[Damo]

Here's my menu for this winter at my chalet in Morzine (French Alps). Let me know what you guys think:


Chalet Adonis Menu

Amuse-bouche

• Crab salad with avocado and gazpacho sorbet
• Chilli tiger prawn on a coconut chicken salad with gingered melon
• Salmon gravlax sushi roll with a wasabi vinaigrette and baby leek cress
• Thai fish cake with a chilli-peanut cucumber relish and lime pickle
• Seared and chilled rare beef fillet with a micro herb salad and a coriander-lime dressing
• Wild mushroom parcel with baby rocket and blackberries

Entrees

• Chilli kumara soup with coconut cream and fresh coriander leek salad
• Wild mushroom lasagne with wild garlic, asparagus and truffle oil
• Home-cured salmon on pickled coriander cucumber with a light wasabi dressing and chilli-lime crème fraiche
• Chevre parcels on roasted fig, grape and walnut salad with a balsamic syrup
• Pan-fried foie gras on pear & date salad with a walnut pesto
• Aged camembert, courgette and filo stack with a groseille compot

Sorbets

• Lemon grass & ginger sorbet
• Lemon & thyme sorbet
• Grapefruit & mint sorbet
• Basil & lime sorbet
• Roasted red pepper sorbet
• Minted pea sorbet

Mains

• Pan-fried sea bass on courgette pilaf, coconut & saffron mussels and a mango salsa
• Pan roasted pigeon breast on wild mushrooms with wilted cress, red wine syrup and chive oil
• Pan-roasted beef fillet on beetroot compot, asparagus, basil pesto and béarnaise sauce
• NZ lamb rump on minted polenta with garlic spinach, oyster mushrooms, mint pesto and walnut gremolata
• Prosciutto-wrapped pork fillet on honey-roasted beet and orange salad with a fresh herb salsa
• Roasted venison wrapped in Parma ham on green pea mash with semi-dried tomato and a Portobello mushroom ravioli

Desserts

• Orange and vanilla pannacotta with fresh red berries and strawberry couli
• Lemon and honey parfait with fresh raspberries and roasted figs in a port wine syrup
• Cointreau bread & butter puddings with vanilla crème anglaise and chantilly cream
• Hot chocolate fondants with orange & mint salad and mandarin sorbet
• Chocolate and raspberry torte with raspberry sorbet and a chocolate sail
• Drambuie and lavender ice cream with earl-grey poached prunes and pistachio toffee

I'll be making my own ice creams, sorbets, pasta etc...
During the spring, summer and autumn, I'll be offering cooking demonstrations and courses complete with wild mushroom and wild berry foraging... Sounds like a good idea? Do you think it will work?
Some cool feedback will be appreciated.
Cheers fellas (and fella-esses)

 

[Changleen]

Drool!!!

Except for the kumara soup, I hate that sh1t...

Seriously that looks great to me. I'd love to eat virtually everything on there and I think you have a lot of good possible selections of complementary foods.

Americans: Take note of the correct use of the word 'Entree'!

 

[MudGrrl]

wow.

sounds deliciables.

 

[narlus]

damn that's an impressive slab o' food...here would be my choices (would you offer a choice for the amuse-bouche, or rotate?):

Amuse-bouche

* Salmon gravlax sushi roll with a wasabi vinaigrette and baby leek cress

Entrees


* Pan-fried foie gras on pear & date salad with a walnut pesto


Sorbets

* Lemon grass & ginger sorbet


Mains

* Pan roasted pigeon breast on wild mushrooms with wilted cress, red wine syrup and chive oil


Desserts

* Hot chocolate fondants with orange & mint salad and mandarin sorbet

send along a bottle or two of Chave rhone and i'll be happy for hours.

then the best part is riding in Morzine/Les Gets/Chatel/Avoriaz the following day.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Mmmmm......... now that's classy ski food.

 

[Damo]

I won't be offering the menu to choose from, rather it is a 6 day week menu. Just jotted down my ideas for each course, now I need to match them up for each evening.
Too much to digest after 6 days? Can you imagine going to restaurants and eating like this for 6 days straight?
Thinking of having a BBQ night or some such thing to break it up (of course there is the one night a week we have off where the guests can go into town and sample some local fare)
What do you think?

 

[Damo]

Except for the kumara soup, I hate that sh1t...

Seriously??? Kumara (or sweet potato to some of you) is delicious! Roasted, mashed, baked, caramelised....mmmmmm......
Staple of the New Zealand diet!

 

[SkaredShtles]

Seriously??? Kumara (or sweet potato to some of you) is delicious! Roasted, mashed, baked, caramelised....mmmmmm......
Staple of the New Zealand diet!

I still remember a sweet potato bisque my wife got at a local (now defunct) restaurant. Might have been the best soup I'd ever tasted.

 

[zmtber]

very nice, but no mussles and frits? or what about lamb shank or a rock of lamb, or even duck, and no liver this is french food right, i mean what happened to the patte

 

[zmtber]

i was joking the menu is very nice, great foods just add truffle oil (black truffle oil) and you can make it super fancy. along with souffle

but great menu

 

[OGRipper]

zmtber, you are confused. That menu already includes truffle oil and liver. Focusing on fanciness is a pretty lame way to judge but if you insist, there are many ingredients, combinations, and techniques that make it plenty "fancy." Or maybe you don't think this is fancy?

Damo, that is some tasty sounding stuff and from the pics it looks awesome. Not sure who will be staying with you, but yeah I think it might be a little much for every night. I think the barbeque night is a good idea, and honestly if I was there on a riding or skiing vacation I might want simpler options on some nights. In know you can't offer a full a la carte menu every night, but personally I would hope for a few separate items to give your guests the option of something quick and simple, like maybe a quick salad and pasta or something. Also, I imagine you will accommodate diners with special requests as best you can, but it looks like vegetarians would go pretty hungry most nights.

 

[SkaredShtles]

zmtber, you are confused. <snip> but it looks like vegetarians would go pretty hungry most nights.

There aren't any vegetarians in Europe.

 

[Transcend]

Vegetarians can stay home.

 

[Changleen]

Seriously??? Kumara (or sweet potato to some of you) is delicious! Roasted, mashed, baked, caramelised....mmmmmm......
Staple of the New Zealand diet!

Yeah, I really don't like it. Or pumpkin, or swede, or yams. I don't really like potato that much either unless it is used as a fat delivery mechanism..

 

[Damo]

Vegetarians will be well catered for. We do get a few vegos out here. And all the special dietary requirements to keep me on my toes...

The summer menu will be different, but at the same standard,for all you riders...

 

[Damo]

By the way Changleen, Hows the riding in Welly? I used to live there in the dirtjump flat in Island Bay. Is it still going strong? Hows all the tracks on Mt Vic?

 

[TreeSaw]

Wow!!! Amazing menu. It might be a little much for every night (although, that could just be my American idea of dinner), but damn...I'd go for it

My top pics (I had to choose 2 in each category because I simply couldn't narrow it down to 1):

Amuse-bouche
Crab salad with avocado and gazpacho sorbet
Wild mushroom parcel with baby rocket and blackberries

Entrees
Chilli kumara soup with coconut cream and fresh coriander leek salad
Wild mushroom lasagne with wild garlic, asparagus and truffle oil

Sorbets
Lemon grass & ginger sorbet
Lemon & thyme sorbet

Mains
Prosciutto-wrapped pork fillet on honey-roasted beet and orange salad with a fresh herb salsa
Roasted venison wrapped in Parma ham on green pea mash with semi-dried tomato and a Portobello mushroom ravioli


Desserts (REALLY tough choice as they all sounded delicious)
Lemon and honey parfait with fresh raspberries and roasted figs in a port wine syrup
Chocolate and raspberry torte with raspberry sorbet and a chocolate sail

 

[Changleen]

By the way Changleen, Hows the riding in Welly? I used to live there in the dirtjump flat in Island Bay. Is it still going strong? Hows all the tracks on Mt Vic?

No way, I just learned of the dirtjump flat like a week ago. I will be visiting soon hopefully! I met the new tennents at Berhampmore skatepark. Yeah, riding is still all good, loads of Mt. Vic trails now (probably as ever - I'm still kinda a Mt. Vic noob despite my friend living there) but I'm mostly loving the street here. Hills plus concrete = teh goodness.

 

[Damo]

Go there and say I sent you. Plan to jump BIG.
The street riding is wicked in Welly. Of all the cities I've been to, Wellington is the only one I'd live in again. I'm a country boy now.
I sourced out an urban downhill from the wind turbine right down to the city centre. Look out Red Bull!
Enjoy mate.
Tell everyone Damian says hi.