Sterling Power

How lucky for UK citizens at the moment with the pound so strong against the Euro! That means for only £730 one can get a full week's cooking course with great Michelin standard meals (lunch and dinner) with us every day! Accommodation will cost an additional £250 for six nights stay in a cosy gite or B&B. When you think of the course and the food and the accommodation all for under £1000 that has to be one of the best deals in Europe at present!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/citybreaks/11816316/Pound-surge-gives-Britons-better-value-in-Europe.html

Stay in a lovely Villa in Kerrouet

Students have already seen some of the lovely properties available to stay in when they come to our cooking school. A link to a previous blog is given below: Here are some photos of a lovely villa only a few minutes walk from the cooking school:

: http://kerrouet.blogspot.ie/2010/10/where-do-our-students-stay-when-cooking.html,

First students from Spain and Italy

We recently had two lovely students from Spain and Italy. They came from two countries famous for their culinary heritage and were curious to investigate French cuisine. Was it all butter and cream?! 

Kerrouet Lunch

Today we had a simple lunch with a pizza  Provençal (lots of tomatoes and herbs (basel, sage, thyme) as well as garlic and a teaspoon of espelette pepper to give a gentle bite! 

For our main lunch course today we had chicken and mushroom salad with pancetta in a curry mayonnaise.

What our students are cooking this week

It's a busy time at French Dining School. We are cooking lunch and dinner every day for our first Spanish and Italian students! Here is a sample of what we are enjoying: 

Yesterday lunch included smoked duck breast with pear salad.

Dinner started with artichoke in a citrus sauce followed by chicken thighs stuffed with langoustine,nettle, créme fraiche potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes.

We finished with a lovely rasberry panna cotta: 

 

It's hard to beat salmon fish cakes especially on the patio!

Mussels in saffron soup

Probably the most popular soup in Brittany is mussel soup and this recipe is one of my favourites:

For 6 persons

1 kg fresh mussels

3 tbsp olive oil

1 bottle dry white wine

1 shallot onion

1 leek

2 cloves garlic

1 sprig thyme

1 bay leaf

10 black pepper corns

Sprinkle of saffron

150 ml of fresh cream

Chives

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt & Pepper

Method:

Rinse the mussels in cold water removing all beards and algae. Discard any lifeless mussels which refuse to close. Store in a cold place. Chop up the onions, leeks and garlic. In a large pot heat olive oil adding all the ingredients except wine and chives. Mix well but don't overheat. Add white wine and boil for five minutes or when mussels have opened. Discard any not opened.  Remove the mussel shells from the stock and then remove mussels from their shells discarding the shells. Set aside. Reduce the stock. Add saffron and cream, bit of lemon juice if necessary and salt and pepper to taste. Make some Julienne vegetables, blanch them and add to soup. Reintroduce the deshelled mussels to the stock and keep warm. You can then serve direct with home made bread and some nice white wine! 

Scallops Skate Wing & Turbot

One of the joys of cooking in Brittany is the amazing range of great seafood and fish available in the food markets. One of my favourite dishes is scallops in a curry Sauterne sauce served with a little spinach. The golden orange colour of the sauce complements the colour and texture of the scallops and spinach.

Scallops in curry Sauterne sauce

Skatewing is a delightfully easy fish to deal with once you have mastered how to remove the skin and prepare it. I like to pan fry in butter and garlic with lots of lemon and capers.

To finish dinner it is hard to beat a tiramisu with fresh strawberries. I have yet to meet someone who won't ask for more!!