Scallops with vegetable purées and infused foam

A long and descriptive title for a really easy recipe. Scallops are always a success and this recipe is an idea on how to present them with delicious details.

Beautiful picture by Alex

First, you need to make the infusion for the foam. In a saucepan, add 200ml of cream with around 60g of raw peeled ginger and 4 pieces of lemon skin. Let it infuse at low heat during the preparation of the dish.

Then prepare the purées. You can make only one but I chose to have 2 different one underneath the scallops: Parsnip & Turnip. These two vegetables have a very nice lemon-like taste that combines perfectly with the scallops. Just peel the vegetables, cut them in small parts and toss them all together in salted boiling water until they are fork-tender. Then, mix them separately with 5ml of the water they cooked in and 5 ml of cream. Leave it to rest in bowls while you cook the scallops.

For the scallops, first season them salt & pepper, then heat up butter in a pan at high heat and place each scallops clockwise so you know which one were the firsts to be placed. Leave it for 30 seconds (more if you want a thicker crust) and turn them.

Take the infusion out and filter it so you just end up with the infused cream in another saucepan (big enough to let the foam expand). Take a hand-mixer and mix the cream: as you move the mixer around allowing air to mix with the cream, it will start creating a beautiful foam that keeps the entire taste of the infused cream. Make three small lots of purée in the plates, I made two parsnips and one turnip. Place the scallops on top of the lots and add the foam around.

For a detailed presentation: add a thin slice of radish on the side of the scallops, onion grows on top and few grows of cabbage on the foam. 

Enjoy! :)

Reindeer Steak with Brunost Sauce

Hey everyone!

It has been a long since the last spot. Well, life has been very busy since last time. I graduated from my school in France after weeks working on my thesis, but I wasn't accepted in the Master program I wanted to do in Norway. Huge disappointment, but I got back on my feet directly and started looking for a job. I finally found the dream job, after few interviews I finally got it, and I'm based in Oslo which is just perfect!

After that, I had to come back to cooking and writing on the blog.

Here I am, with a new Camille's Norwegian meal: Reindeer Steak with Brunost Sauce. Every once in a while, there is a farmer market in Oslo where you can buy very typical Norwegian food, and this was the best place to find a meal to do my blog come back. I chose a beautiful piece of reindeer hunted just recently, and a brunost. For those who don't kno, brunost is a delicious brown goat cheese. It is made from whey that is cooked until caramelized. I love it and if you come to Norway, you need to try it.

For the meat, I cooked it in the oven at 60°c during 3 hours and finished it at 100°c for 30 minutes glazing it with a salty butter at the end. I recommend it bloody or at least pink to really enjoy the taste of the meat, but if you want it cooked more you can live it at 60°c for another hour.
For the sauce, I used 50g of butter, added 25g of Brunost and finished it with 10ml of liquid cream. It works perfectly with a meat, really delicious!

On the side, I cooked cantrell mushrooms quickly in a pan with olive oil, just remember to wash them very well before. Plus a rutabaga and parsnip purée: cut them in cubes, cook the cubes in boiling water until they are soft and mix them with liquid cream until you can a nice texture. Pour the cream carefully and just a little bit several time in order to avoid a very liquid purée.

I hope you like this come-back recipe! Feels good to cook and blog again:)

Magret de Canard au Thé

I know: duck again. What can I say? I just love it and my girlfriend loves it even more. And this bird is way too expensive in Norway so I bought a lot before I came back from France. But this is so delicious I could actually eat only duck everyday... The lady agrees. If you can find some wherever you live, the recipe could be a great idea for your Valentine dinner guys.

For the recipe, you need (2 pers):

• 1 duck breast fillet
• 4 potatoes
• 8 asparagus
• 1 shallot 
• 30 cl milk
• 10 cl white wine
• 2 bags of earl grey tea
• white grapes
• Nutmeg
• Sugar / Salt / Pepper

Peel the potatoes, put them in a saucepan with enough water to cover them and bring to boil until they are ready. It should take approximately 15min but to make sure, stick a fork in the potato and it should go through very easily. Remove the water, mash the potatoes, add salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg powder and pour milk until you get a soft puree. If it's too liquid, just keep the puree over low heat to reduce it. To cook the asparagus, bring to boil water with salt in a saucepan and put them in it for 5 minutes so I recommend to cook them just at the end.

Use a sharp knife to score across the duck breast through the fat but just barely to the meat. Rub the skin with salt and pepper. Put it in a preheated frying pan, fat down over medium-high heat for 6 minutes and turn it on the meat side for 3 minutes. Put it in another pan with 1/3 of the grease and store it in the oven (low heat, just to keep it warm) covered with aluminium foil. While the duck rests in the oven, deglaze the frying pan with the white wine over a medium heat and add the shallot finely chopped. Put the 2 earl grey tea bags in a cup and fill 1/3 of it with boiling water. Wait 1 minute, press the tea bags to get all the flavor in the water and throw them away. Add the tea in the frying pan. Peal a dozen white grapes and put them also in the pan with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Let it reduce until the sauce thickens, add a pinch of salt and a turn of pepper just before serving.

Take the duck out of the oven and cut it in few slices, the meat should be pink and not bloody. The bitterness of the tea in the sauce with the sweetness of the grapes really work with the duck.

Are you going to cook for Valentine's day? If you need any advice or idea, just comment this post:)