DEC. 2023

20 years La Réserve
A star-studded dinner

To celebrate La Réserve Genève’s 20th anniversary, the establishment’s executive chef Benjamin Brial and pastry chef Pierre-Alain Rouchon combined their talents with those of three other La Réserve chefs – Jérôme Banctel from Paris, Eric Canino from Ramatuelle and Marco Ortolani from Zurich – in concocting an exceptional dinner. We bring you a behind-the-scenes look as well as recipes from this unique moment in gourmet history studded with stars on guests’ plates as well as in all eyes…

Discover Eric Canino’s recipe from La Réserve Ramatuelle here:

Sea bream with mussels

Ingredients – for 4 people

For the stuffed sea bream and mussels:

  • 1 sea bream weighing approx. 1.5 kg, washed and gutted
  • Olive oil to taste
  • 100 g mussels (at least 1 large mussel per person)
  • 100 g water
  • Pepper
  • Salt
  • Chives
  • Lemon oil
  • 1 red onion

For the pastry:

  • 600 g flour
  • 225 g water
  • 50 g butter
  • 10 g salt

For the tart filling:

  • 200 g Mussels
  • Lemon vinaigrette to taste
  • 1 red onion
  • Chives

For the Tarama:

  • 200 g mussels
  • 30 ml grape seed oil
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 100 ml white wine
  • 1 sprig thyme

Kappa seawater:

  • 500 ml sea water (or sea salt water)
  • 7.5 g kappa (gelling agent)

For the stuffed potatoes:

  • 5 firm-fleshed Délicatesse potatoes
  • 10 g sea water (or sea salt water)

For the mussel filling:

  • 100 g soft-skinned potatoes
  • 15 g single cream
  • 40 g lemon oil

For the cream of mussel sauce:

  • 50 g cooked mussels
  • 15 g mussel juice

For the marinière sauce:

  • 125 g butter
  • 5 shallots
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 bunch parsley
  • 100 g white wine
  • 75 g cream
  • salt and pepper

Prepare the dough by mixing the flour, butter and salt. Gently stir in warm water until you have a smooth dough. Leave the dough to rest in the fridge for two hours, then roll out thinly.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Line the tartlet molds, cover with another base and cut out the edges. Place in the fridge to allow the pastry to harden slightly. Meanwhile, make the filling for the tartlet. Shell the cooked mussels and dress with a lemon vinaigrette, chopped red onion and chives. Prepare the mussel tarama by heating the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic clove, chopped shallot, mussels, white wine and thyme. Cook until the mussels open. Set the juices aside in a large bowl and, off the heat, remove the mussel meat. Drain the mussels without their shells and blend them into an emulsion with the grapeseed oil. Season to taste.

Remove tartlets from the fridge and place in the oven for 13 minutes. Mix the Kappa with the sea-water and set aside.
Once cooked, fill the tartlets with the tarama, then carefully arrange the seasoned mussels on top. Cover everything with the kappa seawater. Keep a small amount aside to glaze the stuffed mussels.

Remove the fillets from the sea bream and cut into even rectangles. Reserve the trimmings. Brush the fillets with olive oil and vacuum-pack. Cook in a pan of water at 52°C for 50 minutes, until they reach a core temperature of 49°C. Remove from the water and set aside.

Wash and peel the potatoes and vacuum-pack with seawater. Cook in a pan for 40 minutes, leave to cool and then dry in the oven for 3 x 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the mussels in water and season with pepper. Mix the cooked mussels with some of the mussel juice previously used to make the mussel cream, and stuff the potatoes after scooping them out. Reserve the rest of the cream of mussel sauce for later.
Mash the soft-fleshed potatoes and add the liquid cream and lemon oil. Strain through a sieve to obtain a smooth purée. Place it in a piping bag and fill the mussels, then glaze with the remaining kappa seawater.

Cut the trimmings from the sea bream into small cubes. Season with lemon oil, red onion and chives.
Using the remaining cream of mussel, make a sauce by mixing it with the mussel juice and adjusting the seasoning to taste.

Fry the chopped shallots, garlic and parsley in the butter until you obtain a beurre noisette. Deglaze with the white wine, add the cream, blend, pass through a sieve to obtain a smooth emulsion and season to taste.

Plating:
Place a little sauce onto a plate. Place a fillet of sea bream, tartare, stuffed mussel, potatoes and a tartlet on the plate. Place the emulsion in the center.

The other La Réserve chefs

Click here to discover Jérôme Banctel recipe’s from La Réserve Paris
Click here to discover Marco Ortolani’s recipe from La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich
Click here to discover Benjamin Brial’s recipe from La Réserve Genève
Click here to discover Pierre-Alain Rouchon’s recipe from La Réserve Genève

 

This article is an excerpt from La Réserve Magazine N°30 by Michel Reybier Hospitality, which you can consult online here.