At White Wine & Butter, Chef Michael Sibert combines two cuisines to create his Cajun trattoria in Greer
When Michael Sibert married Samantha Aupied, she gifted him a book of her great-grandmother’s recipes. To many people, this might not seem remarkable, but to Chef Michael, the collection of 150-year-old Cajun recipes was the holy grail.
It’s these revered New Orleans dishes that form the basis of Sibert’s concept for White Wine & Butter, the couple’s restaurant at the Cartwright Food Hall in Greer. Mastering the recipes was challenging. “Being a chef, you think you can cook anything,” Sibert confesses. For over a decade, I’ve been professionally cooking and preparing what I thought was jambalaya, what I thought was gumbo, what I thought was étouffée. And I was making it all totally wrong.”
After spending time cooking with chefs in New Orleans and working with grandmothers in their kitchens, Sibert’s eyes were opened. “That’s where you really learn about New Orleans cooking—the love they translate into their food, the style of cooking, the patience it takes to make true Cajun food.” Those are the techniques he uses to stir up something special at White Wine & Butter.
Growing up in Greenwood, it was his grandmother who piqued the nascent chef’s interest in the culinary field. “My grandmother was the first one to get me out of my comfort zone and try different flavor profiles,” Sibert reports. They would watch Food Network shows—his grandmother was a fan of Rachel Ray and Emeril Lagasse—then they’d go to the grocery store and come home and whip up a dish based on what they had seen on TV. Sibert eventually followed up on those early cooking lessons by attending culinary school at Greenville Tech, then going to Cornell to earn a certificate in food and beverage management.
He opened White Wine and Butter last July, naming it for beurre blanc, his favorite of the five French mother sauces. The menu spotlights his interpretations of Cajun and Creole cuisine, from gumbo to jambalaya pasta (a combination of house-made orzo, sausage, chicken, and shrimp) and even a savory cheesecake made with Cajun spices, crumbled andouille sausage, and smoked gouda.
“I’m not really one for the rules,” the chef admits. “I like to combine everything I’ve learned from other chefs and everything I’ve taught myself through reading and watching and observing, and combine every single one of those experiences into what I do.” Shaped by Sibert’s desire to offer something out of the ordinary that no one else in the area was doing, his fusion of house-made pasta with authentic Cajun cuisine goes together like, well, white wine and butter.
White Wine & Butter, 215 Trade St., in Cartwright Food Hall, Greer, 864.417.4106, whitewineandbutter.com
Chef Michael’s Bone Marrow & Mushroom Risotto Recipe
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 beef femur bone, pre-cut in 3-5 pieces with exposed marrow
- 1 ½ quarts chicken stock or broth
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ lb of your favorite mushrooms (I like maitake)
- 2 medium shallots, diced
- 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
- ½ cup dry white wine (I like Pinot Grigio)
- ½ stick butter (Kerrygold or other European butter)
- ½ bunch parsley, chopped
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 500°F.
- Season bone marrow with salt and pepper and roast in oven at 500°F about 15-20 minutes or until caramelized in color; set aside.
- Warm broth in a saucepan over low heat.
- Meanwhile, warm 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring until soft, about 3 minutes. Remove mushrooms and their liquid to a bowl; set aside.
- Add remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil to the saucepan. Stir in shallots and cook for 1 minute. Add rice and cook, stirring until rice is coated with oil and pale golden in color, about 2 minutes.
- Pour in wine, stirring constantly over medium heat until wine is fully absorbed. Add ½ cup warm broth to the rice and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth, ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, yet firm to the bite (al dente), about 15-20 minutes.
- Reduce heat. Stir in reserved mushrooms and their liquid, along with the butter, herbs, cream, and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, then fold in bone marrow and serve immediately, garnished with more fresh herbs and parmesan.
Photography by Jack Robert Photography.
