Christophe Pelé is the bad boy of French haute cuisine, and squid ink is his Zorro signature, dense with mineral-like umami. There is no shortage in this mimetic (but not too much) tempura hot dog of langoustine, garnished with sauerkraut, but from potatoes, and mustard, but from Japan.
Cover photo: Yohann Vorillon
The dish
Making his mark at the latest Festa a Vico star dinner was Christophe Pelé, enlightened chef of the Paris-based two Michelin-starred Le Clarence. For the occasion he presented a "surf and turf" dish, that is, one that combined fish and red meat, specifically an unsettling tripe that textured squid ink. Here Pelé plays rather with street food, offering a hot dog composed of noble langoustines in tempura, potato sauerkraut, and karashi, the Japanese mustard.
The chef, who has passed through the kitchens of Ledoyen, Lasserre, Pierre Gagnaire and Le Bristol, is a master in the art of contrast, and the effect is for all intents and purposes irreverent in the very elegant hôtel particulier of the owners of Château Haut-Brion. "I love the simplicity of eating with my hands and the conviviality, which also is not exclusive to street food. It is often delicious and this way of eating corresponds to the spirit of the times, to our lives, to the chronic lack of time," he told guide.michelin.com about it.
LANGOUSTINE HOT DOG
Ingredients for 4 people
- 4 langoustines
For the pain brioche
- 360 g of flour
- 120 g milk
- 2 eggs
- 8 g brewer's yeast
- 5 g honey
- 60 g sugar
- 6 g salt
- 75 g butter
- Yolk and milk for browning
Combine all ingredients except butter in the bowl of a food processor. Knead on low speed with the hook until a smooth dough forms. Add the cold cubed butter. Continue kneading, increasing the speed, to give it strength and elasticity. Turn off when the dough is smooth and pulls away from the container. Let rest in a cool place for 12 hours.
Take a small piece of dough and knead it gently, forming a smooth oval with a diameter of 10 cm. Lay with the fold down on baking paper and let rise for 15 minutes at room temperature. Brown with the egg-milk mixture.
After 2 to 3 minutes, bake for 10 minutes at 180 °C.
For the squid ink tempura batter
- 360 g of flour
- 180 g of cornstarch
- 12 g baking powder
- 400-450 ml sparkling water
- 4 bags of squid ink
For the tempura scampi, shell the crustaceans. Mix flour, cornstarch and baking powder in a bowl, add the water and squid ink. Stir, leaving a few lumps. Introduce an ice cube into the batter so that it remains well chilled.
Dip the langoustines into the batter. Heat the oil in a saucepan to 180 °C and fry for 1 minute.
For the potato sauerkraut
- 1 large potato
- 2 cl olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic
- 10 grains of Sichuan peppercorns
- 10 grains of coriander
- 1 small piece of crushed ginger
- 1 dried chili pepper
- 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 1 dash of sesame oil
- 1 pinch of sugar
- Salt
Cut out a ribbon of potato with a Japanese slicer. Wrap it on itself and cut noodles. Rinse in cold water.
Heat some olive oil in a saucepan over high heat, brown the garlic, peppercorns and coriander, ginger and chili. Add the drained potato noodles and brown. Deglaze with the vinegar and soy sauce. Season with salt and sugar, then add the sesame oil.
For the Japanese mustard
- 300 g miso
- 30 g of karashi powder
- 60 g of rice vinegar
- 1 dash of mirin
Heat the vinegar in a saucepan and pour it over the karashi powder, stirring. Heat the miso in a double boiler until a creamy paste is obtained. Stir it all together, adding a dash of mirin, so that the sauce is not too firm.
Open the bread, stuff with the potato and tempura shrimp. Finish with the sauce.
Contact
Le Clarence
31 avenue Franklin-D.-Roosevelt, Paris, 75008, France
Tel: +33 1 82 82 10 10
