Poached veal piccata with foie gras and bone marrow ravioli in a lemongrass consommé

Today is a free interpretation day. That means we get to invent our own dish in the kitchen based on a set of ingredients. We still get to meet 2 new dishes in demo though.

Today chef prepared Piccatas de Veau Poché, Ravioli de Foie Gras et Consommé au Parfum de Citronelle. Poached veal piccatas, foie gras and bone marrow ravioli, served in a lemongrass consommé. I have to make these ravioli at home.

A quick chicken jus was made. Chicken wings chopped with a cleaver were fried in oil and browned in the oven. The pan was degreased and mirepoix added and browned. The pan was deglazed with white wine, reduced by half, stock added with sprigs of thyme, bay leaves and cracked black peppercorns, and left to infuse for 30 minutes before being passed through a chinois.

For the consommé, a clarifier was made with lemongrass, cracked with the back of a knife and finely diced, egg whites, and blitzed chicken mince. This sticky concoction was added to the infusion over a low heat until a sufficient raft had formed. The raft was carefully punctured in the middle to create a small hole through which skimming could take place. Any scum was layered onto the sides of the raft to help it fortify.

Pasta was made. Given the amount of handling ravioli or tortellini requires it’s better to have a slightly wet dough. Foie gras was soaked in iced water to firm up. Marrow was pushed out of centre-cut bones and cut into disks. Veal trimmings were cut into a macédoine. Everything was poached separately in chicken stock. To create the farce to go into the ravioli, the foie gras was mashed and mixed with diced bone marrow, the veal macédoine, seasoning and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Fatty flavour town, right?

Disks of veal were cut from an escalope and poached in chicken stock.

Bok choi was quickly cooked in salted boiling water and dressed with grated ginger and garlic and sesame oil. Red pepper was torched, peeled and cut into julienne and diamonds. The juliennes were immersed in iced water and stored in the fridge where they curled up nicely. The diamonds were quickly blanched to serve.

Everything was layered on the plate and drizzled with the lemongrass consommé. Pretty as a peach. That said the only peach I tend to enjoy is on the bouquet of a Grüner Veltliner. How pompous am I? Anyhoo, with everything getting poached it was actually a subtle dish of delicate flavours. Nice but not exactly wowzer. When I give this a go at home I’ll try carefully pan-frying the veal, foie gras and bone marrow. I think this will bring out the best of flavours.

The starter was Salade de Pigeonneau et Crevettes à la Moutarde Vinaigrette. A surf’n turf salad of squab pigeon and prawns with violet mustard. Beetroot was roasted whole in the oven then cut into cubes. The squab pigeon was broken down with the breasts removed from the bone and the legs French trimmed. Prawns were prepped and cleaned with a short wood skewer inserted down the back to keep the tail meat straight. Both were cooked sous vide in duck fat. The squab legs were pan-fried to order. The prawns were torched to give them some colour before hitting the plate. Carrot, mooli and cucumber were shaved into thin strips and pickled in cider vinegar, sugar and star anise. The plate was dressed with a vinaigrette made with violet mustard, olive oil, peanut oil and some of the pickling liquor.

Who’d have thought pigeon and prawns would work together?

The French, of course! Way ahead of the curve, those folks.

Phat ravioli