It was a real pleasure to return last week to Rive Droite, the restaurant of my dear friends, Charles-Henry and Ségolene de Valbray in Alençon. Not only was I to meet their new chef, Christophe Renou, but he was going to give my group of friends a cooking class in the restaurant kitchen for the first time. Christophe worked as head chef in London at Gordon Ramsey’s Michelin 3-star restaurant, L'Aubergine and with Gilles Goujon, another 3-star chef, at L’Auberge du Vieux Puits before coming home this past summer to his native Normandy to take over the kitchen at Rive Droite. As you can imagine, Charles-Henry and Ségolene are thrilled to have him.
We were invited into the kitchen for coffee. Then Christophe gave us each an apron and a work station with a cutting board and sharp knives. This class was definitely hands-on. The first dish we were to tackle was a Roquefort Cheese Soufflé, one of his signature dishes in London. The recipe is really quite simple, but amazing. These individual little soufflés can be made up any time, cooked and kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. When the guests appear and the time arrives for the first course, all you have to do is pop them back in the oven on a cookie sheet and poof, they rise and are ready!! They are delicious and hold their shape.
Then we moved on to the main course, a Confit of Lamb Shoulder with Pommes Boulangere (baker’s potatoes). We all got busy chopping onions and carrots and slicing potatoes. We helped roast the lamb in very hot pans until caramelized and then everything went into a large roasting pan to cook for 3 hours. As we relaxed, Christophe told us a story about about Pommes Boulangere.
They were a traditional specialty for Sundays because housewives would put the dish together before church, dropping it off at the baker’s on the way. He was finished making his bread and croissants, but his oven was still pipping hot, so he would slip everyone’s potato dish into his oven while the family was in church, ready to be picked up after service. Hence, Pommes Boulangere!
We ended our class by cooking Christophe’s Chocolate Fondant, an individual chocolate cake with a runny center. This was served with homemade mint sorbet.
When our work was done, we took off our aprons and sat down in the beautiful dining room overlooking the river for our feast. Christophe had actually cooked our lamb confit the day before because of the long cooking time. Every dish was remarkably delicious and we had the translated adapted recipes to recreate them for our friends and family at home. It helped to have an eager young english-speaking chef who loved to do his homework for the class.
Roquefort Cheese Soufflé
For 8 people
Butter: 40 gr
Flour: 40 gr
Milk: 260 gr
Roquefort cheese: 160 gr
Egg yolks: 4
Egg whites: 5
Salt and pepper
Butter and flour dust 8 molds and put in fridge
Put the butter in the pan and let it melt but not burn
Add the flour to make a roux, stir well
Add the milk to it, and boil three minutes
Then add the Roquefort, stir it in and it cool down
Add the yolks, mix, and set aside
Whisk 150gr of egg whites with a pinch of salt and sugar
Add the two mixes together slowly and fold them gently
Take the 8 molds and fill them with the mix
Cook in a bain-marie (gas mark 7/180 degrees C) for 20 minutes
Take them out of the oven in the bain-marie and let cool in it
Remove from bain-marie and refrigerate up to one week
When ready to serve, put them back in the oven, heat for 5-10 minutes at 180 degrees C. until they puff up
Can be served with a green salad, sprinkled with a few walnuts, and drizzled with walnut vinaigrette
Enjoy
