Spring Recipes

Crispy Raw And Cooked Vegetable Tart by Alain Ducasse

I spent my childhood days on a farm and so vegetables have always hugely influenced my cooking. I love to use seasonal vegetables and this dish on the menu at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester celebrates the simple pleasures of combining raw and cooked vegetables. It is both delicious and healthy!

My top tip with this dish is to use the freshest produce available.

For each tart: 1 orange carrot 1 yellow carrot 1 courgette 1 fennel 1 celeriac 2 small white onions 1 round radish 8 large white mushrooms 100g rocket + cos lettuce 1 puff pastry

First, make the mushroom duxelles:

Peel, wash and chop the white onions. Fry for 2 minutes in a sauté pan with a little olive oil, then add the mushrooms, washed and cut into 5mm cubes. Cook covered for 3 minutes, then grind in some pepper, and save.
Wash all of the vegetables, then peel the carrots and slice them into thin ribbons. Slice some of the courgette into ribbons.

Peel the celeriac and slice in 5mm discs. Chop half of the fennel in very thin slices lengthwise to keep its shape. Keep them raw. Chop the other half in 5mm slices that you will cook. Chop the radish in very thin round slices. Keep them raw.

Put some olive oil and some vegetable stock in a pan, then in turn, and separately, cook the carrot, the celeriac, the courgette and the fennel with the lid on for 10 minutes at medium heat.
Cut a 10cm diameter disc of pastry for each individual tart, then cut four holes of 2cm diameter each, into each disc. Cook the discs in the oven at 170°C placed between two pastry trays lined with baking paper, so it turns a nice brown colour on both sides (about 20 mins ).