Summer has finally settled in and, to celebrate the moment, Taittinger would like to share two recipes from chefs and friends of the House, Georgiana Viou and Alessandra Montagne, created to highlight rosé champagne, the ideal champagne for summer meals. These two inspired recipes form superb pairings with the Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé and Prestige Rosé.
SAVOURY PAIRING WITH COMTES DE CHAMPAGNE ROSÉ
Chef at her restaurant Nosso in Paris (22 Promenade Claude Lévi-Strauss, in Paris’ 13th district), Alessandra Montagne proposes “instinctive” dishes, fresh and creative, that meet the day-to-day challenges of zero waste. She took inspiration from the Comtes de Champagne Rosé, a rare grand cru produced exclusively in years where weather conditions remain exceptional through the harvest season.
Focusing on this elegant wine with a deep pink robe that enhances the very best tables, Alessandra Montagne has created a “grilled mackerel with roast cauliflower and baby turnips”, a seemingly simple pairing that nevertheless explodes on the palate.
THE RECIPE
Ingredients
6 whole mackerel, 400g each
1 cauliflower
1 bunch of baby turnips
300g spring garlic
1 lemon
1 black lime
1 bunch of chive flowers
1 bunch of garden cress
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Preparation:
Cauliflower:
– Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F), and rinse the cauliflower, removing some of the greens to use in the plate presentation). Roast the cauliflower for 35-45 min in the convection oven.
– Once the cauliflower is cooked (check by pricking it), use a blowtorch to sear the outer sides. Lightly salt and pepper; it’s now ready!
Baby turnips:
– Peel the turnips, keeping the stem, then cut in half lengthwise. Melt butter in a pan and brown the turnips. This should take just a few minutes.
Mackerel:
– Remove the scales and entrails, and slice the mackerel into thick strips.
– Place on a platter and add olive oil, small spring garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Leave to marinade for 20 minutes.
– Using a blowtorch, brown the flesh of the fish.
– Add pieces of black lime, garden cress and chive flowers. Serve, it’s ready to enjoy!
SWEET PAIRING WITH TAITTINGER PRESTIGE ROSÉ
For that sweet touch that so delightfully complements rosé champagne, Georgiana Viou revisits the traditional vacherin with her “Moorish Vacherin”. Chef of the Michelin-starred Rouge restaurant in Nîmes (6 rue Fresque), she draws inspiration from her atypical, self-taught career, in which she went from communications to television to a Michelin-starred chef.
She magnifies the fresh fruitiness of the Taittinger Prestige Rosé – an intense and vibrant wine sourced from a unique blend – by contrasting it with a surprising dessert with notes of fennel… and pastis.
THE RECIPE
Ingredients
1 large fennel
300g of caster sugar
2 eggs
500g whipping cream
500g semi-skim milk
4cl pastis
40cl orgeat syrup
Fennel seeds
1 lime
8 juicy lemons
Preparation:
Italian meringue:
– Add 50g of sugar and 50g of egg whites to a pan; bring to a simmer over medium heat.
– Pour the preparation into a mixer and whip until the meringue is cold. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 75°C (165°F) and prepare a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper.
– Once the meringue is cool, spread in a thin layer over the tray.
– Grape a lime (untreated), crush the fennel seeds and sprinkle it all over the meringue.
– Bake for 2 hours.
Candied fennel:
– Dice 200G of fennel and place in a pan. Add to this 250g of caster sugar and cook over low heat for just about an hour.
– Keep an eye on the sugar and fennel mixture; after an hour, place in sieve and keep only the candied fennel. Add to the fennel 1 tablespoon of orgeat syrup, 2 tablespoons of pastis and 2 pinches of fleur de sel once the fennel has cooled.
Mousse / Chantilly cream:
– Beat 200g of whipping cream with 80g of orgeat syrup and 40g of pastis, and put the preparation in the refrigerator.
Sorbet:
– Combine 160g of lemon juice with the zest of 2 juice lemons (be careful to get rid of any seeds), 50cl of water and 250g of sugar. When the mixture is smooth, pour it into a flat recipient to form a thin layer for the sorbet; put into freezer for 3 to 4 hours.
– Once it has been in freezer for 2 hours, whip 1 egg white and blend this into the sorbet, which will then take on the look of a granita; replace in freezer.
To plate the dessert:
– Place a layer of candied fennel on the plate and then cover it with a layer of the Chantilly orgeat/pastis Chantilly cream. Add the lemon sorbet and top it all with a piece of lime/fennel Italian meringue.
Enjoy!
