Whisk Wednesdays: Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce)

       I am posting two weeks' worth of Whisk Wednesdays recipes today at some point, so here is the first. 

      This recipe is from Class 17 (last week), Part 3 and is Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce).  It can be found in the cookbookLe Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 162-163.  {We could substitute shrimp if we wanted to do that.} 

      I didn't want to just skip this recipe as I need practice frying things.  I do not fry things as a general rule.  We eat very few fried foods, mostly the guys score them on the streets at restaurants as I don't really care to fry things in the house.  For one thing it always smells for way longer than the meal lasts...no matter how many candles I light, I can still smell it the next morning.  The guys think I exaggerate, but I think not.  I also don't really like eating fried foods, so I see no real reason to prepare them at home when restaurants are perfectly willing to smell up their premises on our behalf. 

      That said, everyone was very enthusiastic about this recipe, so I gave it a go.  Wow.  This does not taste like most fried food...it is clean and light and very tasty.   

      I used shrimp as langoustines are a tad difficult to come by here in Indiana.  It only took about two minutes for them to fry until they were completely done, tender, moist, and since I am not very good at frying, some of the batter came off, which means that it saved a bunch of calories and looked fairly interesting with the shrimp peaking out.  I'm now a fan.  If I can stick to this degree of incompetency in frying, I think I might do this again. 

      The tarter sauce was absolutely out of this world good.  Homemade mayo makes a big difference.  A. Big. Difference.  The other ingredients were hard-boiled egg yolk, gerkins, capers, chives, parsley, onion, and for a little extra zing, I tossed in a teaspoon more of freshly squeezed lemon juice because in this house one can never have too much lemon flavor.  Wow.  The tartar sauce to end all tartar sauces. 

      We can't post the recipes on our blogs due to copyright laws, so really, just buy the book and have a go at this recipe.  Very very good...even if you are incompetent at frying. 

     

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us! 

      Upcoming schedule:

• Class 17, Part 4 (Post on Wednesday, November 5, 2008):
Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns) pages 127-128 of Le Cordon Bleu At Home