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14 Mar, 2024
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Caviar, Haddock & Potato 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: Caviar, Haddock & Potato

Serves: 4 people │ Preparation Time: 45 minutes │ Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Chive Cream

Ingredients:

• 250g heavy fresh cream
• 25g of water
• 20g red onion
• 20g chives
• 4g of salt
• 1g of pepper
• 1cl of vodka
• 1 gelatin sheet

Preparation

Peel and mince the red onion. Chop the chives. Heat the water. Meanwhile, immerse the gelatin sheets for a few minutes in very cold water to rehydrate them. Squeeze the gelatin with your hands before adding them to the hot water. Add the heavy cream, red onion, chives, salt, pepper and vodka. Mix and pass through a chinois(conical sieve). Using a 14cm cookie cutter, place a spoon of this preparation in the bottom of each plate. Leave to set in the fridge for 10 minutes.

 

Haddock Jelly

Ingredients:

• 40g onions
• 40g of potatoes
• 40g leek
• 40g of celery
• 1/4 clove of garlic
• 250g of haddock
• 200g of fish stock
• 130g of liquid cream
• 100g milk
• 20g butter

Preparation

Peel and cut the onions, potatoes, leeks and celery into pieces. Add in the butter & saute for 15 minutes. Chop the garlic. Cut the haddock into cubes. Incorporate these two ingredients into the vegetables. Add the stock, the cream and the milk & continue cooking for about 20 minutes. Mix and pass through a chinois. Immerse the gelatin in very cold water to rehydrate them. Squeeze the gelatin with your hands before adding them to the hot water. Let cool. Take the plates out of the refrigerator and pour over the chive cream & refrigerate again.

 

Potato Mousse

Ingredients:

• 45g onions
• 250g of potatoes
• 80g chicken stock
• 170g milk
• 170g of single cream
• 6g of salt
• pepper

Preparation

Peel and mince the onions & saute. Peel and finely cut the potatoes then toss with the onions. Add in the chicken stock salt and a pinch of pepper & cook for 20 minutes. Add in the milk and cream & continue cooking until it is reduced to 600g. Mix & pour into a siphon with a cartridge then refrigerate.

Green Juice

Ingredients:

• 125g baby spinach
• water

Preparation

Blanch the spinach leaves for a few minutes. Drain & mix with a little water & pass through a chinois & pour into a pipette.

 

Croutons

Ingredients:

• 1 slice of white bread

Preparation

Cut out 12 3cm circles of your slice. Place them on a baking sheet and bake at 180°C for 5 minutes.

 

Other Ingredients:

• 120g Royal Oscietra Caviar

Dressing The Plate

Take the plates out of the refrigerator. Using the pipette, place dots of green juice on the edge of each plate. Place a quenelle of caviar on the haddock jelly and place three croutons on top of the caviar. Serve the potato mousse at the table.

 


chef Arnaud Lallemet

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