Féte de la Coquille - Scallop Festival

The north coast of Brittany is world famous for its beauty and the seafood which is harvested and sold throughout France and indeed the world over. Whilst the oysters from Cancale are well known, the scallops from this region are also truly amazing and so we decided to make a short trip up the coast to check out the Scallop festival at the little port of Erquy. We took our new puppy Scoobeaudoo with us as he needed a good workout! 

Erquy Harbour

Selling scallops at 4 euros per kilo

Cleaning the scallops

Preparing the scallops

The scallops taste so good you can eat them raw if you so desired!

Scallops served with spinach in a curry Sauternes sauce

Recipe

Scallops with spinach served in their shells with a curry Sauternes sauce in one of the most memorable starter dishes you can have at French Dining School! I have never heard so many wows and OMG's one students taste this dish. This is particularly so when students go through the full process of preparing the scallops from their raw pre-shelled state to the final finish and serving.

Ingredients

Three scallops per person (for starter dish).

50g spinach leaves

Sauternes sauce
Half teaspoon mild yellow curry
1 small chopped shallot onion
10cl Sauternes wine
10cl of cream/creme fraiche
250g unsalted butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method.

Open the scallop shells removing the coral and all connecting tissue. Clean the scallop and set aside. Clean the shells thoroughly and set aside. Fry scallops quickly on a hot pan in clarified butter or on the grill for one minute, They are better undercooked than overdone.

Making the sauce:
Melt a teaspoon of butter in a pan and fry the curry and onion for one minute. Add the Sauternes and let it reduce to half. Whisk in the rest of the butter and add the cream. Don't let it boil. Flavour with salt and pepper. Strain the sauce and serve with the scallops,

Tossing the salt

All chefs need to be able to toss the pan contents without spilling the beans. At French Dining School we have found the best way to develop this skill is to refer to the ancient Romans who loved to toss their salt! Here we have some of our students practising this ancient art on a beautiful Autumn morning in our courtyard:

Gazpacho

Tomatoes taste great this time of year and so here is a last of the summer vine soup which is guaranteed to blow your taste buds right into the stratosphere without costing the earth!

You will need:

10 big ripe tomatoes de seeded and chopped 

1 clove garlic 

1 red onion chopped 

1 cucumber chopped

1 sweet red pepper de seeded and chopped 

2 celery stalks chopped

Tbsp chopped fresh chives to serve

Balsamic vinegar to taste

Lemon juice to taste

Salt & pepper to taste

6 drops of Tabasco 

Method

Combine all ingredients and blend to desired consistency. Place in non metal non reactive storage container. Cover tight and refrigerate for a few hours or even overnight. Serve ice cold with fresh chives and a few drops of olive oil on top. 

Pumpkin Soup

Despite the lovely summer weather, the leaves are on the turn and the evenings are drawing in. The farmers around here are competing with each other over the size of their pumpkins and there is no shortage of the bulbous gourds all over the place, Fortunately pumpkins are very versatile and there is no shortage of recipes available for the adventurous chef. If you tire of pumpkin soup you can make pumpkin bread, or pumpkin ice cream or roast pumpkin or curry pumpkin and there is a whole range of stews and other dishes available. Even pumpkin wine was a great option when I was a student! 

Today we are focusing on pumpkin soup for six persons so here are your ingredients:

600g pumpkin peeled and de-seeded and cut into cubes
25g butter
1 clove of garlic crushed
1 large onion peeled and chopped
1 lr chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
Dash of lemon juice
100ml fresh milk
150ml of dry white wine.

Method

Glaze the onions in a pan so they are soft. Add the diced pumpkin, white wine and chicken stock. Boil the ingredients till soft.  Blend the vegetables and stock. Flavour with salt, pepper, lemon juice. Add milk to get the right consistency. Strain and whisk a little butter in the soup before serving. Serve with bread croutons and if desired/optional a drizzle of basil oil. 

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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: