The Independent Archive: Taste of genius on the trolley trail

EVEN DETRACTORS occasionally hint that Marco Pierre White may well be a genius. Less than a year after opening, Harvey's - his restaurant in Wandsworth, south London - had been awarded its first Michelin star. At 26, after training with a chefs' Who's Who of top names including Albert Roux and Pierre Koffmann, he has redrawn the gastronomic map of London.

He is half Italian. You couldn't tell from his accent, but there is a certain style - flowing ringlets, high cheekbones and pallor, salty humour - like a quattrocento bike-boy. I was to take him to the big Sainsbury near his Cromwell Road flat, in London, to see how he might tackle our cookery competition. By the time we hit the supermarket he was at full throttle.

His brief was a meal for two for the amateur cook to prepare in two hours for less than pounds 25. He headed straight for the poultry - "no point in looking at the vegetables until we know what we're having for the main course". It looked to him, from the too-red beef and tightly cling-filmed chickens, as if presentation was more important than flavour. He spent some time feeling a duck, but pronounced it fatty and settled on a pack of French duck breasts - "A big one for the husband, and a small one for the wife. Does that sound sexist?"

On the fish counter: "It looks like the trawler hit a fish graveyard." He railed on about the sunken eyes and dull scales. Only some coral-pink fillets of raw trout came up to scratch. Back to the vegetables and fruit. Here he was impressed by the range, also the quality of a few items, especially some asparagus and black Turkish figs, but worried that hardly anything smelt of much. "People think they need to squeeze fruit to see if it's ripe. The smell is a much better indicator."

Shortly he was happy that we had everything. He started telling strange women that the fish slab would knock the smile off their faces, "darling", and, by the time he was doing Quasimodo impressions down the aisles with a melon stuck up his coat, I suspected we would soon be thrown out. The bill came to pounds 15 odd.

I prepared Marco's meal at home to test it out. Although it sounds complicated, and I am not a particularly fast worker, it was ready and eaten within three hours of starting to cook. It was delicious, if I say so myself, and looked very stylish.

Hot Trout Quenelles

Ingredients:

Mousseline: 7oz pink trout fillets (weight after skinning and boning)

1/2 egg white

1 level tsp salt

Pinch cayenne pepper

8 fl oz double cream

1tsp lemon juice

Julienne: 1 leek

1 fat carrot

Salt

Knob butter

Sauce: 4tbs water

11/2 tbs white wine vinegar

1 heaped tbs chopped shallot

41/2 oz butter at room temperature (cut into little pieces)

Salt and pepper

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Preparation: Main ingredients for the mousseline should be thoroughly chilled before handling. Whizz boned and skinned trout fillets in a food processor for up to 30 seconds until very finely minced. Add egg white, salt, and cayenne. Process for 15 minutes. Add cream and process for up to another 30 seconds. Briefly whizz in lemon juice. Chill until needed.

Cut a 11/2 in length from the peeled carrot and the same from the white part of the cleaned leek. Cut these both lengthways into "matchsticks" strips. Blanch separately in boiling water. Drain and rinse in cold water to refresh.

When you are ready to cook the mousseline, using two dessert spoons dipped in boiling water, form the mixture into egg-shaped quenelles (3 per portion). Drop into scalding salted water (kept just off the boil). Cook for 3 minutes, turn and cook for a further 3 minutes. Drain on kitchen paper.

Meanwhile, gently boil the water, vinegar and shallot for the sauce together over moderate heat until the mixture has reduced to a "moist jam-like consistency" of about 1tbs. Lower heat and let mixture cool slightly then, whisking energetically all the time, gradually add the butter until you have a creamy sauce. This part of the process should take around 3 minutes, towards the end of which you should whisk faster and slightly raise the heat. Season, add lemon juice and take off heat.

Just before serving, reheat vegetables in very little water and a knob of butter. Arrange hot quenelles on warm plates, spoon a dessert spoon or so of warm sauce over each and scatter with vegetable strips.

[The main course was Duck Breast with Red Wine Sauce and Creamed Parsley, with Strawberry Gratin to follow.]

From the Weekend section of `The Independent', Saturday 10 September 1988