‘The Little Vegetable Garden’ is a classic at David Royer’s restaurant, ‘Les Orangeries’. It changes with the seasons and gathers vegetables in all states : raw AND cooked! A sprinkling of powdered rye bread adds a finishing touch, as a reference to earth, and as a memory of the Chef’s Finnish years.

Ingredients

– Choice of season vegetables, e.g. baby carrots, radishes, leeks, yellow and green courgettes, fennel, celery, peppers, string beans
– Young rocket leaves
– Dill
– Edible flowers
– Water, milk, buter, salt, pepper
– Dried and powdered rye bread

Make celery puree

Remove celery skin and dice into large, coarse cubes. Place in a mix of 75% water and 25% milk. Add salt and boil until very tender. Place in food processor and blend into a smooth puree. No need to add fat or spices.

Cut and pre-cook vegetables

If available, use a slicer or a mandolin to cut fennel, or use a knife to cut very thin slices. Keep in water to make sure it remains crisp.
Cut peppers into very thin slices to be served raw.
Cut and boil all other vegetables in salt water. Avoid over-cooking and aim for a firm / crips texture.
Cook baby carrots with their skin. Remove skin afterwards.
Cut leek into thin slices, courgettes into small cubes, string beans into thin strips (and cut in four once they are cooked).

Serving

Place cold celery puree in a plate.
Right before serving, roast pre-cooked vegetables in a little vegetable stock with salt, pepper and a dash of butter, and place them above the celery puree.
Sprinkle with rye bread powder.
Place raw vegetables, rocket leaves and dill on the plate, making sure colours and shapes match and vegetables form an interesting volume.
Place edible flowers on top.