Executive Chef Jean-Pierre Curtat of Nuances léveil des sens at the Casino de Montréal in Canada shares his vision of 'awakening the senses' and a delectable recipe for Lobster Salad in an Asparagus Chartreuse, with Balsamic Vinegar, and Olive Oil.

I had the opportunity to meet Executive Chef Jean-Pierre Curtat while I was having dinner at the restaurant in May 2009, and speaking food with him, his blue eyes twinkled merrily as he described his culinary philosophy. After training at Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec, he further honed his skills at prestigious restaurants in Canada before venturing off to Paris where he worked for five years at the top restaurants including at the prestigious Pré Catelan and Guy Savoy, as well as attending École Lenôtre where he studied the art of pastry.

Returning to Canada, he has been with the award-winning fine dining restaurant Nuances léveil des sens for the last 15 years, where the restaurant's numerous awards and achievements also include being awarded with the CAA/AAA Five Diamond rating consistently every year since 2000.

He is a chef that does not like the idea of a culinary tag to describe his cooking style; rather he focuses on taste and the guest experience. When creating, he feels that it is easy to focus on presentation in today's image conscious world where we think about the visual effect; he likes to focus on taste, and matching flavors. Chef Jean-Pierre begins by finding his flavors, and then he thinks about the presentation and creates the effect.

He is someone who is passionate about life, about wine, about music - his taste is eclectic and he enjoys playing the piano; about sports - he likes to ski, play soccer, and hockey; and about art, which he enjoys discussing with his daughter who is a university student majoring in art.

Chef Jean-Pierre Curtat graciously shares his recipe for Lobster Salad in an Asparagus Chartreuse, with Balsamic Vinegar, and Olive Oil, and notes that this recipe is quite simple and offers a nice presentation and good taste. The chartreuse may be prepared in advance before you receive your guests, so that you may enjoy their company.

Lobster Salad in an Asparagus Chartreuse, with Balsamic Vinegar, and Olive Oil
Serves 4

Ingredients:

Method: Boil the lobsters in salted water for approximately 8 minutes and let cool. Peel and boil the asparagus. Chill quickly in icy water. Cut the asparagus the same length (save the bottom parts), and then cut the asparagus lengthwise.

Remove the lobster meat from the shells. Cut the tail meat into 12 medallions. Roughly chop the rest of the lobster meat. Slice the asparagus bottoms. Mix the chopped asparagus, the lobster meat, some chopped chives, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

Make the vinaigrette using the vinegar and olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Fix the asparagus lightly coated with the vinaigrette on the side of a round bottomless round mold (emporte-piece). Put the lobster salad inside. Remove the mold and tie the chartreuse with a chive that was lightly boiled.

Presentation: Serve the chartreuse in the center of the plate, top it with the baby greens and drizzle with some vinaigrette. Put three medallions of lobster around the chartreuse and drizzle with additional vinaigrette. Bon Appetit!

Nuances léveil des sens is open for dinner Sunday - Friday from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm, and on Saturday from 5:30 pm until 11:00 pm.

Read about Nuances in the Restaurants section and in Chefs' Recipes where Chef Jean-Pierre Curtat provides his recipe in French.

Nuances léveil des sens
Casino du Montréal
1 Avenue du Casino
Montréal, (Québec), Canada H3C 4W7
Restaurant:+1-514-392-2746
Toll-Free:+1-800-665-2274 ext. 2708
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.Casino-de-Montreal.com

Read other articles on Montréalin the Destinations, Hotels and Resorts, Restaurants, and Chefs' Recipes sections.

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