On 22 and 23 March 2024, I had the opportunity to carry out my first consultancy contract for the Hotel Stern in Obsteig in the Austrian Tyrol. A consultancy mission strongly encouraged by Andrea Dietl's Knallgruen. For this mission, I created 7 savoury and sweet recipes in the hotel's style, using local and seasonal ingredients. Millefeuille of chard and potato rösti with wine sauce, hazelnut roast with celery purée and mushroom jus, or lemon and hazelnut rhubarb trifle.
On the first day, the team got hold of my recipes to prepare them, and it was a great success! They loved the recipes and the techniques involved, and found them interesting and tasty.
On the second day, I gave them a (very quick) overview of the different plant-based cooking techniques before inviting them to a brainstorming session where everyone decided what they wanted to do before going into the kitchen to make the recipes they had come up with.
It was a great moment, because the team really got into the challenge of doing something they didn't know how to do. The chef tried his hand at carrots, one young apprentice focused on lentils with a spread and a knödel, another made a vegetable lasagne with a wild garlic sauce, another cooked a sweet potato stuffed with spinach and tahini, and the last wanted to make a chocolate mousse with aquafaba.
They all came out very satisfied with their creations, with the realisation that in the end it's not as complicated as all that to make plant-based dishes, and with the desire, I hope at least, to make more of them à la carte.
In fact, after discussions and workshops, they realised that it saves a lot of time to offer 100% vegan dishes, and avoids having to make special dishes if a vegan or someone with a lactose or egg allergy comes to eat in their establishment. As well as saving money by using raw plant products.
