Guests relished a lesson in making the most of the foods we love to cook and eat by a couple of celebrated toques
Doing our part in preserving our planet's bounty can be immensely rewarding, as guests at a T.Dining X Miele Masterclass on zero-waste cooking discovered. Hosted by two charming top chefs—Jaan’s Kirk Westaway and Cheek by Jowl’s Rishi Naleendra—at the Miele Lounge on World Environment Day in June, guests were intrigued by the beautifully simple solutions both chefs shared.
No doubt, the idea of getting the most out of an ingredient makes immediate sense when you’re working with prized pickings from the land and sea, as Westaway confidently highlighted with his seasonal showcase of the Irish turbot.
He shared that while it would be easy to work with only the fillet and discard the rest of the fish, the gelatinous edges closest to the fins actually add flavour and texture to this delicate dish. Assembling various cuts of the fish neatly in a mold he had custom made using recycled materials, the fish is lightly marinated with quality olive oil and gently cooked in a water bath. Simple enough. But there's more to ingenious simple magic to be done.
The rest of the fish is used to make a stock which is reduced with some stock made with razor clams to make a bright and deliciously nuanced pea veloute. This is served with the fish and dressed in a garden of peas, broad beans, sugar snap peas, asparagus tips and other seasonal greens from Europe.