Saint-Pierre De Petit Bateau by Chef Arnaud Lallement, H&S Chef Of The Month
H&S Chef Of The Month
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: Saint-Pierre De Petit Bateau
Beetroot | Seaweed
Serves: 4 people │ Preparation Time: 1 hour 20 minutes │ Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Saint-Pierre
Ingredients:
• 4 fine fillets of Saint-Pierre (taken from a 2 kg fish)
• Olive oil
Preparation
Just before serving, cook the fillets in olive oil and unilaterally on a plancha for 4 minutes.
Mini Beets
Ingredients:
• 8 mini Chioggia beets
• Beet juice
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper
Preparation
Blanch the mini beets in boiling salted water for 40 minutes. Remove the skin, glaze with seasoned reduced beetroot juice and butter just before serving for a few minutes in a pan over medium heat, to obtain a shiny film.
Dulse & Wakame Seaweed
Ingredients:
• 50g dulse seaweed
• 50g of wakame seaweed
• 10g sesame oil
• 5g of yuzu juice
• 5g of ponzu sauce
Preparation
Rinse the seaweed in three bowls, drain and season them separately with sesame oil, yuzu juice and ponzu sauce.
Colonnata Lard
Ingredients:
• 50g of Colonnata lard
Preparation
Cut slices of lard with a slicer, cut 4 discs of 4cm.
Croutons
Ingredients:
• 2 slices of white bread
Preparation
Cut 4 rounds of 5cm in the slices of sandwich bread. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 180°C for 5 minutes.
Pepered Shellfish Sauce
Ingredients:
• 500g of shellfish juice
• 400g of single cream
• Salt, Madagascar pepper
Preparation
In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the shellfish juice & reduce its volume to 100g. Add the cream and continue reducing over medium heat until you obtain 400g. Season with pepper and salt. Emulsify before serving.
Other Ingredients:
• 4 mini Chioggia beets
• 1 organic lime
• Oyster leaves (12 leaves)
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
Dressing The Plate
In each plate, place 2 mini glazed beets on the right between the dulse and wakame seaweed. Add 2 shavings of seasoned raw Chioggia beetroot, 4 oyster leave rounds of 2 cm. On the left, place the Saint-Pierre fillet, grate the mini Chioggia beets and the lime zest on top, place 1 disc of Colonnata lard on the crouton. Finish with the emulsified shellfish sauce.
