All posts tagged: vegetarian

Martin Beratasegui

Loidi Kalea, 4 – 20160 Lasarte-Oria (Gipuzkoa) Tel. (+34) 943 366 471 info@martinberasategui.com 3 Michelin stars since 2001 29th best Restaurant in the world – Restaurant magazine 2008/11 1st Visit: Lunch Saturday 12th November 2016 (17.5/20) Slightly under-par performance from one of the world’s great chefs €€€€€ In the unremarkable town of Lasarte-Oria, about half an hour outside of San Sebastian, deep in Basque Country between northern Spain and France, stands the flagship and eponymous restaurant of one of the giants of modern Spanish cuisine. Once dubbed ‘the most famous chef you’ve never heard of’, Beratasegui may not be as well known as others internationally, but enjoys a status similar to Ferran Adria in his native Spain, where he quietly has built up a mini empire of fine dining. He currently holds 7 Michelin stars. The accolades started early in his career when, having returned to run his family’s restaurant after training to be a Pastry chef in France, he achieved his first macaron at the fresh age of 25. And whilst the doyen of modernist Spanish food …

Azurmendi

Legina Auzoa, S/N, 48195 Larrabetzu, Bizkaia, Spain +34 94 455 88 66 http://www.azurmendi.biz 3 Michelin stars since 2012 1 in Europe : Opinionated About Dining 16 : World’s 50 Best Restaurants 1st Visit: Lunch Saturday 11th November 2016 As close to perfect as I can ever expect a restaurant to get : 19.75/20 Travelling along the motorway some way between Bilbao and San Sebastiaan, Restaurant Azurmendi appears in the distance, a vision in glass and steel, high up on a hill and jutting out over the Autumnal Basque countryside, looking half greenhouse, half minimalist Hollywood Hills mansion. The restaurant itself hasn’t even been there that long to have soared to the giddy heights of 3 Michelin stars, best restaurant in Europe on the OAD list, 16th on the worlds 50 best list and winner of the 2014 Sustainable Restaurant Prize. Indeed such is the reputation that chef Eneko Atza, trained at Martin Berasategui and Murgaritz, and still early in his 30s, has built in such a short time, that taxi drivers, even if you aren’t on …

Duck (or not) with Carrots

A colourful and delicious dish which can easily be adjusted for vegetarians without losing any of the fun Really this is more about the carrot rather than the duck so, like much of my cooking (which I often need to adapt for my vegetarian wife), it works perfectly well either way just by adjusting quantities of pasta, substituting goats cheese for the protein, and of course adding a flower! The underlying sweet and buttery carrot puree gives a solid base on which the toasted crunch of hazelnut and the beetroot tuile sit, with sharpness from the pickled ribbons of carrot, earthiness from the burnt leek, and rich umami from the duck (or cheese if substituting). This is the first time I’ve tried to make this little biscuit, which is really for decoration as much as anything else, but is perfectly delicious too! Ingredients (Meaty/Vegetarian) As usual I forgo exact quantities – use what feels right to you, have fun, and see what happens! Duck breast / Fresh goats cheese Carrots Leak Beetroot, flour and oil …

De Librije

Zwolle, The Netherlands 3 Michelin stars since 2004 38 on World’s 50 Best Restaurants 3rd Visit: Lunch Saturday 14th Jan 2017 Restaurants rarely get better than this : 19.5/20 Monkfish, fermented peppers and aubergine It was with some considerable joy that we returned, almost exactly a year after our last visit, to the temple of modern Dutch gastronomy in Zwolle, Northern Holland. The restaurant is housed in an impressive 18th century pile, an old prison building, and cohabits the space with its own boutique hotel. Many guest who book for dinner take the option to roll happily up the stairs into the luxurious accommodation above, or indeed as we had done last year, make a whole glorious weekend of it, enjoying the heady heights of dinner, breakfast and lunch with 3 Michelin stars. This is truly a labour of love; The celebrated power-couple of Dutch fine dining, Jonnie and Thérèsa Boer, still work every day in the restaurant which they founded together some 20 years ago and which rightfully commands an almost mythical status in Dutch …

Mushrooms en croute

A satisfying and relatively straight-forward vegetarian dish of mushrooms and pastry, with a rich chive cream balanced by the tart earthy kick of lightly pickled beetroot. Perfect for an autumnal lunch, and easy to both scale-up and pre-prepare, so ideal for stress-free entertaining. Ingredients Chanterelles of similar seasonal mushroom Goats cheese Chives, garlic and capers Pre-rolled puff pastry Beetroot Salad leaves for garnish Method Really the most challenging part of this dish is the construction of the pastry box, but mastering this itself only really requires a quick measurement. Once you have decided how long you would like the base (I recommend 4 inches or so), it is simply a matter of cutting two thin ends of the same length as the short edge of the box, and two further longer sides which should be slightly shorter than the long edge to account for the corner overlap. (I originally planned to have a top to the box so you also see two lids in the picture). Bake in a pre-warmed oven at 200c/392f for around 20 mins or …