Summer dishes: sunshine on the menu
With its crunchy vegetables, sun-kissed fruit, fragrant fresh herbs, minerally wines, there's no doubt that summer packs a punch. At La Chaumière, under the aegis of talented Jura chef Joël Césari, the best of the season is brought to your table. Sunshine on the menu.
There are flavours from here and elsewhere, those that have the taste of holidays and invite you to journey with your taste buds. With Poivrade artichokes and langoustine, you have the beginnings of a trip to Provence, refreshed by the salty ocean spray. Then there is the unique combination of shellfish jelly, preserved lemon and pepper tuile. This culinary idyll has all the taste of paradise. Land and sea come together again for a novel culinary experience of beetroot and mackerel. The beetroot, all plumped up and reconstituted, combines its earthy flavours with the delicate, sea-scented flesh of the mackerel cooked at a low temperature. With a pistachio and horseradish condiment and a pepper and anchovy coulis on the side, if opposites do indeed attract, this mouthwatering starter is definitely a summer favourite. In the sunny undergrowth of the Jura, the first cep and chanterelle mushrooms poke their heads out. In a delicate tart, crumbly and browned to perfection, the flavours explode for a true taste of the great outdoors.
From the starter to the main course is just the flick of a fork away. And now it’s the turn of lobster to continue the summer romance. Pre-cooked at a low temperature to remove its shell, then coloured with beurre noisette, it combines passion and tarragon in a story told with words that positively rhyme with hunger. As for the milk-fed veal, it plays the taste card to the full, lending its tender flesh to the flavours of Griselle shallots, coriander, preserved lemon, pomelo and black garlic condiment. Served with grated raw radish and a drizzle of jus, this dish will tantalise the palate with its divine delicacy.
Fruit is the star of the summer, and the dessert menu is bursting with it. Make way for the flat peach. Perfectly juicy and delicately infused in a bath of lemon verbena before being baked in a hot oven, it is served whole with a peach sorbet, a coulis of sweet pepper, raspberry and Agastache and a sprinkling of roasted cashew nuts. As for rhubarb, it plays on its tartness in a varied combination of textures that add pep to the sweet tang of an absinthe meringue. Juicy, crunchy and melt-in-the-mouth, summer fruits will round off your meal in style.
From now until September, La Chaumière's menu will be injected with sunshine for a gourmet journey to a gastronomic paradise.
