Cookery School - Day 5

Lunch: Pan-Fried Pigeon Salad, Poached Quails Eggs on Brioche Toast, with Warm Red Wine Shallot Dressing

Dinner: Open Ravioli of Poached Organic Trout, Mussels, Clams, Peas and Creamed Gem Lettuce and Dill Foam

Dessert: White Chocolate and Cardamom Parfait with Seasonal Fruits and Basil Sugar

Pan-Fried Pigeon Salad, Poached Quails Eggs on Brioche Toast, with Warm Red Wine Shallot Dressing
DRESSING
6 medium shallots
300 milliliters red wine
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon English mustard
75 milliliters extra virgin olive oil
75 milliliters corn oil
salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar

PIGEONS
2 large pigeon breasts
corn oil
unsalted butter
salt and black pepper

QUAIL'S EGGS
3 quail's eggs
splash white wine vinegar
salt

DISH
1 slice broiche toast
1 handful mixed greens
drizzle aged balsamic vinegar
drizzle olive oil
salt and black pepper

DRESSING
Finely chop the shallots. Place in a pan and cover with the red wine. Bring the red wine to the boil and simmer until it has all evaporated, remove from the heat and leave to one side to cool.

Add the mustard and balsamic vinegar to the shallots. Stream in the two oils and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

PIGEONS
Place a little corn oil into a frying pan and place on the heat. Add the butter and allow it too melt into the oil and foam slightly. Season the pigeon breasts with salt and pepper and place into the frying pan skin side down.

Gently pan-fry for about 2 minutes on each side, basting all the time with the oil and butter. Drain onto kitchen paper, remove the skin and rest for a couple of minutes.

Carve into thin slices and serve on the brioche croute with the dressed salad leaves, poached quails eggs and red wine shallot dressing.

QUAIL'S EGGS
Crack 3 quail's eggs into a small ramekin and add 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar with the eggs, then leave to marinate for 10 minutes. This will start to separate the eggs before poaching them. Bring a saucepan with at least 10cm of water to the boil, turn down to a rapid simmer and add a little white wine vinegar and salt.

Stir the water gently and then carefully add the eggs to the simmering water. When the white has become firm and the yolk is still runny remove the egg (approximately 2 minutes) and plunge into cold water, trim off any loose white and store in the fridge until required.

Reheat when needed in a little boiling water for 30 seconds.

FINISH
Place the broiche toast on the plate. Top with dressed salad leaves and garnish with pigeon breast slices.

Arrange the quail's eggs on the plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with aged balsamic.

Spoon the dressing over the pigeon breasts and around the plate. Serve.

Open Ravioli of Poached Organic Trout, Mussels, Clams, Peas and Creamed Gem Lettuce and Dill Foam
TROUT
2 trout fillets
salt and black pepper
lemon juice
½ star anise
parsley stems
black peppercorns
bay leaf, torn

POACHED MUSSELS AND CLAMS
200 g mussels
100 g clams
1 large shallot
1 clove garlic
100 milliliters white wine
butter

LETTUCE AND PEAS
80 g frozen green peas
1 small Gem lettuce, shredded
4 scallion, sliced
15 g butter
splash double (heavy) cream
salt and black pepper
reserved mussels and clams, with cooking liquor

DILL FOAM
400 milliliters skim milk
2 shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
½ bunch dill, chopped

DISH
6 square pieces pasta, cooked

TROUT
Fillet and pin bone the trout. Poach the trout gently in the court bullion for 3 to 4 minutes until the fish is just cooked. Carefully remove the skin from the trout. Shred the trout by hand, squeeze a little lemon juice over the fish and set aside.

MUSSELS AND CLAMS
De-beard the mussels and remove any barnacles. Throw away any mussels that do not close when tapped. Wash well. Place a heavy based pan with a tight fitting lid on a high heat. Sweat the shallots and garlic in a little butter for 2 minutes without coloring. Add the mussels and pour over the white wine. Place a lid on the pan, bring to the boil and cook for approximately 3 minutes and add the clams. Continue to cook until the clams have opened this should take approximately 2 minutes.

Drain the mussels and clams into a colander and retain the juice to finish the creamed little gem and peas. When cool enough to handle remove the mussels and clams from the shell making sure all beards have been removed.

Place the mussels and clams back into the cooking liquid. Place in a container with a tight fitting lid and reserve until required.

LETTUCE AND PEAS
Sweat the sliced spring onions in a little butter until slightly softened. Add the peas and continue to cook until they start to soften. Add the shredded lettuce and continue to cook until it starts to wilt. Add a splash of double cream and continue to stir until it thickens slightly. Add the shellfish cooking juices and the mussels and clams and bring back to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

DILL FOAM
Place the shallot, garlic and dill in a pan and cover with the milk. Bring the milk to approx 70C and turn off. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for at least 1 hour.

Strain through a sieve into a clean pan, add a little more chopped dill and warm gently. Using a hand blender, create a froth.

DISH
Lay a sheet of pasta down on each plate top with some lettuce mixture and some trout flakes. Repeat two more layers. Top with dill foam and a sprig of dill to garnish. Serve immediately.

White Chocolate and Cardamom Parfait with Seasonal Fruits and Basil Sugar
PARFAIT
8 egg yolk
100 g caster (superfine) sugar
4 tablespoons Cointreau
200 g white chocolate
600 milliliters double (heavy) cream
16 cardamom pods, seeds only

FRUIT
¼ pineapple, skinned, cored, chopped
1 orange, segmented
1 handful blueberries

BASIL SUGAR
100 g caster (superfine) sugar
20 basil leaves

PARFAIT
In a dry pan, lightly toast 16 cardamom pods. Crack the shells open to remove the
seeds and crush them in a pestle and mortar.

Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Be careful not to stir too
much as the chocolate can go grainy. Whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar and Cointreau in a bowl over simmering water to achieve a sabayon. Do not allow this mix to get too hot or it will scramble the eggs. Remove from the steaming water and continue to whisk for a further 3 minutes to cool the sabayon slightly.

Semi-whip the double cream. Add the melted chocolate and the cardamom seeds to the sabayon and fold in. Add a 1/4 of the semi-whipped cream and mix well. Fold in the remaining cream.

Place individual cutters onto a silicone lined baking tray. Fill the cutters with the
white chocolate mousse and place in the freezer.

FRUITS
Prepare and wash if necessary all the fruits. Cut them into even sized pieces and present around the edge of a slice of white chocolate parfait.

BASIL SUGAR
Place the basil and 1 teaspoon of the sugar into a pestle and mortar and pound it for
one minute to release the natural oils. Add the remaining sugar and continue to pound together for a further minute. Sprinkle over the fresh fruit when required.