Do it like the French

The resplendent pink macaroon is just waiting to be eaten. It is nestled atop a buttery soft, creamy layer of mascarpone cheese and grapefruit. Nearby, is a scoop of raspberry sorbet and a sprig of mint atop a sliver of mango sauce. One bite into the macaroon and you have a delicate play of contrasting flavours — tangy sorbet, bitter grapefruit and sweet mascarpone. This is what fine dining is all about, I think. But then, Michelin-starred chef Daniel Hebet is known for his desserts at his restaurant, Le Jardin du Quai at the Oberoi hotel.

Keeping it simple
“My food is not fancy,” says chef Hebet. A low bowl besides him holds a salad of fresh slivers of hermit crab, steamed tiger prawns and soft artichokes, topped with thyme and rosemary sprigs. Not fancy at all.    

Chef Hebet comes from an antiquary town Isle sur la Sorgue in Provence. At Le Jardin du Quai, he dishes up simple food, a set four-course menu that revolves around fresh produce picked up from the local market. He uses a lot of vegetables in his cooking. In my starter, the artichoke is mixed with diced carrots, mushroom, onions, white wine and olive oil and cooked. Then, the lightly steamed tiger prawns and crab are added.

The first main is sea bass cooked in spinach. The sea bass is pink and gets its flavour from the seafood stock and butter in which it is steamed. It crumbles at touch but is overpowered by the green beans, fava beans and spinach — the vegetables are added “to make the dish taste better”.

Truffle it up
The one item that always finds its way into chef Hebet’s food every winter is black truffle. This fungus, which is found in abundance in the Alpine and Provence region, makes its way into every dish. As a special tip, I am advised to mix the truffle shavings with olive oil and salt. The smoothness of the olive oil mixed with the taste of mushrooms makes for an interesting combination. This quite ruins the truffles in next dish, corn fed chicken with  a truffle terrine topped with truffle shavings. The leek recipe is an old French one that involves cooking it in chicken stock and cooling it for two days till its firm. The chicken is grilled with soya sauce, giving it a nice coating that goes well with the truffle.

Room for macaroon
 A bite of his macaroons and you understand why Chef Hebet was awarded the title of France’s best pastry chef a couple of years ago. “The past few years, macaroons have become seen a sudden increase in their popularity and have become a special dessert,” says chef Hebet. Chef Hebet, who trained at Laduree, the famous macaroon shop in Paris, makes his macaroons like sandwiches, crunchy and filled with mascarpone cheese, fruit and other garnishes.

That, I am told, is how the French do it.