Mother Sauces Demonstration with Michael Nizzero

Chef Michael Nizzero, Executive Chef at The Bath Priory, showcased his skills to many attendees at Le Cordon Bleu London with a demonstration focused on seafood and hollandaise sauce. Chef Michael is originally from Belgium and began his career in the kitchen in 2002. He has held positions in several renowned restaurants in the UK and abroad, including the three Michelin-starred restaurant The Waterside Inn, Hostellerie La Briqueterie and The Ritz. He is known for using fresh local produce and seasonal flavours to create contemporary French dishes.

During the demonstration, he prepared two tasty and well-presented seafood dishes of Glazed Cornish Crab with Butternut and Lemon Parsley as well as Cured Var Salmon with shaved vegetable and avocado purée.

Chef Michael’s demonstration focused on classical French cooking techniques and more specifically one of the five mother sauces: hollandaise sauce – a familiar topic to some of our students that is also taught in Basic Cuisine level.

For the Glazed Cornish Crab, Chef Michael began filling the pre-cooked and emptied body of a crab shell by layering butternut squash and black quinoa, which he then topped up with tarragon hollandaise sauce. Next, he glazed it under a salamander oven until golden brown. Other ingredients used were shallots, white wine and white vinegar sauce, which added to the delicate flavour. With an artistic flair and eye for detail, Chef Michael carefully garnished the dish with sea vegetables, to create an appearance of seaweed in the seabed.

Afterwards, he prepared the second dish of Cured Var Salmon, which was made by curing the salmon with salt and sugar and then slow cooking it in the oven for three hours at 45° C . The salmon was accompanied with sorrel hollandaise and to finish, Chef Michael adorned the dish with colourful shaved fennel, carrot, radishes as well as avocado purée, citrus segment and baby coriander.

Everyone in attendance enjoyed learning the delicious and unique seafood dishes. We look forward to welcoming Chef Michael Nizzero to Le Cordon Bleu again!