Basic HTML Version
(SERVES4)
1tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp cocoa powder
165g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids,
finely chopped
240g (about 8) free-range egg whites
4tsp fructose (Fruisiana fruit sugar is available
from health-food shops)
12g cornflour (or arrowroot)
Preheat oven to 170°C. Butter four ramekins, and
dust them with sugar and cocoa powder. Place
chocolate in a large bowl over a pan of hot water
and melt. Allow to cool. Whisk egg whites and
fructose until it forms soft peaks. Mix cornflour
with 1tbsp water and fold into chocolate. Whisk
1
/
3
of the egg whites into the chocolate to lighten
mixture, then fold in remainder with large spatula.
Bake for 6-7 minutes. Serve with ice cream.
RAYMOND BLANC’S CHOCOLATE FONDANT
DISCOVERIES
TRAVELLER
15
WORDS AMY DENNIS
LONDON
Cooking, like dancing,
involves set steps, a degree of talent
and more than a pinch of passion.
Perhaps it’s not surprising then, that
chef and showman Raymond Blanc
likes to talk about his restaurants in
terms of dance styles.
His flagship hotel-restaurant, the
two-Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux
Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire is a
“delicate waltz” of an establishment,
while he describes his Brasserie
Blanc eateries as being flamboyant
and exciting “like a can-can”.
It is fitting, then, that the latest
branch of this chain has just opened
at the home of British dance, the
Opera Terrace in London’s Covent
Garden. This takes the number of
Brasserie Blancs opened in the
capital to an impressive six in six
months.
So, what’s his secret? The chef puts
it down to a passion for high-quality,
sustainable ingredients, gleaned
alongside his beloved
maman
.
“My [family’s] values, my country’s
values, are to eat seasonal,” he says.
“I learned about the philosophy of
the table frommy mum.”
For a youngman whose tenth
birthday present was a book on how
to forage, coming to the UK from
rural France was a shock. Thirty
years ago, the idea of seasonal
produce – for him, a “no-brainer” –
was an unfashionable one, with “only
three chefs backing the movement”.
And, he says, it took a long time to
catch on. “Even a year ago, if I asked
a chef where his Dover sole came
from, he would have no idea.”
Recently, though, sustainability
has been forced on to the agenda
by informed consumers, who “have
pushed chefs to responsibly
source their ingredients... bravo!”
Blanc’s can-can-style brasseries
are especially popular with the
need-to-know crowd, who are
soothed by his decades-old policy
of sustainable sourcing.
Blanc doesn’t rest on his eco
credentials though. When not
dancing between his many
restaurants, Blanc can be found
campaigning to make London the
world’s first sustainable fish city
– efforts recognised in May with
a Special Achievement Award at
the Footprint 2012 Awards. “We’re
changing the way we eat,” he says.
“It’s exciting!”
Brasserie Blanc Opera Terrace is now
open. 35 The Market; tel: +44 (0)20
7379 0666, brasserieblanc.com
Back toBlanc
Blanc in the
kitchens of
one of his
eponymous
Brasseries