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Guest Chef - Chez Willie
DINING & ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE - JULY 2004
Guest Chef - Chez Willie
Chef James Grant pleases the palate at Chez Willie
Chef James Grant, 49, started cooking at the posh Cat Cay Club on Cat Cay, south of Bimini, in the early 1970s.
?I was planning to study architecture when the manager of the club, Joe Russell, suggested I talk to the chef in the kitchen to see what he could do for me.?
So long classroom; hello kitchen.
A native of Andros, Grant honed his culinary skills under ?the chef in the kitchen,? Ronny Deryckere, and in 1974 followed him to the newly opened Del Prado, a classy Continental restaurant at El Greco Hotel on West Bay Street.
?He was my teacher,? says Grant of Deryckere, ?and I was moving right along with him.? They moved to Graycliff together in 1975, and in 1981 Deryckere and his wife bought Sun and?.
Grant struck out on his own and became the executive chef at Columbus Tavern on Paradise Island.
He rejoined former Graycliff colleague and maitre d?, Willie Armstrong, when he opened Chez Willie in December, 1999. Grant, now executive head chef, has been heading a kitchen staff of five at the upscale indoor/outdoor eatery that offers Bahamian/French cuisine. The main dining room, private dining area and courtyard can seat up to 300 patrons, says Armstrong.
With a quarter century of experience, Grant says preparation is still the hardest part of being a chef, but ?it is the key.? Apart from cooking, Grant specializes in sculpting vegetables and fruit, turning leeks and tomatoes into roses and lemons and radishes into tropical flowers. ?If it?s pleasing to the eye, it?s good for the tummy,? he quips.
Here?s a sample of what Chef Grant creates to please the eye and tempt the tummy:
Lobster in puff pastry
with tarragon and saffron sauce
(serves 5)
1 lb lobster meat
3 oz shallots, minced
3 oz garlic, minced
2 oz tarragon
Pinch of salt
Pinch of white pepper
Pinch of chopped parsley
Pinch of saffron
1 cup heavy cream
1?2 lb butter
1 cup white wine
Puff pastry, uncooked
Sauté shallots and garlic in butter. Add lobster meat. Mix in all other ingredients. Cook 10-15 min. Set aside.
Cut pastry into 41?2-in diameter circles. Cook for 10 min. Fill pastry with lobster filling and garnish with lime, radish and parsley.
Bahamian tuna
and crab mousse
(serves 5)
1 lb fresh tuna, chopped fine
2 oz finely chopped shallots
1?2 quart egg whites, whipped stiff
Pinch of salt
Pinch of white pepper
1 cup heavy cream
Combine ingredients and mix well. Coat five soufflé cups with butter. Fill with tuna mousse. Bake in a pan of water 15-20 min at 350ºF.
Refrigerate and serve cold with green peppercorn sauce.
(For crab mousse, substitute 1 lb crab meat for tuna.)
Green peppercorn sauce
1 oz green peppercorns
1 oz brandy
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1?2 cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper to taste
Mix ingredients together and pour over mousse.
Roasted Long Island duck
with mango and orange sauces
(serves 2)
Season a Long Island duck with salt, pepper and thyme. Roast 45 min at 400ºF. Let cool, and de-bone. Serve with sauces.
Mango and orange sauces
2 cups mango juice
2 tbsp corn starch
1 cup mango rum
1 cup sugar
Brown sugar in saucepan. When golden brown add other ingredients.
For orange sauce substitute orange juice for mango juice and Grand Marnier for mango rum.
Serve sauces on either side of plate, garnished with mango and orange, slices.
Chef Grant?s special
Grouper in puff pastry with crabmeat, served with coconut cream sauce
(serves 1)
8 oz grouper filet
Puff pastry, uncooked
Pinch of salt, pepper and thyme
Dash of lime juice
3 oz crabmeat
Sauté grouper with salt, pepper, thyme and lime juice. Let cool. Top grouper with crabmeat and wrap in puff pastry.
Bake at 350ºF for about 20 minutes.
Coconut cream sauce
1 cup heavy cream
2 oz coconut milk
Pinch of nutmeg, salt and white pepper
1 tbsp corn starch
Bring cream, coconut milk and spices to a boil. Thicken with
corn starch.
Arrange sauce around grouper puff and garnish with crabmeat, shredded coconut, silver dollar mushroom, radish and parsley.
Profiteroles
(serves 8)
8 egg yolks
1 qt fresh milk
1 lb sugar
1?2 lb flour
Bring milk to a boil. Add sugar, egg yolks and flour and mix until stiff.
Place mix in piping bag and squeeze in small blobs onto a baking sheet. Bake 25-30 min at 275ºF.
Vanilla filling
4 egg yolks
1?2 qt milk
1?2 lb sugar
3 oz corn starch
1 oz vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients. Put in piping bag and inject into profiteroles. Cover profiteroles with chocolate sauce and garnish with cherries.
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