The market in the plate

Paco Morales

Chef: Paco Morales

Country: Spain

City: 46880 Bocairent (Valencia)

Address: Ctra.Ontenient-Villena, Km. 16.

Paco Morales, one of the best cooks in Spain, might be considered as one of the top 10 chefs in the world. As the youngest number one on the planet, his future is immensely promising. His cuisine is very technical and conceptual regarding methods, but also very naturalistic, in the same line as René Repzepi’s (Noma), Andoni Luis Aduriz’s (Mugaritz), Josean M. Alija’s (Nerua) and Paolo Lopriore’s (Il Canto). His practice might be inspired by Michel Bras, who transformed nature, vegetables and herbs into a complete philosophy that brought him to the world leadership during the nineties and that had a huge impact on the green culinary movement that is now setting the trends of haute cuisine, representing one of the most brilliant and booming tendencies. Together with the famous “chocolate coulant”, Michel Bras’s star dish was the “Gargouillou”, that gave birth to an endless series of creative versions, among which this one might be the most artistic of all, and, for sure, the most avant-garde of all the ones we have tasted, considering the ingenious presentation of unprecedented flavours, the exquisiteness, the lightness, the contrasts and the chromatism of the dish. Although it is risky to say –and this says a lot about its grandeur–, this might be the most important creation of the chef until 2011.

The Recipe

Ingredients for 4 servings:

1 unit Muchamiel tomato

0,5 kg pink tomato

1 l water

30 g fine salt

Water/ice/salt

2 g Gelespesa (thickener)

1 unit baby cauliflower

1 unit baby broccoli

12 units wild blackberries

1 unit Vineyard peach

100 g chanterelles (32 slices)

100 g Caesar’s mushrooms (32 slices)

100 g Funghi porcini (32 slices)

8 units baby green asparagus ends

1 unit Red endive

40 ml Arbequina olive oil

Rose flowers

Lavender flowers

Chickweed

Oxalis

Wild carrot sprouts

Purslane

Scarlet pimpernel

Iris pistil

Salt flakes

For the Muchamiel tomato:

With a knife, cut 2x2-cm pieces (12 per serving). Set aside.

For the pink tomato jelly:

Grind the tomato and let strain for 12 hours in the fridge through a clean cloth. Set aside. Add 2 g Gelespesa for every 200 g tomato water. Salt and keep in a sauce dispenser.

For the baby cauliflower:

With a knife, cut the part of the cauliflower (not more than 2 cm). Cook into slightly salted water for 30 seconds. Cool down with water and ice. Set aside.

For the baby broccoli:

With a knife, cut the part of the broccoli (not more than 2 cm). Cook into slightly salted water for 30 seconds. Cool down with water and ice. Set aside.

For the wild blackberries:

On sulfurized paper, dehydrate the blackberries for 30 minutes at 55º C. Deepfreeze in a flash freezer and keep in a plastic container with a lid, into the freezer

For the vineyard peach:

Peel the peach and cut 4 slices with the slicer on position 3. Make cylinders and cut 2x2-cm pieces (3 per serving). Set aside.

For the chanterelles:

With a knife, scrape the stalk of the mushroom and clean the “hat” with a clean and wet cloth. Slice with a very sharp knife and keep only the perfect slices. Set aside on a porcelain tray covered with wet paper. Set aside.

For the Caesar’s mushrooms:

For the funghi porcini:

For the baby green asparagus ends:

Cortar las puntas de mini-esparrago a 3 cm. Aprox. 2 por pax . Poner un agua a punto de sal fina, cocer durante 1 min. Enfriar y reservar.

For the red endive:

Slightly julienne the longer part and keep the small leaves (1 per serving).

FINISH AND ASSEMBLY:

Lay the tomato jelly on the bottom of a deep plate and spread the broccoli and cauliflower couscous. Make an equilateral triangle, place the peach in the hole, top with the 3 kinds of mushrooms, add the asparagus ends and the red endive. Put the herbs and flowers in harmony and finish with the arbequina olive oil and the salt flakes.

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