Chefs au Sommet d'Auron 2023, Jérôme Clavel and Séverine Lemaire at Les Canailles

chefs sommet auron 2023 clavel lemaire canailles

Antonio Zuffanti, his team, Jérôme Clavel, Séverine Lemaire & Aurélie ©YesICannes.com

The Chefs au Sommet d’Auron welcomed Chef Jérôme Clavel and Pastry-cheffe Séverine Lemaire for a gastronomic dinner at Les Canailles.

Chefs au Sommet d’Auron 2023 : from 14 to 19 January 2023, the 11th edition of the Mountain Gastronomy Festival offers memorable gastronomic experiences to tourists and inhabitants of the emblematic Mercantour resort. In addition to the after-ski cooking shows, every evening, renowned chefs officiate in the restaurants of the Haute Tinée resort and offer sumptuous gastronomic dinners at the unique and privileged price of 55€ per person. Chef Jérôme Clavel from the restaurant Le 44 in Antibes and pastry chef Séverine Lemaire from La Cerise sur le Gâteau, Pâtisserie et Chocolat in Drap, delighted the taste buds of fine gourmets at the restaurant Les Canailles in Auron.

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Eleven years of passion for gastronomy!

The Mountain Gastronomy Festival is celebrating its eleventh anniversary. This flagship event once again brings together many of the Côte d’Azur’s top chefs and talented pastry chefs to share an authentic moment of culinary pleasure and conviviality in the heart of the sumptuous Mercantour mountains. Concocted by the chefs in kitchens made temporary for the event, the menus composed of an amuse-bouche, a starter, a main course and a dessert delight the gourmet taste buds of fine gourmets every evening.

Séverine & Aurélie from La Cerise sur le Gâteau ©YesICannes.com

Gastronomic Dinner at Les Canailles

On Thursday 19th January 2023, Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron Festival finished on a high with the dinner of Chef Jérôme Clavel from the restaurant Le 44 in Antibes and the Pastry Chef Séverine Lemaire from La Crise sur le Gâteau, Pâtisserie et Chocolat in Drap, who transposed their delicious culinary experiences into the warm wooded and mountainous chalet décor of Auron’s new restaurant Les Canailles on the snow front.

Jérôme Clavel ©YesICannes.com

Jérôme Clavel’s locavore

To élaborate his delicious menu for Chef’s Dinner at Chefs au Sommet d’Auron, Jérôme Clavel drew on the superb list of local producers, partners in the Mountain Gastronomy Festival to provide fresh and authentic seasonal produce. Cians trout, chestnuts, eggs, mushrooms, lamb… To accompany the lamb, the chef wanted to work with cabbage in different and succulent ways so that the gastronome would discover this vegetable and appreciate it, especially with a good juice. Jérôme added a touch of Corsican clementine, a gastronomic way of letting his origins speak for themselves!

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The plate as a work of art

Chef Jérôme Clavel is a passionate and creative chef who, from his Mediterranean culture, has kept a deep attachment to the good regional products full of sunshine and colours of Provence, which give a unique mix of flavours to his dishes where his sensitivity makes the plate a work of art. His cuisine is simple and gourmande, with each flavour carefully studied. Each of his creations reveals the taste of a fresh product, in an preserved authenticity, without unnecessary artifice, enhanced by the accuracy of his juices and the finesse of his accompaniments.

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A career along the greatest

With a BTS in Hotel and Catering from the Paul Augier Hotel School in Nice, Jérôme Clavel began his career in the kitchens of two of the greatest palaces on the Côte d’Azur: the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes and the Hôtel Majestic Barrière in Cannes. He then worked with Chef Stéphane Raimbault at L’Oasis in Mandelieu la Napoule before moving to Switzerland to join the brilliant Chef Philippe Chevrier at the Domaine de Châteauvieux. He worked as a Private Chef in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat before perfecting his talents abroad, in Ireland, in the kitchens of Chef Patrick Guilbaud (2 Michelin macaroons) and his Chef de cuisine Guillaume Lebrun.

Jérôme Clavel au fourneau ©YesICannes.com

Jérôme, Maître Restaurateur

Back on the Côte d’Azur, he joined the kitchens of Francis Chauveau (Les Pêcheurs in Antibes) and Joël Robuchon (Le Yoshi in Monaco). He was then chef in Juan les Pins (Le Provençal Beach), in Avoriaz (La Cabane), at Costa Rica (2 Michelin forks) in Santa Giula in Corsica and joined Nicolas Masse‘s team as Executive Sous -chef at Sources de Caudalie Restaurant La Grand Vigne (2 Michelin stars). Jérôme Clavel opened his own restaurant, Le 44, between Cap d’Antibes and Old Town in July 2016. Three months later, Christian Morisset, the famous starred chef from Le Figuier Saint Esprit in Antibes, presented him with the plaque consecrating him as Maître Restaurateur, a highly coveted quality label.

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Return to childhood in the forest

Accompanied by Aurélie, her creative accomplice, Séverine Lemaire offered a gentle return to childhood with her dessert inviting gourmets to caramelise on a wooden skewer three “homemade” marshmallows (clementine, vanilla, pine) on candles – supplied by Ice Candle from Cannes, partner of the Festival. Accustomed to creating themed cakes, the two young pastry chefs were inspired for this sublime dessert by walks in the forests and mountains, such as those surrounding Auron, with a nod to evenings around a campfire in the countryside where marshmallows are toasted amidst laughter.

Séverine Lemaire is arranging her superb dessert ©YesICannes.com

Pastry making, a passion of youth

At a very young age, Séverine indulged her passion for pastry-making. It was Mr. Lefèvre, from the Pâtisserie Cappa, Place Garibaldi in Nice, who gave the 7-8 years old Severine the desire to make pastries. At the age of 12, she was already taking her first working “baths” in his shop! At the age of 14, she passed a CAP-BEP (vocational training certificate) in pastry making for two years, followed by a “dessert à l’assiette” qualification at the Lycée Professionnel Auguste Escoffier in Cagnes-sur-Mer and two years at the Ifm Sup in Saint Laurent du Var. Severine then worked for three years with Mr Serain who took over the Pâtisserie Cappa, as a pastry chef, ice-cream maker and chocolate maker.

Marshmallow to grill ! ©YesICannes.com

Séverine and Aurélie, pastry joie de vivre

Séverine then did a two-year master’s degree at Le Pêché Mignon pastry shop in Nice before working for three years at Albert Planchais and at Pâtisserie Aux Goûts de Luxe in Blaussac, also for three years. Finally, trained to excellence by her course in pastry shops, Séverine decided to set up her own business, a pastry laboratory in Drap, a town overlooking the Var Valley. With Aurélie, her partner in creation for ten years, she makes fine chocolates for Easter and the holidays season, personalised cakes as well as wedding cakes and “American-style wedding cakes” with French flavours. One of their specialities: 2m high wedding “pièces montées” !

Aurélie & Séverine ©YesICannes.com

Menu tasted at Les Canailles (photos YesICannes.com)

Amuse bouche: Smoked Trout from Cians, Parmentier Cake with Chestnut

Starter: Organic Oeuf Parfait, wild Mushrooms, pan-fried country Bacon, Espuma of Gratin Dauphinois

Main course : Smoked Lamb with Hay and Provencal Herbs, Cabbage stuffed with confit Shoulder and sweet Spices, Cauliflower Mousseline and Sultana Grapes

Dessert : “Ballade en Forêt” : Milk Chocolate Pine Cone topped with Milk Chocolate Mousse and Mandarin Cream on a bed of crushed Shortbread with caramelised Pine Nuts, Mandarin Coulis. Homemade Marshmallow (Clementine, Vanilla, Pine)

Macarons from Mic Mac Macarons by Bruno Laffargue

Les Canailles, festive skiing

Alter ego of the Les Canailles Beach Private on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice transposed in the heart of the Mercantour mountains, the new restaurant club and bar Les Canailles Auron wants to set the mood for the resort. On the snow front of the Chastellarès plateau, its sparkling and festive spirit seduces lovers of skiing and gastronomy. Accessible on foot or on skis, its large sunny terrace and its superb dining room welcome you to enjoy the brasserie cuisine based on good regional products by chef Antonio Zuffanti. The evening welcomes festive après-ski, sprinkled with sound aperitifs, hosted by a DJ.

Les Canailles Auron dining room ©YesICannes.com

Les Chefs au Sommet d’Auron
From 14 to 19 January 2023
Restaurants in Auron, St Étienne de Tinée and St Dalmas-le-Selvage
Information: Auron Tourist Office
Tél: +33 (0)4 93 23 02 66