New article by Jeannine Williamson about her week on the Finesse last summer.
Category: Rosa
Lapin
Every week on Finesse I speak to the new guests on arrival afternoon to discuss their food requirements, this week our English guests asked if it was possible to have rabbit, not everyone’s favourite choice, but happens to be the chefs & it was a pleasure to prepare & cook a much under rated ingredient….
Finesse Bouillabaisse
Tonights main course for dinner aboard the Finesse the French classic bouillabaisse, sea bream, John Dory, cod , tiger prawns, scallops, clams, as-Arabia, fresh fennel pollen & lemon cress, all in sauce made from the fish bones, prawn heads, fennel, garlic, red peppers, tomatoes, onions, saffron, harrissa & tarragon.
Amuse Bouche
A little pre dinner taster, in the bottom of the glass are some diced Finesse pickled baby carrots, this topped with an intense carrot cream & this is topped with a coriander foam. All quite intense flavours to awaken the palate before dinner, the foam is made by blending blanched coriander into a mix of…
Lemon tart
As you will have seen if you have been following the blog for a while the lemon tart has had many incarnations, but after working on textures and flavours for many summer months I have finally found the right balance of textures & flavours. The lemon creme is the same but it’s now on a…
Wecome aboard a barge with real ‘Finesse’
The finesse is now in her ninth week of cruising in her maiden season & now have some great pictures that show just how beautiful she is. This is a picture of her moored up on the canal du centre in her new colour scheme, but she never always looked like this she was rescued…
Cuisses de grenouille
A little fun canapé aboard finesse while trying to keep classical regional cuisine on the menu, frogs leg lollipops are a great pre dinner nibble with drinks. Frog legs are sautéd in garlic & butter, when cooked the meat is stripped from the bones, seasoned & formed into balls, then breadcrumbed in breadcrumbs that have…
Chocolate sphere
desert for Friday’s gala dinner was a tempered chocolate sphere, one half of which was filled with chocolate, hazelnut & almond praline which was topped with a chocolate caramel mousse, the other half was filled with a sharp apricot gel topped with an apricot mousse, after the two halves were put together the sphere was…
Sous vide egg & Orthinogale
A starter aboard Finesse this week featured Orthinogale, also known as wild asparagus. A sous vide slow cooked hens egg, cooked at 63 degrees for an hour served with Orthinogale, local cured ham crisped in the oven & a hollandaise purée. The egg cooked in its shell in a water bath for an hour is…
Scallops & Romanesque Broccoli
After many scallop & cauliflower dishes aboard the barges, a variation from the brassica family is scallops with Romanesque broccoli served as a starter aboard the Finesse. Also known as Roman cauliflower, chartreuse in colour it creates a very very smooth pure a little nutty in flavour, it pairs with the same things as cauliflower,…
Foie Gras
At the end of the week on Friday on the Finesse we have a last evening gala dinner, this week the starter was a pressed foie gras & raspberry terrine served with fresh raspberries, raspberry purée & pea shoots. A whole lobe of foie gras is bought to room temperature & then gently deveined, then…
Chocolate delice
A dessert from last nights dinner aboard the Finesse, dark chocolate delice, made with 70% chocolate, served on chocolate soil with fres strawberries, dried strawberry crisps, strawberry & red pepper sorbet, lemon cress.
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