Lablabi, this typical Tunisian dish whose chef Youssef Gastli offers us the recipe

When we asked him to offer us a recipe that would represent his table, Youssef Gastli did not hesitate long before choosing the lablebi: “It’s a popular eatery dish, like you find along Tunisian roads. » More than a nod to his roots, the chef, who grew up in Tunis, sees it as the symbol of his new Parisian restaurant, Dune, which opened last September. : “I wanted to introduce Parisians to the classics of Mediterranean street food, but by offering it its letters of nobility. » For example, by adding bottarga to the original recipe, or by paying particular attention to the presentation.

For this new address, located rue des Jeûneurs, in Paris, “it is the heart that has spoken”, tells the story of the man who continues to practice at Plume, his first table, launched in 2016 in the 7^e capital district. If this first establishment is more upscale, Youssef Gastli ensures that his two places meet the same requirement (“ good products, good work ”) and above all to the same philosophy: “ to please to those lucky enough to have tasted his cuisine.

Trained at the Paul-Bocuse Institute, then passed through the prestigious restaurants of Le Meurice by Yannick Alleno and Lucas Carton by Jérôme Banctel, he learned the sense of detail that makes the difference. But, always, since the time when, as a child, he accompanied his parents in the restaurants of Tunis, he wanted to have a place of his own. ” Cooking makes me happy, of course, but what I wanted was to be a restaurant owner and receive customers in a place that was my own, that looked like me. » With Dune, where the Mediterranean art of living is found both in the comfortable and graceful benches and in the terracotta water carafes, it is now done.

Youssef Gastli’s lablabi recipe

For 4 people

Ingredients :

• 1 onion
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 carrot
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 400 g chickpeas already soaked
• 1 C. at s. from harissa
• 2 tbsp. c. cumin
• 1 C. c. paprika
• 1 C. c. cilantro
• 1 C. c. salt
• 4 eggs
• 200g croutons
• 1 C. at s. capers
• 1 candied lemon
• 100g bottarga or 200g tuna in olive oil
• 4 tbsp. at s. olive oil
• A few olives
• Parsley

Unfolded:

Chop the onion, cut the carrot and celery into brunoise and peel the garlic.

In a saucepan, sweat the vegetables with the chickpeas and the peeled garlic cloves.

Moisten with 1.5 l of water, add the spices and the harissa, then cook for one hour.

Meanwhile, prepare poached or soft-boiled eggs (6 min cooking time in simmering water).

Cut the bread into small cubes and toast it under the oven grill with a drizzle of olive oil for twelve minutes at 160 degrees.

Prepare the rest of the filling by diluting a spoonful of harissa in a spoonful of olive oil. Cut the candied lemon into strips and chop the parsley.

Once the broth is cooked, when the chickpeas are tender, check the seasoning.

In a bowl or a deep plate, pour a good ladle of chickpea soup, place the egg in the center of the plate.

Generously grate the bottarga (or place the tuna in oil), add a good spoonful of harissa, the candied lemon, the olives, the capers and the flat-leaf parsley.

Finish with a few handfuls of croutons.