Seaweed Crisps

For thousands of years people all over the world have benefited from the vegetables of the sea. In recent times knowledge was lost in parts of the world and it’s only in recent times in Western Europe that seaweed is being valued again as a source of vital minerals and vitamins. Of course the Bretons never forgot the value of their seaweed or goémon as they call it. To this day the goémoniers go out in their boats armed with a special rotating hook to collect it. The hook is called a skoubidou!! 

The beauty of seaweed is that in most cases one can pick one’s needs directly and quickly. All you need is a basic knowledge of seaweed, what areas are safe from pollution and the time of the tides! 

I was on the Plage du Môle at St Malo on Christmas Day. It was low tide and one had almost the whole beach to oneself :

Plage du Môle St Malo Bretagne France

Laminaria digitata at low tide



I was looking for a very common kelp seaweed called laminaria digitata otherwise known in Ireland as leathrach, in England as oarweed and in Japan as kombu! It is usually attached to rocks exposed at low tide and you simply cut a little of each plant. It grows fast and furiously so don’t feel guilty. 

This seafood is high in glutamates and can act as a great flavor enhancer as well as being used commercially as a food alginate additive. My main interest however was simply to make some delicious seaweed crisps which according to some accounts taste of bacon! 

This is so easy if you have access to a bbq but you could just as easily use an oven instead.

Ingredients 

10 lengths of freshly collected oarweed

Method

Wash the seaweed thoroughly rubbing by hand under cold water removing any sand and debris. Then drop the seaweed carefully into boiling water and let simmer in a large pan for one hour. Watch the seaweed change color from brown to green! 

Remove the seaweed and let dry. I find leaving it to cool and refrigerate overnight improves the texture of the crisps. 

Prepare the BBQ and if you can get access to some little pieces of turf this will greatly benefit the overall smokey taste. Place the seaweed across the bbq and leave until crispy and almost black. Don’t forget to turn as required. The crisps should be ready in about 10 minutes. 

Remove from the bbq and let rest. Keep in a dry place and use as a simple tasty crisp or as an addition to other dishes on your menu. They are great with oysters and scallops and yes they do inexplicably taste of smoked bacon! 

Seaweed has a high iodine and mineral content so don’t overly indulge. Always seek the advice of your doctor if you are pregnant or have a medical condition. 

Pumpkin Soup

It’s Thanksgiving Day and what a great starter for your family dinner!

Pumpkin or Butternut squash  soup 

serves 6

800 gram of pumpkin, peeled de-seeded and cut into cubes

25 gram butter

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 large onion peeled and chopped

1.liter of chicken stock 

salt and pepper to taste

dash of lemon juice 

100 ml. of milk

150 ml. of dry white wine

Method

Glaze the onions in butter so they are soft, add the pumpkin, white wine and chicken stock, boil the ingredients till soft.

Blend the vegetables and stock, flavour with salt, pepper lemon juice and add milk to get the right

consistency , strain and whisk a bit of butter in the soup before serving.

Serve the soup with bread croutons. 

Saumon Norbert

Not  many people know of Saumon Norbert. That’s because it is a recipe we developed at Kerrouet House and named it after one of our students (Norman Hatcliff) who was celebrating his 65 birthday with us! It’s a simple and delicious dish and I am sure you will love it! 

Ingredients:

150g/5.5ozs of salmon filet per person 

1 red onion diced

1 red pepper diced

1 green pepper diced 

1 yellow pepper diced 

1 roll of goats cheese sliced

Method

Preheat oven to 240C/460F

Make an insertion in the middle of each salmon filet and insert the slice of goats cheese. Sprinkle the mix of vegetables on top. Place the salmon filets on greased baking paper and season with salt and pepper. Bake the salmon for 10 minutes. Serve with salad and a dash of basil oil. 

Welcome to Brittany

The magazine Côtes d'Armor is distributed to every home in northern Brittany. Therefore it is very nice that we get a mention on page 26!! Here is a link : http://cotesdarmor.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/magazines/2017/Mag160.pdf

Five Days of Gourmet Cooking

Monday

Lunch
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
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 a local food market where we will taste the famous Briton Galettes!!

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

We get a mention in The Guardian

Link to Guardian Reader Tips article

Woodpeckers and Apple Blossoms

It's my favorite time of year again when nature bursts back into life in the garden. We have woodpeckers busy pecking away in the background as the giant oaks, ash, sycamore and beech trees start to mantle their naked forest anew with luscious new leaves. The old crab tree is full of apple blossoms again and so reprieved from her barren autumnal harvest. The hum of bees high up in the blossoms can be heard, a welcome sound given their scarcity last year. The primroses anemone, bluebells, wood sorrel and forgetmenots are competing with daffodils, tulips and magnolias for attention and the herb and vegetable garden is screaming out for my attendance!

To hear the songs of the birds as nature takes command of the land is one of the greatest joys of being alive and so why not savour this moment and reflect on the extraordinary beautiful world we are all part of.

To hear the woodpeckers and birdsong of Kerrouet you can do so via the following link: Birdsong in Kerrouet

Walking and cycling in Brittany

It's not just the food folks! Brittany has to be one of the best places in the world to go on a walking or cycling holiday. The countryside is unspoilt, the roads are relatively empty and drivers take great care for cyclists and pedestrians.There are over 800 km of dedicated off road cycle routes crossing the countryside with another 20000 km being scheduled. Old train lines and tracks take you through medieval villages and forests where you can really get away from it all. Only last month we stood in amazement and watched a family of wild boar cross our path! What a shame my camera was at home in the car!

Britons are exceedingly friendly folk especially if you try at first to speak a little French with them. After all that is only being polite. With so many French words in English, no one has any excuses! There are excellent facilities along the cycle routes and you can find plenty of interesting places to explore. As you will see from the map above, it does not matter where you start your trip as the routes are easy to access from any direction. We have a number of dedicated walks and cycle tours we recommend so no excuses to get lots of wonderful exercise and as we are a cooking school you get to eat exceedingly well too!
We are located right in the middle of Brittany close to route 8 on the main map above. If you are staying on one of our cooking courses, we can prepare a nice picnic for you too. Here is a link which shows you our little village of Kerrouet in more detail.

http://www.randobreizh.org/zonedifferenciee/VoieVerte6StCaradecPlemet%20%282%29.php

Snails in garlic butter, black pepper & chives

Are you really into French Dining? Well why not test yourself and your best friends with a gourmet snail in garlic butter dish? It is great as a starter and will certainly get your diners talking!

You will need:

100 snails (if you don't know how to collect and clean your own organic supply just ask - otherwise source a commercial supplier for Helix Aspersa.

Put the snails in a sieve and dunk them in boiling water for a few seconds to kill them. Take the snails from the shells with a small fork, wash them off and then cook.
To cook about a 100 you need a pint of water, ¾ pint of cider, a large carrot and an onion cut into pieces. Make sure the snails are covered in liquid.
Bring to the boil and simmer until tender for about an hour – it may take a little longer.Rinse in hot water to clean off the bits of vegetables. Dry on paper and set aside.

For the Le Poulbot sauce preparation you will need:

450g salted butter (at room temperature)
6 small shallots
3 garlic cloves
20g fresh chives finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme finely chopped
20g fresh parsley finely chopped
20 hazelnuts
600ml double cream
1 tbls green chartreuse
10g freshly grounded Black Pepper.
Good pinch of chervil,dill, fennel seed, basil and sage.

Peel wash and finely chop the shallots and garlic keeping them separate. In a sauté pan set over a low heat sweat the shallots in half the butter. Add all the herbs except the chives and keep some parsley for sprinkling at the end. Toast the hazlenuts under a hot grill for a few minutes until golden brown. Place the nuts into a cloth and rub together to remove the skins. Finally chop the nuts. Add the chopped nuts to the pan. Pour in the Chartreuse and ignite. Stir in the cream, black pepper, remaining butter and garlic and simmer for five minutes. Add the chives season to taste and serve in snail dishes with a sprinkling of the parsley over each dish. Serve with a nice dry white chablis or a muscadet and freshly baked parsley bread rolls.

Truffles in Provence

Well it was lovely to get down to another part of France famous for its great food and wine. We arrived in Nice, well Tourrette sur Loup in fact, last Saturday having had a stopover in Avignon.  The Popes Palace, the theatre and old town walls were very impressive, (particularly the Palace bread oven and kitchen which had to roast 128 oxen for one Pope Clement VI's banquet in 1342!) , the town itself was full of history. The long drive had taken its toll and we were delighted to sleep and prepare for the next five days of gourmet cooking and eating at the famous Nice cooking school belonging to Arne Fusager and Birthe Sandager up in the hills of Cote D'Azur! What a week we had!!

Everything came with truffles including roast pork , scrambled eggs,  truffle risotto, slow roasted lamb, truffle ice cream, artichoke, veal fillet with apples, turbot soup, scallop souffle, orange cake,  smoked salmon, foie gras terrine and mouth watering creme caramel to name but a few of the delights. 

It was an truely amazing experience and I have now eaten more truffles than one normally gets (if they are very lucky) in a lifetime ! Arne took us out to see the truffle market at Aups and we were able to see a well trained dog actually dig trufles out of the ground!  These truffle dogs are very valuable and we are advised that in season (November to March) farmers protect their truffle fields (and dogs) with night patrols and rifles! 

During all this food preparation and consumption we tasted lots of wonderful wines and rose's and were briefed on the local varieties and specific grapes of the Provence region.  These included wines from Chateau  de Cremat, Chateau Sainte Roseline, Chateau La Canorgue (where the film director Ridley Scott shot his  film A Good Year ) and a Le Van which was absolutely delicious. 

All this took place high up in the hills overlooking the most wonderful medieval village of Tourrrette sur Loup with Nice and Cannes visible in the distance. We were surrounded by olive trees, rosemary and lavender bushes, mimosa trees in full bloom and the most wonderful tulips the size of which are rarely seen in Northern Europe! 

And how wonderful to come back home to Kerrouet yesterday  and to find that a local actor from the adjoining village of Plemet, Marion Cotillard (who starred in the Scott film mentioned above), has won a Oscar for her performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose!! Our hills are alive with the sounds of music!!