Taste: In the kitchen with chef Pascal Olhats

If there is a godfather of French cuisine and fine dining in Orange County, it is Chef Pascal Olhats.

For more than 30 years (“I came as a tourist and I feel I am still on vacation,” Olhats says) the chef has provided reliably authentic and appropriately innovative cooking in the now classic French style of nouvelle cuisine. His mastery comes well-earned, having served under the legendary creator of the style, Chef Paul Bocuse, in Lyon, France.

Having recently sold his branch of Pascal in San Juan Capistrano, Olhats remains at Café Jardin, the elegant outdoor bistro located on the grounds of the Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar. Typically serving sophisticated lunch and weekend brunch menus, the café launched a series of special Sunday evening prix fixe dinners in June.

On this occasion we encountered the esteemed chef at his cozy home in Tustin on a rain-spattered day in May. Diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in November, Olhats had just returned home from a stay at City of Hope, where he had undergone a successful bone marrow transplant. Nonetheless, he greeted us with hale vigor and good humor as he welcomed us into his home.

Across from the stove in the kitchen an impressive mise en place had been set out on a square standing butcher’s block. Freshly diced tomatoes; whole garlic cloves blanched in milk and roasted; chopped Nicoise olives; a tangled mélange of parsley, thyme, rosemary, and tarragon – all clues as to what’s for lunch: chicken breasts Provençal accompanied by a rich potato gratin, prepared with a casual deftness in the chef’s own kitchen. C’est formidable!

Chef Pascal Olhats sizzles with summer dishes at Sherman Library & Gardens.

Textbook French nouvelle cuisine? Bien sûr! This recipe is in fact redacted from Olhats’ course at Saddleback College, where he has taught for many years.

 

Café Jardin/Sherman Library & Gardens2647 Pacific Coast Highway, Corona Del Mar

:: slgardens.org

 

CHICKEN BREAST À LA PROVENÇAL

INGREDIENTS

4 bone-in 8 oz. chicken breasts

2 tomatoes peeled, seeded and diced

16 garlic cloves (blanched in boiling milk for 5 minutes and roasted in foil for 15 minutes)

6 oz. black olives, pitted and halved

10 oz. chicken stock

4 oz. dry chardonnay

2 oz. extra virgin olive oil

Fresh herbs: chopped thyme, rosemary, parsley and tarragon

salt & pepper

 

METHOD

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Sauté the chicken skin-side down in olive oil.

Remove fat from the pan. Turn the chicken skin side up. Add diced tomatoes, garlic, olives, and fresh herbs (reserving some for garnish). Add the wine and stock.

Braise the chicken in the oven for about 12 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and reduce sauce to 1/3.

Plate the chicken and pour sauce over the breasts. Garnish with remaining herbs and serve.

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