By Eric Gaudet, Paris Bureau Chief

Photographs by Eric Gaudet and Chris Simpson

PARADISE COVE

Barely noticed on the maps and barely known at all, this is a splendid destination for vacation and tourism. In the Indian Ocean, East of Madagascar, is Mauritius Island, one of the Mascarene archipelago islands.

It has a volcanic origin and was discovered around 1511 by a Portuguese sailor. Between 1598 and 1710 it was a possession of the Dutch, who named it after their prince, Maurice of Nassau. During their stay, they ruined the country, destroyed the forests, brought in slaves from Madagascar and deer. When they quit, they left behind a few slaves and a crop which was to become the core of the island’s economy, the sugar cane. The French then came in 1715 and ran it with the West Indies Company, under Mahé de La Bourdonnais. They imported new slaves from Africa and Madagascar, and really started to develop the island by building the new Port Louis harbor and public infrastructures, developing the sugar cane culture and industry. It was then a prosperous colony.
By the treaty of Paris in 1814, the island became a British property. It was allowed to keep its former traditions, rules, laws, customs, religions and culture. It was the only British territory to be run by the Napoleon Civil Code. Some people even said that it was indeed a French colony run by Englishmen. Slavery was abolished in 1835, and as a consequence, 450,000 laborers were imported from India, over 30 years to work in the cane fields.
Mauritius became independent in 1968 and was still a member of the Commonwealth. It became a republic in 1992. Tourism was then developed and it is now the other leg of the economy.
Along the centuries a true melting pot developed and grew there, mixing the original slaves from Africa and Madagascar, the colons from France and England who stayed there, and the workers imported from India and from China. Their descendants now all live together in their communities, in a harmony where everybody is kind and gentle, especially with foreigners whom they are always ready to welcome and to help with a smile. Most of them speak both English and French.
This history has had many implications to today’s way of life in Mauritius. The culture offers a lively encycolopedia of religions: Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, ...
During the times when the colony has been prosperous, the main distractions of the high society in Mauritius were luxury receptions and gourmet food. There is now a complete mixture of spices, tastes, colors, influences, recipes and sensations from all over the world: Europe and France, India, China, Africa. Like me, you’ve heard about world food or fusion food and tried it. But in Mauritius, this is a reality and such multi-cultural influences seem so natural!
Aside from regular vacationing with sightseeing, water sports and leisure, Mauritius is a place to have a true gourmet food experience. You will find there that many chefs have had an international experience, which they naturally add to the local cosmopolitan culture.
The products used in the Mauritian gastronomy are both local and imported. The meats usually come from Australia, the venison is local, and the fish and seafood are usually caught locally, but may also come from the Seychelles islands.
While visiting, don’t hesitate to visit the whole island, which is not very big: 40 miles long by 30 wide. You’ll want to enjoy the coastal road, with its superb views on the shoreline. Don’t miss the inside of the island with its scenic drives and gorgeous views over the panorama. Don’t forget to visit Port Louis with its typical market and its new Waterfront, the Pamplemousse botanical garden, Curepipe with its colonial houses, and where shopping is usually cheaper than in Port Louis, Chamarel and its colored volcanic ashes lands.
As I did, you will find that Mauritius has many gastronomy and hotel resources. Here are some of them, which I tried and can recommend. Besides the gastronomy restaurants, which can be compared to some of the best gourmet restaurants we can think of, you can also try the smaller ones, where you will enjoy the true traditional local food, and where the Mauritians are used to going to.

Hotels

Prince Maurice

Opened in 1998, this 5 star deluxe leisure hotel is the flagship of the Constance Hotels group. It has been built on a private peninsula, with its own lagoon and fishing lake or barachois, on the North East coast of the island. It is under the always refreshing influence of the trade winds, but protected from their direct blow.
Leaving the main road, you enter a tropical garden with luxuriant vegetation, which surrounds this isolated world of luxury and refinement. Reaching the main entrance, you stop to admire the refined elegance of the hotel architecture based on stone, wood and thatch. You then proceed to the reception, a marble paved hall with 4 fountains, wide open to the pool and the turquoise lagoon on the back.
The hotel, along the white sand lagoon beach, is organized like a small village. Around the main set of buildings with the restaurant, the bars, the pool, the shops and the library.
The hotel, features only luxury suites: 76 junior suites, 12 senior suite, and the Princely Suite, all furnished with an utmost refinement. A junior suite is a spacious 70 square meter room with a living corner and a bedroom area, a vast hedonistic bathroom with separate bath, shower, toilets and dressing, a balcony or a terrace where you can easily have breakfast or dinner. The senior suites are 130 square meter villas with a private swimming pool. The Princely Suite, set apart from the other buildings, is 380 square meters large, with 2 private pools. Each of them is fully equipped, with all the amenities you may need: air-conditioning, hair dryer, mini bar, TV with DVD reader, VCR, CD-ROM and cassette drives, safe vault and individual fax. They are scattered all over the resort, in small buildings of no more than 8 units each, so that you have the impression of being in your own private house.
For those willing to practice sports, all the activities they may desire are possible. Most of them are free; water skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, golfing, diving (magnificent in the clear waters of the Mauritian lagoons, with tropical fish), hobie cats, cruises, fly and deep sea fishing and glass bottomed boats… You may also wish to relax and enjoy one of the 4 splendid white sand beaches of the resort along the lagoon.
Coming with kids is no problem, which is not so frequent in Mauritius where many hotels are designed in priority for honeymooners or couples. The hotel offers a kid’s garden where they can be taken care of.
Besides the fully equipped fitness center, the Prince Maurice offers a beauty center designed and run in partnership with Guerlain, where expert aestheticians will
rejuvenate your body with a selection of sophisticated treatments.
While staying there, more than 250 people are at your service, making you feel that they are at your disposal, for you alone. They are all kind and efficient, always ready to bring you anything you need, even to the most remote area of the resort at the end of the beach! Several times a day they will come to your room and bring you refreshments, snacks, chocolates, fruit, cocktails and juices, just for your pleasure. Everything that would appear to be a privilege anywhere else seems here to be completely natural.
This palace is also one of the best tables in Mauritius, worth a few stars on any guide. Under the supervision of Benoit Pepin, the Corporate Chef of the Constance Group, each of the restaurants of the different resorts offers an inventive cuisine of its own. Before coming to Mauritius, Benoit spent most of his career in the USA, where for over 10 years he learned to invent and combine different cooking styles. He went to Santa Anna near Los Angeles, then moved to Santa Barbara. He then spent 5 years in the Caribbean. He has now been in Mauritius for 5 years. He is always in search of new concepts or new alliances to offer new experiences to his guests. His next challenge is the new restaurant, to be opened in the Belle Mare resort. It will be an open buffet with 7 different pavilions, each one offering its own cuisine, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mauritius, French, and each one operating with its own team, resources and menu. Most important to him is the training of the young cooks whom the group constantly hires. Benoit set up an internal cooking school to train them and bring them all to the high quality standards of the group. From time to time, he takes them out to visit and try the competitors restaurants on the island.
The chef of the Prince Maurice is Jacques Ledu, who manages a team of 46 people in the kitchen. He joined the group after an international career, which led him 8 years in England to such places as the Ritz or the Park in London. He shares with Benoit the same taste for inventiveness and fun in cooking. “People don’t come to Mauritius to eat a Béarnaise sauce!” he says. He is indeed always trying new products, which are first served during theme dinners, and then, if the clients like them, are kept to become part of the main menu.
There are 2 restaurants in the Prince Maurice: the Archipel, the main one, overlooking the pool and the beach and serving gourmet food, and the Barachois, a floating restaurant offering a great view of the mountains with splendid sunsets and serving mostly seafood and grills.

EXECUTIVE CHEF JACQUES LEDU OF THE PRINCE MAURICE HOTEL

THE BARACHOIS

I had the pleasure of trying some of the specialties of the house and it is still a great memory! I remember having a goat cheese with Espelette red pepper and balsamic vinegar, panned scallops on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes with a wasabi sauce, a delicious vegetable won ton in a cocoa and poultry broth with a red pepper sauce, in which you can see the team’s firm mastering of spice use, a fillet of bourgeois (a local fish coming from the Seychelles Islands, of the red snapper family, with a more delicate taste) with a crustacean sauce (a delightful sauce made from a lobster, crab, sea urchin broth) with oriental style vegetable, and for dessert a chocolate mousse and soft cake with a cocoa sherbet.
The sommelier is Géraldine Estienne, who joined the Prince Maurice 2 years ago, after graduating from the National Wine University in Suze la Rousse, France. She personally tastes and selects the wines for the restaurants and bars.

Sommelier Geraldine Estienne of Prince Maurice Hotel

She designed a superb wine list, with about 130 wines coming mostly from France (2/3 of them), but also from the rest of the world, South Africa, Australia, Italy, Spain, Chili and even California (Wente). It might appear as a short list, but in each region, you will find wines that are typical of the appellation, in order to suit all tastes and to match any meal. She is also in charge of the 2 bars: the Lounge Bar, next to the restaurant and the Laguna Bar, overlooking the pool and the beach. You will be able to enjoy some of the house specials and the “Improved Rums,” where local fruit and spices give the local rums all these subtle aromas tastes and scents.
The Prince Maurice is a member of the Relais & Châteaux organization, in the outstanding category.
Rates: between $300 and $1200 per day per person, depending on the season and the type of accommodation.

Paradise Cove

The name says it all, and the hotel truly deserves it from the first sight. Built around a private cove, it is a completely closed universe, a true secluded luxury cocoon where you can enjoy and relax, far away from the outside world.
Located at the North of Mauritius, it is conveniently located, 3 miles from Grand Bay and 15 miles from the capital Port Louis. It overlooks the lagoon and offers a superb view of the northern islands, Le Coin de Mire, Ile Plate, and Ile Ronde.
It is a private hotel, owned by a local family who started it 10 years ago and who keep investing in the hotel. It was completely renovated in 1999. It is now run by Jean-Pierre Hall, who had previously worked in France at the Byblos in Saint-Tropez and then in Gassin nearby.
The 47 rooms (50 sq m), 18 junior suites (60 sq m) and 2 large suites (90 sq m) are all open to the private beach on the cove, each one with its own terrace or balcony with armchairs and table. Superbly decorated and furnished, refined in every detail, they will welcome the most demanding guests in their intimate and luxurious comfort. Each of them features a cozy corner with a couch, armchairs, table and TV, a large bathroom with separate bath, shower and toilet.
To relax, you may enjoy a rocking chair on the white sand beach of the cove or decide for one of the individual beach terraces further down near the sea, overlooking the corral reef.

More than 200 people work to give you the best service, warm and caring, with everyone wanting you to enjoy the nicest possible stay. They all call you by your name and everything is done to make you feel that you are an individual guest in a private home. To achieve this, the Paradise Cove rely on fresh and motivated people, hired after graduation from school and then trained at the hotel. You are given a fresh fruit juice while laying on the beach or a cocktail in your room to welcome you back before dinner!
And of course, you can exercise and practice any sport you wish (water skiing, windsurfing, hobie cat, diving, big game fishing, tennis, undersea walking, parasailing,…) or enjoy the Oasis Health Club and Spa, fully equipped with training machines (often mentioned as the best gym on the island), sauna and hammam. The massage is one of the Paradise Cove specials, with masseurs experts in every massage technique (Indian, Thai, Swedish, sport, relax, subtle, slimming, …).
All this made you hungry and you deserve a reward. You are not to be disappointed, as the chef, Soobhug Amarsing, is one of the best in Mauritius. Graduated from the hotel school in Curepipe, he was part of the opening of the Royal Palm where he stayed for 8 years, went then to the PLM MontDésir, joined the Paradise Cove at its opening and became its chef last year.

Soobhug Amarsing, Executive Chef of Paradise Cove

There are 3 restaurants at the Paradise Cove, each one for different occasions.
The Beach Bar, at the end of the property, overlooks the lagoon and gives a superb view on the open sea and the nearby islands. It is the ideal place for a casual lunch between a dive and a windsurf ride, to enjoy barbecued seafood and meats with exotic cocktails.
At La Belle Créole, the main restaurant, over the pool and the cove, Soobhug prepares an inventive and refined cuisine. The menu changes everyday. Ther are always 4 starters, including a day’s salad and a soup, 4 main dishes with 1 grilled meat, 1 sauce dish and 2 typical dishes, Mauritian, Creole or Chinese, and 4 desserts, ice creams and sherbets, 1 Mauritian and 1 classical. This menu has a 3 week cycle and the whole set is changed every quarter, to follow the seasonality of the products.
During the week are also special days, like Mauritian on Mondays, Indian on Thursdays, Mediterranean or Chinese on Sundays…
The gastronomic restaurant Cocoteraie is even better. A dinner takes you to a different world. There is no dining room, as you eat in your own private thatched pavilion on piles, over the cove, suspended between the sea and the stars. Among other delectable Soobhug’s specialties, I enjoyed superb palm heart dishes prepared with shrimp in salad or in tartar with spices, a great panned red snapper in a creamy saffron sauce with sautéed figs, a delightful subtly spiced crab broth, or a tasty curried lobster. I can also recommend the cinnamon ice cream with ginger for dessert, if you are still hungry enough for it! Soobhug is always inventing some novelties to surprise his guests. One of his specials was made up for the movie star Catherine Deneuve: a chilled avocado soup with fresh crab meat (put the avocado with coco milk and cream, salt and pepper in a blender, chill the blend and add the warm crab meat before serving).
To complete your pleasure, the wine list offers a very good selection of wines from France and South Africa, and the waiters will wisely help you select between them according to your meal.
Before or after dinner, the Cozy Corner Bar, overlooking the pool, will welcome you for a cocktail. Every evening you will enjoy the music: local folk, piano, jazz or the Mauritian sega, full of rhythm, colors and exotica.
The Paradise is also a member of the Relais & Châteaux organization.
Rates: between $250 and $450 per day per person, depending on the season and the type of accommodation.

Labourdonnais
The times are changing and so does Mauritius! Besides sugar cane and tourism, industry and services are developing as well, particularly in IT services, offshore banking and free port. To fulfill the needs of the businessmen coming now to Mauritius, the Labourdonnais is ideal. Conveniently located in the heart of the city of Port Louis , on the new Caudan waterfront, at a walking distance to many of the main banking and administrative buildings, it offers all the amenities you may need : luxury rooms and suites fully equipped with fax terminals and internet connections, conference and meeting rooms with audio-visual equipment, a full business center with secretary, copying and printing facilities together with a swimming pool, a spa and a fitness center, to exercise and relax. For doing business in Mauritius, it is the most convenient hotel.
You can also invite your customers for a business dinner, or enjoy it yourself, as the Rose des Vents restaurant is a top class one. Chef Nizam Peeroo has succeeded in making it a true gourmet restaurant. He defines his cuisine as a fusion with French basics and local products. He got most of his training in France where he toured the country, learning with most of the starred chefs. Later on, he went to India to specialize in spices. Always curious and ready to invent, Nizam creates about 2 new dishes every day! No wonder there is a new special tasting menu every day and a new menu every 3 months. His motto is to respect and preserve the natural taste of the products, without altering it. What he likes most is preparing fish, with a favorite one: the red snapper. He is now ready to transmit his art and science to the coming generations and teaches at the Mauritius main culinary school, and trains on the job all the young cooks working with him.
Every 2 months, he organizes special culinary sessions of about 10 days, with invited chefs sharing the kitchen with him. In 5 years, he has already organized 44 such sessions with guest chefs from France, Hungary, Russia, China or Japan.

Executive Chef Nizam Peeroo of Labourdonnais

I had a superb dinner there, which I still remember, with a great piece of roasted tuna with palm heart and an oil sauce with curry, superb panned prawns in a balsamic vinegar sauce with a vegetable broth, a creamy broth of crustaceans with spices (a splendor), followed by a stuffed piece of quail with a lamb chop, a cheese cream and asparagus. All the dishes are artistically presented, as a meal at Labourdonnais is also a symphony for the eyes. To drink with all this, you may choose within one of the most comprehensive wine list in Mauritius, with more than 20 different Champagne, wines from the main French appellations and a superb selection of South African wines. Nizam’s table is definitely one of the best ones on the island.
Rates: between $300 and $700 per day per person, depending on the season and the type of accommodation.

Blue Safari
This is a superb experience to remember. You get into a mini-submarine and dive to the bottom of the lagoon, about 35 meters under the sea to watch the fish and the flora around a wrecked ship. Run by Luc Billard, it has now taken more than 30,000 people under the water to share these wonders. The next step, due for Fall 2002, is even more exciting: the Honeymoon Dive. It is a romantic dive for 2, with a gourmet dinner with Champagne served while the minisub is cruising along the corrals!
Route Royale – Grand Baie – Tel : (230) 263 3333 – Fax : (230) 263 3334
Email : bluesaf@intnet.mu

Mauritius Travel Directory

Hotels
Le Prince Maurice
Route de Choisy - Poste de Flacq
Tel : (230) 415 9100 – Fax : (230) 415 9129
Email : resa@princemaurice.com
website : www.princemaurice.com

Belle Mare Plage
Poste de Flacq
Tel : (230) 415 1083 – Fax : (230) 415 1993
Email : resa@bellemareplagehotel.com
website : www.bellemareplage.hotel.com

Paradise Cove Hotel
Anse de la Raie
Tel : (230) 204 4000 – Fax : (230) 204 4040
Email : salesmgr.pcove@intnet.mu
website : www.paradisecove hotel.com
Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel
Le Caudan Waterfront
PO Box 91 – Port Louis
Tel : (230) 202 4000 – Fax : (230) 202 4040
Email : lwh@intnet.mu
website : labourdonnais.com

The Oberoi
Baie aux Tortues – Pointe aux Piments
Tel : (230) 204 3600 – Fax : (230) 204 3625
Email : reservations@oberoi.internet.mu
website : www.oberoihotels.com

Relais & Châteaux
website : www.relaischateaux.com

Sofitel Imperial
Wolmar – Flic en Flac – Tel : (230) 453 8700 – Fax : (230) 453 8320
Email : sofitel@intnet.mu
website : www.sofitel.com

Naïade Resorts
Pierre Simonet Street - Floréal
Tel.: (230) 698 22 22 - Fax: (230) 698 42 22
E-mail: resa1@naiade.intnet.mu
Local Restaurants to Enjoy
While You Explore the Island

Le Chamarel
Breathtaking views! Great local seafood !
La Crête – Chamarel
Tel : (230)483 64 21 / 69 37 – Fax : (230) 483 54 49

La Gaulois
Rue Dr Ferrière – Curepipe
Tel / Fax : (230) 675 56 74

La Capitaine
Breathtaking views! Local fisherman and residents provide the fare.
Grand Baie – Tel : (230) 263 68 67 / 75 26 – Fax : (230) 263 81 08
Email : captain@intnet.mu

Chez Tino
Specializing is seafood specialties prepared the Creole way.
Special Recommendation: Grilled Lobster
Route Royale – Trou d’Eau Douce
Tel : (230) 419 27 69

Amigo
A family run restaurant, father and son also available for day cruises.
Special Recommendation: Red Snapper salad with lime sherbet, followed by a combination platter of lobster, camaron and gambas grilled with lemon butter sauce
Pavillon – Cap Malheureux
Tel : (230) 262 84 18 / 62 48

Chez Rosy

A local restaurant located at the South end of Mauritius.
Special Recommendation: Curried Octopus
The only restaurant in Gris Gris beach!


Travel and Sightseeing
Tamassa Excursions
Cap Malheureux – Tel : (230) 263 95 47

Le Bottle Shop
Royal Road – Belle Mare – Tel : (230) 415 26 63

La Maison Créole
Owner Jacky de Maroussen completely restored this old Colonial, making it into a park with delightful restaurant, and a guest house. Catch the owner yourself, and you will hear the whole story!
Special Recommendations: Fish Curry
Eureka – Moka
Tel : (230) 433 4951 – Fax : (230) 433 8477
Website : www.maisoneureka.com

Privilege Island
Personalized chauffeur service, for your very best tour of the island!
4 rue Farquhar – Quatre Bornes
Tel : (230) 426 30 30 /31/32 – Fax : (230) 426 03 77
Email: privilegeisland@intnet.mu


Mauritius island recipes

Labourdonnais recipes – Executive Chef Nizam Peero
Crusty Cask with Fruit of the Loom Chocolate, Grand Marnier Sabayon

Ingredients for 4
Grand Marnier Crust
Butter 15 grams
Grand Marnier 25 grams
Icing Sugar 50 grams
Flour 15 grams

Sabayon
Egg Yolk 3 pces
Icing Sugar 100 grams
Rum 50 ml

White Chocolate Mousse
White Chocolate 400 grams
Whipped Cream 250 grams
Egg Yolk 2 pces
Gelatin 2 sheets
Fruit of the Loom Pulp 100 grams

Cask
Flour 40 grams
Sugar 50 grams
Cocoa 10 grams
Egg white 50 grams
Melted Butter 50 grams

Décor
Icing Sugar
Mint Leaves

Method
Crusts
In a bowl, put the flour, icing sugar, Grand Marnier and softened butter. Stir until getting a smooth and homogeneous paste. On a slightly buttered plate, make them in 10 cm diameter circles. Put them in a preheated oven (180C° or 356F°) until getting a nice blond color. Take them out of the oven and form them into flowers. Keep them in a dry place.

Sabayon
In a bowl, mix the icing sugar, the eggs yolks and the rum, and whip it vigorously in a water bath. Remove it from the bath when the volume of the mixture is doubled and each beat of the whisk shows the bottom of the bowl.

Chocolate mousse
Melt the white chocolate and cool it quickly. Delicately add the egg yolks and the whipped cream. Finally add the melted gelatin sheets and the fruit of the loom pulp. Keep it in the fridge until the mixture slightly hardens.

Cask
Put together the flour, sugar, cocoa, egg white and melted butter in a bowl and stir up with a whisk to get a smooth paste to be put onto an oven plate. Make thin uniform bands 5 x 10 cm. Cook at 180C° until getting a nice color. Wrap the bands around a pastry roll to form the casks.

Serving
In the middle of the plate, make a 10 cm diameter circle with the icing sugar and ice it with a reed (or use the salamander). Put the cask in the middle and fill it with chocolate mousse. Place the Grand Marnier crusts on the cask and powder with icing sugar.
Serve immediately.

A Prince Maurice recipe
Chicken Stew Flavoured with Lemon Grass Cooking Broth with Coconut Milk
Steamed Tom Pouce Greens and Vegetable Won Ton
Ingredients for 4
Selection of Chicken 1
Carrot 1
Leek 1
Onion 1
Red Chilies 3
Ginger 70 grams
Lime Peel 4
Garlic Clove 5
Bunch of Thyme 1
Salt
Cloves 2
Lemon Grass Sticks 7

Method
Pick the onion with the cloves. Place the chicken in a saucepan. Add the whole vegetable. Salt. Let it cook for 1 hour.

Filling
Tom Pouce Greens
(Chinese cabbage, bok choy) 4
Red Sweet Bellpepper 2
Coconut Milk 10 cl
Won Ton Paste 8
Egg White 1
Butter 40 grams

Method
Blanch the Tom Pouce greens in salted boiling water. Roast the red sweet bellpepper. Core end. Take out the skin. Decant the vegetable to stew and chop. Stuff the won ton with chopped vegetable. Stick the won ton with the egg white and cook for 20 seconds in boiling water. Mix in a blender the coconut milk and the red sweet bellpepper. Add the chicken cooking broth. Add the butter in pieces for a perfect emulsion


Panned Red Snapper, with a Creole Eggplant Fricassee and Spices Perfumed Juice

Ingredients for 4
Red Snapper Fillets 600 grams
Asparagus Heads 100 grams
Watercress 1 bunch
Tempura Paste 30 cl
Crustacean Juice 50 cl
Butter 100 grams
Eggplant 500 grams
Frying Oil
Salt
Pepper
Lemon Juice 10 cl


Method
For the fish: Season the red snapper fillets with salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. Keep in cold.
Slice the eggplants in sticks 6 cm long by 1 cm side. Season with salt, pepper, powder cumin, saffron, powder coriander, lemon juice and basil.
Pan the sticks in the peanut oil until they are golden. Keep in warm on absorbent paper.
Prepare watercress bouquets by binding them with blanched leek strings. Drop the bouquets in the tempura pasta and deep fry them. Avoid the watercress getting too brown. Keep
warm on absorbent paper.
Reduce by half the crustacean juice and add the butter bit by bit to emulsify until the sauce slightly thickens.
In a non-adhesive pan, pan the red snapper fillets, starting with the skinny side.

Serving
Put the eggplant sticks in the middle of a plate. Place the fish fillets above them and finish with the watercress tempura. Pour the sauce in lines. Serve warm.

Scallops and Camarons Duo, Palm Hearts Salsa with Chardonnay

Vinaigrette
Ingredients for 2
Scallops 150 grams
Lemon Grass Sticks about 8 cm
Camaron Tails
(giant fresh water shrimps) 200 grams
Palm Heart 1 pce
Lettuce 1 pce
Nuts Vinaigrette Sauce 10 cl
Salt TT
Pepper TT
Lemon juice 10 cl
Olive oil 15 cl
Chardonnay Vinaigrette
Sauce 10 cl

Method
Marinate the scallops and the camaron tails with salt, pepper, a few lemon drops and olive oil. Keep in the fridge.
Put in a bowl the Chardonnay vinaigrette and the lemon juice.
Mince the palm heart and mix it to the vinaigrette. Add salt and pepper as needed.
The palm heart and the vinaigrette must be thoroughly mixed to avoid oxidation.
Before serving, pick the scallops on the lemon grass sticks. Pan them lightly in a non-adhesive pan. Do the same with the camarons. Keep it warm.

Serving
In a plate, form a pyramid with the palm salad, and put a scallop skewer on top of it. Place the camaron tail in the middle of the plate and garnish with a lettuce bouquet. Pour some nuts vinaigrette around it and serve immediately.