Belgian chef celebrates 'natural wonders'

Updated: 2015-05-26 07:05

By Mike Peters(China Daily USA)

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Visiting chef Seppe Nobels' blue eyes light up with excitement when he is asked about his morning at Jingshen Hai-xian Shichang, the capital's busiest fish market.

"The fish were all alive," he says, grinning. "Amazing! At the markets in Europe, they are all dead."

He was similarly thrilled by a swing through the market stalls of Sanyuanli, where chefs from Beijing's top restaurants can be found pinching tomatoes and sniffing bunches of cilantro with grunts and satisfied sighs.

"At my restaurant in Belgium, all of my cooking is centered around vegetables," he says later, while preparing the menu for a special one-night-only dinner at Temple Restaurant Beijing held on Saturday.

"The produce here I find is very high quality. Some very different things for me here, nice to prepare. Wonderful radishes - so many kinds. Beautiful bok choy, which we are using today. And some wild broccoli - really amazing."

All this from a fellow who is rather picky about his veggies. Nobels, in fact, was recently honored as the vegetable chef of the year for the Benelux countries of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and his native Belgium.

"I start to create every dish with vegetables," he says, "then add fish and meat as needed."

Belgian chef celebrates 'natural wonders'

Many chefs limit their approach to vegetables by parboiling in salted water or simply steaming, he says. "I like to grill them, like a barbecue. And pickle them. Or salt and bake them in the oven like you would a seabass. I like to try all different ways to prepare them, even if it's a method usually considered to be for meat.

"I only use local ingredients, what is in season. In my country, for example, we have beautiful fish from the North Sea. Why should I fly in a tuna from Japan when we have fish like that at home?"

His respect for what's in season - he wouldn't dream of serving fresh tomatoes in the winter - can be seen on the rooftop of his restaurant, Antwerp-Graanmarkt 13. There, he cultivates about 120 different herbs and two hives of honeybees. He has four more hives on top of the nearby Flemish Opera House.

"We use our honey to make very good madeleines," he says, "as well as a honey-tarragon sauce for shellfish. I also make another sauce that would very much suit Asian tastes: A soya and honey sauce, like Peking duck sauce but used for roasting vegetables".

Diners new to Belgian food would find it similar to French, he says, especially in his home region of Flanders.

"But we use less butter and cream - the heavy stuff," he says. "It's kind of between France and Scandinavia, where they use flavors like lime and sour apple in interesting ways.

"We also have a new wave of chefs in Belgium, young professionals who are like a team or a community instead of a competition. We like to get together and exchange ideas and techniques at culinary events."

Vegetables and fruits are prized in Flanders, he says, and chefs take full advantage of young Brussels sprouts, the area's famous strawberries and another seasonal treat: the white asparagus grown near Antwerp.

"We also like to make stews like carbonnade with local beers. You've probably heard of our rich Belgian beers," he says, pausing to grin again.

"But did you know that 'French fries' were actually first made in Belgium?"

michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 05/26/2015 page8)

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