Raymond Blanc Cookery School Recipe.

Late last year I was invited to the beautiful Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison by the lovely folk at The White Company with a few fellow bloggers to attend the Raymond Blanc Cookery School for a day to hone our cooking skills before the big festive break. You may have read my previous post on the amazing hotel and gardens which we had a tour of before heading into the cookery school. But I was reserving the delicious recipes to share during the big chill in January to perk up our collective slog through a tough month. So here are a couple of the awesome recipes cookery school director Mark Peregrine took us through which were actually pretty straight forward and flipping tasty – obvs!

Pan-fried salmon with champagne sauce

You will need…

4 x 175g wild or organic salmon fillets skinned and cut across from a medium sized salmon

20g unsalted butter

Juice 1/2 a lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

For the sauce

1 shallot finely chopped

50ml champagne

100g sorrel with stalks removed

100ml whipping cream

1 plum tomato, seeded but not skinned and cut into 5mm dice

Juice of 1/4 lemon

Sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Serves 4

Here’s what to do…

1. On a high heat, in a small pan, boil the shallot and champagne for 30 seconds, to evaporate the alcohol.
2. Add the cream, lemon juice and 2 pinches of salt and white pepper.
3. Bring to the boil and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, until the cream has thickened a little.
4. Add the sorrel and diced tomato and set aside
5. Season the salmon fillets with 2 pinches of white pepper
6. On a medium heat, in a large frying pan, melt the butter until it is foaming
7. Add the salmon fillets and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the fillet
8. Remove from the heat and squeeze a little lemon juice over each fillet
9. Reheat the sorrel sauce and divide between the serving plates. Arrange the salmon on the top and serve immediately.

To go alongside the salmon try this easy to prep chicory, walnut and Roquefort salad…

You will need…

800g chicory – small and cut in 1/2 length ways

100g walnuts

250g pear – ripe but firm, halved, cored and finely sliced

1 stick of celery

80g Roquefort (crumbled)

2 tsp chives

For the dressing

50g Roquefort cheese

2tbsp warm water

2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar – Mark recommends FORVM which was delicious, and you can snap up here on Amazon

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Here’s what to do…

1. Cream the Roquefort cheese in a small bowl, add the warm water and stir until smooth
2. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and white wine vinegar and season with freshly ground pepper
3. Mix the Roquefort dressing with the chicory, walnut, pear and celery and 2/3 of the Roquefort
4. Combine  and arrange on a large serving dish
5. To finish, crumble the remaining Roquefort over the salad and top with chopped chives.

Tip: You can add croutons or grilled bacon lardons for a little extra kick. These also make an excellent canapé idea if you finely dice the salad ingredients and bind with the dressing, then serve with toasted croutons or chicory leaves.

With thanks to the staff at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and the team at The White Company for an amazing day with a lovely crowd of equally snap-happy bloggers.

For everything new season at The White Company which is just about to land online and in stores click here.

For details on the Raymond Blanc Cookery School at Le Manoir click here.