Chef Bruno Otieza and Chef Mikel Alonso – Always had a Passion for Food

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It is a very great award indeed to be included in the prestigious list of San Pellegrino’s top 50 World’s Best Restaurants. Biko is the brainchild of Chefs Bruno Oteiza and Mikel Alonso, and although the restaurant is relatively young compared to other restaurants listed in the top 50, the chefs have created a big name for their restaurant as they jumped from the 81st position last year to the 46th spot.

Chef Bruno Oteiza was born on 1970 in San Sebastian. He began his journey towards becoming a chef at the age of 14 years old. He learned to love the art of cooking in his own home, and he has always had the passion for food and cooking at a very young age. Chef Oteiza, in his path to his culinary career, has worked at some of the best restaurants in Europe like Kokotxa, Asador Esparru, Akelarre, among others. Chef Oteiza also worked at the Imperial Hotel restaurant in Mexico.

Chef Otieza credits his culinary skill to some of the best chefs that he has become an apprentice to and has trained under. He learned the basics of cooking with Chef Antxon Araneta. It was Chef Pedro Subijana who taught him how to be imaginative in his cooking style. Chef Juan Mari Arzak, on the other hand, taught him to live and love the kitchen, and he also learned discipline through Chef Arzak and how to look at the kitchen through the eyes of a child. He believes that cooking is best learned and mastered through experience, not through education, and that practice is what will make you better in your chosen craft.

Chef Mikel Alonso was born in 1971 and grew up in Biarritz, which is Spain’s Basque Region. Before becoming a chef, he studied chemical engineering for two years, a career that he liked, but he has always been passionate about food. In fact, he found his real calling in the kitchens. The sounds that the cooking pans make, the smell of cooking ingredients, and the incessant hustle and bustle of a typical kitchen scene has always fascinated him. In the usual kitchen scene, Chef Alonso found harmony and the passport to his true calling.

Chef Alonso then went to San Sebastian where he enrolled himself in Chef Luiz Irizar’s catering school. Chef Irizar is considered as one of the chefs who have revolutionized traditional Basque cuisine and started the more modern and more innovative approach to cooking traditional dishes – the New Basque Cuisine. He learned the basics in Basque cooking here; however, it was with the great Chef Arzak that he really began to appreciate the art of cooking. When he trained under Chef Arzak, he was given the freedom to explore his own culinary personality and create a distinctive one for himself.

These two Arzak students and very skilled chefs have met in Tezka and Zona Rosa where they have worked together for a number of years. In 2007, they thought of starting out on their own and creating their own restaurant, and in 2008, they launched Biko. It was an instant success. Their excellent reputation have preceded them well, and the fact that they are both students of Chef Arzak and have worked with the great chef himself had also given them the boost they need for their new restaurant.

Eight months after they have first opened their doors to the public, Biko was included in the top 100 list of San Pellegrino. They got into the 86th position in 2009, and 2010 saw them at the 46th spot.

Chef Oteiza and Chef Alonso are offering two types of menus. You can either go for the traditional Basque cuisine or be adventurous and go for the innovative and new Basque cuisine. You will not be disappointed with your choice as you can always expect the best dishes from these superb chefs.

Chef Bruno Oteiza’s Pearl Melon Salad

Ingredients:

1 slice of melon
Lettuce and endive
A handful of lettuce
50 g walnuts
2 slices of Iberian ham
6 black olives
6 large capers
4 green chillies in vinegar
1 cup port wine
Sherry vinegar
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Chopped chives

Directions:

Place the ham between two baking sheets covered with greaseproof paper and bake at 200 º C for 7 minutes until they are crisp.
Put the wine in a saucepan and let it reduce to 1/4. Make melon balls with the help of a sacabolas. Season with salt and pepper and mix with the port reduction.
For the vinaigrette, place in a bowl a splash of vinegar, a pinch of salt, pepper and olive oil. Beat until thoroughly mixed and add some chopped chives.
Chop the lettuce and endive leaves and place in a bowl. Add lettuce, chopped chillies, chopped nuts and olives. Dress the salad with the vinaigrette.
Serve the salad with capers, melon balls and chopped chives. Season with a little more vinaigrette and serve.

Servings: Serves 2.

Original Source: hogarutil.com

Mikel Alonso’s Quail Empalomada

Ingredients:

Quail Breasts: 12 Units
Salt: To taste

The esquites:

1 clove
Olive oil: 100 cc
Corn: 2 Units
Onion: 100 g
Chopped fresh epazote: 20 g

Mojo macadamia:

Salt: To taste
Olive oil: 50 cc
Cream cheese: 200 g
Water: Quantity required
Fried bread: 70 g
Toasted macadamia nuts: 200 g
Vinegar: 30 cc
Cream: 100 g

Powder dove:

Popcorn: 1 / 2 Package

Mashed pipicha:

Fried Garlic: 2 cloves
Salt: To taste
Pipicha: 3 g
Olive oil: 70 cc
Toasted sunflower seeds: 90 g
Cider Vinegar: 20 cc
Fried bread: 40 g
Toasted macadamia nuts: 30 g
Nopales: 120 g

Additional:

Grated macadamia nut: A taste
Fried corn Hairs: A taste

Directions:

Mojo macadamia: In the blender, put the peeled and toasted macadamia nuts, cream cheese (must be at room temperature), olive oil, cream, vinegar and fried bread. Finally add two tablespoons of water and blend, season with salt and blend again.

Powder dove: Process the popcorn to a fine powder.

Mashed pipicha: Cut the nopales into strips. In a hot pan, pour some olive oil and broil nopales for a few minutes. Toast in oven the sunflower seeds. In the bowl of the blender, place the sunflower seeds, fried bread, fried garlic cloves, vinegar, olive oil, macadamia nuts, the pipicha and nopal. Add two tablespoons of water and blend. Season with salt and blend again until a smooth, homogeneous preparation, reserve.

The esquites: Place the corn on cold water and cook. Once boiling, cook for a couple of minutes, remove, then shell. Reserve the water where you cooked the corn. Peel and cut onions into dice. Peel and chop the garlic. Cut the leaves into chiffonade epazote. In a hot pan with olive oil, sauté the corn kernels, then incorporate the onion and garlic. When they begin to brown, add the epazote and a cup of the reserved water from cooking the corn, let reduce to low heat.

Armed: Season the quail breasts with salt, then brush lightly on both sides with the mojo of macadamia. In a hot pan with olive oil, seal the chicken on both sides, first side seal, the skin. After this process, roll the chicken in the dust of popcorn and set aside.

Presentation: Serve on a plate a portion of pipicha puree and a tablespoon of macadamia mojo, mojo fits over two quail breasts and finally a portion of esquites. Decorate with fried hair corn and grated macadamia nut.

Servings: Serves 4.

Original Source: elgourmet.com

Image Credit: eladerezo.com

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