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14 Mar, 2024
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blue lobster

Blue Lobster by Chef Arnaud Lallement, H&S Chef Of The Month

H&S Chef Of The Month

Chef Arnaud Lallement

Chef Arnaud Lallement

Nationality: French

L’ASSIETTE CHAMPENOISE

Interview With H&S Magazine

Who Is Arnaud Lallement?

Chef Arnaud, the three-star restaurant’s chef runs a family-owned hotel and restaurant founded in 1975 by Jean-Pierre and Colette Lallement (his parents), located in Tinqueux, near Reims.

The gifted young man awarded with a third Michelin star at just 40 years old – joins the ranks of iconic chefs made famous for contemporary cuisine. He is next in line in a long-standing French tradition, a fact he does not shy away from. Rather, he jokes about it: “It took me a few years before becoming obsessed with Michelin stars. As I recall, I must have been five years old!”

Trained by Roger Vergé, Michel Guérard and Alain Chapel, Arnaud Lallement boasts a culinary education that exceeds the usual culinary skills. Arnaud Lallement’s own establishment has been built to echo the Champagne region – its land, its scenery and its wine – with each dish inspired by a different champagne cru.

Type Of Cuisine?

Emotive cuisine, which reflects the chef’s unique inspiration and his daily personal life. Cooking is atmospheric, contemporary, gourmet and filled to the brim with emotion. Just like the essence of wine for Gaston Bachelard, a master chef balances the different elements in a culinary symphony, always managing to hit the right notes and create the place “where sky and soil combine”. For Arnaud Lallement, this place is the Champagne region – its landscapes, its wine and its power. He translates its very essence through music, images, words and flavours.

 

What Inspired You To Become A Chef?

Chef Arnaud believes he would not be where he is without the work of his father Jean-Pierre who, with assistance from his wife Colette, had opened the first restaurant in Châlons-sur-Vesle before moving to Tinqueux accompanied by his first Michelin star in 1986. Arnaud Lallement’s cuisine is a continuing tribute to the memory of his late father. This is expressed no better than in his blue lobster dish which positively delights diners who are nostalgic for the perfection of straight-forward cuisine that passionately incorporates sauces. Arnaud Lallement knows that his love of cuisine didn’t just appear from nowhere, rather it follows a family passion that he continues with his mother Colette, his sister Mélanie and his wife Magali.

 

What Is The Biggest Challenge You Have Faced In The Culinary Industry?

Each dish is inspired by a different champagne cru. To make this a success, you need to be in tune with the calendar and know how to recall the different seasons and years, the grapevine’s pruning time, and the bad weather that all together create the particular features of this sparkling wine. You have to be respectful and unassuming; let the champagne do the talking. Starting with sharp and bitter accents, the flavours begin to harmonise and string together the different tastes from the fresh, vibrant produce, each one infused with the terroir’s own special character.

That’s the price you pay for emotion, fuelled by the sincerity of a chef who knows how to stay in tune with the days and climates.

 

What’s Your Biggest Achievement In The Culinary Industry?

Three Michelin stars & a family-owned restaurant.

 

When It Comes To Cooking What Is More Important To You The Technique, The Ingredients Or The Creativity?

L’Assiette Champenoise is made one of kind by its emotive cuisine, reflecting the chef’s unique inspiration and his daily personal life. Each meal at L’Assiette Champenoise is a part of the house’s great history.

 

Recipe Of The Week: Blue Lobster, Tribute To My Dad

blue lobster

Serves: 4 people │ Preparation Time: 1 hour │ Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Lobsters

Ingredients:

• 2 blue lobsters – 500/600g

Preparation

Separate the claws, body and head of the lobster. Blanch the pincers for 6 minutes and the bodies for 2 minutes. Deshell and set it aside. Reheat in lobster butter just before serving. Chop & Reserve for the dressing.

 

Lobster Butter

Ingredients:

• 500g of lobster shells
• 5g of paprika
• 100g butter

Preparation

Brown the lobster shells with paprika. Cover with butter & cook slowly for 1 hour. Pass through the chinois. Boil to remove impurities. Reserve.

 

Mild Chili Pepper

Ingredients:

• 250g potato
• 7g olive oil
• 7g smoked mild red pepper
• 0.26L of water
• 100g milk
• 200g of sour cream
• 10g of salt

Preparation

Peel the potatoes & cut into pieces. Sauté in olive oil, then add the chilli & cover with water & reduce until almost dry. Add the milk, sour cream and salt then boil & mix. Pass through a chinois. Pour into a siphon.

Lobster Sauce

Ingredients:

• 500g lobster heads
• 10g olive oil
• 15g paprika
• 50g of honey
• 100g shallot
• 37.5cl of sweet wine (Sauternes type)
• 0.5 l sour cream
• water

Preparation

Peel and finely chop the shallot. Brown the lobster heads in olive oil then add the paprika, honey and chopped shallots. Deglaze with sweet wine & reduce by half. Add some water and cook slowly for 1 hour. Add the sour cream and pass through a chinois. Check the seasoning.

 

Potato Rings

Ingredients:

• 200g potatoes
• 100g lobster sauce

Preparation

Peel the potatoes. Reserve one potato, but in the others, cut thirty rings of 6cm in diameter. Blanch for 1 min then glaze with the lobster sauce.

 

Pommes Soufflée

Ingredients:

• 6 Bintje potatoes
• Sunflower oil bath

Preparation

Cut the potatoes into 3mm strips, then into 6cm by 4cm wide ovals. Blanch in sunflower oil at 135 ° C for 5 minutes, basting constantly, then at 180°C for 1 minute. Sprinkle salt.

 

Champagne Vinegar Reduction

Ingredients:

• 100 g of champagne vinegar

Preparation

Heat and reduce the vinegar to a syrup consistency.

 

Other Ingredients:

• 3 nasturtium leaves
• Minced sage

Preparation

Cut the leaves into four circles of 2, 3 and 4cm.

Dressing The Plate

On the left side of each plate, arrange three rounds of glazed potatoes. Garnish lightly with chopped lobster, infused chilli and minced sage. Cover each round with another round to form three ravioli. On the right of the plate, place a dash of vinegar reduction then place the half lobster tail on top. Place a pair of pliers standing beside it. Finish with three rings of nasturtium and three pommes soufflée. Serve the lobster sauce at the table.

*FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Matthieu Cellard

chef Arnaud Lallemet

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