French Cooking at the Hilton Ramses–the four-course French meal, Part II

As the Hilton cooking class continues, we come to the main course and the dessert. As far as difficulty goes, preparing a rack of lamb ribs is pretty high up there in the cooking world. That is why, for the main dish, it 's a good idea to ask your butcher to prepare the rack for you – separating each rib from the bone but keeping the meat together till serving. Chef Dimitri served the ribs four to a plate, each two together towering over the ratatouille.

Roast Rack of Lamb Provencal

Ingredients (for two)

450g lamb rack – Frenched (You shoulc ask your butcher to prepare the lamb like this for you.)

2 rosemary sprigs

Salt and pepper to taste ( keep in mind that while pepper can be used to flavor the meat before cooking, salt should only be used at the end as it can strip the juice from the meat)

45ml vegetable oil

125g mirepoix (vegetables cut into very small pieces to be used for creating vegetable stock)

120ml brown lamb stock (either ask your butcher for the remains of the Frenching process and boil to create your own or buy lamb stock cubes)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

140g bread crumbs – fresh, white (pop crust-less toast into a food processor)

2 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste

1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

30g butter

Directions

1. Season rack of lamb with rosemary and pepper and rub with oil.
2. Roast in oven (at 190 degrees Celsius) or pan fry until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 54 degrees Celsius– use an oven thermometer to check.
3. Remove lamb and cover to keep warm.
4. Meanwhile, pan fry mirepoix in butter and oil until caramelized – pour off excess fat and deglaze pan with lamb stock.
5. Simmer mirepoix for 10-15 minutes and then strain and season.
6. Take out rack of lamb and coat with mustard.
7. Mix breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley and butter with salt and pepper.
8. Spread mixture over mustard on the rack of lamb.
9. Return lamb to the oven and bake until crumbs start to brown.
10. Cut lamb into portions and serve with the condensed lamb stock with mirepoix (jus).

Ratatouille

An easy to make side dish, a mound of colourful ratatouille (molded in a large coffee cup) looks wonderful on the side of a plate.

Ingredients

30g diced onion

30 g garlic, chopped

30g green pepper, diced

80g eggplant, diced

60g chopped zucchini

85g diced tomatoes

30g tomato puree

Chopped basil

Pinch of oregano

15ml olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Once everything has been chopped (the most time consuming part of the recipe) sauté the onion, garlic and green pepper in olive oil.
2. Add eggplant, zucchini, diced tomato, puree tomato and herbs and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Season with salt and pepper and serve next to any main dish.

And the finale…

Tarte Tatin (for eight, or for four – depending on your appetite!)

For this recipe you will need a silicone mold that you can place in the freezer. Tart molds come in silicone – larger ones can be cut into portions or mini tart molds can make individual portions. Any serving style freezer friendly dish will do – as long as it is shallow.

Ingredients

4 apples

50g honey

30g butter

100g sugar

45g liquid fresh cream

2 gelatin leaves dipped in cold water or 20g gelatin

8 digestive biscuits

Garnish:

250g vanilla ice cream

50g chocolate

50g fresh mint

50g raspberry sauce

Directions

1. Peel apples and chop into cubes.
2. Place honey in a pot with butter and bring slowly to the boil.
3. Mix apples into honey butter.
4. In a second pot, add half of the sugar and caramelize in butter. 
5. Once caramelized, mix in the rest of the sugar and the liquid cream.
6. Add the gelatin to the caramelized sugar and mix.
7. Add the apple honey mixture to the sugar gelatin mixture and combine well.
8. Turn off the heat and spoon mixture into silicone molds.
9. Top with crumbled digestive biscuits and keep for 2-3 hours in the freezer.
10. When ready to serve, flip tart (or tarts) out of the mold and top with vanilla ice cream.
11. Use chocolate and fresh mint to garnish.