It's simple-made-elaborate for Chef de Cuisine Jacques Qualin, the man in the kitchen at celebrity chef Jean-George Vongerichten's J&G Steakhouse, which sits atop The Phoenician.
"It's a steakhouse but we don't want to do like a basic steakhouse," he said. "[So] we're trying to play on the side dishes, and the sauces, and the appetizers."
Fancy trying on those chef whites for an evening? Here's a recipe for sweet corn ravioli with basil butter and cherry tomatoes, one of Qualin's side dishes.
Ravioli Filling:
½ pound corn kernels ½ pound charred corn kernels 2 ounces minced shallots 1/2 of a Thai chili pepper, minced 1.5 TSP minced rosemary 1/2 ounce sugar 1 TSP salt 1 ounce butter 10 ounces heavy cream
Sweat shallots in butter using two rondeaus until tender. Add fresh corn kernels and cook until bright yellow, then slowly add cream and cook like a risotto. Once all cream has been added and reduced until the kernels are barely above the cream, add salt and remove from heat. Puree until smooth. In a large mixing bowl over an ice bath, stir in chili, rosemary, sugar and charred corn kernels and let cool.
Pasta Dough:
1 pound all-purpose flour 10 egg yolks 3 eggs 1 TBSP olive oil
Combine all the ingredients in a Hobart mixer with a dough hook and work until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour. Roll dough through a pasta machine, starting with the largest setting and gradually getting thinner, then twice through the smallest setting so pasta is rolled out thin.
To fill ravioli, use 0.7 ounces of filling per ravioli.
Lay one sheet of pasta dough, arrange balls of ravioli filling, and egg wash the dough with a brush in between. Take a another sheet of dough and gently cover the filling, sealing the dough tightly together. Cut the ravioli with a 3-inch cutter.
Tomato Salad:
8 ounces Del Cabo, Golden Cherry tomatoes, washed and split 1 ounce shallots, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick ½ TSP salt 1 ounce red wine vinegar 1/2 ounce olive oil 1/2 of a Thai Chili pepper, washed and minced
Place tomatoes and shallots in a bow, and sprinkle with salt. Add the vinegar, chili and olive oil. This salad must be mixed 15 minutes prior to use, and is good for 1 hour at room temperature. Combine all and mix well.
Basil Puree:
4 ounces freshly picked basil 4 ounces Safflower oil 1TSP salt
Blanch basil for 10 full seconds in rapidly boiling water in the steam kettle. Then, shock it by placing it in an ice bath. Squeeze out excess water and add safflower oil and salt. Puree all ingredients on high speed until bright green. Shock in a bowl over ice.
To Serve:
Corn removed from cob Mixed baby basil 1 tsp minced shallots
Sauté shallots in foamy butter and add corn. Sweat out, then add water that almost covers it. Mount with butter and emulsify. Season with basil puree and add raviolis, which have been poached in simmering water. Sauce should be creamy and brothy, not thick and bright, light green. Place in a small bowl and top with the cherry tomatoes, then sprinkle with baby basil.
