LaurentGras

Sangre de Toro

Crispy rice or rice crispy in salty or spicy is a plus-plus snack that you find anywhere in chinatown. Made with jasmine rice they are very flavorful and good. After making some rice crackers, cooked rice dried on sheet then deep fried, we decide try a new way. Cook the rice, blend it to a fine consistency, color it and spray it over a silpat. It is oven dried for about 12 hours, broken into pieces and then deep fried. I like the deep red color, like sangre de toro. It is visually exciting.

Yukon Gold Potato Bread, Roasted Garlic

Our baker Noe made a tray of his own recipe for potato bread. We bake whole garlic and potato on a bed sea salt until they are soft and fully cooked. Then incorporate pulp of both the garlic and potato into the dough. Made into small elegant rolls the rustic ingredients turn into a sophisticated product.

 

Tarts to Share After the Meal

On some evenings we serve a slice of tart, cut table side, after the meal with chocolate and coffee. 

 

   

Stamped

Ever since I learned that baking in clay allows for a longer and slower cooking, I have used it from time to time use it to bake. Clay diffuses the heat in a very gentle way allowing the protein to keep all the natural moisture. Lamb, black truffle, sturgeon and salmon have been some of the ingredients I have worked with in clay. Of course they are first wrapped in parchment paper before being sealed into the clay. 

The clay is usually served in the dining room, so we wanted to created the ultimate touch: a stamp to mark the clay with L₂O logo. Emiliano, one of our staff, used all his connections on a recent trip to Mexico to make the metal stamp. It was done in less than few hours. No proof reading or pro-format or additional thought were needed to complete the job. I liked it that way, quick, fast and well done.

 

 

Maine Lobster by Ingrid

Stonington, Maine, on the island of Deer Isle off the coast of Maine, near Bar Harbor looks like a peaceful, picture postcard fishing village, surrounded by an archipelago of Spruce covered, uninhabited islands.  But in fact, it is the beating heart of the Maine lobster fishing industry, where over 30 million dollars worth of lobsters are landed every year. Boys (and some girls) start life dreaming of the  day when their fathers will take them "out to haul", and by the time they are sixteen, they have their own traps, and sometimes their own boats, or else, go fishing alongside their fathers or grandfathers as stern men.

The season begins in the summer when the lobsters shed their old shells and grow into new ones. At this time, their shells are extremely soft, and the lobsters hide in the rocks to protect themselves from predators.This is when lobsters should be eaten in Maine,at a clambake,  on a beach, or a backyard  picnic or restaurant near where they were caught. They won't survive being transported, and are noticeably full of water. Even though they are not full of meat, they are deliciously  sweet and tender. 

The best time to eat lobster outside of Maine is in the fall and winter when the shells have hardened, and the lobster meats have filled out, but are still tender. These lobsters are called "hard shedders". They travel well, and are really a premium lobster. That's when we in Maine eat lobster at home. The French eat lobster for New Year's. They are right.if they are from Maine, are fresh caught  and have not been held in lobster pounds where they tend to acquire a muddy flavor. "Pound lobsters" have rough shells which don't shine. In captivity, their antennae may have been chewed off.

Maine has strict regulations meant to protect a sustainable fishery. The smallest lobster which is a "keeper" is a chick lobster, weighing about a pound. Keeping large lobsters over about three and a half pounds is illegal. They are considered breeders. There are specific measurement requirements for the carapace, and illegal lobsters can cost a fishermen his or her license to fish.There are limits to the number of traps each fishermen can fish, and limited entry requirements. Females with eggs are thrown back into the sea, their claws v-notched to show that they were caught and thrown back. These regulations are exclusive to Maine. Go over the border into New Hampshire, and lobsters there are not subject to any such restrictions. This is part of what makes Maine lobsters unique, and especially those which come from Penobscot Bay, the waters around Stonington, where the nutrients create an exceptional micro climate which gives them a distinct flavor of their own.

It is a dangerous profession. Almost every year in Stonington, a fisherman drowns at sea. The island is an extremely close community. Every lobster which comes from here has the stamp of a fisherman's life, of his passion for what he does, and the risk he is prepared to take in order to do it, and protect it for future generations.

Written by Ingrid Bengis, our seafood supplier

Oyster Mushrooms

Like a bouquet of flowers, oyster mushrooms come attached to each other. They have to be cut with a small scissor before being washed quickly, then dried over a towel to absorb the remaining humidity. Oyster mushrooms are best sauteed with fresh butter and a bit a chopped chive. They have a mild flavor with a light fragrance of anise and they are best when young. With any protein, or in a soup, they are very enjoyable.

Coho Salmon, Fig Leaves, Cedar Wood

Coming from Southern Oregon, this wild fish already has a delicate flavor, a meat which is softer than a farm raised salmon with an orange brownish color. Salmon can be cooked on very low heat or high heat up to medium rare and let rest for few minutes until the heat is diffused though the meat.

Before being grilled over a robatayaki, the Coho salmon is wrapped in fig leaves, then wrapped in a thin sheet of cedar wood. It not only creates a spicy burned fragrance all over the kitchen, but gives the salmon a woody flavor that compliment the meat very well. Cedar wood is the smell of the deep forest. When it cooks over the grill, it burns lightly but also protects the fig leaves from burning.

  
 
 

 

Medai at his Peak

Medai, or butter fish, has been beautiful over the past few weeks. The fat content and the quality of the meat itself is offering the  best of what a fish can offer. It has a pink-whiteness with a translucent aspect that set the standard. It can be served raw or slowly cooked, butter poached being my favorite.

 

Traditional Challah Bread

Jason made Challah bread for family meal. He likes excess so he made four of them just in case we didn't have enough with two.....

 

Back to the Source

Most of the first 25 years of my life were spent in Antibes where I grew up, Cannes where my grandparents lived, and Nice and Monaco where I worked. It is not only wonderful to go back to the places where I grew up, but it is also important to remember what sometimes I can forget. 

On a personal level, the south of France is a wonderful place where the climate and the geography make you enjoy the four seasons of the year. From the mountains to sea water, there are always natural connections that keep you balanced. 

On a professional level, the history of food here is rich, the culture transmitted from generation to generation and the produce are just wonderful. A friend of mine is making a bread that he learned from his father in his grandfather bakery. Another friend fishes six days a week and sells his catch at the market. He is the fourth generation to have the same place on the dock for his boat.

As a chef, the restaurant sometimes takes all of your life and leaves you very little free time. You can easily forget the simple things that as a kid you enjoyed the most. During this trip I tasted the olive oil that my parents pressed this year from our trees in the country. And I enjoyed some of the dishes that will fill my memory for the next few months.

 Antibes

Cannes

 Sailboat at the port in Cannes