Parmesan Omelette Soufflé

It is amazing what you can do with only four eggs and a little flour, butter, milk and cheese! An omelette soufflé with Parmesan cheese serves 3-4 people and with a little salad or vegetables you have a full on main meal. 

Ingredients 

4 large organic eggs

40g flour

250ml milk

60g butter (40g in omelette 20g in pan)

100g Parmesan (70g grated rest shavings 

Salt & Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 210 degrees 

Heat milk and butter together. Break eggs and separate yokes from whites into two bowls. Mix yokes with 2/3 of the flour. Add hot milk and butter then rest of flour and finally the remainder of the milk. Add the Parmesan with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk the egg whites with a little salt and add to the mixture. Heat a tefal pan (26 cm diameter) then melt butter and pour the soufflé on the pan. Let it set. Place the pan in the oven for 8 minutes and remove when golden. Sprinkle the Parmesan shavings on top and serve. Absolutely delicious and so light! 

Vannes and the Gulf of Morbihan

We are always on the lookout for new places to visit close to us and yesterday we discovered the beautiful island of Berder right in the Gulf of Morbihan. It is a island paradise with extraordinary beauty. Private coves, forests and sandy beaches with a chateaux and lots of flowers too. 

 There is a passenger ferry to the island but we found a quick access route at low tide

At low tide most afternoons you can have lunch in the friendly bar adjacent to the access route and watch the waters recede as you enjoy your glass of wine or beer!

As soon as you set foot on the island you know you have landed somewhere magical. It may be the old pines or the amazing variety of fauna and flora which exists on this frost free terrain.

An island surrounded by hundreds of other islands and so secluded you keep thinking you are the first ever to land here! My only regret was we did not pack a picnic and a kayak. To get to the Isle of Berder takes 75 minutes from Kerrouet and it is a simple drive there and back. You might be wishing you had more time to explore the other islands but this is certainly a good start.

Chateau de Berder could make a lovely location for our cooking school!! 

Lobster Bisque, Beef Wellington and almond cake

Students started with Lobster bisque 

Followed by beef Wellington in a port wine sauce:

For dessert tonight students prepared an almond cake with white chocolate and liquorice:

Mussel soup and Caesar salad

For lunch today students prepared a lovely mussel soup for starters 

Followed by a delicious Caesar salad

Now off to walk a few miles in lovely rural countryside! 

Wild mushroom Risotto, Skate Wing, Strawberries

Students prepared a wild mushroom risotto for starters tonight:

Followed by pan fried skate wing in lemon, parsley and capers:

Our students prepared a delicious caramelised strawberry dish with home made poppyseed ice cream for dessert:

Pumpkin soup, frikadeller and tiramisu

Students were busy in the kitchen tonight  making walnut bread with rosemary as well as pumpkin soup

followed by frikadeller meat balls with potato, cucumber and cucumber salad

With an very seductive tiramisu to finish

Parmesan omelette and warm smoked salmon

Lunch today saw students prepare a very light fluffy Parmesan omelette for starters

Followed by an amazing warm smoked salmon with dill sauce and salad leaves

Scallops duck and chocolate fondant

For dinner tonight students prepared scallops in a curry Sauternes sauce for starters followed by 

duck breast with a raspberry and vinegar sauce with ceps and blackberries from the local forest. 

Dessert was a chocolate fondant with a home made salted caramel ice cream dressed with red berries and a dusting of cocoa powder.

Artichoke soup and langoustine chicken

Students were busy tonight preparing some very tasty dishes. We started with artichoke with pancetta served in a citrus sauce -all agreed it was sensational 

For mains we deboned and stuffed chicken legs with Swiss chard and langoustines served in an amazing tarragon sauce

For dessert it was a simple panna cotta served in a strawberry coulis with a selection of autumn berries dressed in chocolate! 

Gazpacho and salmon fish cakes

Another fun week of cooking started today with students working on stock making, baking walnut bread, tartar sauce, Gazpacho and lovely salmon fish cakes and that was just lunch! Winter weather with wind and rain meant Beau only got half his regular walk and I picked half  the blackberries I needed before getting socked! 

Places to visit when not cooking - Carnac

Over 2,800 standing stones! Erected in around 4500 BC, the stones are lined up over 4 km and 40 hectares in Carnac.

The standing stones, megalithic tombs and long narrow rows cover an area of over four kilometres at Carnac. The tallest standing stone is 4 metres high. During the high season, the alignments can be reached on a guided visit only, whilst in winter they can be freely accessed. This is for preservation and conservation purposes. The alignments here were erected during the Neolithic period by communities that had settled in the area between 5000BC and 2000BC. These tribes lived in large houses made of wood and clay, and made a living from farming and agriculture. A great way to round off your visit to the stones is with a visit to the Museum of Prehistory! This Museum clearly and simply presents the information we have available that goes some way towards explaining how these monuments dating back several thousand years old came to be here today.