CHEERS AND BON APPÉTIT!
A Beaujolais celebration
Today is the annual worldwide release of Beaujolais Nouveau and you’ll also be able to get a unique taste of the cuisine of that region.
French chef Frédéric Filliodeau worked in the kitchens of that region’s most celebrated restaurants — Paul Bocuse Restaurant and Georges Blanc, the oldest Michelinstarred restaurant in the world — before moving to Ottawa to head the Cordon Bleu cooking school and, later, staying for love.
Now at the Sheraton Ottawa Hotel’s Carleton Grill, Filliodeau is planning an ambitious five-course menu for Nov. 19 that will bring some of the finest flavours of Lyon to Ottawa, to match with the wines made in the tiny Beaujolais region, which is just 55 kilometres long and 11 to 15 kilometres long, but home to 4,000 grape growers. The region is just north of Lyon, France’s third largest city.
“It will be classic dishes that I made when I was in Lyon, but with some modern touches,” says Filliodeau.
Beaujolais Nouveau, released at 12:01 a.m. each year on the third Thursday of November, became a marketing phenomenon in the 1970s, with people around the world racing to get the young vintage, made from hand-picked grapes and meant to be consumed before the following May.
Filliodeau’s meal will start with a Cocktail Communard, “a drink you have in Lyon that’s made with Beaujolais Nouveau and cassis liqueur.”
The first food course will be frog legs stuffed with chicken, then battered and deep fried, served with a grebiche sauce.
“It’s a dish that’s typical from the Dombes region, just north of Lyon,” says Filliodeau.
Next, will be potato crepes with smoked salmon and lemon butter, a variation on a historic dish that Filliodeau made when he was sous chef at Georges Blanc. That will be followed by a chicken dish made with organic chicken from Quebec, but in the style, including foie gras, made by a historic collaboration of four of France’s most distinguished chefs, including Georges Blanc, when G7 leaders met in Lyon in 1996.
Filliodeau will make a fresh cheese with shallots, chives, white wine and egg yolk that dates back to the 16th century in Lyon for the second-last course, then top off the meal with his own creation, a chocolate mille feuille made with madeleine biscuits, crème brûlée and with a jelled coulis made with fresh berries and Beaujolais Nouveau.
“The menu is a way to honour the classical French chefs,” says Filliodeau, who plans to visit every table throughout the evening.
The meal will cost $74 per person, not including taxes, gratuities and wines. Reservations can be made for between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m.; call 613-238-1500 ext. 6646.