WINTER menus
A
WINTER’S EVENING
dinner party
The menu
Fricassée of wild mushrooms
Slow roast shoulder of lamb with braised vegetables
Poached winter fruits
“W
inter is another season I love: walking
through the woods on a crisp afternoon,
Fricassée of wild mushrooms
returning home as dusk starts to fall,
“At the age of seven I was the perfect hunter-gatherer. What magic
giving us ample time to prepare for our relaxed
to get up at the crack of dawn and follow my Father into the deep
evening dinner party with friends. In fact, your main
forest of my native French Comté to find wild mushrooms! The
dish could be prepared and in the oven before you
success of this dish will depend on the quality and freshness of
go walking, because this winter’s evening I’ve chosen the produce. The best time for wild mushrooms is between July
to serve a special slow-roast shoulder of lamb taking
and October—but at this time of year, Girolles can be found up
four hours cooking time. In the chef’s notes, below,
to January. This dish is simple to make, with marvellous heady
you’ll see that ideally, we choose lamb from different
flavours from the forest and lots of juice ready to be mopped up
with a good piece of French bread. The best mushrooms are
regions according to the season when they’re at their
Girolle, Lambs feet, Pieds Bleu, Chanterelle, Oyster mushrooms,
very best. But you could also use alternatives just
etc. Many of these mushrooms have lost their wild heritage
as successfully for this recipe, such as cuts of lamb and are now farmed, but there are still loads to be found in the
suitable for braising, or shin of beef, silverside, brisket
woodlands of Britain. Use the best mushrooms you can find for
or blade.
this rewarding and easy dish, packed with flavours.”
The varieties of vegetables that complement the
Difficulty rating:
slow roast lamb are of course the superb winter
Serves (Yield): 4
varieties such as celeriac, turnip, squashes, and of
Preparation time: 20 minutes
course beetroot, parsnips and carrots—and don’t
Cooking time: 5 minutes
forget the lovely knobbly Jerusalem artichoke. Special equipment: Large sauté pan
The accompanying starter—fricassée of wild
mushrooms—this complements the main dish
Planning ahead
perfectly in this menu. I give you more details about
The mushrooms can be prepared up to one day in advance.
wild mushrooms below.”
Ingredients
For the mushroom fricassée
10g shallot, finely shopped
www.raymondblanc.com RAYMOND BLANC’s SEASONS 25
RBS5_WntrREV.vp.indd 25 1/12/08 4:00:35 pm
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