Restaurant Ciel Bleu** lives up to its name because of its wonderful location: the 23rd floor of hotel Okura in Amsterdam. You are literally in the blue sky where you can look out over the whole city of Amsterdam. Chef Speelman and Kokmeijer serve (blue) heaven on a plate in their restaurant. With their pride for Dutch delicacies and other top quality products you get to taste a flavorful international cuisine. Since more than 10 years, their king crab has been the signature dish of restaurant Ciel Bleu. Now the two chefs have kindly shared the recipe of this stunning dish, so you can try to make it yourself at home.
Recipe: King crab with Baeri caviar, beurre blanc and salted lemon
Ingredients & preparation: King crab
Ingredients:
- 1 kg raw king crab
- 50 g seawater
- 10 g yuzu juice
- salted lemon zest
- mayonnaise
- salt & pepper
Preparation:
- Use scissors to cut open the legs of the king crab and remove the crab meat. Check the crab meat for cartilage and pieces of crab shell.
- Place the cleaned crab meat in a vacuum bag together with the yuzu juice and the seawater.
- Seal the mixture and cook it in the Roner at 75℃ for 25 minutes.
- Allow to cool and pick the crab when lukewarm.
- Mix the picked crab meat with the fine brunoise of salted lemon zest, mayonnaise and salt and pepper.
Ingredients & preparation: Gastrique
Ingredients:
- 1 bottle of Champagne
- 500 ml fish stock
- 200 ml white wine vinegar
- 100 g sliced mushrooms
- 4 finely chopped shallots
- 5 crushed white peppercorns
- 2 fresh bay leaves
Preparation:
- Put all the ingredients in a pan and bring it slowly to a simmer. Allow the mixture to reduce to 400 ml.
- Keep it chilled.
Ingredients & preparation: Beurre blanc ice cream
Ingredients:
- 450 g butter
- 725 g milk
- 675 g whipping cream
- 220 g sugar
- 300 g pasteurised egg yolks
- 400 ml gastrique
- 200 ml white wine vinegar
- salt and pepper
Preparation:
- Bring the milk, whipping cream and butter to a boil.
- In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture turns very pale.
- Combine the cream mixture with the egg yolk mixture and heat to a temperature of 80℃.
- Strain through a fine sieve.
- Allow to cool then add the gastrique, then the white wine vinegar to taste.
- Finish with salt and pepper.
- Pour into a Pacojet beaker and freeze.
- Pacotize the ice cream shortly before use.
Ingredients & preparation: Celeriac puree
Ingredients:
- 1 celeriac
- 200 ml milk
Preparation:
- Clean the celeriac and dice into uniform 3 x 3-cm cubes.
- Put the celeriac and milk into a vacuum bag and seal.
- Cook the mixture in the Roner at 95℃ for 2 hours.
- Blend in a food processor and hang the resulting puree in a muslin cloth for 12 hours until all the moisture has dripped out.
Ingredients & preparation: Crispy celeriac
Ingredients:
- 500 g celeriac puree
- 80 g granulated sugar
- 80 g glucose
- squid ink
Preparation:
- Boil the sugar with the glucose to achieve a blonde caramel and mix in the dehydrated celeriac puree.
- Colour the mixture with the squid ink.
- Spread the paste onto a silicone mat using a 15 x 3-cm rectangular stencil.
- Place in the oven at 120℃ for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven then gently bend the slices into rings and let them harden.
- Store in a dry and sealed container.
Presentation
Press the prepared king crab into a narrow ring form and put on the plate. Remove the mold and place the crispy celeriac ring around the crab. Pipe the beurre blanc ice cream onto the king crab and dress the dish with the Baeri caviar.
Read the full reportage of Restaurant Ciel Bleu and the two chefs, Arjan Speelman and Onno Kokmeijer.
Recipe: Arjan Speelman & Onno Kokmeijer
Photography: Adriaan Van Looy
