The Kitchen
Executive Chef: Sébastien Besmier
Guest Chef: Lucien Zayan
Sous Chef: Cielo Alussi, Coralie Bonnefoy, Sylvaine Guyot, Borja Sitja, Clotilde.
Photos by Simon Courchel
Lucien Chef Ambition at La Maison Paisible in Avignon. Episode 1: The Kitchen.
I had the joy and honor to be invited to create a banquet and a special menu for 200 residents and guests on the opening day of a deeply moving project that brings arts into nursing homes, an initiative imagined by artist Mohamed El Khatib in collaboration with the Collection Lambert. On Saturday, July 12, this vision came to life in celebration and care.
The plan was to have each course prepared the day before the event and on Saturday to only bake the 600 chouquettes and whip the cream into Chantilly.
But of course, the dough prepared in advance happened to be a fiasco - my mistake - and we had to make it again, first thing in the morning. Luckily, my team was the best!
First, Sébastien, the head of kitchen at the nursing home, who has been an amazing chef-partner during the whole week, guiding me into the multiple rules of institutional kitchen and yet being understanding of the details and attentions I wanted to bring into the menu.
Then Coralie, who became, after a short training, the Queen of Chouquettes, preparing six batches of perfect dough.
Borja was the Master of the Art of Weighting the Flour, with such a perfect precision, and as we know, an essential step to the preparation of the chouquettes. (the reason why I failed).
And Cielo, the youngest, and aspiring Chef, who from piping to washing the dishes has been the Angel of the Kitchen
The mountain of chouquettes and the torrent of chantilly were ready to be served, on time!
Look at the whole series here
