Terrance Brennan, one of America’s most revered chefs, is the
chef-owner of the three-star New York Times, two-star Guide
Michelin Picholine, located on Manhattan’s West Side near
Lincoln Center. Brennan also owns Artisanal Bistro & Fromagerie
and is the Director of the Artisanal Premium Cheese Center, also
in Manhattan. Brennan has been to Spain several times, including
a multi-region gastronomic tour in 2005 with this author. He
incorporates many Spanish ingredients into his French- and Mediterrean-
influenced cuisine and serves an exceptional modern-cuisine
tapas menu in the bar area at Picholine.
GD: Terrance, tell me about your innovative interpretation of a
Spanish classic, a granité of red gazpacho served in a bowl of ajo
blanco or white garlic-and-almond gazpacho.
TB: My white gazpacho base is made with Spanish almonds,
Spanish extra virgin olive oil and Sherry vinegar. I garnish the
gazpacho with shrimp that is cooked with smoked pimentón de la
Vera, the great paprika from Extremadura, which I love. I take all
the vegetables that normally go into red gazpacho (gazpacho a la
Sevillana) and juice them, then make my granité.
GD: I see that you offer a significant number of Spanish cheeses
here at Picholine, at Artisanal Bistro & Fromagerie and Artisanal
Premium Cheese Center, your wholesale-retail-internet cheese
operation.
TB: Yes, we have carried a significant number of the best Spanish
cheeses since the beginning. Our cheese master, Max Mc-
Calman, is a fan of Spanish artisan cheeses and has always sought
to include a selection from Spain. We also offer Spanish cheese
classes at Artisanal Premium Cheese Center.
GD: What are some of the other Spanish influences on your
menus?
TB: I take all the flavors of a paella, including Spanish saffron and
Spanish bomba rice, that are used in making black ink paella and
make a broth, then I garnish it with a chorizo all-i-oli. I make a
risotto that was inspired by Spanish black ink paellas and by the
rabbit and snail paellas of inland Alicante. I make it with squid
ink, that paella-flavored broth, snails and rabbit confit, and serve it
with all-i-oli made with Spanish extra virgin olive oil. I also garnish
it with piquillo peppers from Navarra or La Rioja.
GD: Tell me about the Spanish extra virgin olive oil made from
arbequina olives that you have here.
TB: This olive oil has just come into the country and will be in my
restaurants soon. This is last year’s pressing. It’s really a great olive
oil, from southern Rioja. I use a lot of olive oil. I put this one on
the table in little carafes. Customers can pour the oil into a dish
and dip bread in it. I also make a halibut dish that is poached in
pimentón-laced Spanish olive oil. I serve it with a Basque chutney
with Spanish capers.
GD: You seem to have a high opinion of Sherry vinegar.
TB: I was in love with Sherry vinegar for many years before Spanish
gastronomy was hot. I have always made vinaigrettes with Sherry vinegar.
GD: What are some other Spanish influences in your cooking?
TB: I make a romesco (a Catalan sauce using olive oil, dried peppers,
hazelnuts or almonds, garlic, etc.) mousse. I serve it over a fish dish. It melts all the way to the table and fuses into the sauce.
GD: Describe the tapas menu in the bar at Picholine.
TB: We serve popcorn dusted with Spanish smoked paprika. There is a paella spring roll, a Pedro Ximénez Sherry sorbet with ovendried serrano ham chips, a piquillo pepper stuffed with bacalao mousse and a Valdeón cheese mousse served with an endive-andpear salad.
GD: Despite the fact that Picholine is primarily a provincial French restaurant, you seem to have a lot of Spanish influences here.
TB: Yes, there many more than I thought. I learned a lot about Spanish
traditional cooking and ingredients during our 2005 trip. The
seafood is always fabulous. And there was the Idiazabal cheese
judging in the Basque Country, where we met many of the top
Basque chefs. One of my favorite meals on that trip was at Pérez
Pascuas winery, in Ribera del Duero, when we had baby lamb
chops grilled over grape vine cuttings. That was beautiful. Good
bread, a great tomato salad with good Spanish olive oil, those
wonderful baby lamb chops and lots of great Viña Pedrosa wine.
I also love Spanish brick oven-roasted suckling pig and lamb. I
appreciate all the creativity of modern Spanish gastronomy, but
traditional, regional cooking using all those fine Spanish ingredients
is what I remember most. ~ Gerry Dawes
