`Pairing Premium EVOOs in New Ways at Pierre Gagnaire's 'Reflets' - Olive Oil Times
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Pairing Premium EVOOs in New Ways at Pierre Gagnaire's 'Reflets'

By Naomi Tupper
Oct. 22, 2012 10:35 UTC

September saw the intro­duc­tion of a new menu at the Pierre Gagnaire Reflets restau­rant in Dubai, includ­ing a new olive oil-cen­tered starter, fea­tur­ing spe­cially selected extra vir­gin oils from Spain, France and Italy.

Despite the French influ­ence at Reflets, and France not tra­di­tion­ally asso­ci­ated with the use of olive oil, many of the dishes on the menu fea­ture the Mediterranean favorite — even to the extent of hav­ing a com­plete starter based around European olive oils. The, Huiles D’olive D’Origine- Homard Bleu De Bretagne fea­tures three extra vir­gin olive oils which Chef Gagnaire con­sid­ers among the best in the world.

Diners select­ing this starter will receive three com­po­nents, each based on a dif­fer­ent olive oil. The French rep­re­sen­ta­tive is a sin­gle-vari­etal extra vir­gin oil from the Château d’Estoublon Estate under the Vallée de Baux de Provence des­ig­na­tion of ori­gin. The cho­sen oil is made from hand-picked olives of the Grossane vari­ety, described as a del­i­cate olive oil oil, with mild cit­rus fla­vors. The oil will be pre­sented to din­ers in the form of an olive oil ice cream, accom­pa­nied with arti­choke cream, lamb let­tuce and green cel­ery.

The Spanish oil is the Mallorcan Treurer extra vir­gin, a high qual­ity, unfil­tered oil obtained from Arbequina olives. The oil is said to be bal­anced and well fla­vored, with medium fruiti­ness, and appears on the menu in a dish of veg­etable can­nel­loni of cod.

The third olive oil on offer is Gonnelli 1585s’ Frantonio Di Santa Téa from the Reggello region of Italy. Described as fruity with hints of fresh grass, this extra vir­gin olive oil was cre­ated in 1983, and is pro­duced from Frantoio olives. This oil is used as a dress­ing in com­bi­na­tion with pas­sion fruit, lemon and honey flower, served with blue poached lob­ster.

Diners select­ing this starter are pre­sented with a dis­play of the three elite oils, so they can see which one was used in each part of the dish.

Pierre Gagnaire remains one of the most influ­en­tial French chefs of the era. A front run­ner in the fusion cui­sine move­ment, he focuses on bring­ing French clas­sics into the mod­ern era with twists on fla­vors, tex­tures and ingre­di­ents, includ­ing the use of olive oil in dishes where but­ter may have been the more tra­di­tional choice.

Gagnaire is head chef at the three Michelin starred restau­rant tak­ing his own name in Paris as well as at the acclaimed Sketch in London. Aside from this, he owns a host of restau­rants in the United States, in Asia, and Reflets in the Middle East.

Based at the Intercontinental hotel in Dubai, Reflets by Pierre Gagnaire has twice been awarded the pres­ti­gious title of best restau­rant in Dubai, by Dubai Timeout mag­a­zine and the best restau­rant in the mid­dle east by Esquire mag­a­zine. Under the guid­ance of head chef Oliver Bile, the restau­rant pro­duces high class cui­sine, lean­ing towards French influ­ences, but also employ­ing mod­ern mol­e­c­u­lar gas­tron­omy tech­niques.


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