Mmm mmm

I’ve finally go around to trying some recipes from a book I got over twenty years ago – “Secrets of the Great French Restaurants” by Louisette Bertholle. And wow! Admittedly these recipes do tend to be on the expensive side but the tastes are out of this world. I’ve simplified the recipes a bit. There’s only so much two foxes can do in a domestic kitchen.

Yesterday we had Coquilles Saint Jacques Havraises i.e. scallops cooked Le Havre style. This involved for the two of us 6 scallops, their roes separated & their whites halved. They are gently fried in shallot butter. Then put on one side, while a wine & vermouth reduction is made, deglazing the pan in the process. Thick cream is then added, the scallops returned along with some cooked prawns & warmed up in the sauce.  It was delicious. The sweetness of the scallops & shallots, the creaminess of the sauce, the intense flavours of the reduction. Mmm mmm. I can still capture the memory of it on my taste buds this morning.

Mind you, I still remember the previous recipe I tried from this book a week or so ago –Truite aux noisettes (trout with hazelnuts). In this instance the trout was coated in egg & ground almonds. Any coating mixture left over was used to stuff the fish. The trout was then fried gently. Elsewhere a small pan with more butter was heated & chopped toasted hazelnuts were added. When the fish was served, the hazelnut butter was drizzled over.

I suppose why these recipes have partly caught my imagination is that we’ve just been watching “Professional Masterchef” on BBC2. The recipes from this book are taken from Michelin starred French restaurants. Even my simplified versions make us appreciate how wonderful some of the food presented on that programme must have been. They certainly looked good.