Cookery School - Day 3

Lunch: Shellfish Bisque with Poached Oysters
Crab Spring Rolls

Dinner: Canon of Lamb Wrapped in Parma Ham and Baked in Puff Pastry, Redcurrant and Thyme Jus, Saffron Mash and Beetroot Puree

Dessert: Honey-Glazed Apples and Peaches with Cinnamon with Apple and Champagne Sorbet and Ladyfingers

Shellfish Bisque with Poached Oysters
BISQUE WITH OYSTERS
1 crab shell
100 g prawns, shell on
30 milliliters brandy
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
50 g leek, chopped
50 g celery, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato puree
800 milliliters fish stock
50 milliliters double cream
1 bay leaf
20 g unsalted butter
oysters, 1-2 per person
salt and black pepper

BISQUE WITH OYSTERS
Melt the butter in a heavy-based pan and add the chopped onion, leek, carrots, celery and sliced garlic and allow too sweat slowly to release the flavors. Add the crab shell, prawn shells and brandy and break up the crab shell well in the pan. Add the tomato puree and continue to sweat slowly.

Cover the shells with fish stock or water, add the bay leaf and simmer for about 30
minutes. Push the bisque through a sieve putting as much pressure as possible on the shells and vegetables to extract all the flavor.

Reboil and reduce to obtain the correct flavor, add the cream and check the seasoning. Drop the oysters into the boiling soup and immediately remove from the heat. Do not allow them too overcook

Serve immediately allowing 1 or 2 oysters per person depending on how many courses there are on the menu.

Crab Spring Rolls
50 g vermicelli
1 clove garlic
75 g white crab meat
70 g bean sprouts
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon corn oil
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped, including stalks
salt and black pepper
20 sheets spring roll wrappers

FILLING
Soak the vermicelli in boiling water for a few minutes, rinse under cold water and chop into approximately 40mm lengths. Crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar.

Gently heat the oil in a wok and add the garlic and fry until golden brown regulating the heat where necessary to prevent burning the garlic. Add the bean sprouts and continue to cook for approximately 1 minute. Add the vermicelli, oyster sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and finally the cilantro. Taste and add more seasonings if necessary.

Place the mixture onto a tray and allow too cool. Finally mix with the white crab meat when the mixture has cooled

ASSEMBLY
Make a paste using a mix of flour and water; this will be used as a glue to stick the
spring rolls. Place a small amount of paste at one corner of the spring roll pastry. Place a small amount of filling at the opposite end and roll into spring rolls folding
tightly and securing at the paste end.

FINISH
Deep fry at 190°C until golden and crisp and drain onto kitchen paper. Serve hot.

Canon of Lamb Wrapped in Parma Ham and Baked in Puff Pastry, Redcurrant and Thyme Jus, Saffron Mash and Beetroot Puree
BEETROOT PUREE
1 kg beetroot
water or vegetable stock
horseradish
salt and pepper
sugar

SAFFRON MASH
1 kg potatoes, peeled
100 g unsalted butter
4 tablespoons double (heavy) cream
salt and black pepper
pinch saffron
chives, chopped

CANON OF LAMB
1 best end of lamb
2 slices Parma ham
200 g puff pastry
sesame seeds

REDUCTION
1 chine bone from lamb, chopped in pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
100 milliliters red wine
400 milliliters veal stock
fresh thyme
redcurrant jelly
sea salt

BEETROOT PUREE
Boil the beetroot in their skins in water or vegetable stock until soft. Peel the beetroot whilst hot and place in a food processor. Blend on a high speed until the beetroot is well pureed, being careful to scrape the edges to make sure it is all well pureed. Add a little horseradish sauce, salt, pepper and sugar. Blend again on a high speed and add more seasoning if necessary.

SAFFRON MASH
Place the peeled chopped potatoes in a suitable-sized pan and cover with cold water and a small pinch of saffron. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly over a high heat until the potatoes are cooked all the way through. To test if they are cooked, they should be soft in the middle if you push a small knife through them.

Drain the potatoes into a colander and allow the steam too evaporate; this should take about 5 mins and is very important to help keep the potatoes dry and fluffy.

Mash the potatoes well and keep them in the pan. Toast another pinch of saffron in a separate dry saucepan, add 1 tbsp of water, the butter and the double cream. Bring to the boil and simmer to infuse the saffron. Add this to the mashed potatoes and stir well. Season with salt and pepper, add the chopped chives and serve straight away.

CANON OF LAMB
Prepare the lamb by removing the eye of the meat from the best ends, trimming off any sinews and cutting in half. Seal the lamb very quickly in a very hot frying pan, there shouldn' t be a need to season it first as the parma ham can be slightly salty. Allow too cool and roll each portion tightly in 1 slice of parma ham.

Roll out the puff pastry into a long thin strip approximately 120mm wide and 3mm thick. Place the lamb on top of the pastry at one end and roll in the pastry, tucking the ends in neatly and sealing well. Lightly brush with a little egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking.

Place a baking tray lined with a silicone mat in a hot oven at 230°C for 10 minutes. Then place the lamb onto the hot tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Leave to rest on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before carving and serving.

REDCURRANT AND THYME REDUCTION
Chop the chine bones into smaller pieces. Fry the chine bones in a little oil in a suitable sized saucepan until golden brown. Add the onions and garlic and continue to fry until colored. Cover the bones and vegetables with red wine and reduce to a glaze.

Add the veal stock to cover the bones and reduce by two thirds in volume. Strain through a fine sieve, add a little redcurrant jelly and salt if necessary. Finally add a pinch of fresh chopped thyme and serve.

Honey-Glazed Apples and Peaches with Cinnamon with Apple and Champagne Sorbet and Ladyfingers
SORBET
250 g caster (superfine) sugar
250 milliliters water
450 milliliters apple juice
350 milliliters champagne

LADYFINGERS
4 eggs, separated
100 g flour
100 g caster (superfine) sugar
icing (confectioners') sugar

APPLES AND PEACHES
1 ripe peach
1 apple
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
10 g butter
30 milliliters Calvados

SORBET
Stir the sugar with the water in a small pan over a low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and allow to boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.

Combine the apple juice and champagne and add the cooled syrup. Churn in an ice cream machine until thick and slushy.

Freeze in a container for at least 1 hour before serving.

LADYFINGERS
Cream together the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until creamy and white.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks are achieved. Add a little of the egg whites to the sugar mixture and fold through. Gradually add the sieved flour and the remainder of the whites alternately, mixing as lightly as possible.

Place the mixture into a piping bag and pipe into 3 inch fingers onto a lined baking tray and sprinkle well with icing sugar.

Bake at 200C for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Place the biscuits onto a cooling rack.

APPLES AND PEACHES
Remove the core from the apple and the stone from the peach and cut them both into wedges.

Place the butter into a non-stick frying pan, allow the butter to foam and turn nut brown and add the fruit slices and cook for 1 minute. Add the ground cinnamon to the butter (not the fruit) and then the calvados and flambe. Add the clear honey and continue to cook until the fruit has softened.

Serve immediately with the apple sorbet and a little of the syrup drizzled around the edge. Serve the ladyfingers as an accompaniment.