Salmon & Watercress

The salmon has been revered for centuries by the Celts for its intrinsic ability to bring knowledge to the consumer! There is certainly no longer any doubt that fish oils and specifically the omega-3 fatty acids contained therein are a valuable food source for brain function as well as general wellbeing. We also know that watercress is a wonder salad gram for gram containing more iron than spinach, more vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than milk. It is brimming with Vitamin A (converted from beta carotene) with 80g providing a whopping 42% of the recommended daily allowance. Its curative properties have been revered down the centuries; Hippocrates born in 460BC, the father of medicine, is said to have located his first hospital close to a spring to ensure fresh watercress to help treat his patients, Greek soldiers were given it as a tonic before going into battle and the 16th Century herbalist Culpepper claimed it could cleanse the blood. Educated pagans, filidhs and druids thought very highly of watercress as a plant which increases sexual energy, enhances divination and boosts fertility! Need I say anymore about the health benefits of this recipe!

You will need for 4 servings
1 kg salmon (middle cut)
50g Clarified butter
250ml of fish stock
300g watercress (stalks removed)
250ml double cream
1tsp chlorophyll (optional)
salt & black pepper

Method

Debone the salmon (from the back) and remove the skin. Cut the flesh into 4 good escalopes of about 200g each. Set aside on paper and salt lightly.

Using a sauté pan, heat the clarified butter over a medium heat. Introduce the salmon escalopes and cook for 1 minute on each side. Transfer to a serving dish and keep warm. Pour off the excess fat from the pan and deglaze with the fish stock. As soon as the stock bubbles, introduce the watercress and freshly grounded black pepper (I use madagascar pepper) and simmer for two minutes then add the cream, lower the heat cover and leave for 5 minutes. Add the chlorophyll if you have it. Pour the sauce onto a plate and lay the escalope on top. Steamed potatoes are a good accompaniment with this. Serve immediately with a nice cold glass of dry white wine from the Loire Valley - say a Sancerre or Pouilly.

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.

Parsnip Fritters with chili and chives

There was a time when I deemed parsnip far too important to use as a vegetable because I found they are a fantastic base product for making home made champagne! That is another story! When I was younger my folks would make fritters in order to guarantee that we as children would eat up our vegetables! Fritters are easy to make and lend themselves to a wide variety of interesting combinations. Here is a basic recipe to get you going:

You will need for 4

6 parsnips washed and peeled.
butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 Chili finely chopped
bunch of fresh chives (chopped)

Method

Dice the parsnips and place in boiling water for 25 minutes until soft. When soft, strain off the water and add salt butter and a little milk and pepper. Mash up the parsnip in the pan until fluffy adding the chili and chives. Shape up into fritters and roll in plain flour. Sauté in the pan until golden brown and serve immediately

Peaches in Champagne

I am always on the look-out for an eye catching dessert which is not only delicious but has real feel good factor too and this has to be one of my favourites. It is surprisingly easy to make yet so rare to see it served these days. That is why it is great for that very special private dinner party!

You will need for 4 servings:

4 ripe white peaches
500ml dry champagne
350ml of sorbet syrup
1 small vanilla pod
250g strawberries
150g castor sugar
250ml double cream
juice of half lemon
4 fresh mint leaves

Method

Plunge the peaches into boiling water for 30 seconds then into cold water and when cool, peel. Place the peeled peaches into a shallow pan and add the champagne,syrup and vanilla. On a low heat bring gently to the boil and poach at 85 degrees for around 5/6 minutes or when soft. Remove from heat and keep the peaches in a cool place. The peaching liquid should be chilled in the refrigerator.

Rub the strawberries through a fine sive over a bowl and add the sugar to the pulp. Whip the cream until the whisk leaves a trail when lifted then stir in the strawberry pulp and the lemon juice.

Serve the peaches in glass dishes or small bowls. Pour the strawberry mousse over the bottom of the dishes and place a cold (not chilled) peach on top. Place the mint leaf on top of the peach and serve the champagne separately in a sauceboat.

Noisettes of venison with cramberries

Brittany is fortunate in having plenty of wild deer and come October all the local farmers are out and about with their guns! Make sure you are visible if your out in the woods collecting mushrooms! If you are not a member of the hunting club then join up immediately or make friends with someone who is! Failing that source a good gamekeeper or licensed butcher.

You will need for 6 persons:

1 saddle of roe deer
200g cranberries
1 ts thyme flowers
3 ts crushed black peppercorns
100ml olive oil
100ml port
30g castor sugar
half an orange
half a lemon
2 medium carrots
1 large onion
1 stick celery
2 garlic cloves
50g flour
50ml cognac
150ml red wine vinegar
1L red wine (Gamay-style)
1L veal stock
1 sprig of thyme
100g foie gras (preferably raw)
50g butter
salt

Method
First cut out the 2 fillets from the bone; trim off the skin,sinews and nerves and keep to one side. Remove the 2 fillet mignons from underneath the saddle. Cut the large fillets into 12 or 18 noisettes and place in a shallow dish with the 2 fillets mignions. Sprinkle over with the thyme flowers, peppercorns and olive oil and leave in a cool place for 3 hours.

Put the port, sugar, and the orange and lemon zests into a pan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, add the cramberries and let it bubble for 30 seconds. Keep at room temperature

For the pepper sauce first preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Break up the bones from the saddle and place into a roasting pan with the venison trimmings. Brown the bones on all sides in the hot oven. Slice the carrot and onions into rings and finely chop the celery. Add the vegetables to the roasting pan along with the unpeeled garlic clove. After a few minutes, sprinkle with flour and roast for a further 10 minutes. Remove the contents from the pan into a large saucepan.

Deglaze the roasting pan with the cognac and vinegar. Set it over a high heat, pour in the wine and ignite. Simmer for 5 minutes then pour the liquid over the bones in the saucepan. Add the veal stock, the remaining crushed peppercorns and the thyme and simmer gently for two and a half hours skimming as necessary.

Pass the sauce contents through a conical sieve pressing the mixture with the back of a spoon to ensure all the wonderful juices are fully extracted. Return the sauce to a pan and keep warm.

Place a sauté over a high heat and without adding any fat, brown the venison noisettes and the filet mignonsfor 1 minute on each side. Keep them pink in the middle and warm.

Drain off the fat from the pan, deglaze with the juice from the cramberries, then add the pepper sauce. Rub the foie gras through a fine sieve and add to the sauce. Slowly add in the butter ensuring mixture does not boil. Add the cranberries and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, lay the 2 filet mignions in the centre of a shallow dish and arrange the noisettes around the sides. Pour over the boiling hot sauce and serve immediately.

Where do our students stay when cooking with us?

Student Lodge (1) Garden and patio


Student Lodge (1) Lounge


Student Lodge (1) Balcony level 1 (4 bed)


Student Lodge (1) External from road


Student Gite (2) 2 Bed Courtyard View


Student Gite (3) 4 bed with loads of space



There are a variety of wonderful places to stay around Kerrouet and so it very much depends upon the students themselves. We are often asked why don't we put up students within the school itself but the answer to that is simply to give the students a break when they are not cooking! Believe me they need it as do our chefs too!

We use up to four different houses all local to the village. The nearest is Lodge 1 which has 4 bedrooms, a large lounge and kitchen where students can relax and a lovely garden to sunbathe in!

Gite 2 has 2 bedrooms and is a complete unit with a beautiful courtyard.

Gite 3 is up the road a few minutes away and sleeps 4 easily with lots of space. There are other spaces available too so no one need worry on the accommodation front.

It is good to have a place to relax when not cooking although we allow students to utilise the rest rooom at Kerrouet House so that they may avail of wifi facilities. There are also facilities for washing clothes as well. Students make their own breakfasts but will have coffee/tea on arrival each day of the course at 10am and there is plenty of food during lunch and dinner so don't eat too much first thing in the morning! Lunch usually ends at around 2.30pm and dinner preparation recommences at around 5.30pm and students remain at Kerrouet House until after dinner around 10.30pm. From what our students say, we don't need to change the routine as it works for them very well. We look forward to welcoming you to Kerrouet House in the not too distant future!

Places to visit

While Kerrouet itself is a tiny hamlet just outside the villages of St Gilles du Mené and St Goueno, we are located directly in the gently rolling countryside of "The Mené"; an area famous throughout Brittany for its unspoilt scenery - a walking and cycling paradise. Here you have a unique time warp where village life goes on much as it did in the middle ages. Villagers attend their fields, their gardens and their animals and little has changed on the surface at least. The roads are quiet and the alluring sounds of wildlife are apparent. Bats, owls and woodpeckers compete for attention and give one an intense feeling of closeness with nature. The gentle sound of church bells can be heard ringing for miles across green fields and hedgerows. A far cry from the traffic and pollution I remember on Gloucester Rd Kensington (London) where I used to live!

So for students who just prefer to go for a walk or a cycle in between cooking, this is a wonderful spot to do so. To unwind. To walk safely. To meet friendly neighbours. Earlier this year, some of our German students were very surprised when an old man they met on the road invited them into his home. He was over 80 years old and lived alone. They were offered home made cider and given a tour of the garden. They came away amazed that people could be so hospitable to complete strangers.

If you wish to explore there are lots of extiting places to visit around us. You could spend a few hours in Dinan or Josselin or St Malo or Lamballe. Here are a few photos to get you in the mood. There is also my favourite place St Cado and of course Vannes, Rennes and Nantes. They all have their unique beauty and charm. You could easily spend all summer long exploring but please remember that cooking starts again at what time was it??!