Cooking with Rōze Traore

1. Start by peeling your potatoes, then quarter them. Place in a medium pot and cover with water. Season with salt, and gently bring to a simmer. Cook potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, then pass through a food mill, or medium sized strainer to break into small pieces. Using butter, and warm milk as needed, pass potatoes through a fine tamis or fine chinois strainer. Gently fold in crème fraiche and truffle paste. Season with salt, and keep hot until plating.

2. To prepare the steak, heat a cast iron or medium sized sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once heated add enough oil just to coat the bottom of the pan. Season your steak well with kosher salt. Once the pan is hot, the oil should shimmer, add your wagyu to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on desired doneness, medium-rare preferred. Add butter, 1 clove garlic, and thyme to the pan and baste the steak for 1 minute on each side. Remove the steak and set aside, allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing.

3. While the steak is resting, begin prepping mushrooms by halving and scoring the trumpet mushrooms. Use the tip of your knife to make small cuts along the inside of your cut mushrooms. In a sauté pan over medium heat to begin cooking your mushrooms. Add 1 tsp oil, and once heated add in your mushrooms. Allow mushrooms to brown, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms have released their juices, season with salt, lemon, and chopped chives. Remove from the pan and let rest on napkins to absorb drippings.

Plating

1. Begin plating by placing sliced wagyu face up on one side of the plate. Place a generous dollop of potatoes that match the steak in size, on the opposite side of the plate.

2. Next, arrange roasted mushrooms on top of the potatoes, stacking the mushrooms to add height to the dish.

3. Garnish beef with black truffles using a truffle slicer or micro plane. Season with flor de sal and serve.

1. Cut cucumber and pepper into a small dice and place in a medium bowl.

2. Combine all remaining ingredients (champagne vinegar, rice wine, water, salt and sugar) in a medium saucepan. Turn heat to medium and bring to a boil. Occasionally whisk so your ingredients are fully incorporated and dissolved.

3. Once the liquid has come to a boil, pour the hot liquid over the cucumber and pepper mixture and cover the bowl for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place your bowl in a larger ice bath and fully cool before for serving.

The Preparation

1. To prepare crab salad, first identify if your king crab is cooked or uncooked, if it is uncooked you will need to quickly blanch it. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Season water with 2TBSP salt, and juice from half of a lemon. Blanch raw crab legs for 4 minutes in boiling water, then quickly shock in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Remove crab from the ice bath. Use a crab cutter to remove the meat from the shell. Once removed, set it on a dry napkin to absorb any excess liquid and slice into 1-inch pieces.

2. Combine pieces of crab with small diced apple, shallot, chive, mayo, pickled relish, 1 tsp lemon juice and zest from half the lemon. Toss mixture and season with kosher salt and pepper. Keep the mixture chilled before serving.

3. Store uni and caviar in the fridge until ready for plating.

Plating

1. Place crab salad in the center of the plate, carefully place a generous tablespoon of caviar nested next to the crab.

2. Place Uni in small pockets surrounding the crab salad.

3. Garnish with flor de sal, and serve.