Holiday recipes from top Paris chefs: French-grown quinoa, black truffle, vegetable roots and mushrooms by Alain Ducasse

(Relaxnews) – End-of-year festivities are drawing near. This week Relaxnews provides you with recipes from top chefs in Paris to add a gourmet French touch to your Christmas menu. Today, Alain Ducasse tells us how to make his French-grown quinoa, black truffle, vegetable roots and mushroom dish. This recipe is taken from the chef’s repertoire for the Plaza Athénée hotel in Paris and is featured in his book “Naturalité.”

Serves 4 Root vegetables 1 20 cm stick of salsify 1 fennel bulb 4 root parsley with tops 4 mini-parsnips with tops 8 small sunchokes (a root vegetable similar to a Jerusalem artichoke) 4 small Jerusalem artichokes 5 drizzles of olive oil 25 cl of vegetable stock Salt Root vegetable glaze 100 g of root vegetable jus 10 g of butter 10 g of chopped truffle Quinoa 80 g of quinoa 10 g of white onion 20 g of butter 24 g of chopped truffle 6 cl of truffle juice 12 cl of vegetable stock Salt Roasted black quinoa 8 g of black quinoa a drizzle of olive oil 20 cl of vegetable stock 10 g of butter Seasoning Tops of the root vegetables 50 g of turnip greens 1 black garlic clove 5 g of chopped truffle 1 cl of olive oil a splash of lemon juice Salt Pepper Finishing touches 8 tops of parsley and parsnip roots 8 staghorn fern leaves 20 g of black truffle flakes

For the root vegetables:

– Peel the salsify and cut it into 5 cm sticks. Grate the fennel bulb.  Using the tournée method, peel and cut the parsley and parsnip roots while keeping the tops. Peel the sunchokes and the Jerusalem artichokes, then cut them in the tournée style.

– Cook each root vegetable separately in a frying pan with a little olive oil and a small amount of stock. Let them cool and put them to one side.

For the root vegetable glaze: 

– Heat the vegetable jus in a frying pan, then add the butter and the chopped truffle. Coat the vegetables while slowly reducing the jus.

For the quinoa:

– Soak the quinoa in cold water for one hour. Peel and finely chop the onion, then caramelize it in a pan with 10 g of butter until it becomes translucent.

– Rinse the quinoa under running water, then put it in a pan filled with cold, unsalted water and cook it for 5 mins. after it comes to a boil. Let it cool by rinsing with cold water. Put aside.

– In a nonstick pan, melt the remaining butter, add the cooked onion and the chopped truffle. Add the quinoa with a little salt and brown it gently. Deglaze with the truffle jus, then dry it out.

– Heat the oven to 180°C (Gas mark 6). Put the quinoa in crock-pots and add 3cl of stock to each one. Cook for 10 min without the lid. A light crust should form around the crock-pot.

For the roasted black quinoa: 

– In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and the lightly salted black quinoa. Cover with the stock and cook it with the lid on until the quinoa becomes fluffy. Let it cool. In a frying pan, melt the butter and brown the quinoa. Broil it in the oven to make it crusty. Set aside on paper towel.

For the seasoning: 

– Using a mortar and pestle, crush the turnip tops and the leaves of the root vegetables. Add the garlic and truffle. Mix in some olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper.

For the finishing touches: 

– Assemble the glazed vegetables. Add some seasoning. Decorate with the vegetable greens, the staghorn fern leaves and truffle shavings. Sprinkle on the black quinoa and serve the jus separately.

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