The name of his restaurant alone is enough to make food lovers in Paris – and further afield – tremble with excitement. We’ve asked Bertrand Grébaut, sustainable cookery pioneer and owner of Michelin-star restaurant Septime, to give us the lowdown on a timeless Parisian classic. À table!
Ingredients for four people
Four eggs
A small handful of garden herbs (coriander, dill, chives, perhaps a bit of kale)
120g of Banka trout roe
Pepper
For the mayo:
One egg yolk
One teaspoon of strong mustard
One teaspoon of cider vinegar
100ml of grapeseed oil
20g of drained fromage frais
Sea salt
Preparation
Place a saucepan of water on a high flame, and when it starts to boil, plunge the eggs in for just five or six minutes, so they’re still a little runny inside. Pour carefully into a sieve and shell the eggs.
The mayo
Beat the egg yolk and mustard together in a mixing bowl, work in the oil, add in the cheese and season with salt and vinegar. Spoon the mayonnaise into a piping bag.
Plating up
Slice the eggs in half.
Pipe a dollop of mayo on to each egg half. Add a teaspoonful of trout roe on to each dollop, then top with a few herbs and a grind of pepper.
As an accompaniment to this starter, Bertrand Grébaut recommends a Fleur de Savagnin 2018 by Domaine de la Tourelle – a bottle very typical of the Jura region. This natural, sulphite-free savagnin is topped up gradually over the course of 18 months.
