To celebrate La Réserve Genève’s 20th anniversary, the establishment’s executive chef Benjamin Brial and pastry chef Pierre-Alain Rouchon combined their talents with those of three other La Réserve chefs – Jérôme Banctel from Paris, Eric Canino from Ramatuelle and Marco Ortolani from Zurich – in concocting an exceptional dinner.
We bring you a behind-the-scenes look as well as recipes from this unique moment in gourmet history studded with stars on guests’ plates as well as in all eyes…
Discover Marco Ortolani’s recipe from La Réserve Eden in Lac Zurich here:
Squid carbonara
Ingredients – 4 servings:
Squid: 320 g
Cream: 600 g
Rosemary & thyme: 2 sprigs each
Garlic: 2 gloves
Quail egg yolks: 4
Guanciale: 80 g
Lime: 1
Grated pecorino: 60 g
Grated black truffle: 16 g
Chopped chives: 4 tablespoons
Clean the squid and arrange the white bodies flat in a terrine, layering them until reaching the top. Vacuum-seal the terrine and freeze.
After freezing, set the slicer to a 3 mm thickness and slice the squid terrine into 80 g portions.
In a pan, reduce the cream to one-third of its original volume with the addition of rosemary, thyme and garlic. You should end up with approximately 200 g of reduced cream after this step.
Cut the guanciale into 5 mm diced cubes and cook slowly in a pan with butter, rosemary and garlic until it becomes crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
In a heatproof bowl over a double boiler (bain-marie), gently warm up the reduced cream. Add the portion of sliced squid and heat it to 60°C. Season with salt and a touch of lime zest.
Separate the quail egg yolks from the whites and set the yolks aside.
To plate the dish:
Arrange the sliced squid on a deep plate, place a quail egg yolk in the center and add the crispy guanciale around it.
Sprinkle with grated pecorino and then generously top it with the grated black truffle. Finish by garnishing the dish with chopped chives.
