What’s the ideal recipe for a hearty and delicious ski supper? We found out, with the help of award-winning chalet chefs Holly Fisher and Philippa Eyles of Fish&Pips. With fresh snow falling outside in Meribel, they went to work on a shortlist of three of our readers’ recipes – and after two hours had picked the winner of the Welove2ski Cook-Off.
The challenge was a simple one
We asked readers to send us their recipe for the perfect ski chalet supper. It had to be for a main course, for four people, that could be prepared and cooked in no more than two hours in a ski chalet – or apartment- kitchen. The ingredients should be obtainable in any normal supermarket in the Alps.
We were stunned by the quality of the suggestions, and had a hard time deciding – in conversation with Fish&Pips – which recipes to put through to the final round.
In the end, we picked three which we thought were the best balance of simplicity, price of ingredients, and flavour. These then went through to the final round of the cook-off, which was held in Meribel just as a snowstorm was clearing outside.
The first recipe to be get the Fish&Pips treatment in the Welove2ski cook-off was Saskia Weijand’s Lamb Stew.
Warming Lamb Stew
Serves 4
600g stewing lamb, diced
salt and pepper
small handful fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 heaped tbs plain flour
3 tbs virgin olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
6 lge field mushrooms, roughly cut in half
8 baby carrots
1 parsnip, chopped finely
500ml stock
250ml ale or stout such as Guinness
2 tsp Marmite
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Put the flour in to a large bowl and season well. Add the rosemary leaves to the flour, mix together and add the lamb. Coat the lamb in the flour and then fry in an oven proof casserole dish on a high heat in the olive oil to brown – do this in small batches to help get a dark colour. Remove the lamb and set to one side.
Turn the heat down and add the onion, garlic, mushrooms and carrots to the pan and fry gently for about 5 mins until slightly softened with a little colour. Add the parsnip, Marmite, ale, stock and the browned lamb and bring to the boil. Put a lid on the pan and place in the oven for around one hour. Season to taste.
This dish will not spoil if cooked for longer than an hour, just turn down the heat after that to 150C and then lamb will continue to tenderize. If you need to thicken the sauce a little bit, mix up a tbs of plain flour, mix with cold water then stir in to the casserole.
Serve with mashed potatoes or for a twist try butter bean mash.
Butter Bean Mash
400g butterbeans from can (if dried soak overnight first)
25ml vegetable stock
1 garlic clove, crushed
25ml water
2tsp Dijon mustard or grainy mustard
1 tbs fromage frais
100g spring onions
1 tbs olive oil
handful parsley,
salt and pepper
Put the stock and beans in to a saucepan and boil for 5 mins, then put to one side. Chop the spring onions and soften in a frying pan with the olive oil and crushed garlic. Put to one side.
Mash the beans and then mix in the fromage frais, mustard, parsley and spring onion mixture. Taste for seasoning, warm through and serve.
Second up in the Welove2ski cook-off was Isabel Grey’s Home-Made Sausages with Creamy Colcannon and Fresh Apple Sauce.
Home-Made Sausages with Creamy Colcannon and Fresh Apple Sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients for the sausages
450g minced pork
50g breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 garlic clove, crushed
Some chopped fresh parsley
Some olive or sunflower oil
salt and pepper
For the colcannon
1.5kg potatoes
100g butter
500g green cabbage – Savoy is good!
250ml hot milk
Some chopped fresh parsley
Put all the ingredients, except the olive oil, into a bowl and mix. Then season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Divide the mixture and shape into a sausage shape. Place on a baking tray or plate and set aside until you want to cook them. (You can freeze them if needed!) Heat a frying pan add two tablespoons of olive or sunflower oil and gently fry the sausages for 12-15 minutes until golden on all sides.
For the apple sauce
1 large cooking apple chopped
A bit of water for stewing
Some caster sugar to sweeten
Place the apple in a small pan with the water. Cover with a lid and cook until the apple has broken down to a pulp. Add sugar to sweeten.
For the colcannon
Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water.
Once just cool enough, peel the potatoes, then mash with half of the butter. Heat a pan until hot and add the remaining butter, two tablespoons of water and the sliced cabbage for about 7 mins, then add the cabbage mixture to the potatoes, then add most of the hot milk and the parsley. Season, to taste and beat until creamy and smooth.
The third recipe in the Welove2ski cook-off was Alister Hodgson’s Chicken Bhuna. “I hope you like it as I have never had a good curry in the Alps in 30 years,” he said.
Chicken Bhuna
Serves 4
Ingredients
Large onion or 2 medium
4/5 green/red chillies (fresh if poss but dried or 2 tsps powder will do)
6-8 cloves garlic
1 inch of root ginger crushed under a blade then chopped (1 tsp powder as alternative, but not as good)
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp curry powder
4 chicken breasts chopped into cubes (use legs-thighs as alternative).
1 mix breast and thighs.
Can of coconut milk 400 ml
Salt and pepper
Fresh coriander if possible
Chop onions, chillies, garlic and ginger, and sweat in oil in a pan, on a low heat, for 5 minutes. Add curry powder, and continue for another 3-4 minutes.
Chop chicken into the mixture with salt and pepper. Turn the heat up and stir regularly for at least 5 minutes to ensure it’s all well coated in the mix. (You can add a little coconut milk if gets too dry.) Then add the coconut milk and cook for 20-25 minutes on a low heat until the chicken is cooked. Serve on rice with coriander sprinkled over.
The rice
Soak three cups of rice for an hour, then wash in a sieve. Fry half an onion with two to three cloves of crushed garlic, cloves, 1/2 crushed cinnamon stick, green cardamoms (if poss) in a little oil for three to four minutes. Add washed rice with a level teaspoon of salt and 1/4 tsp turmeric (for colour). Stir all together.
Add an amount of boiled water equal to that of the rice (no more), and stir. Bring to a gentle boil then simmer for 10 minutes with tight-fitting lid. Remove from heat. Do not touch the rice, and leave standing for 30 minutes at least. I usually do the rice first then cook curry, by which time the rice will be ready. Just before serving give rice a good stir. It should be dryish and the grains well separated.
And the winner is…
…Isabel Grey’s home-made sausages with creamy colcannon and fresh apple sauce!
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