Summer Update

Sorry for not posting recently, things have been pretty busy this summer. We’ve opened a new pop-up restaurant in Les Gets, called ‘Quatre Saisons’, which has been keeping me busy this summer.

Things have been going really well and we’ve been seeing an increasing number of guests coming through the door. Click the links to read some our guests reviews: TripAdvisor and Linternaute.

We’ve been having a fantastic summer weather-wise in Les Gets, with a bare minimum of rain, which hopefully means it will all come down in winter as heavy snowfall. I’ve managed to squeeze a couple of rounds of golf in recently and it really hit home how steep a golf course on a mountain side is!

As for inter-season, I’ve got plans to go to Portugal on a golfing holiday with a friend from Les Gets.

We’ve pretty much got our team for next year recruited and everyone’s looking forward to what hopefully will be another fantastic season.

Season End

So, the season’s finally over. It was the busiest season we’ve had at Ferme de Montagne, especially in the kitchen as we had our highest number of external bookings to date. With such good snow conditions everyone flocked to the Alps, and the people in the know came to Ferme de Montagne!

I had a great team with me in the kitchen this year which helped me produce some of my best dishes to date. Gareth has now moved on to working on Luxury Yachts and is currently cruising the Mediterranean working as a Sous Chef. Izzy has gone back to her native Scotland and is working as a Sous Chef at Jamies’ Italian in Edingburgh. I wish them both the best of luck in their careers as chefs.

As for me, I went back to Raymond Blancs 2* Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons for another opportunity to see the master at work which was a fantastic experience again. I hope to bring some elements of what I learnt there into the kitchen here at Ferme de Montagne to keep the dishes on my menu fresh and in line with the top Michelin restaurants.

Bookings for next season are already picking up here at Ferme de Montagne with New Year and February Half Term already full and other weeks nearly booked out so if you don’t want to miss out it’s probably best to send a quick email and find out what dates we have to suit you.

Anyway, that’s all from me. The sun is back out again after 2 days of torrential rain so I’m going for a walk.

Alan

Creamed Semolina & Oat Bran Porridge with Cinnamon Tea Poached Prunes

I thought I would share with you another of the Ferme de Montagne breakfast favourites. Porridge is a hearty meal to start the day, perfect for a long day on the pistes. This simple recipe can easily be re-created at home.

Creamed Semolina & Oat Bran Porridge - serves 4/5
2 whole vanilla beans
1 litre full fat milk
2 strips lemon zest
100 grams instant polenta
100 grams oat-bran
8 tbsp caster sugar
250ml cream

Cinnamon Tea Poached Prunes
60 whole pitted prunes
3 whole cinnamon sticks
6 tbsp caster sugar
3 tbsp honey
2 whole earl grey teabags

Creamed Semolina & Oat Bran Porridge
1. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla into a large pan along with the beans and milk, lemon zest and 500ml of water, bring almost to the boil over a medium to high heat, reduce to a simmer, gradually add the polenta and oat bran, stirring constantly, continue to stir on the heat for 10-15 minutes, or until thick and creamy.
2. Add the sugar and cream and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved.

Cinnamon Tea Poached Prunes
1. Put the prunes, cinnamon sticks, tea bags, sugar and honey into a large sauce pan with 900ml of water, stir over a medium to high heat until the sugar has dissolved then bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until the prunes are very soft but falling apart. Remove the prunes, cook the liquid over a high heat until you have a syrup, pour the syrup over the prunes, cool then serve on top of the porridge. You can keep the remaining prunes in a sealed container in the fridge.

Spelt Bread Recipe

375g white spelt flour.
375g wholemeal spelt flour.
12g sugar.
28g fresh yeast.
18g salt.
430g water cold.
30g olive oil.

1. Place the flours, sugar, salt and olive oil into a mixing bowl of a free standing mixer with the dough hook attached, turn the machine on a medium speed, whisk the water and yeast together in a bowl until dissolved, pour the yeast water into the mixer in one go, mix for 6-7 until a smooth dough has formed, turn into an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and then a dry clean cloth, leave in a warm place around 22*C for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

2. Fold the dough by lightly turning it from the outside in, do not beat the living daylights out of it or you will have heavy bread.

3. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces, roll into whatever shape you like, place onto oiled baking paper, cover with a damp cloth and prove for around 45 minutes or until the dough springs back when lightly pressed.

4. When the dough is proving place 2 heavy trays in a pre-heated oven at 200*C, when ready to cook the bread, dust the loaves with white flour, slash the bread on a 30 degree angle with a razor blade, remove the heated trays from the oven closing the oven door to retain the temperature, slide the bread onto the heated trays and cook in the oven for 30 minutes, before closing the oven doors, pour a small cup of water into the bottom of the oven to help create a thick crust, cool before slicing.

We use sharpham park spelt flour but any organic spelt flour will do.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. I’ve been really busy since the doors opened for the season and haven’t found the time to blog. Whilst I had a minute I thought I would share with you some simple recipes for you to try at home. Both are made using the Spelt flour that we use in the kitchen here at Ferme de Montagne but you can improvise and use Spelt flour readily available in most supermarkets.

Scotch Morning Rolls

Ingredients

790g   White Spelt Flour

  20g   Salt

  30g   Caster sugar

100g   Soft butter, diced at room temperature

250ml  Water

250ml  Milk

  18g   Fresh yeast, crumbled

    1g   Dough improver 

Methods/steps

1.   Whisk the yeast, milk and water together until the yeast is dissolved.

2.   Add everything else to the mixer with the hook attached, start the machine on a low speed and add the milk mixture and mix for 5 minutes.  Scrape down the bowl and mix for a further 3 minutes on a medium speed.

3.   Scrape the dough into an oiled metal bowl and turn until smooth, around 3 - 4 minutes

4.   Shape the dough into 80g rolls or 4 small loaves, prove for 2 hours and then cook on a pre-heated iron trays for 18 minutes for the rolls and 25 minutes for loaves at 210*C

Additional Tips

For a traditional Scottish look, bake the 80g rolls in a frame 17cm x 17cm x 4cms high.

This will give the 'batch' look you get in Scotland

Lemon Spelt Water

Ingredients

Makes 1 litre

225g Pearled Spelt

2 whole lemons, zest finely grated and juiced

350g Acacia honey

1350ml of water

Methods/steps

1.  Place the pearled spelt in a sieve and rinse under cold water until water runs clear.

2.  Add the pearled spelt to a saucepan with grated lemon zest and all of the water.

3.  Bring to the boil over medium heat.  Once boiling, simmer for 10 minutes then strain mixture into a heat-proof bowl. Discard the spelt.

4.  Add the honey to the bowl and stir to dissolve. Stir in lemon juice and then let mixture cool to room temperature.

5.  Pour into bottles and refrigerate until chilled.