The question is how to extract oil from a leek. For some years now, in many shops and markets, the traditional leek has been giving way to an immense monstrosity called the Dutch leek. Much larger than the traditional leek, which, at most, is two fingers thick. Larger, but also absolutely tasteless. When you cook it, but especially when you taste it, you have the sensation of eating a manufactured cellulose leaf.
When the leeks produced by Soulblim, an agricultural company from Baix Llobregat that, among other things, is dedicated to recovering and marketing native varieties, fell into my hands and I tasted them, I realized how many years I had lived in a state of taste oblivion. I rediscovered my love for Vichyssoise. It had been years since I had cooked it or ordered it in restaurants because it usually tasted like cork. That said, I naively believed that the margin a real leek gives you was limited to making a Vichyssoise cream, a leek pie, or a sofrito. Don't doubt it, I have thought a lot about the problem of the leek, its flavor, and its texture.
Heaven, however, opened up to me again when, sitting in chef Xavier Pellicer's restaurant, a dish made entirely with leeks was placed on my table, from the greenest leaves of the outer part and the roots that are usually thrown away, to the prized whitest and most tender part. A 100% utilized leek! A delight to the palate. The technique to recycle the entire leek and create an extraordinary dish is due to the great knowledge that Xavier Pellicer possesses. We can add little about one of the best Catalan chefs. His career began with a natural knowledge of French cuisine that he acquired at home, his mother was of that nationality, and from having worked in the best kitchens of the hexagon, which have given him a background, but it is not enough to explain his ability to give value to the so frequently mistreated vegetables. Nor his experience alongside Santi Santamaria. Pellicer has gone a step further that far exceeds the canons of traditional cuisine.
I rediscovered my love for Vichyssoise. It had been years since I had cooked it or ordered it in restaurants because it usually tasted like corkThis new dimension is evident when you try his cauliflower cream with different textures or the ajoblanco cream with salted almond ice cream. It is a flavor that captivates even those who abhor vegetables. You have to open your mind, look at the plate, enjoy the visual explosion that Pellicer provokes, then close your eyes and let the flavors burst in your mouth. The essence of cauliflower surpasses any flavor, even if we had never liked it before. You won't remember your grandmother's dish, it doesn't work like that, you will be in a new dimension.
The grilled artichoke with white romesco is perhaps the confirmation of the combination of a simple technique with a disruptive sauce, a damned little word that is now in fashion, but I have no other to define it.
Someone has sometimes suggested that Xavier Pellicer is the benchmark for vegetarians. Perhaps a vegetarian and even a vegan can thoroughly enjoy themselves in his excellent and illuminated establishment in the Eixample, but it is not limited only to this, but he knows perfectly how to give play to vegetables and seafood with a reference dish such as the candied salsify with scallop and a toasted hazelnut and fennel meunière. Root and bulb, the chef calls it. Salsify, a type of turnip often cooked with duck, has a fine, perfumed, aniseed taste that disorients many people; the collision with the scallops elevates the dish, and the toasted hazelnut meunière and the fennel that accompany them keep it up. Brutal.
The festival continues with surprising products such as mini-Kalettes, a hybrid of kale and Brussels sprouts. Pellicer is not content with recovering traditional products, he also experiments with new creations. His Kalettes dish with truffle is an explosion of flavors. It can always be said that with a little black truffle everything tastes good. But his kalettes with that just right cooking point that makes them burst in the mouth are perfectly complemented by the prized mushroom. In this vein, we must also pay attention to the peas with cod tripe, pea shoots and truffle. Sensational.
Pellicer is not content with recovering traditional products, he also experiments with new creationsAnd if anyone feels harassed by so much vegetable, our chef exhibits his French imprint with a boeuf bourguignon canonical. An exact cooking that leaves the meat soft and tasty. Magnificent.
And for dessert? Let me tell you about the matcha tea coulant. I must admit that my knowledge of this type of green tea was limited to the boom that this drink experienced a few years ago. In the hands of Xavier Pellicer, the tea becomes a soft, fresh, and suggestive dessert with new accents that open the mouth.
All these dishes and many more offered by Pellicer are the result of quality and local produce, but without the technique, experimentation, research, that is, without the hours that the chef and his team have dedicated and continue to dedicate, excellence would hardly be achieved. Cuisine is dignified by professionals like Xavier Pellicer. In Catalonia and its capital, we have many like him. Let's enjoy them.
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