Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros

ROANNE STATION

- How are you? - Good. You?

Yes.

- You got my message? Interested? - Yes, I'll take some, but...

- Maybe you grew some? - We sometimes buy some but...

I don't need it now but I'll take some.

Hey, guys. Wild watercress.

- Is it wild? - Yes.

When I saw it, I thought of you because it's...

- Nettles in flower? - No, garlic mustard.

Oh, garlic mustard. Yes, I remember.

It's a lot less garlicky.

Less garlicky than the wild garlic. It's good and it's in flower.

I remember you showed me in our garden.

- Can I take both bunches? - Yes.

You've got 4 fennel, 20 kohlrabi, 3 dill, 1 cauliflower, zucchini.

2 chives, 2 coriander, 1 endive, 14 white radishes.

- Yellow zucchini? - 3 yellow zucchini.

I don't even have 3 yellow zucchini.

Really?

Shall I look over there?

- Oyster mushrooms. - Yes, I saw.

Shall we get some?

Even better than last time.

Oyster mushrooms.

- Was the yellow one good last time? - We loved it. We cooked it whole.

- It held together? It didn't break up? - It shriveled up a bit but...

Then we fried it, it was delicious.

You can't eat the stalk. The stalk is too hard.

Maybe it was too hard because it was a bit big.

This one's amazing.

Look at that.

It looks like a squid.

They come in all shapes and sizes. It really depends.

There are three different sorts.

Shall we take this one?

It's amazing. It's like a sculpture.

- I think the stalks are a bit tough. - You can't eat them.

I picked it this morning at the last minute.

Do you want to weigh it?

- It's 1 kg. - 1 kg.

You've never tried them? Medlars are very nice.

No, I've never tried them.

Kiwis from Greece.

Three for €1.

What shall I get?

I think all I need is mint.

What amuse-bouches am I making? I have celery.

Parsley? I'll take a bunch of parsley. It looks great.

I'll take one bunch.

- Hi. - Salam alaykum.

Labess khouya.

There are new carrots.

No, I think I'm good.

- Did you get some mint? - No, no.

Beetroot?

I already got some. No, that's all.

That's all for now.

- How are you, Léo? - I'm good.

All good. Alright, I'm done, I think.

- Twelve bunches of mint. - How many?

Twelve. Put them here.

This is the best Moroccan mint here.

Wait, wait.

Your brother took it. Here, take this.

- And I'll take a lettuce, too. - Yep. What do I have?

I have two sorts of batavia.

- Shall I keep it back here? - Oh, I'll…

I'll add it to my order later.

I hope we can get enough crayfish.

- Or Fenouillet will have some. - No, I don't think so.

- They have some now? - I don't know but I got their...

Is there a shortage?

No, but I already buy everything there is.

- They'll have some from Eastern Europe. - No, I asked Chavrier, that's done.

We manage to get ours from David Lefort

but he gives us pretty much all he has every week.

- We'll find a solution. - Can we not spread it...

- over the week before? - Yes, we'll manage.

But how many do we need per person?

- Five? Six? - Five, I think.

- And what river fish are you using? - We talked about zander.

It's not the season for zander either.

But we can get it anyway, right?

I talked with Dad about trout.

- Is it not the season locally? - You don't find zander in streams.

It's a fish you only find in big rivers.

- There were some in the Loire. - Yes, but the Loire isn't a stream...

Small river fish are trout or char.

Yes, so I should really say "freshwater."

Or one thing we never use is perch. Can we get some of that?

I don't know, I'd have to ask.

- Catfish? - Or you can use the pike I gave you?

- As quenelles? - There could be a little quenelle.

Yes, we're planning a quenelle in the middle.

- Do it with the pike. - The pike don't have to be a quenelle.

- Are they already quenelles? - No, they're whole, ikejime.

They're big but you can make aiguillettes from the back.

- Yes but frozen? - Yeah, it's fine.

- I've never cooked pike. - You make them from the best part.

The best part to eat cooked is all this here.

The spines are here.

- You mean the belly? - No, the back.

The spines are here and here.

The spines are like this.

- You cut out the filet. - Yes, it's a fork.

I'll show you how to cut it but you take this part here.

It makes a roll like this and you cut pieces from it.

- And make quenelles with the rest. - It's firm. Very tasty.

- I can do that. I have two. - Or even three?

- Two or three, yes. - Are they lake pike?

- Not from the lake, they're from... - Ikejime.

We killed them. Lafont brought them at Christmas.

They're big though.

So, should we say no to the zander because it's not the season,

and yes to the pike?

Yes, I think so.

Pike.

- Salmon or yellowfin. - To make the quenelles...

Or char?

It doesn't have enough meat.

- To make the little quenelles but... - Or do arctic char.

Drop the bass and do a char soufflé.

- How big are the char? Like this? - No, more like this.

They'll make a wonderful soufflé.

- So you have pike, char soufflé... - Pike quenelles.

Quenelles and crayfish, that's enough.

- And salmon. - But the quenelles shouldn't be...

You need to do Mike's recipe.

- With the banana? - No, don't do them in the oven.

Do poached quenelles.

- They're little stuffed quenelles. - Yes, he's making them next week.

That's the recipe to do.

- But Mike doesn't do it with pike. - No, but it works with pike.

Alright.

What if we added a piece of eel?

But it's a lot of work.

Already with the appetizers...

it's not going to be easy.

- I'll go to the bathroom before I go. - Okay.

Well, let's carry on. What's the main dish?

I'm replacing the green asparagus with white asparagus.

Mayonnaise, fromage blanc and white almond purée.

- Almonds? - Yes, it's an almond sauce.

- César is doing an almond sauce. - I thought it was mint.

No, we've also gone over to white asparagus.

Oh, shoot.

But then the seasoning is different. What's the almond sauce like?

It's a light sauce, a mousseline sauce.

César's left or you could have asked but it has a marked almond flavor.

I didn't know you were doing that.

- It's a bit of a shame. - I think it's very different.

Then there's elderberry. It has elderberry vinegar in it.

Why not do elderberry without the almonds?

Because I've been working on this for three weeks.

Because... I don't know, it worked well to balance...

Why don't you, for example... I mean, the elderberry...

Can you taste the elderberry? What do you use?

Elderberry vinegar and rhubarb, rhubarb marinated in elderberry.

That's enough. Why do you want to add almond?

I was going to suggest blackcurrant, because elderberry is...

Because there aren't any blackcurrants.

Blackberries?

There are no blackberries either.

Rhubarb is in season.

Elderberry and rhubarb. That's enough, isn't it?

I can take out the almond but it made it smoother...

You make long strips of rhubarb like this.

And wind them around the asparagus?

- That would look great. - Can you imagine the work involved?

There are two chefs, Dad, and three appetizers.

If they have to take the rhubarb and wind it

around two asparagus per person...

It's a lot of work.

You're right. So what does your rhubarb look like?

- A little julienne on the asparagus. - Raw?

- I pour on the marinade... - A syrup? A bit sweet?

Yes, a manoa on top.

- It's hardly sweet at all then. - It's slightly sweet.

- They're still crunchy. - Is the asparagus hot or cold?

Warm.

- And how is the almond served? - There's the julienne that's...

You have a white plate with the julienne on it.

- The julienne of what? The rhubarb? - The rhubarb.

Very short, so it's easy to eat.

Two asparagus coated in sauce and I put a bit of almond on top.

- And in the sauce... - Oh, so... A bit of almond how?

- Flaked and toasted. - Oh, well, that's alright then.

So, it's nothing at all like...

- It's not an almond mousseline sauce? - It has white almond purée in it.

- In what? - A tiny bit. In the sauce.

What's in the sauce?

So... mayonnaise, fromage blanc, a tiny bit of almond purée,

soy sauce and elderberry vinegar.

- It's too much, too many elements. - No, it seems a lot but it isn't.

It is. Soy sauce, elderberry vinegar, almonds...

- If you like, I'll take out the almond. - Take out the almond.

Is the soy sauce necessary, too?

It adds color, to start with. It adds depth, I find.

I tried it without mayonnaise,