4 Seasons George V, Paris Farm-to-table Cooking Class

One afternoon final July, I wandered via a backyard in Versailles, France, herb shears in hand, searching for oregano. Elsewhere within the Domaine de Madame Élisabeth — a lush property that Louis XVI gave to his youthful sister in 1783 — my spouse, Tiffan, picked basil for pesto whereas our three-year-old daughter, Odella, cranked dough into pappardelle. All of our efforts had been guided by Simone Zanoni, the chef at Le George, one in all three eating places on the 4 Seasons Lodge George V, Paris.

We had been friends of the resort’s garden-to-table program, the newest sustainability effort led by Zanoni. The out of doors kitchen is solar-powered, the entire restaurant’s meals waste is composted, and spent espresso grounds are used to develop oyster mushrooms — incomes Le George a Michelin Inexperienced Star (along with its present star for culinary excellence).

Once I returned with the oregano, I discovered Zanoni serving to Odella make focaccia. He bowed to her insistence on including extra rosemary and thyme. Then as a household, we walked via the backyard, plucking zucchini, tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers off the vine earlier than chopping them up. We additionally set the wood picnic desk with hand-painted Italian plates and azure glass goblets. Odella tucked blue-and-white-striped napkins into serviette rings earlier than wielding a pestle to crush basil and a few peppermint in a mortar, with help from Tiffan. 

“It’s like the sensation I had as a baby making lunch with my household,” stated Zanoni, who grew up on a farm in Lombardy, Italy, and has labored below Gordon Ramsay at his London and Versailles eating places. After Zanoni ready a lemony fillet of sole on the stovetop, we dug in to the fish and the pappardelle with pesto. When Odella declined Zanoni’s supply of parmesan topping for the pasta, he feigned outrage: “You don’t just like the cheese? Mamma mia!” 

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Because the adults sipped from a magnum of Philipponnat champagne made solely for Le George, Zanoni informed us extra concerning the philosophy behind his cooking. “Luxurious is just not a elaborate chandelier or stiff service,” he stated. “It ought to really feel like an extension of your own home.”

And in a means, it did really feel like we had been at house (albeit a much more luxurious one). After such an extravagant meal, there was just one factor left for us to do: the dishes.

A model of this story first appeared within the April 2024 problem of Journey + Leisure below the headline “Make This Backyard Develop.”