Whiting, butternut tartlet, pumpkin-mandarin juice

Chef Marc-Antoine Lepage reveals a winter recipe centered around squash and mandarin oranges. A recipe for those who want to challenge themselves!

This recipe by Marc-Antoine Lepage, chef of the Nacre restaurant in Arès, is from the 2024 edition ofBook 109: The new blood of French gastronomy. Discover the ingredients and preparation steps to make it a breeze.

Serves 6
Preparation time: 1 h 30
Cooking time: 55 min

Ingredients forMarc-Antoine Lepage 's whiting andbutternut tartlet

3 line whiting

For the oil pastry

500 g flour
12 cl olive oil
5 g salt
1 egg yolk
15 cl water

For the butternut & turmeric confit

150 g butternut flesh
50 g honey
20 g semi-dried goji berries
Zest of 1 orange
10 cl orange juice
6 g fresh turmeric
Juice of 1 lemon

For the butternut carpaccio

1 butternut
Mandarin oil

For the butternut purée

1 butternut
2 onions
Butter
Vegetable stock

For the kalamansi jelly

25 cl kalamansi juice
5 g agar-agar

For the pumpkin-mandarin juice

2 kg pumpkin
1 kg mandarins
10 g cornstarch
5 g miso
150 g butter
Sal t

Specific equipment

Steam oven

Steps for Marc-Antoine Lepage 's whiting and butternut tartlet

Dress the whiting, lift the fillets and remove the bones. Steam the fish fillets at 54°C for 10 min.
Oil dough: mix all ingredients in a food processor to form a dough ball. Roll out finely with a rolling pin and line the tartlet molds. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (gas mark 6) for 15 min.
Butternut confit: peel and dice the butternut for easier cooking. Make a caramel with the honey and 5 cl water in a saucepan. Add the butternut brunoise, goji berries and orange zest, and deglaze with orange juice. Add the turmeric and cook, covered, over a low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until the squash has melted. Acidify, if desired, with a little lemon juice. Blend to a smooth purée, season with pepper and chill.
Butternut carpaccio: peel and thinly slice the butternut. Blanch them quickly (to keep them crunchy) in a large pot of boiling salted water. Cut into quarters, then stack in staggered rows to form scales.
Butternut purée: peel and trim the butternut. Chop the onions and sweat in a pan with a knob of butter. Add the butternut and moisten with the vegetable stock. Blend, adding the butter to obtain a smooth purée.
Kalamansi jelly: heat some of the kalamansi juice in a saucepan, add the agar-agar and cook for 3 min. Add the rest of the juice and leave to cool. Blend to obtain a smooth jelly.
Pumpkin-mandarin juice: Juice the pumpkin (using a centrifuge) and mandarin oranges. Reduce the juices separately. Mix 10 cl mandarin juice to 15 cl pumpkin juice. Bind with cornstarch. Add miso and cold butter. Season with salt and strain through a fine sieve.
Finish: place a spoonful of confit in a tartlet, cover with butternut purée and finish with the carpaccio. Glaze with pumpkin-mandarin juice. Finish with dots of kalamansi jelly. Arrange the whiting alongside.

Forfurther information:

Nacre, 3 bis rue Sophie et Paul Wallerstein, 33740 Arès
13.5/20 in the Livre des 109
Read Gault&Millau's review of Nacre

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