Pierre Landet, Executive Chef at Cercle Rouge,
featured at The James Beard Foundation

Pierre's crew for the occasion. From left to right: Fernando Merino (sous chef at Cercle Rouge), Nicole Peyrafitte (Voilà Nicole), Pierre Landet, Pascal Pettiteau (Chef at Jubilee), Martial Gaspar(Private Chef), Régis Courivaud (Chef at Le Monde)

On December 15th 2008, I was very honored to be one of the assistant cooks at The James Beard Foundation Cercle Rouge in NYC for a dinner featuring my friend and Gascon mate: Executive Chef Pierre Landet accompanied by Wine Director Dominique Drevet both from Restaurant Cercle Rouge. 65 members/guests were delighted by Pierre’s menu untitled: A Gascon Holiday Fête and voilà ze menu:

Hors d’Oeuvres

Crispy Salsify Rolls with Bayonne Ham and Laguiole Cheese

Pan-Seared Foie Gras with Parsnip Purée and Green Tomato Preserve

Smoked Salmon Purses with Asparagus Bavarois

Pousse Rapière

Dinner

Chestnut Cream Soup with Crispy Pancetta and Chanterelles
Château Tour des Gendres, Bergerac Rouge 2007

Pan-Seared Brook Trout with Porcini, Baby Artichokes, Duck Fat–Confited Fennel, and Jus
Château Haute Lavigne, Côtes de Duras Bordeaux 2007

Milk-Fed Roasted St-Canut Farm Porcelet with Cassoulet-Style Tarbais Beans
Domaine des Deux Ânes, L’Enclos 2005-Corbières

Bleu de Basque Cheese with Celery, Fig, Frisée, and Walnut Dressing
Domaine La Tour, Vieille Banyuls 2005

Millas Toulousain
White Cornmeal Cake with Homemade Plum Preserves
Charles Hours, Uroulat Jurançon 2006

It is truly difficult to say what tasted the best. Every dish was hearty & subtle at once. The chestnut cream soup might have been my very favorite, but then the porcelet -suckling pig- and the Tarbais beans had all the ever so satisfying Gascon flavors, and the Millas with the Homemade Plum Preserve made you feel as if you were in a farm house in Southern France during the pig’s feast.

Dominique Drevet’s selection of wines -from Banuyls to Bordeaux- perfectly matched every dish. The Catalan Banyuls & the Bleu de Basque Cheese was a match in haven.

The “service” went like a breeze. The crew was impressively efficient and Pierre’s “mise en place” impeccable. The full time staff was impressed. Below are some of the professional photographs of the dishes taken by the James Beard Foundation Geoff Mottram :

Pan-Seared Brook Trout with Porcini, Baby Artichokes, Duck Fat–Confited Fennel, and Jus

I have to share my enthusiasm for my breakfast. I even think about what I am going to eat for breakfast before falling asleep! And I got an acute case of breakfast obsession since my good friend Chef Pierre Landet gave me a jar of his homemade divine plum jam. Pierre is executive chef at the NYC Tribeca restaurant Cercle Rouge. He made the jam with his mother’s recipe for a very special occasion that we will discuss another time. But let me tell you about my breakfast routine, indeed a routine because the format is always the same, only the fruit and the topping of the bread vary.
I wake up early, make myself a cup of tea and get into my daily yoga practice. These days I am brewing a “Russian Caravan” tea from the Park Slope Food Coop. This pleasantly dry & flowery blended Chinese tea gets my taste buds off to a right start. When I am done with tea and practice, I make coffee; always organic and always light roast (also called American roast). I usually get whatever is on sale in that category at Porto Rico Importing Co. I like that company, their quality is consistent and their prices fair. Do not ever offer me French Roast coffee, I will turn it down, I dislike it with a passion, i consider it an aggression to my taste buds!

Nicole’s Tartine à la Confiture de Prune de Pierre Landet
(recette Madame Landet mère!)

Anyhow, while coffee is percolating I toast my thick slices of rye bread and I eat a seasonal piece of fruit. I either get the Pain de Seigle from Balthazar or Amy’s Organic Miche at the Park Slope Food Coop. They both are a combination of wheat and rye organic flours, I find the Balthazar crustier and more complex, the taste stays in your mouth long after you have eaten the piece. Then, before the toast is cold but not while it is too hot, I apply a thin coat of either pasture butter, or Ben’s cream cheese or fresh goat cheese followed by the careful and even spreading of the sweet toping.
Pierre’s jam arrived at a really good time; I had just finished my special jar of raw honey made by my friend & Bourg d’Oueil mentor Joseph Garcès. So Pierre’s luscious plum jam provided not only the gusto satisfaction but also the emotional ingredient missed from Joseph’s honey. Voilà ze story:

Pierre Landet is from the Toulouse region, but his brother Benoit & wife Laurence own the Hotel-Restaurant Le Faisan Doré in my hometown of Luchon (you know the center of the Pyrenées and possibly the center of the world!). It is my brother Jean-Louis’ favorite hang out and mine too when I am in town.

Pierre is a great chef, he cooks genuine Southwestern French country food. His homemade patés and terrines are outstanding, especially his Terrine de Foie Gras which is out of this world. I also have a soft spot for his funny chicken wings, the REAL French fries and I have to mention the stuffed suckling pig; that is a fire work of flavors and texture.

But let’s return to my tartine (though it is a French specialty to talk about a past or future meal while eating); the very slightly caramelized plum jam, flavored with vanilla and brandy, became a marriage in heaven when it encountered the crunchy, but still moist bread. I usually have 2 slices but sometimes I need 3 to complete the ritual properly!

Alright, merci to Pierre Landet pour la confiture and merci to his maman! It is quite late I must go to bed, tomorrow is the 2nd Bay Ridge Farmer’s market and I have to go early, last week it was all sold out by 11am! I have to make sure I can have breakfast without rushing! I forgot to mention that I really don’t like having breakfast out, nothing beats my petit-déjeuner bi-continental!

Ah! and in case you wonder:
YES, I dunk my tartine into my coffee!