Spring Flavours - Chef Lewis Spencer
Chef Lewis Spencer is a bright young talent and moved to London three years ago after a year in New York and a second stint for Mark Birchall. He’s worked under chefs including Russell Bateman and Dmitri Magi at Davies and Brook at Claridge’s Hotel.
He talks us through his creative process creating a dish inspired by the first spring ingredients …
“For chefs, spring is like a new year because it’s the start of fresher, more colourful vegetables. The dish itself is wild garlic pesto, with asparagus, Morels, peas, a black garlic emulsion, salt cured egg yolk, lemon zest, flowers and a yoghurt whey sauce.”
“Asparagus is one of my favourite things and I’m just doing something different with the yoghurt whey as sustainability is very important. The egg is cured with kombu and salt and then microplaned, along with the lemon zest. The wild garlic pesto is made with macadamia nuts, wild garlic, parsley, oil - a bit of olive oil and lemon oil - and parmesan. The morels are sauteed and finished with chicken stock. It’s a classical dish done with some really good produce.“