Christmas in September

fig. a: the set-up (detail)

What can I say? The girl's on a tear!

First there was her 2-night gig at Les Touilleurs, and now this:

Michelle's in the new issue of Elle Québec, along with six other talented local chefs. The concept goes like: 1) you bring together a group of chefs in a top Montreal restaurant (say, La salle à manger), 2) you tell them to come prepared to make a special Christmas dish, preferably one that's dear to them, 3) you get them to cook their respective dishes, 4) and you finish off the occasion by having a spectacular Christmas meal with plenty of vino and other assorted spirits.

Sounds great, right?

Well, in September, when the shoot actually took place, it sounded kind of crazy. For one thing, it was hot. For another, Christmas seemed a long ways away. But everyone showed up, they came armed with recipes and mad skills, they made some pretty stellar dishes, the wine started to flow, and the event turned into quite the party. Michelle even got dressed up old-school Czech-style ("«la reine de Noël»!") to go along with her traditional Czech dessert.

fig. b: if you're going to Christmas in September...*

If you want to read the entire article, you'll have to go to your local newsstand. The issue is out now.

If you want to check out Michelle's recipe for "Les biscuits au chocolat, aux noix et au rhum" (Czech rum, walnut, and chocolate cookies), you can find it here on ellequebec.com. You can also find the highly international, highly tantalizing menu and all six of the other recipes there, including:

• Les pastelles au merlan (Guinea-Bissau) de Julio Mendy, chef du Résident

• La morue à la vizcaina (Mexico) d’Alonso Ortiz, chef du Pintxo

• Les cigares au chou (Romania) d’Emilian Manole, chef du Picapica

• La longe d’agneau (France) de Stéphane Modat,chef de l'Utopie

• Le jeune canard sur os et les jambonneaux à l'érable (Quebec) de Samuel Pinard, chef de La salle à manger

and, Michelle's pick of the night,

• Le salmis de pieuvre au girofle (Mauritius) de Stelio Perombelon, chef des Cons servent et du Pullman

ak

* ...be sure to wear flowers in your hair.