The chef of the Quai gourmet restaurant opposite, Romain Murat, offers a menu idea to enjoy during the end-of-year celebrations while paying attention to your pocketbook.
It's not easy to put together a festive meal at a low price. Free Midday offers to give you a helping hand and has therefore called on Romain Murat. The chef of the Sétois restaurant Quai d'en face has imagined a complete menu for four people which gives pride of place to local and seasonal products. Something to enjoy while lowering the bill.
Entry at €15 for four people
What could be better during this period of gargantuan meals than to start with a starter “light” : shrimp ceviche. A recipe that has the advantage “to be very simple” and to be able to be carried out “at the minute”assures Romain Murat. It also requires few ingredients: 300 grams of raw shrimp (“if we want to reduce the bill even further, we can possibly take them frozen”), 2 limes, a small bunch of coriander, 50 grams of pine nuts and 2 shallots.
Once the shrimp are peeled, simply cut them into pieces and mix them in a salad bowl with the chopped shallots, chopped coriander, pine nuts, lemon juice, chili pepper and salt. “You can cut in advance and marinate everything at the last minute. It can also marinate for a while, the shrimp meat is firm and does not risk cooking”adds Romain Murat. Cost for 4 people: around €15.
Other tips from the chef
To make some savings on your Christmas menu, Romain Murat advises favoring “local and seasonal products” like mackerels “which you can make into rillettes by mixing with mascarpone and whatever you find in your fridge” or even mussels. On the vegetable side, “we can work around squash, root vegetables like turnips” and on the fruit side, “you can use clementine, lychee or kiwi”. For meat, rather than a stuffed capon, “we can go for a stuffed chicken which is less expensive but which we will enjoy”. To lower the bill, it is also better to avoid red meat.whose prices are exploding at the moment.
A dish between €20 and €25 for a table of 4
Then it's time for the main course: sea bream with parsley accompanied by a squeeze of candied potatoes. “It’s a little more technical than the entrance but it’s still accessible”assures the cook. Especially since the recipe requires “common products” like potatoes, cream, or even eggs, “but we are going to come to work in a festive way”. From your fishmonger, you must therefore obtain six fillets of sea bream. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be royal. You can also take redfish which is much cheaper even if it is not local”indicates Romain Murat.
To make the stuffing, mix two of the fillets with one small bunch of parsley, 2 cloves of garlic, 50 grams of cream. Place this stuffing on the other four sea bream fillets with a piping bag then cook in the oven for six minutes at 180 degrees. “We can put it in the oven when tasting the starter”suggests the chef. A few hours before the meal, cut into thin slices eight potatoes, then mix with two eggs, 100 grams of parmesan and 100 grams of melted butter. After having seasoned, spread in a gratin mold which will bake for three hours at 160 degrees. Cost for 4 people: between €20 and €25.
A dessert at around €10 for four
Dessert requires a little more preparation. This unstructured lemon tart requires 200 grams of lemon juice, 200 grams of sugar, 200 grams of butter, four eggs, four sheets of gelatin, ten zézéttes de Sète, three egg whites, 100 grams of caster sugar, 100 grams of icing sugar and six tangerines . In a saucepan, put the lemon juice, sugar and eggs and stir with a whisk until thickened “like a custard”. Then add the gelatin off the heat and then the butter in pieces. Leave this cream to rest for four to five hours in the fridge.
To make the meringue, beat three egg whites with 70 grams of caster sugar then once the whites are almost firm, add the other 30 grams. Then add the icing sugar to the spatula. For the mandarins, after reserving three in the fridge, caramelize the other three in a pan with sugar and butter. To assemble, in a cookie cutter, place the previously crushed zest cheeses, then add the lemon cream and place the caramelized clementines on top. Then pipe the meringue on top, coloring it with a small blowtorch and finally decorate with pieces of raw clementine.
