a vegetable, a chef’s recipe (1/5)

Chef of the Alain Ducasse restaurant at the Plaza Athénée for seven years, Romain Meder has won three stars with breathtaking vegetable and seafood menus. He who has always composed his recipes to the rhythm of the vegetable garden knows how to get the best out of vegetables, thanks to his precise and very personal extraction and infusion techniques. Like here with this humble hay-infused ball celery. We now find his creations at Sapid, “nomadic and sustainable refectory”and especially at the Chemins, at the Domaine de Primard.

Ingredients for 4 persons. Preparation: 15 mins. Cooking: 15 to 20 min.
Rest: 1 night.

1 celeriac, 1 handful of hay, 1 liter of milk, 3 cloves of garlic, 8 eggs, 1 pinch of cinnamon, fleur de sel, ground pepper.

Preparation

Infuse the hay in lukewarm milk the night before. Let cool and soak overnight. Peel the celery the same day, cut it into quarters, then cut into very thin slices using a mandolin (2-3 mm thick). Peel and mince the garlic cloves.

Strain the hay infused milk and beat the eggs into it. Salt, pepper. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the slices of celery in scales in a gratin dish, interspersing the minced garlic. Pour the milk-egg mixture on top, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the celery is cooked. Remove from oven, sprinkle with cinnamon, pepper and fleur de sel.

Sapid, 54, rue de Paradis, Paris 10e. sapid.fr

Les Chemins, Domaine de Primard, departmental road 16, 28260 Guainville. lesdomainesdefontenille.com

Most produced

Herbaceous plant widespread throughout southern Europe and as far west as the Himalayas, celery, or Apium graveolens, belongs to the very aromatic family of umbelliferae (or apiaceae), such as carrot, chervil, fennel or cumin. Nicknamed “swamp ache” in the wild, celery grows naturally in wet, swampy areas. There are more than a hundred varieties listed, including Secalinium, in small thin and leafy branches, Dulce, with large fleshy stems (stalk or ribbed celery), and Rapaceum (celeriac or ball), which forms a rounded tuberous organ from which many roots and stems start. Cultivated in the Middle Ages mainly for its medicinal and condiment properties, celery appears in cookbooks from the 17th century.e century. Very low in calories, it is rich in minerals, calcium, vitamins and fibre, and lends itself to many recipes, with or without cooking.

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