Executive Chef ~ The Leela Palace,Christophe Gillino talks about the dishes close to his heart

From experimenting with music in his studio to experimenting with new flavours in the kitchen, making cooking more than just a vocation.

Christophe Gillino may have grown up “playing tennis and making music with his dad — things kids do,” but he always dreamt of becoming a chef. And, the Aix En Provence, native coveted the more unconventional career of a chef. But after an apprenticeship in the kitchen of the La Table Du Comtat Paris, everything changed: “I realized I was pretty good at cooking,” he recalls.

Energized by his newfound passion, Gillino took with a vengeance to cooking great stuff at even greater places. He enhanced his culinary techniques by working at the Two Star Michellin – La Vielle Fontaine, in France.

Gillino’s big break into the world of fine dining came at the Three Michellin Starred Louis XV in Monacco, where the legendary chef Alain Ducasse presided over the kitchen. “Everyone knows who he is and I joined without expectation,” Gillino reflects. “But Ducasse was a master at French-Italian cooking.” Long fascinated by the idea of melding mediterranean and western flavors, Gillino left Louis XV three years later, having worked his way up to many more fabulous restaurants. His distinct culinary imprint, marked by bold, sophisticated flavors, finally got its own stage at The Leela Palace Hotel, New Delhi where he took over as Executive Chef in 2013.

At The Leela Palace and the more semi formal Qube downstairs—Gillino changed Delhiites perception of what Coffee shop food can be with his spot on Bar be que pork and sticky rice.

‘It’s not pompous dining,” Gillino points out. “You don’t ever forget your cooking, you just adapt it to the setting. Whether they are eating the roast peach and avocado salad or Angus Medallions the guests need to be happy.”

Surely, they are.

From a Seared Asparagus passage with stuffed Morels to a mind-blowing Bisque – bouille, here are 5 of the dishes that capture Gillino’s polyglot approach to cooking.

Bisque – bouille (modern bouillabaisse)

Number of portions 4	COOK	COST

Ingredients	Unit	Quantity
Red snapper
Salmon
Jumbo shrimp
Scallop
Blue swimming crab
Saffron
Olive oil
Garlic
Pastis
Star anis
Fennel
Carott
Zucchini
Potatoes
Mussels
leek
White wine
Eggs
Calamary
Onion

Method of Modern interpretation of a French bouillabaisse

1- Fish soup: Break the blue swimming crab and pan fried it along woth the red snapper bones, add carrots, fennel and leek. Pan fried for 20 minutes.
Add, pastis, white wine, star anis and saffron, then cover with water. Cook for 40 minutes maximum
Strain the stock and reserve it on the side

2- Prepare some bills with zucchini, carrots and potatoes for the garnitures then cook it on salted water for few minutes and chill it on ice. Reserve it

3- Prepare the “aioli”
Put 2 egg York in a container, add chopped garlic, salt pepper and saffron, then add very slowly olive while whisking with energy. The idea is to get a nice mayonnaise. Keep it on the side but not in the fridge

4- Cut your piece of salmon in 4 small pieces, same for snapper. Pan fried all seafood with olive oil and butter

5- Reheat the fish soup and mix with aioli then mix it in order to get some foam on it.

6- Reheat the vegetable as well and set up th plate as per the picture

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Grilled and confit vegetables carrot puree with star anise

Number of portions 4	COOK	COST

Ingredients	Quantity	Unit
Carrot	250	gr
Soya mil	2	dl
Olive oil	2	dl
Artichokes	500	gr
Zucchinis	200	gr
Eggplant	300	gr
Red pepper	150	gr
Star anis	10	gr
Basil	50	gr
Parsley	50	gr
Pinuts	40	gr
Arugula	100	gr
Lemon	80	gr
Coriander	50	gr
Thyme	60	gr
Rosemary	60	gr
Balsamic vinegar	2	dl

Method: Make a pesto with coriander, basil, aragula, lemon juice, garlic, pinuts and olive oil. Make sure that all leaves are immerged before you mix it.

Pill some carrots, cook it with soya milk and star anise, mix it very thin and rectify the seasoning. Reserve

Clean the artichokes and cook it “a blanc” with some floor, lemon juice and water. Reserve it.

Slice and grill the other vegetables, display it on a tray with garlic thyme and rosemary, add olive oil and finish in the oven.

Reduce some balsamic

Display as per the picture with hot puree and cold vegetable

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Pan seared Salmon with spaetzle

Ingredients		Quantity	Unit
Salmon		1	kg
Refined flour		0.2	gm
Eggs		2	nos
Red wine		200	ml
Butter		100	gm
Onion		100	gm
Olive oil		50	ml
Milk		100	ml
Fennel		100	gm
Parmesan cheese		100	gm
Parsley		50	gm

 

Method: Prepare the batter with flour, milk, egg, parmesan cheese, parsley and water to prepare Spatzale.

Blanch the Spatzale in the seasoned boiling water.

Strain out once it cooked mix with oil.

Pan seared seasoned salmon cooked it in the oven.

Toss spatzale with clarify butter salt and pepper.

Assemble the salmon on the bed of spatzele and the drizzle of red wine reduction.

Garnish with toss fennel salad.

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Seared asparagus passage with stuffed morels

Number of portions 4	COOK	COST

Ingredients	Quantity	Unit
Puff pastry	250	gr
Asparagus	600	gr
Morels dry big size	150	gr
Green peas	1	kg
Butter	250	gr
Cream	4	dl
Olive oil	2	dl
Agar agar	10	gr
Parsley	1	punet

1- Get some 2 sizes of metal tube to cook the puff pastry tunnel shape. One with 3.5 centimeter diameter and the other with 4 centimeter diameter. Put some puff pastry around the small one and insert inside the big one cook in the oven, you will get those tunnel as shown in the picture.

2- put morels on water for a while at least 2 hours, get 4 big pieces for stuffing and keep the remaining for the sauce. Pan fried the remaining morels and add cream, cook it for 20 minutes and thermomix it.
Add some butter and salt pepper
Reserve it

3- Clean the green peas and cook it with salted water. Make sure it remain green. Then make a thin puree, add some cream and butter salt & pepper and agar-agar. Wait for 2 hour and stuff the morels. Keep it on the fridge

4- clean and cook the asparagus, cook it in salted water and reserve it

5- All elements of dish are ready
Slightly Pan fried the asparagus and the stuffed morels, reheat the morel sauce and set up the plate as per the picture

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Steamed Sea Bass

Ingredients	Quantity	Unit
Sea Bass Fillet	880	gm
Orange	200	gm
Ginger	80	gm
Rosemary	20	gm
Thyme	20	gm
Coriander Leaves	40	gm
Coriander Seeds	20	gm
Olive oil	200	gm
Fennel seeds	10	gm
Spinach	600	gm
Cherry tomato	80	gm
Spring Onion	40	gm
Salt	20	gm
Black Pepper	20	gm
Puy lentil	120	gm
Extra virgin olive oil	120	gm
Chantrel mushroom	20	gm

Method: Marinate the fish with thyme, ginger, rosemary salt and pepper.

Then put the fish into the steamer for 10 minutes till cooked

Cook the puy lentil with onion and garlic till soft.

Sautéed spinach, spring onion and cherry tomato in another pan with olive oil salt and pepper.

Placed the steam fish on the bed of puy lentil and sautéed vegetables.

Garnish with chantrel mushroom and citrus oil.

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Peach with Salted caramel olive oil and Herbs

Ingredients	Quantity	Unit
Chocolate Fondant
Poached Peach	420	gm
Coriander	30	gm
Mint leaves	30	gm
Basil leaves	30	gm
Chives	20	gm
Castor sugar	100	gm
Salted caramel
Castor sugar	220	gm
Butter	60	gm
Elle-vire cream	60	gm
Sea salt	5	gm
Cream Patissiere
Milk	300	ml
Castor sugar	75	gm
Cornflour	30	gm
Egg yolk	3	no
Butter	50	gm
Vanilla pod	1	no
Orange powder	15	gm
Passion fruit sauce
Passion fruit puree	100	ml
Castor sugar	20	gm
Vanilla pod	1	no
Olive oil	20	ml
Balsamic vinegar	10	ml

1. Poach the peach and drain out sugar syrup.Prepare the cream patissiere,Boil the milk with vanilla pod,Beat egg yolk and sugar and add cornflour to it.Add it to the boiled milkand make whisk it till thick.Finally add soft butter to it and allow it to cool. 2. Make salted caramel sauce by heating sugar in a pan till it caremalise to golden colour ,then add soft butter and cream to it.cook in low flame for some time.3. For passion fruit sauce caremalize sugar and add passion fruit puree and vanilla pod,simmer it cook it for some time.allow it to cool till it thicken up.Clean Herbs like Basil leaves,mint leaves chives and coriander leaves and put in cold water.Pass one orange skin in microplane and dry it in slow oven to make powder.

4. For Plating this dessert dizzle olive oil on the plate put salted caramel sauce and passion fruit sauce.Cut peach into halves and wedges and put it on the plate.apply light cream patissiere on top of peach.Garnish it with herbs,Finally drizze balsamic vinegar on top of it and serve.