Assiette Anne-Marie Recipe by Raymond Blanc

Recipes

Serves4

Preparation10 Mins

Cooking Time10 Mins

This dish is a tribute to every gardener who has lovingly tended our potager garden at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. The name Assiette Anne-Marie is in honour of our current Head Gardener - Anne-Marie Owens - who has worked closely with me now for over 35 years. At its heart, this recipe is all about simplicity – the nobility and purity of the very best ingredients plucked straight from the garden and treated with respect. But this is my recipe, so, of course, simplicity is never quite that simple…

Ingredients Required

For the morel jus

150ml: water, warmed

15g: dried small morels

30ml: Jura vin jaune or dry sherry

30ml: whipping cream

1 squeeze: lemon juice

1 ½g: powdered lecithin (optional)

20g: fresh morels, washed

20ml: water

1 pinch: sea salt

1 pinch: black pepper, ground

10g: unsalted butter

For the courgettes and stuffed courgette flowers

4: baby courgettes

200g: garden peas

one sprig: mint, picked and chopped

one sprig: marjoram, picked and chopped

2 pinches: sea salt

1 pinch: black pepper, freshly ground

20ml: olive oil, extra virgin

4 whole: courgette flowers, stigmas and stamens removed

For the spring vegetables

20g: butter

150ml: water

1 pinch: sea salt

4: baby carrots

4: white asparagus spears

8: green asparagus spears

30g: broad beans

30g: garden peas

To garnish

12 sprigs: pea shoots

Cooking Method

Step 1

For the morel jus:

In a small bowl, add the water and dried morels, cling film the bowl and leave to soak for a minimum of 6 hours to rehydrate them.

Drain the morels through a fine sieve, squeeze to extract as much juice as possible. Reserve the liquid and the soaked morels separately.

In a small sauté pan, combine the fresh and soaked morels with a pinch of salt, pepper, water and butter, ready to be cooked at the last moment.

Continued...

Step 2

Morel jus continued...

In a small pan, bring the vin jaune or dry sherry to a boil for 30 seconds. Add the morel soaking juices, whipping cream and bring back to a boil. Remove from the heat, taste and season with a small squeeze of lemon juice and whisk in the lecithin. Reserve.

At the last moment, the jus will be heated and pulsed with a hand blender to aerate it and create a light foam.

NOTE: Lecithin is most commonly extracted from soybeans and is an emulsifier that will stabilise the foam by trapping millions of tiny air bubbles.

Step 3

For the courgettes and stuffed courgette flowers

Trim the ends off the baby courgette stalks but leave them intact. Slice the baby courgettes lengthways up to 1cm from the stalk, so the courgettes remain whole. Reserve on a steaming tray.

In a small pan, blanch the peas in plenty of boiling water for 20 seconds on full boil. Drain, refresh and crush the peas with a fork, mix together with the mint, marjoram, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil.

Continued...

Step 4

Courgettes and stuffed courgette flowers continued...

Taste, correct the seasoning and stuff inside the courgette flowers. Place on the steaming tray with the prepared courgettes.

Place on the steaming tray with the prepared courgettes. Reserve.

Step 5

For the spring vegetables

In a medium saucepan, place the butter, water and salt and bring to the boil. Add the baby carrots and white asparagus. Cover and cook for 6 minutes.

Add the green asparagus and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Separately, place the steaming tray with the courgettes and stuffed flowers in a steamer. Cook covered with cling film on full steam for 6-7 minutes.

NOTE: It is important to time the cooking of the flowers correctly; steam them just before serving to avoid overcooking their delicate petals.

Continued...

Step 6

Spring vegetables continued...

Then add the broad beans, garden peas to the saucepan and cook for a further 1 minute.

On full heat, cook the morels in their pan for 2-3 minutes. Taste and correct the seasoning.

Step 7

Plating up

Arrange a stuffed flower and a fanned courgette on the plate. Scatter all the other vegetables around.

Reheat and pulse the morel jus briefly with a hand blender to aerate it and create a light foam. Spoon around the plate.

Garnish with pea shoots.

Voila!

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This recipe is adapted from the book Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons: The Story of a Modern Classic

A personal tour of Raymond's legendary restaurant-hotel through the four seasons, including 120 recipes from his celebrated kitchens. With spectacular photography of the signature dishes, luxurious rooms and ravishing gardens, and beautiful and witty illustrations throughout, the fairy tale of Le Manoir is brought charmingly to life.

Buy now on Amazon

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Assiette Anne-Marie

Ingredients Required

For the morel jus

For the courgettes and stuffed courgette flowers

For the spring vegetables

To garnish

Cooking Method

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Voila!

Share this recipe

This recipe is adapted from the book Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons: The Story of a Modern Classic

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