A Table! Top 3 French Starter Recipes

So Chic organises the French Gastronomy Week (12-18 October) with 10 participating restaurants! This delicious week is part of the Voilah! festival coordinated by the French Embassy. All the participating restaurants will offer a special Voilah! menu to enjoy a taste of France at affordable prices. To whet your appetite for this special occasion, we present
3 easy-to-cook French Starter Recipes that everyone loves!

Here’s what you need for 4 people:
-1 lobe of duck foie gras
-Salt: 6 g
-Pepper: 1.5 g
-Noilly Prat: 2.5 cl
-1/2 skimmed milk: 16.5 cl
-Water: 16.5 cl

Before starting anything:
Remove the foie gras from the refrigerator one hour before working and put it to disgorge in a mix of milk and water.
Preheat the oven to 160°C

Open and deveine the liver:
Separate the 2 lobes. For the big lobe, open it in 2 with your fingers in the direction of the length, while spreading the foie gras on the edges. Remove the Y-shaped main vein from the base of the liver, and finish with the 2nd vein under the first.
For the underlobe, the 2 veins are also one above the other, but in the form of X. Progress in the same way as for the first lobe.

Season the liver:
Prepare the foie gras seasoning by mixing the salt and the pepper.
Season the liver lobes with 16 g of seasoning per kilo, or about 8 g per lobe. Allow the seasoning to dissolve on the liver using the Noilly Prat. Marinate longer or shorter depending on the desired strength.

Cooking the liver:
Pack the lobes in the terrine and cook them in a bain-marie (50 ° C in the heart) in an oven at 160 ° C for about 15 to 20 minutes.
To check the cooking, use the tip of a knife, this must be warm to the touch.

Doing the cooked foie gras:
Then allow cooling to room temperature, removing the fat and letting cool completely in the refrigerator by placing a weight on the liver.
Smooth the liver and pour the filtered fat on it. Ideally keep 5 days for ripening before eating.

Here’s what you need for 4 people:
-6 shallots
-2 cloves of garlic
-1 kg of Paris mushrooms
-Olive oil
-1 dl of whole liquid cream
-10 cl of hazelnut oil
-4 tablespoon of truffle cream
-Parsley leaves
-Pepper, salt

-Pull 6 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic and cut them roughly. Rinse well 1 kg of Paris mushrooms and cut into pieces.

-Pour a drizzle of olive oil in a large saucepan, gently sauté the shallots and garlic. Once they are translucent, add the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper. When everything is well compote, add water (twice the level of vegetables). Cook for 30 minutes.

-During this time, quickly whisk 1 dl whole liquid cream in a bowl with a pinch of salt until it turns into whipped cream.
-On the heat, mix the mushrooms in the pan with a blender until the texture is smooth. Correct the seasoning with 10 cl of hazelnut oil, salt and pepper.
-Serve the soup on the plate, adding a spoon. of whipped cream and a spoon. truffle cream. Decorate with parsley leaves.

Here’s what you need for 4 people:
-24 snails
-30 gr. of gray salt
-1 glasses of vinegar
-10 cl. of white wine
-1/2 bouquet garni
-1 clove of garlic
For snail butter:
-100 gr. of butter
-4 branches of parsley
-1/2 shallot
-2 cloves of garlic

-Dish the snails for 3 hours in salted water and vinegar, so that the sand is deposited in the bottom of the basin. Stir them and wash them again in several waters and, covered with water, cook them for 8 minutes in a saucepan.

-Drain them, rinse them and remove them from their shells, then remove the black tip with a knife. Wash them again and cook with white wine, bouquet garni, crushed garlic, salt and pepper over low heat for 2 hours.

-Let them cool in their juice. While they cool, prepare the snail butter:
Peel the garlic and shallot; wash and squeeze the parsley and mix together in a blender with the metal knife. Start 1 min; add the butter cut in pieces, salt and pepper, then mix another 1 min.

-Fill the shells with the flesh and the snails butter. Spend 5 minutes in the oven at very high heat (thermostat 9).