Alain Ducasse's Impromptu Recipes


Author of Ducasse: Flavors of France

NOTE: Alain Ducasse says the following recipes aren't the kind of recipes that you should try to follow exactly -- just use his ideas as a rough guide, as an inspiration to create your own dishes with whatever ingredients you find in your refrigerator. The ingredients you'll read below just happen to be the ones he yanked out of Danny's refrigerator. If you want more precise recipes, he says, please read his cookbook.

These quantities should serve four to six people.



Caramelized Vegetables and Fruits, Tossed With Shallots and Bacon

  • A few potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
  • A few celery stalks, chopped
  • A small head of lettuce, sliced in shreds
  • A head of broccoli, just the flowerets
  • A handful of carrots, peeled and chopped
  • A dozen whole shallots
  • A couple apples, peeled and cut into chunks (Ducasse carves them like batons)
  • A couple pears, peeled and cut like the apples
  • A half pound or so of bacon
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • A cup or so of chicken broth

    Saute the potatoes and whole shallots together in some olive oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, sauteed the carrots, celery, apples and pears in separate pans, sprinkling them with salt right from the beginning -- they're each done when they begin to turn lightly brown, and develop an intense, almost sweet flavor. (If you feel decadent, you might combine a little butter with the olive oil while sauteing.) Saute the bacon separately, and when it's done but not too crispy, pour off most of the fat. Then toss the lettuce in with the bacon and stir, and when it wilts, add a little chicken broth and simmer until the broth begins to thicken.

    Blanche the broccoli in boiling water until it's bright green and crisp-tender, then remove from water and dunk in ice water to stop it from cooking. Drain.

    Toss everything together in one bowl, season to your liking, and drizzle some great extra virgin olive oil all over the top.

    Slow-Scrambled Eggs on a Bed of Roasted Tomatoes
  • A few pounds of plum tomatoes
  • Thyme
  • Coarse salt
  • A couple onions
  • A half dozen garlic cloves
  • A cup or so of chicken stock
  • A couple tablespoons of tomato paste
  • Olive oil
  • About a dozen eggs
  • Butter
  • Salt and pepper

    Turn oven to 350 degrees.

    Peel the tomatoes by scoring the skin on their ends with a little "X," and then plunging them into boiling water for 30 seconds or so, until you see the skin begin to lift; remove them from the hot water and plunge in ice water to cool, then drain and remove the peels.

    Slice tomatoes in half, squeeze out the seeds, put the tomato halves on a rack (with their cores facing up), sprinkle generously with salt and thyme, and put in oven until they begin to shrivel. It will take at least one hour, maybe more.

    Meanwhile, chop the onion and garlic and start sauteing over low heat in a bit of olive oil. Keep sauteing until onions turn a nice golden color.

    Stir the tomato paste into the onion and garlic mixture, and when the roasted tomatoes are done, add most of them to the mixture, too; you want to save just enough tomatoes to put one or two halves on top of each eater's plate. Add some chicken broth and simmer, stirring, until the roasted tomatoes have dissolved into the mixture. Adjust the texture with more chicken stock, so it's not at all soupy, but not too dense.

    Now scramble the eggs:

    Melt some butter in a pan over very low heat. Whisk the eggs with a few tablespoons of the tomato-onion mixture, pour them into the butter, and begin stirring gently. The heat should be so low that the eggs will seem as though they're not even cooking; but then, after about 10 minutes, they'll suddenly start to thicken. Take them off the heat the moment they become thick and creamy and curdy, the texture of very thick pancake batter. If you're feeling indulgent, stir in some extra virgin olive oil.

    Spoon a pillow of tomato-onion mixture on each plate and spoon eggs on top. Top with a chunk or two of roasted tomato. Enjoy!