernels
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses

Dinner
Starter: Grilled scallops with endive soup and chives
Main: Veal fillet with basil sauce, crème fraiche potatoes and rosemary roasted vegetables
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses
Dessert: Lemon cake with cointreau creme fraiche



Wednesday

Lunch
Starter: Small tomato pizza
Main: Warm smoked fish on a salad with horseradish cream
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses

Dinner
Starter: Grilled Langoustines with garlic butter
Main: “Frikadeller” Danish styled meat balls with
potato salad and cucumber salad
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses
Dessert: Tiamisu

Thursday

Lunch
Visit to local food market where we will eat as well

Dinner
Starter: Mushroom risotto
Main: Pan fried skate wing with lemon, capers, parsley & new potatoes
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses
Dessert: Caramelized strawberries served with
cinnamon and a poppyseed ice cream

Friday

Lunch
Starter: Mussel soup with saffron
Main: Caesar Salad
Cheese: Selection of French cheeses

Dinner
Starter: Lobster bisque
Main: Slow roasted lamb with oven baked vegetables Cheese: Selection of French cheeses
Dessert: Poached peach with a sabayon sauce and fresh raspberries