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!

Lyon

Friday brought our last regional menu before the holidays, and man was it a FEAST!  We had six courses, every one of them delicious and unique to the Lyon area.  By the end of the meal, I was secretly hoping that Santa's elves would show up to clean the kitchen for us, but I guess they had toys to make because they certainly did not show up.

To the delight of my Louisiana raised heart, I found these creatures trying to escape the kitchen upon my arrival on Friday morning.

They didn't get very far.

This is the story of an 85 Euro chicken.  Yes, you read that correctly - EIGHTY-FIVE EUROS!  It is a Bresse chicken, which as you can assume, is a very prized bird from the Lyon region.  It was my job to break it down and prepare it.  I've never been so nervous with a chicken before in my whole life.  I mean, It costs about 83 Euros more than any normal chicken, so you can see my hesitancy in just hacking into it with abandon.

As you can see by this medal around it's head and the mullet it is rocking, this chicken is definitely worth the price.

After sparing you the photos of burning off the feathers, giving it a "french manicure," and gutting it, I couldn't resist showing you the ridiculous amount of fat in this bird.  Unbelievable.  I guess that is why it tasted so good!

We shaved a truffle.

And then stuck the shavings under the skin of Mr. Fancy Pants Chicken.

Next, the chicken went into a sock.

And got dunked into a stock to cook for a couple hours at a low temperature.

Kyoko made a beautiful brioche.

Chef seems to approve as the brioche comes out of the oven.  Maybe he was really just thinking, "Only a few more hours with these culinary amateurs and I'm outta here for 2 weeks!"

Waiters in training setting up our table.

 Fromage blanc avec herbes.

Saucisson en brioche (a delicious sausage baked in brioche).  Who doesn't love a huge version of a pig in a blanket?

Souffle a champignons et emmenthal.  Cheese and mushroom souffle prepared by Leo.

Quenelles avec ecrivesses.  A fish dumpling in a crawfish bisque.  AWESOME.

Poularde a demi-deuil. (Half mourning chicken).

I'm not sure there is a French translation for chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, but there should be.  It was awesome and was accompanied by vanilla whipped cream and beignets.

Oops.

"Did I do that," asked Kyoko.

Yep, I guess so.  Maybe too much wine, which by the way was all Italian wine since we forgot to order the French stuff.  So, money was pooled, the sous-chef headed down to a neighboring Italian wine shop and voila - we had wine!

See you in 2010, Groupe B.