I still can't believe how lucky I was to be invited to a Carte D'Or Dessert Masterclass with Jean-Christophe Novelli at his cooking academy (and home) a lovely 14th Century Farmhouse, in Hertfordshire last week.
It was a seriously fantastic day! It took me not too far short of 5 hours to get there by train (no point in me driving - too much Champagne and wine would have been missed)!
But that said I'd do it all again tomorrow - it was an amazing day!
Carte D'Or have just bought out a couple of new flavours to their already scrummy and excellent range of ice creams.
Oooh where to begin?!
After my quite traumatic taxi journey from the train station to the academy (which should have taken 10 minutes) 45 minutes later I arrived. Turns out I got probably the only taxi driver in the world that despite using sat-nav, had no idea where he was going - but fancied he wouldn't tell me that until we'd set off! Anyway, all was well and I got there in the end.
What a lovely place Jean-Christophe lives and works in - this is part of his garden:
Once inside I almost fell over when I saw his oven!....It is HUMONGOUS!
Here's just half of it!:
He sat and chatted to us, answering all our questions.
Nothing was too much trouble.
So, after a coffee and a chat, we were all now with Champagne in hand and listening to his every word......
Jean-Christophe first showed us how to make the starters we were having - Sea-bass with a tomato sauce which I must say was just the best thing ever! In a later post I will attempt (if I can) and without the aid of a safety net, to make it myself and try and show you what I mean.
The tomato sauce was by no means 'ordinary'.
We then had a main dish of pork belly which had been cooking for almost 6 hours along with Boulangere potatoes. He made a gravy using the remains of some filter coffee adding a little cocoa powder....Delish is the only word.
The wine glasses were the size of gold-fish bowls!:
As I write I'm thinking a separate post would be good to show you the other desserts he made, or you'd be here till midnight night reading!
So for now, I'll just show you Jean-Christophe Novelli's 'Chocolate Trio'
Using 'Macadamia Night' ice cream by Carte D'Or.
This is really lovely, but very rich, so you'll only need small coffee cups to serve.
*taken from Jean-Christophe Novelli via the Carte D'Or website
Serves: 12
600ml semi skimmed milk
Half vanilla pod without its seeds
400g bitter chocolate, 70% cocoa solids broken up in bits
100g sieved chocolate powder
100g white chocolate
100ml double cream
2-3 dessert spoons whisky
1 tub Cart D’Or Macadamia Night ice cream
Method:
Step one
Pop a heavy saucepan onto the hob and heat for 30 seconds. Add the milk and the vanilla so that they all muddle and mix together. When the mixture’s is hot (not boiling), add the chocolate and take it off the heat, but keep stirring it until it’s rich and glossy.
Step two
Remove the vanilla pod and add 2 dessert spoons of your favourite whisky and stir
Step three
Spoon out the mixture into 12 ramekins, filling them about halfway up. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes
Step four
While they are chilling, place the cream in a hot pan and warm up, but do not boil, add the white chocolate, take off the heat and stir until the chocolate is totally melted, add a splash of whisky and stir. Leave to cool down for 10 minutes
Step five
Place a generous helping of Cart D’Or Macadamia Night Ice Cream on top of the dark chocolate mousse, top with the white chocolate mixture. Lightly dust with cocoa powder and decorate with a sprig of mint, then serve up and lose yourself in chocolate heaven.
Later he showed us how to make spun sugar:
As I say, I'll do another post later with some more yummy recipes.
To fiinish off the day Jean-Christophe poured us all a coffee.
He was so sweet - he even asked me about my holiday!
We all received an unexpected cookery book from him and of course, being such a nice person he signed them for us:
Sadly the day came to an end - but not without a picture!
