For 4 portions:

4 chicken legs
4 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp oil
4 tbsp ghee (butter)
salt and pepper
500g jerusalem artichokes
150g fresh shiitake mushrooms
50ml dry sherry
300ml chicken stock
100g butter
200ml whole milk
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tsp truffle oil
a few drops of lemon juice

Divide the artichokes into 2 and 3 fifths. Separate the smaller part in half. Slice one half thinly on mandolin. Fry in hot oil 170 degrees to golden brown, dry immediately and season with salt. Cut the rest of the artichokes into small cubes and fry with shiitake mushrooms together in a little oil until soft. Season with salt.

Melt half of the butter with the olive oil and add 3/5 of coarsely chopped Jerusalem artichokes and slowly cook for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and add the sherry, let the alcohol evaporate and add the chicken stock. Cook until soft, then add milk and cook again. Put in a blender, mix and add the rest of the butter. Blend until smooth. Check consistency and taste. Add a little lemon juice. Finally, drizzle with truffle oil and lightly decorate with something green.

Dry the chicken legs with paper towel, season and sprinkle the skin with flour. Fry in a pan with oil and melted butter on the skin side down to golden brown. Place in a vacuum bag with the fat and vacuum. The ideal temperature is 63 degrees for 2 hours, depending on the size of the thigh. These are quite large, normal thighs should be ready in an hour and half. The temperature is up to you (ideal range is 60-65). For professional cooking, the sous vide technique is great, but due to the structure of the meat, I’d rather bake it (25 minutes at 180 degrees) in home conditions. The result is not exactly the same, but the skin is brilliantly crispy.

Cooking under vacuum will cause the skin to become wet, so it needs to be fried again. Anyway, if you love fried chicken, it’s a great way to avoid undercooking. Let it rest for at least ten minutes. Then pour all the juice into the pan and add a little water, cook and have a simple sauce. Served with the rest of the ingredients. Enjoy your meal!

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For 4 portions:

400g boneless turkey thighs
400g forest mushrooms
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp spelt flour
100ml dry sherry
300ml chicken broth
200ml whipping cream
2 tbsp soy sauce
5 sage leaves
1 tsp crushed caraway seeds
1 spring onion
100g basmati rice
cress flowers
salt and pepper

First, we soak the rice. Basmati, however, is a bit different for preparation than jasmine rice: soak it in water and wait 30-45 minutes for it to turn complete white. Then let it cook. I use a rice cooker and just little more water, so that it covers the rice completely (plus one cm extra).  It is the healthiest rice and is also recommended for strict diets.

Cut the turkey meat into cubes, season with salt, pepper and lightly drizzle with oil. Stir fry in a pan with a little oil until golden brown. Add the chopped onion and fry with caraway seeds together. After about 5 minutes, when the onion begin to turn brown, add the flour and cook again, add the sherry and let the alcohol evaporate.

Add the stock and bring to a boil. After ten minutes, add the mushrooms (already seasoned and sautéed in olive olive). Add cream, chopped garlic, chopped sage and season with soy sauce. Let it boil and wait until the meat gets tender.

Add the chopped spring onions and serve. Decorate with the cress leaves, which add little spiciness. Enjoy your meal!

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For 2 portions:

200g your favourite pasta
50g nettles
1 clove of garlic
50g of spring mushrooms (or any mushrooms you can find, preferably not poisonous)
30g grated Parmesan cheese
30ml sherry
40g butter
salt, pepper, olive oil

Pick the leaves from nettles, blanch them in hot water and cool down in ice water. Drain the excess water and cut into smaller pieces.

Crush the garlic clove and fry it in olive oil. Cut the mushrooms into smaller pieces and add them to the pan. Season well. Add chopped nettles and pour in the sherry. Allow alcohol to evaporate. Add the cooked pasta and some of the cooking water. Stir, add butter to make an emulsion and grind some fresh pepper. Finish with some cheese and nettle flowers if you have them. Enjoy!

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For 4 portions:

1kg pork cheeks
100g macadamia nuts
200g button mushrooms
200g ginger
300g onion
200g parsnip

20g tomato purée
100ml rice vinegar
40g sugar
20ml beetroot juice
12g salt
200ml white wine
2l chicken stock
200g instant polenta
600ml milk
100g butter
40ml hazelnut oil
seasoning

Prep the cheeks. Season them properly and fry them off in hot oil till golden brown. Put aside and fry the finely chopped onions in the same pan. Pour in a little water after they get brown, to get the same colour. Add chopped parsnips, mushroom and ginger trimmings. Add the purée and get it all brown, the base should have really dark colour. Add the white wine and let it reduce. Move it all to a pressure cooker (including the chicken broth) and cook for about 40 minutes full pressure. Then remove the meat, pass the sauce through a sieve and let it reduce to a good consistency. Add the juice from the pickled ginger and season with butter and salt.

How to make pickled ginger at home? Quite simply. Peel the ginger (ideally use a spoon, it will get into all the folds easily) and slice finely on a mandolin slicer. Cook the vinegar with sugar, salt and red beet juice and pour it over the ginger. This must be done at least 2 hours in advance but preferably at least a week. Place the mixture in a glass and turn it over, until it cools completely. Store in the fridge: it will last for one year. You can adjust acidity and sweetness as you prefer. However, tasting acidic liquor is not easy, especially when it is hot.

Bring the milk to boil and add salt. Slowly add polenta and stir well, it should be very creamy after a while.  Add the butter, walnut oil and you are ready to serve. Roast the nuts slowly in a pan or oven. Season immediately.

We are ready to go! Slice the mushroom and serve with the rest. Enjoy!

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For 2 portions

200 g semolina
1 tbs olive oil
2 eggs
salt
a piece of bottarga
50 g fresh porcini mushrooms
3 tomatoes
5 leaves of sage
basil
50 g butter
20 g grated parmesan

Let’s prepare the dough first. Mix the semolina with one table spoon of olive oil, salt and eggs. Knead the dough and let the gluten work for about 20 minutes: the dough will be more elastic at the end. Shape the desired type of pasta with a machine and dust it generously with flour. You need to use enough salt for the dough, it’s much easier to work with, then.

Clean the mushrooms, cut into larger pieces and sauté in a pan with some butter – we used clarified butter, which is just amazing (especially for schnitzels that we Czechs cannot live without).

Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper, add chopped sage and tomatoes, preferably deseeded.

Cook the pasta in salted water, don’t forget to save some of it, as you will use it to create an emulsion in the pan with mushrooms. Thicken with some fresh butter and add the grated parmesan. Move the pasta to a plate, grate the bottarga on the top and decorate with a few basil leaves. What do you think? We love it! Enjoy!

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For 2 portions

1 sea bass (600 g)
1 avocado
1 piece of dried ear fungus
1 zucchini
1 pack of shimeji mushrooms
1 small carrot
1 onion
1 small parsnip
a piece of celery root and leek
10 coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
100 ml dry white wine
50 g peas
salt and pepper
olive oil 

First, you need to peel the scales, take out the intestins and fillet the fish. Take out the little bones from the fillets with tweezers, season with salt and we are almost ready. If you’re exactly sure how to fillet the fish, you can watch my video here.

Cut the root vegetables coarsely (about the same amount as the fish bones), sauté them lightly on some olive oil and add fish bones. Pour in some wine, add the spices and let the alcohol evaporate.

Pour in some water, just that the bones are covered. Bring to boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Pass through a sieve and adjust the seasoning. If you feel that the stock isn’t strong enough, you can reduce it a bit more. One fish will get you maximum 2 to 3 dcl of stock.

Cut all the veggies into little dices. Soak the snow fungus in warm water for 10 minutes. When it’s soft, you need to clean it: cut out the tough middle parts and cut it into smaller pieces.

Reheat the stock, so that it’s smoking a bit (about 70 degrees). Put in the fish skin up and let it cook slowly for about 8 minutes. Add the veggies and mushrooms (except avocado) and let them warm up. Take out the fish and remove the skin (it won’t be very good to eat). Arrange everything on a deep plate and pour in a generous amount of stock. If you like, you can squeeze some lemon on the top. Enjoy!

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For 2 portions:

100 g arborio rice
50 g butter
1 unpeeled onion
2 radishes
100 g chanterelles
1 tomato
1 avocado
50 ml dry white wine
30 g parmesan
some chives
a pinch of whole cumin seeds
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
celery leaves for garnish

I like to use mushroom stock for risotto – compared to a veggie one it contains minimum of vegetables and mostly mushrooms. There is no need to use chanterelles only, you can add any leftover mushrooms that you have.

First, clean the mushrooms and sort them – leave the nicest pieces for the risotto and use the remaining ones for the stock. It consists of 1 thinly sliced onion, onion skin, bay leaf, salt and 300 ml water. Cook for at least 10 minutes (the longer the better, 10 minutes is the absolute minimum). Onion is always the base of risotto, so I just added it to the stock. When it’s ready, strain it.

Melt 20 g of butter in a pan, add rice and sauté it for a bit. Add the whole cumin seeds, they will support the taste of mushrooms. Pour in some wine and stir. If you want to eat immediately, cook the rice al dente, if you prepare it in advance, it is better to undercook it. Then you can put it in the fridge and use it the next day. That is what we do in the restaurant, the rice is fine for about 3 days.

I cooked the rice al dente, added the remaining butter, chives and finely grated parmesan. The risotto should be creamy – when you put it on the plate, it should spread nicely in one layer. It isn’t easy, we discuss the proper technique at work all the time (if you’re interested you can find more tips here).

Sauté the chanterelles with butter and salt. Cut the avocado, slice the radishes, cut off the yellow celery leaves and grate the cheese.

Put everything on the top of the risotto – every ingredient has its specific taste, so I prefer not to stir everything together – this way, I enjoy it much more. If you want to emphasize the creaminess, you can stir in some avocado. Enjoy!!

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