Grandes Tables Suisses

Les Touristes at home - 29 Apr 2021

For those who long to return to live exceptional gastronomic experiences, top chefs suggest enjoying a gastronomic experience at home. This is the case at Les Touristes in Martigny where chef Mathieu Biolaz offers an unforgettable taste experience. Flash interview.

Grandes Tables Suisses: What concept do you propose?

Mathieu Biolaz: This period of closure is forcing us to reflect and reinvent ourselves. For this reason, I propose a concept of a chef at home. During this event, I come with 1 or 2 members of my staff, as well as all the kitchen equipment, dishes, bread and butter. We can also offer wine and beverage service provided by my associate Nelson Bonvin. The menu (the same for the whole table) is prepared beforehand taking into account the specific requests of the customers. On the spot, we do the cooking and the setting up.

GTS: What does the menu consist of?

MB: An appetizer, three starters, a main course, cheese and a dessert. We offer this menu in the evening as well as for lunch.

GTS: What is the price?

MB: The price is between 200 and 250 francs per person, without drinks. This price includes travel expenses.

GTS: Finally, what will we find on our plates?

MB: At the moment, morels are in season, so they will be on the menu, as well as Valais asparagus, wild garlic, a nice piece of veal, fish or shellfish for those who love the sea. As for desserts, gourmet fruits such as rhubarb and strawberries gariguette will be present!

More information : Info by mail info@touristes-martigny.ch

Restaurant Les Touristes : https://www.touristes-martigny.ch/

Spring according to Bernadette Lisibach - 23 Apr 2021

For the talented Bernadette Lisibach, chef of the Neue Blumenau restaurant in Lömmenschwil, spring tastes like wild garlic and celery. To mark the occasion, she has given the readers of Les Grandes Tables Suisses a fresh and authentic seasonal recipe: Eastern Swiss veal rump steak tartar with wild garlic cream, celery and garden herbs. It’s your turn !

The recipe

Ingredients for 4 people

Veal tartare

240 g veal rump steak, cut into small cubes
30 g shallots, chopped
15 g wild garlic, finely chopped
1 lime, zested
salt, freshly ground white pepper

Bear’s garlic cream

15 g butter
20 g shallots
80 g stock
5 g cornflour
½ leaf gelatine, soak
100 g wild garlic
100 g full cream
80 g fresh cream
100 g celery, cut into thin strips
Juice from the limes
salt, freshly ground white pepper

Topping

10 g lemon curd
Crunchy dark bread cubes
Young wild garlic leaves
Young lamb’s lettuce
Young chervil
Olive oil

Preparation

Season the finely chopped veal rump with the shallots, wild garlic, lime zest, salt and pepper.
Fry the shallots in the butter, deglaze with the stock and thicken with the cold cornflour. Simmer gently.
Add the gelatine and dissolve.
Add the wild garlic and purée the mixture very finely, season to taste.
Keep cold.
Refine with fresh cream.
Marinate the celery stalks cut into thin strips with lime zest, salt and pepper.

Serve

Arrange the wild garlic cream in the middle of the plate.
Place the tartare with the crispy bread in the cream of wild garlic.
Roll up the strips of pickled celery and place next to the tartare.
Garnish with herbs, olive oil and lemon curd.

Enjoy !

All information about the Neue Blumenau can be found on the website: https://www.neueblumenau.ch/

“Palace at Home” with Badrutt’s Palace - 3 Feb 2021

In the heart of the alpine resort of St. Moritz lies the magnificent Badrutt’s Palace, where culinary delicacies exceed all expectations. Ranging from innovative and refined traditional specialities to the exotic flavours of Asia, the gastronomic variety offered at Badrutt’s Palace will carry you away in the world of Epicurean delights. The executive chef Maxime Luvara tells us about his new Take Away service “Badrutt’s at Home”, developed to bring a taste of the palace’s excellence to your home.

Chef exécutif Maxime Luvara (Crédit photo : Badrutt’s Palace)

Grandes Tables Suisses: Which specialities do you offer on your take-away menu?

Maxime Luvara: “We are very lucky at Badrutt’s Palace to be able to offer such a great gastronomic variety, including a sophisticated fine-dining experience at Andreas Caminada’s Michelin-starred restaurant IGNIV, or even a taste of Matsuhisa de Nobu’s creative cuisine, blending traditional Japanese recipes with the finest Peruvian ingredients. You even have the possibility to savour new creations from contemporary French cuisine or authentic Indian dishes and, finally, the classic all-time favourites of the Hotel’s regular customers, such as the renowned pine-cone smoke roasted rack of Engadine lamb, to which the Palace owes its reputation of supreme culinary excellence”.

Discover the Hotel’s gastronomic offers here: https://badruttspalace.com/restaurants-winter/#restaurants

GTS: What are the details of your take-away menu? How often do you change it?

ML: “As Badrutt’s Palace is a seasonal hotel, we review the menu at the beginning of each season, which allows us to assess how to make it successful. Orders can be placed every day until 8:30pm on the Hotel’s website, and they will be delivered the same evening that they’re requested. The minimum cost of the order is 200 CHF (£164). The delivery fee of 50 CHF (£41) does not apply for orders of 500 CHF (£411) or more”.

Order your “Badrutt’s at Home” menu here: https://badruttspalace.com/restaurants-winter/#palace-at-home

GTS: Which is your favourite dish from the take-away menu, and why?

ML: “This is a hard question for a chef! In fact, it often depends on how I feel that day. One of my favourite dishes must be the Cocotte de Homard, as it is an extremely tasty dish, made to order using fresh ingredients. Plus, this is a very practical dish to take away, as it is a kind of stew which can be easily shared with friends and family! And of course, I also like to indulge in Matsuhisa’s extravagant sushi selection: sushi, sashimi, rolls or tacos, there is plenty for everyone. Or, as we are just in the right season, I would rather go for a dish made with black truffles, like our legendary Steak Rossini”.

You will find all the information on Badrutt’s Palace on the website: https://badruttspalace.com/winter/

Learn more about truffles! - 18 Nov 2020

Truffle season is in full swing, to the delight of chefs, who give it the pride of place on their menus. This is the case with Cristian Moreschi, executive chef at the Principe Leopoldo restaurant. Even though truffles offer a truly tantalising taste, it isn’t always easy to choose the right one… Which is why the chef is here to help, offering his tips and tricks to make your truffle dishes a success!

Les Grandes Tables de Suisse: There are white truffles and black truffles… Which truffle do you prefer to work with?

Cristian Moreschi: Surely if you have the opportunity to find and buy white truffles, working with its quality is very stimulating: it has very specific, unique characteristics. Of course, the black truffle is also an excellent product, but with different characteristics and completely different aromas.

Les Grandes Tables de Suisse: How can you recognise a good truffle?

Cristian Moreschi: A good truffle is recognisable by the scent and compactness, by the solidity of the so-called “potato”.

The chef Cristian Moreschi (photo credit : Adrian Ehrbar)

Les Grandes Tables de Suisse: How do you like to prepare the black and white truffles and why?

Cristian Moreschi: The black truffle is an ingredient that works very well with dishes based on white meat, such as poultry; it is, however, interesting to experience how it behaves even with more particular combinations. In this moment, for example, we have chosen to combine it with a beef fillet in a nut crust, with a delicate Madeira sauce. The white truffle with its richness goes very well with simple and rustic dishes, which give ample space to its recognisable flavor and its intoxicating, inebriant aroma: classics revisited like a simple fried egg, a beautiful potato purée enriched with fresh butter or whites noodles with a taleggio fondue.

In general, fats are always present in winning combinations, because they are vehicles and transmitters of flavours without equal. The search for the perfect dish therefore leads to a single result: a simple combination and at the same time rich in flavors.

Les Grandes Tables de Suisse: …And with the white truffle? What are the mistakes that should be avoided when cooking them?

Cristian Moreschi: Perhaps already in using the sentence “cooking the truffle” we are committing the first mistake: it is imperative not to ruin the raw material, so the best method to keep all the properties of the truffle intact is to be able to garnish it over a beautiful dish, at the last moment. It is precisely in this precious moment, when the truffle comes into contact with the dish, that this precious ingredient is able to release all of its scent.

Les Grandes Tables de Suisse: What is your tip to make homemade truffle pasta tasty and creamy?

Cristian Moreschi: We cook tagliolini for ¾ of the cooking time and finish the process in some butter and a little broth, in order to create an emulsion that gives life to a harmonious creaminess.

Les Grandes Tables de Suisse: You currently offer an à la carte truffle menu. What is your favorite dish to make on it?

Cristian Moreschi: At the Principe Leopoldo Restaurant we have a small menu with our “strong dishes”, highly-appreciated revisited classics. Personally, I really love the pumpkin and potato gnocchi with taleggio fondue, with a nice grating of truffle on top of course.

Les Grandes Tables de Suisse: Finally, which wine would you recommend pairing with truffle pasta?

Cristian Moreschi: On the menu, we have an excellent Barbaresco red wine from the Giacosa brothers: a remarkable grape that immediately gave me an excellent impression when I tasted it. Or you could also be daring with a more unusual combination, such as with a Rosé sparkling wine.

Discover the menu and make a reservation here: https://leopoldohotel.com/en/restaurant-bar/