Les Restes!!

Les restes - quite a thing here in France...People are often invited the day after the night before (a party, that is) to eat les restes - the leftovers!! And admittedely, while I do enjoy a good soirée, the best parts for me are l'apéritif and le lendemain.....no plans de tables necessary, no fuss, just mingling, picking at food and enjoying un verre or two in a generally more relaxed ambience than the official gig!
On the recipé front, leftovers are, for me, a great challenge......I don't want to serve up a reheated version of the night before...I want to test my creativity and come up with new ways of serving the menu up.....again!!!
Over the Christmas I tried out a few ideas and would like to share them with you....

For Carina.....Oysters in a Creamy Camembert Sauce.....

A special treat from Normandy, using only the finest of our local ingredients. Quick and easy to prepare, this one is a winner and great for using up leftover oysters....


For 4 people

2 dozen oysters (ask le poissonier to shuck them for you)
1 camembert –au lait cru – from unpasteurised milk
4 soupspoons of crème fraîche
1 glass of cider/dry white wine
3 shallots
pepper
Coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 240°C
Remove the skin from the camembert and chop into small pieces.
Peel and finely chop the shallots and place them in a pan with the cider/wine.
Heat gently and allow to reduce before adding the cream, the camembert and some freshly milled pepper.
Pour the water off the oysters. Place a layer of sea salt on a large oven-to-tableware dish, and put the oysters on top. Spoon some camembert sauce onto each oyster and bake for 10 mins.
Serve immediately with some crusty bread and a bottle of chilled dry white or cider.

Bon appétit!