Alain Ducasse's naturalistic cuisine requires simple ingredients and banishes meat.
At the microphone of Europe 1, the chef of Plaza Athénée offers a tasty recipe for lentils with sweet spices and Camargue rice, which strictly respects this culinary philosophy.
The concept of "naturalness" in cooking banishes meat and minimizes butter, these bases of traditional French cuisine.
It was developed six years ago for the restaurant "Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée" in Paris, which has since been awarded three Michelin stars.
Its executive chef, Alain Meder, espoused this philosophy and offers at the microphone of Europe 1 a tasty recipe in accordance with these culinary principles: lentils with sweet spices and Camargue rice.
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This dish requires only simple and easy to obtain ingredients, in accordance with the philosophy of the two cooks.
"When we created it with Alain Ducasse, we said to ourselves that we had to bring this naturalness to the street, make it accessible to as many people as possible and at the right price", explains Alain Meder.
The ingredients (for 10 people):
For the curry
500 g lentils
1 white onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled
5 g of yellow mustard seeds
5 g coriander seeds
3 g green cardamom
3 g ground cumin
3 g of turmeric / tumeric (Mauritian saffron)
Olive oil
For the salad
4 endives
3 sprigs of leaf coriander
For the vinegar
200 g of white vinegar
1 liter of water
200 g garlic
100 g unrefined sugar
10 g chilli
10 g of salt
5g white pepper
For the Camargue rice salad
400 g of Camargue rice
1.5 liters of water
10 g of fine salt
30 g pickled red onion
30 g of candied lemon
30 g black olives
30 g leaf coriander
Recipe :
1. The curry
Soak the lentils for four hours and then "point" them for 24 hours.
Mix the mustard seeds, coriander seeds and green cardamom in a spice blender.
Cut the onions and garlic into brunoise and sweat them in a saucepan then add the spices and cook the spice mixture for five minutes.
Add the lentils and add the vegetable peelings broth.
Leave to cook over low heat.
Adjust the seasoning and add a dash of lemon juice if necessary.
2. Rice with spices
Soak the rice for 30 minutes then cook it in water for fifteen minutes.
Remove and leave to rest for five minutes.
Grain gently with a fork.
Season the rice with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and Espelette pepper.
Add pieces of black olives, a julienne of candied lemon, a julienne of red onion in pickles and chopped cilantro.
Reserve.
3. The vinegar
Mix all the ingredients and leave to marinate overnight, pass through a sieve and set aside.
4. The finish
Finely slice the endives, add the coriander and season with garlic vinegar and olive oil.
5. Dressage
In a suitable container, arrange 80 grams of lentil curry.
Add 100 grams of warm rice salad, then finish with 20 grams of endive salad.