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Alain Ducasse's Nature
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Alain Ducasse is the first chef in the world who has had three different restaurants (in three different cities)
earn the most coveted three Michelin stars.
And with 27 restaurants in eight countries, a cooking school (that instructs home cooks and professional chefs), three inns,
upwards of 10 cookbooks, a line of cooking supplies, and a company of 1,400 partners, its safe to say he has plenty on his plate.
Last month the renowned chef published the second printing of the English translation of Nature: Simple, Healthy, and Good, a 360-page, 190-recipe cookbook
challenging French cuisine’s long-held reputation for being complicated and heavy. (The original was published in French in October 2009.)
Cowritten with nutritionist Paule Neyrat and chef Christophe Saintagne, the recipes focus on seasonal and locally sourced ingredients,
cutting out much of the fuss and a lot of the fat. "[It’s] a return to an essential cuisine, which employs technique to reveal the flavor in nature," Ducasse says.
"We have access to so much and yet I take great pleasure in enjoying a dish focusing on one single ingredient."
He gave Lifestyle Mirror a taste of Nature, allowing us access to his whole wheat spaghetti with clams in an herby mariniere sauce.
Besides the full recipe, Ducasse offers a list of kitchen essentials and a couple of expert tips. "When shopping at your local market,
judge by odor and not based on looks," he advises. He also recommends you keep handy some fleur de sel from Guerande, Sarawak black peppercorns,
a mortar and pestle for making your own condiments, and "a spoon for tasting everything!"
FROM NATURE: HEALTHY, SIMPLE, AND GOOD
Sasha Levine (writer).
