The concept of La table cachée was born from a desire to share our gastronomy in the purest way possible; by welcoming guests to our premises. The organization of these events always comes from a desire to highlight seasonal products, to create a complete experience and to connect directly with our customers, a luxury that we only allow ourselves a few times a year.
By hosting these gastronomic evenings, we discovered another possibility that this concept offers us: developing and presenting dishes that will be found on our online menu for home!
Indeed, direct dialogue with our guests allows us to consolidate our recipes. Thanks to these special moments, we are therefore able to offer all of our customers delicious gourmet dishes in a ready-to-bake formula .
So here is the path of creating these dishes to get to your home.
The ideation of a menu is truly a threesome, combining our loves of gastronomy, hospitality, terroir, and wine to create a meal that is just right. For a year, we have wanted to offer rabbit to our guests, but before doing so, we wanted to have complete mastery of this noble meat. After much reading and testing, we have definitely achieved a result that meets our standard. We were waiting for the perfect moment to present it and it finally arrived with our event featuring bottles from the Vin Dame-Jeanne agency.
Morels, Oka rabbit and Valentin Morel wines, like stars, aligned to allow us to serve Rabbit with Morels for an evening.
So here is the result of these tests.
We receive the whole rabbit from the Oka poultry farm.
Once we arrive at the premises, we bone him and remove his loin and thighs.
The carcass is crushed and used to start the juice. We roast the bones adding mustard, cognac, thyme, bay leaves, garlic and onions, then moisten with a poultry stock.
Meanwhile, browning the loin and thighs in a pan is necessary to sear the meat and preserve all their flavors.
The meat is then placed in this delicious juice for about 30 minutes. When cooking is 90% complete, the rabbit is removed and we collect the cooking juice, loaded with flavor, to make the sauce.
Meanwhile, the morels have had time to disgorge in the vinegar and salt. This is followed by a short cooking in a broth infused with Labrador tea to accentuate the tertiary and wild aromas of this luxury product.
The rabbit is finally coated in its sauce, accompanied by melting potatoes and the famous seasonal morels.
Some dishes come to mind instantly when tasting a wine, as is the case when we tasted the Domaine les Pervenches, Vin du Québec, PGG, 2021. From the first sip of this nectar, our collective brain (yes, yes) turned to the pea bavarois, imagining the floral and fruity flavors of this vegetable marrying with the peach and rose aromas of the wine for a divine arrangement.
When we cook in a vineyard, there are additional challenges to creating a dish. In addition to thinking about the composition of flavors and textures, we have to craft a dish that can be presented to our guests without too many steps at the time of serving. These are crucial seconds to ensure a harmonious plating (this is not the time to make eight perfect dumplings).
This is how we conceptualize menus that are very complex to set up but quite simple when serving. To ensure the most precise gastronomy possible, both in the middle of the vineyards and in the comfort of one's home.
So here is the recipe for pea bavarois.
We start with parsley oil, following the principle of 666 (also known as the devil's recipe ). In the Thermomix, for six minutes, fresh parsley is mixed with oil, at 60 degrees at speed six.
This oil is then married with buttermilk, vinegar, onion powder and a little salt. Assembled, this preparation will be the dressing for the Bavarian cream.
The peas are shelled by hand, a somewhat tedious preparation that is punctuated by anecdotes told by the brigade. Some of it is used to make a purée, which will be mixed with whipped cream to obtain an airy texture. The other part is preserved in parsley oil for the moment of service.
To present the Bavarian cream, we place the whipped cream at the bottom of the bowl, add the fresh peas and the buttermilk vinaigrette.
In preparation for the collaborative evening with Antonin Mousseau-Rivard, we wanted to highlight a product that we have discovered in recent years: strawberries from the Winter Farm. In this modern era of overconsumption, it is essential to think about our supply. The Winter Farm has rethought strawberry cultivation, focusing on vertical agriculture to eliminate energy loss and the addition of pesticides. The strawberries are delicious, local and come from sustainable harvesting.
Cabbage is a recipe that we have perfected throughout our journey. Camilo has (literally) leaned over this dessert many times, in order to obtain a perfect result: soft in the center and crispy on the outside. This vessel is then filled with strawberries and a peppery diplomat cream, for a most gourmet tasting.
Some customers, having loved the dessert, asked us to make more to bring back to their children. These good parents therefore confirmed to us that this strawberry choux had to be shared with as many people as possible!
Here is the perfect recipe for strawberry cabbage
We bring water, milk and butter to the boil. Then we add flour and continue cooking until the mixture no longer sticks to the edges of the pot.
The mixture is transferred to a mixing bowl, where eggs are added one by one, continuing to mix. This mixture is finally placed in a pastry bag.
In another bowl, brown sugar, flour and fleur de sel are combined to create a thin dough. This mixture is frozen and will serve as a crisp for the top of the cabbage.
When the cabbage and its hat are crispy, we open it and replace its "crumb" with an almond sponge cake. We add the strawberry compote and a peppery diplomat cream. There you have it, the dessert is ready for delivery!
Our gastronomy is expressed in many ways: through our events in the vineyards, through our hidden tables in the restaurant, through the articles we write and through the gastronomic boxes we create. All these facets influence each other and make up the Menu Extra identity.