Le Grand Ouest

Our last regional menu was a feast from what the French call "the Great West," which essentially encompasses Brittany, lower Normandy and any location in that general area of France.  Since we already had a regional meal devoted to Normandy, the menu mainly consisted of recipes stemming from Bretagne (Brittany).  This meant TONS of seafood, which being from Louisiana is quite welcomed.  Check out the photos of Le Grand Ouest.  We certainly lived it up for our last regional menu.

Langoustines.

Cason and Sonja working to shell the langoustines.

That's me with my trusty lobster, which I would soon have to murder.  I spent a while bonding with it.  Not really, but I did notice that it had some freakishly different sized claws.

See what I mean?

Carleta lamenting what she was about to do.

Lobster, meet the court bouillon.

Once cooked, we broke into the head and put the lobster in a bowl upside down to capture the juices that came out.

Then we went about getting out the meat.  It's a messy job, but someone has to do it.

Moving on to Estee who has to make a pate feuillete (puff pastry).

And Kyoko who made the most delicious dessert ever - a millefeuille of crepes and creme anglaise.  Awesome!

Oops.  Estee wasn't supposed to throw out those scallop shells.

Marinating the fish.

Estee's retrieved and cleaned scallop shells being wrapped in puff pastry.

The table is set.

Carpaccio de Langoutsines a L'Avugra (Langoustine Carpaccio with Caviar)

Saint-Jacques en Coques Lutes Avec Foie Gras (Scallops in the Shell with Puff Pastry and Foie Gras)

This is the inside of the scallop.  Yum!

Palourdes en Coquillage (Clams in their shell baked with butted and herbs)

Bar et Sabayon (Bass with baby leek, fennel and a sabayon)

Ragout Homard aux Haricots (Lobster ragout with beans)

A close up of the lobster without the shell decoration.

Cheese course.

Waiting for the ice cream to melt a bit so we could actually scoop it, we just enjoyed ourselves.

And of course the wine.

My favorite dessert so far.  The layers of crepes and creme anglaise went perfectly with the salted butter caramel ice cream.  The creamy caramel sauce brought it all together and was a favorite around the table.

So much so that we asked for the pot with it and passed it around.  Can you tell I liked it a little?

Ok, so I didn't actually pour it straight from the pot into my mouth, but I did pour it on a spoon that I put directly into my mouth.  Who can blame me?

Time for the requisite cafe.

Could we do anymore damage to this kitchen?

Apparently so!