A masterclass with Michel Rostang
Chef Michel Rostang’s story started in August 1978 when he decided to open his first restaurant Michel Rostang in Paris. The restaurant has since won its first Michelin-star in 1979 and the second in 1980.
Born into a family of culinary professionals since five generations ago, Chef Rostang found his way into an apprenticeship to Ecole Hôtelière in Nice, Paris and joined the family restaurant. Chef Rostang prides his cooking in the seamless marriage between authenticity and innovative cooking methods of French cuisine. His signature dishes include Saint Pierre fillet with lace of potatoes, grilled prawns with rosemary and rich bitter chocolate tart with coffee fudge and chocolate sorbet.
Chef Rostang is the first Parisian chef to open an annex, Bistrot d’à Côté le Flaubert, in 1987, following a success of his flagship restaurant. Chef Rostang now runs seven establishments including Rostang, The French Brasserie at Atlantis The Palm in Dubai.
4 sea bass fillets (about 60g each), skins removed
30g (each) dill bunch, Italian flat-leaf parsley bunch and chervil bunch
50g butter
30g Tagliache olives, warmed
Fennel & Chorizo Sausage
1 fennel, trimmings reserved, cut into tear shape and blanched
160g chorizo sausages, sliced
50ml fennel cooking liquid
Chorizo Jus
100g chorizo sausages
60ml Xeres vinegar
70ml chicken jus
50g butter
Fennel Purée
20ml olive oil
100g fennel trimmings
50ml chicken stock
For the fennel purée:
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the fennel trimmings for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add in the chicken stock and bring stock to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the fennel trimmings are soft. Strain and reserve the resulting fennel cooking liquid. Transfer the cooked fennel trimmings into a food processor and pulse until smooth.
For the fennel & chorizo sausage:
Score the top of the blanched fennel and insert a
sliced chorizo sausage. Heat the fennel cooking liquid in a sauté pan and glaze the fennel and chorizo sausages just before serving.
For the chorizo jus:
Sweat the chorizo sausages in a sauté pan for about 5 minutes. Deglaze with the vinegar and add in the chicken jus and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until sauce coat the back of a spoon, for another 15 minutes. Monté with butter just before serving.
Place a mixture of the herbs on top of each pan-seared sea bass fillets. Wrap the sea bass fillets with cling film and steam in a prepared steamer for about 2 minutes. Remove the steamed sea bass from the steamer and plunge into an ice bath. Remove the sea bass fillets from the cling film and set aside. Heat the butter in a sauté pan and pan-sear the sea bass fillets for about a minute on each side.
Place a pan-seared sea bass fillet onto the centre of each serving plate. Add the fennel and chorizo sausage, fennel purée and warmed olives onto the serving plate. Drizzle over the chorizo jus.
Serves 4