Cooking Class with Refletts Chef Pierre Gagnier

We were dining at Refletts earlier this year, and got a bit carried away.  Katie and I went to town on the food, wine - it was all so good!  Unfortunately, our stomachs were bigger than our wallets.  The manager Dennis gave us two choices - we could go to jail or work off our (substantial) debt.

So, being world reknowned chefs, we decided it was a win-win - Pierre could really use our help.  We put on our Saturday morning finest, and went into the kitchen to sweat it out.  Here's a picture of me telling everyone what a tomato is (nobody had ever seen one):

 

Katie's no slouch, either - here she is telling one of the soux chefs that you could chop mushrooms - he was blown away.  "This is so amazing - now that I know they can be chopped, the possibilities are endless!" he was heard saying.

Clearly, it was a big success - we spent all day cooking, cleaning, tasting, and generally impressing everyone with our skills.  A crowd soon gathered, and Pierre challenged us to a duel.  Let's just say that it was close - his 45-ingredient fruits de mer "LA MÉDITERRANÉE" narrowly edged out my "Matt's Famous Garlic Bread."  I maintain that he cheated - the saddle of rabbit he added at the end definitely didn't come from the ocean.  However, I'm a gracious loser - see his recipe at the end (I don't give away my garlic bread secrets to just anybody!).

Here's a photo with the two head chefs on the left, Pierre, and a few of the other people working off their debt that day:

For those of you who believe a world-renowned chef is better than a guy in paper hat that can make a wicked batch of popcorn, here's one of Pierre Gagnaire's recipes (and don't forget to check out his website at http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com):

LA MÉDITERRANÉE…pour quatre personnes:

2 pieces Agria potato
200 gr. Rock salt
60 gr. Flour
20 gr. Potato flour
50 gr. Butter
3 spoons Olive oil
1 spoonful Paprika powder
24 pcs. Gambas (or prawns, for you English-speakers)
1 spoonful White Port
1 spoonful Espelette pepper
2 pcs. Eggs
2 pcs. Saddle of rabbit
1 spoonful Rosemary
4 dl. Cream
300 gr. Rocket salad
1 spoonful Sage
2 pcs. Garlic
1 spoonful Tarragon
250 gr. Cuttlefish
2 pcs. Leek
300 gr. Hummous

• Cover an oven tray with rock salt, place the whole potatoes on the tray and cook for 1½ hour at 180 degrees. Peel the potatoes, mash them and add the flour, paprika powder, egg yolk and potato flour. Mix until you obtain a dough texture and roll into in a large cylinder shape. Cut it in pieces of approximately 4 centimeter long and a diameter of approximately 2 centimeter.
• Cut the cuttlefish in pieces and keep it aside.
• Cook the gnocchi in water with rosemary and reserve on the side.
• Cook the rocket salad in a pan with a little bit of water from the gnocchi and add the cream. Let it cook on low heat.
• Heat the gambas with the white Port, butter and espelette pepper.
• Heat olive oil in a pan and sear the saddle of rabbit. Add the butter. When the butter is fully melted, add the sage, chopped garlic, tarragon and the cuttlefish.
• Cut the leek and add in the pan with the rabbit along with the gnocchi.

Plating:
Put the rocket salad in the center of the plate, place the mixture of rabbit, cuttlefish on top and then the gambas. Pour a little bit of the cream of the rocket on top of the dish.