Food and Drink at Old Course Hotel

Here at The Old Course Hotel we are getting ready for the forthcoming season, looking at some interesting new concepts for our restaurants both here at the hotel and for the launch of Hamilton’s Hole at Hamilton Grand – which we are all particularly excited about!

From an ingredient point of view the winter months can be challenging,  especially as we have overindulged over Christmas and New Year.    At this time of year I love to experiment with winter salads -  I had a great one last night in London at the Arbutus Restaurant, where a I am attending the Master Innholders conference.

We like to use this time of year to look and review what is happening in the market place and are very fortunate and lucky to enjoy critiquing and learning from our piers in the restaurant industry.

Winter Salads

As much as we would always like to source on our doorsteps at this time of year we have to look further afield for our ingredients.  Continental Europe and Middle East and further afield supply the majority of leaves to the UK market at this time of year.  We can supplement these with some beautiful citrus fruits (oranges, clementines, lemons and limes) as well as our home grown apples and pears and locally produced cheeses.

For dressings we can still use local rape seed oil and Scottish mustard to make enticing and interesting dressings.  For the more adventurous we can introduce vegetables from further afield, Diakon (Japanese white radish), bean sprouts, water chestnuts and nuts.

Using your imagination and by experimenting you can make some exciting and refreshing salads, warm or cold to help you control the waistline but still be enthused by the foods you are eating.

Try this one and let me know what you think, I’d be very interested to hear any of your wonderful creations too!  Who knows we may even use them in one of our restaurants… how about that, the first dish to be served in Hamilton’s Hole at Hamilton Grand could be yours!

GRILLED PRAWN SALAD AND SPICY HOLANDAISE

Ingredients

• Prawns- raw 20/30 count   (6 on three skewers/2 per skewer) (9 on three skewers/2 per skewer)
• Carrot- peeled, fine julienne}  10g or 15g
• Diakon- peeled, fine julienne } 10g or 15g
• Mango- peeled, fine julienne} 15g or 20g
• Plums- fine julienne} 5g or 10g
• Chinese leaves- cut fine} 5g
• Chilli dressing) 1 or 2 teaspoons (you can make your own using olive oil, chilli and lime)
• Coriander- fine julienne} ½ or 1 teaspoon
• Mint- fine julienne} ½ or 1 teaspoon
• Chilli- chopped fine} ¼or½ teaspoon
• Lemongrass- chopped fine}  ¼ or½ teaspoon
• Nam Pla
• Salt
• Pepper
• Chilli paste}  1 teaspoon
• Hollandaise} 2 tablespoons

 

Method

1.Skewer the prawns, season and grill on a preheated char grill on both sides.

2.Put the carrot, diakon, mango, plum and Chinese leaves in a bowl. Add the coriander, mint, chili and lemongrass and mix well. Season with the salt, pepper and Nam Pla.

3.Place piled on the plate, pour some of the hollandaise with the spice paste in on top, and the skewers around coming to a point.

 

Happy cooking!  See you next time,  until then, look forward to receiving your recipes and delicious pics of how you get on with this one.

Keep an eye out for a sneak peak at a fresh new cocktail menu from the Road Hole bar today!

Simon