“When I was 5, I was making lemon pasta for my daddy”

“Since I was little, I have always loved cooking. As early as 3, 4, I had a notebook where I cut and glued recipes, and a spiral cookbook that I have flipped through and used so much that all the pages are now glued together. When I was 5, I was making lemon pasta for my dad, and I remember that I already had cooking tics: I kept the cooking water, I zest the lemon, I used good olive oil. olive and fleur de sel …

I grew up in Paris, of a Marseille father and a mother from Sisteron, and I was surrounded by women who cooked very well – in particular my grandmother, in Manosque, who made a delicious soup in pistou, tians, Christmas cardoons… They are the ones who gave me the passion for simmered vegetables, herbs, garlic…

Revelation in the kitchens of the George-V

My parents divorced when I was 5 years old, and after their separation, I also spent a lot of time with my childhood friend, Pauline, who lived on the same street: every evening, I cooked at her place. Around the age of 8, we even took part in a cooking competition for which we had imagined an ultra-varied and colorful vegetable gratin.

Despite everything, I had never considered cooking my profession. It was my hobby, my personal passion. And at the time, it was not valued at all: cooking was the way for dummies… So I first started studying medicine. I could see myself becoming an orthopedic surgeon, because I love this environment …

But, during my second year of medicine, my father, who is an architect, met the head of the George-V. I had seen him on TV, I was very impressed and asked if I could come and spend a day in his kitchens. They were 110 in his brigade, it was crazy. That same evening, I knew I couldn’t get up in the morning to do anything else. When I’m in the kitchen, I never feel like I’m working, it’s something I do all the time, automatically and for pleasure, at home and in a restaurant.

Sunday mashed chicken

Recomposed, my family has become large: I have six little brothers and sisters, whole, half or by marriage. Sunday mashed chicken was my dad’s dish when we went to his place on weekends and got together around the table. It was a festive dish. In the evening, with what was left of the juice and flesh on the carcass, we made pasta, when we had not all sauced directly in the dish with bits of bread.

My favorite sandwich brings it all together: leftover family roast chicken, bread soaked in juice, candied vegetables and herbs from my grandmother’s garden. I like to combine these ingredients with a white cheese sauce, very lemony, garlic and full of herbs, lighter than mayonnaise. It has to be both fresh and simmered… that’s the essence of what I like to cook, between two slices of bread. “