Summer Menu

From starters to desserts, garden fruits and vegetables are bursting with color and flavor this sunny summer!

From the deep red of raspberries to the tender green of zucchini flower, the summer palette of tastes is on the plate to tantalize the taste buds and delight the eyes. 

These beautiful zucchini flowers are rich in fiber, antioxidants and potassium to optimize muscle tone. Vitamin K promotes blood coagulation and vitamin C boosts the immune system. To sublimate this beautiful velvety flower, what better than a stuffing with tasty Swiss shrimps, raised ecologically and without antibiotics, thus containing neither heavy metals nor arsenic, which are unfortunately sometimes found in certain foods! To brighten up the plate, a few flowers of blue borage with its fortifying virtues, a few petals of dazzling nasturtium to give a little pep and peppery notes, and beautiful leaves of hyssop, otherwise known as agastache, for the aniseed touch. In short, a healthy cocktail full of color and medicinal virtues. And to complete the supply of nutrients necessary for the proper functioning of the microbiota, the piquant flavors of kimchi, fermented cabbage prepared according to Korean tradition, round off this appetizer. The lactic fermentation technique makes the nutrients more digestible, nourishing the body’s microbiota, and consumes some of the sugars contained in the vegetables, making the meal less calorie-intensive. The lively kimchi adds a touch of acidity to this delicious starter.

Fancy a barbecue with friends? Now's the time to start making your own marinade, containing numerous ingredients that provide the nutrients our microbiota needs. A piece of meat kept in marinade for several days allows nutrients to be transferred by capillary action and interact through chemical exchange. The flame and heat of barbecuing provide a slightly bitter flavor that the body needs in this summer period, according to the principles of traditional Chinese nutrition. The zucchini that accompanies this meat, steamed or just blanched, retains all its nutritional value and provides the fiber our bodies need, for a gut in top form!

And here comes lady raspberry, poking her nose into the undergrowth! It's packed with tannins, mainly anthocyanins, which give it its bright red color and neutralize free radicals, thus acting as an anti-inflammatory. Combined with the anti-inflammatory virtues of the caffeine contained in coffee, the duo is perfect! Not to mention the cardio-protective effect of coffee, which safeguards us from certain neurodegenerative diseases. A few hazelnut nuggets, rich in omega-9s, trace elements and vitamins, and you've got a healthy, gourmet summer dessert!

Have a great summer and bon appétit!

This menu was co-authored by Karine Dubrit, micro-nutrition doctor, Marianne Vellieux, micro-nutritionist, and Cédric Bourassin, Lecturer Practical Arts and Head Chef at the Berceau Des Sens (BDS), Michelin-starred teaching restaurant of EHL.

Ingredients for 4 people

Starter_Nutrition Institute_Summer 2023

For the stuffed zucchini flowers
• 12 zucchini flowers
• ½ shallot (12g)
• ½ slice country ham (24g)
• 12 peeled Swiss shrimps (240g)
• 20g sourdough bread
• 15g double cream
• 1 tablespoon calamansi vinegar    

For the Kimchi
• 200g Kimchi
• 20g parsley

For dressing
• Agastache and peppermint leaves, borage and nasturtium flowers

Preparation
Soak the bread, cut into 5mm cubes, in the double cream. Chop half a shallot. Cut ham and shrimps into 5mm cubes. Mix all the ingredients together, then stuff the zucchini flowers.
Steam the stuffed zucchini flowers for 5 min.
Blend Kimchi with parsley until smooth.

Dressing
1. Place Kimchi pomade and 3 stuffed zucchini flowers on a flat plate.
2. Garnish as desired with agastache and peppermint leaves, as well as borage and nasturtium flowers.

 

Ingredients for 4 people

Main Course_Nutrition Institute_Summer 2023

For the marinade
• 16g soy sauce
• 40g olive oil
• 16g lemon juice 
• 8g Worcestershire sauce
• 1 garlic clove 
• 8 basil leaves
• 8 leaves flat-leaf parsley
• 4g paprika
• 1g ichimi togarashi (Japanese chili pepper)
• 1.6g salt    

For the meat
• 360g beef onglet

For the sauce
• 250g beef jus

For the side dish
• 200g zucchini

Preparation
Grate the garlic clove. Mix all the ingredients and marinate the meat for at least one night in the fridge. If possible, vacuum-seal for 5 days in the fridge.
Remove the meat and chill the marinade. Sear the meat on the BBQ for 5 minutes on each side. 
Add the marinade to beef stock and reduce gently.
Cut zucchini into strips. Blanch in boiling water for 2 min.

Presentation
On a flat plate, dress according to your desire.

 

Ingredients for 4 people

Dessert_Summer 2023

For the coffee Chantilly
• 80g liquid cream (min. 30% fat)
• 8g coffee beans
• 7g sugar
• 8g mascarpone

For the hazelnut crunch
• 40g hazelnut purée
• 24g feuilletine (crumbled crispy crêpes)
• 8g chocolate

For the hazelnut cookie
• 32g egg white
• 24g sugar
• 20g hazelnut powder
•  6g corn flour
• 4g powdered sugar
• 1 pinch salt  

For the hazelnut shortbread
• 72g flour
• 22g potato starch
• 40g butter
• 36g powdered sugar
• 12g hazelnut powder
• 22g whole egg
• 1 pinch salt

For the raspberry sorbet
• 75g water
• 30g sugar
• 120g raspberry 

For the dressing
• 12 hazelnuts
• 12 raspberries

Preparation
Pre-brew the cream and coffee beans for 24 hours. Strain through a fine sieve. Mix the infused cream with the mascarpone, then whip up the Chantilly by adding the caster sugar.
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, then mix with the hazelnut purée. Add the broken feuilletine to obtain the hazelnut crunch.
Preheat oven to 200°C. Beat the egg whites until stiff, adding the salt and caster sugar in two batches. Lastly, add the sifted hazelnut powder, corn flour and powdered sugar. Spread the mixture thinly on 1 silicone baking sheet. Bake for 15min. Cut out with a cookie cutter after baking.
Preheat oven to 175°C. Mix flour, potato starch, sugar, hazelnut powder and salt. Combine the flour and the diced butter until crumbly. Add the egg and mix until the dough comes together without being too wet. Leave to rest for 1 hour. Spread the mixture thinly on 1 silicone baking sheet. Cut out with a cookie cutter before baking. Bake the hazelnut shortbread for 20min.
Freeze the raspberries in advance. Blend the frozen raspberries with the sugar and water at refrigerator temperature (3-5°C). Form into quenelles and serve immediately. 

Dressing
1. In a soup plate, place the hazelnut cookie, add the hazelnut crunch and finally the hazelnut shortbread.
2. Decorate with the coffee Chantilly.
3. Add the halved hazelnuts and raspberries.
4. Finish with a quenelle of raspberry sorbet.

 

Spring Menu

Long live spring! Nature is waking up and so is the menu!

Asparagus and other crunchy vegetables, carefully cooked, are awakening our taste buds while the color green abounds. Rich in lutein, an antioxidant that protects the brain, asparagus is also full of vitamin B9 and folic acid which are necessary for the maintenance, repair and production of our cells. 

In terms of raw, living food, there are young sprouts, germinated seeds and small colored flowers that bring freshness and dynamism with their vitamins and micronutrients - real energy boosters! Not forgetting the hint of wild garlic, whose green leaves and white flowers stimulate our well-being, especially urinary. Garlic has many virtues: it is detoxifying for the liver, protective for the cardiovascular system and contributes to a healthy microbiota. 

Local ham, without nitrite preservatives (increasingly available with small producers) adds more color to this dish. 

In case you haven’t heard of tempura, it’s a light batter, (whose recipe is kept secret by Japanese cooks), made of a delicate blend of several flours and oils, such as cottonseed, whose viscosity guarantees the lightness of the batter. Although the details remain a mystery, this tempura brings to the beautiful Valais asparagus a softness inside and a crispness outside which delights the palate due to its unctuousness. 

Then there’s the lassi - a fermented drink made from raw milk. It is precisely these ferments which produce a new source of life in the gut. The carbohydrates are transformed into lactic acid which help our intestinal well-being and participate in the reseeding of our microbiota with good bacteria. It is also rich in calcium which is good for our bones. Accompanied by a preserved lemon in brine, another fermentation principle, the acidic flavor gives a boost and titillates our taste buds. Thanks to its richness in flavonoids – the reason for its yellow color - the lemon optimizes the cardiovascular system and reduces the risk of diabetes. 

Fat, yes, good fat is key to life. To embellish the arctic char lake fish, we recommend a dash of walnut oil, rich in omega 3 fatty acids with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, as well as cardiovascular and cerebral protectors. These properties are also found in cruciferous vegetables thanks to the sulforaphanes that are activated when they are cut or chewed. 

As for ground ivy, its expectorant properties will calm down the last aches of the winter season!
Let's finish this meal by stocking up on vitamin C with kiwis from Morges, rich in soluble and insoluble fibers. The soluble fibers will be fermented by your microbiota and the insoluble fibers will ensure a better transit. 

A menu rich in nutrition and health with guaranteed gustatory pleasure!

This menu was co-authored by Karine Dubrit, micro-nutrition doctor, Marianne Vellieux, micro-nutritionist, and Cédric Bourassin, Lecturer Practical Arts and Head Chef at the Berceau Des Sens (BDS), Michelin-starred teaching restaurant of EHL.

Ingredients for 4 people

Starter Spring_Nutrition Institute

For the asparagus boiled, in strips and tempura
• 16 green asparagus from Valais size 22+.
• 50g tempura flour
• 75g of water
• Rapeseed oil for frying

For crunchy vegetables
• 100 g peas
• 100 g of beans

For the wild garlic emulsion
• 200g of wild garlic
• 150g grape seed oil
• 2 soft-boiled eggs

For the preserved lemon lassi
• 250 g of yogurt
• 100 g water
• 1 piece of preserved lemon

For dressing
• 120g (4 slices) of country ham
• 10g of sprouted alfalfa seeds
• 10g of sprouted mung beans
• 10g of sprouted lentils
• Some pansy flowers

Preparation
Prepare the tempura batter in advance by mixing the flour and water. Let the dough rest in a cool place. Heat a pan of salted water. Cut off the stems and peel the asparagus. Cook 12 asparagus in salted water. After 5 to 7 minutes of cooking, remove the asparagus from the water. Using a peeler, peel the remaining 4 asparagus lengthwise into thin strips. Heat the frying bath to 160°C. Quickly dip half of the thin asparagus strips into the tempura batter, then into the oil. Let them fry for 1 to 2 minutes, turning them over, then drain them on paper towels and season.
Heat a pot of salted water. Shell the peas and beans. The peas will cook for 5 to 7 minutes, while the beans will only need to be cooked for 2 minutes.
Set aside 200g of wild garlic. Blend the wild garlic leaves, add the soft-boiled eggs, then blend with the grape seed oil like a mayonnaise. Adjust the seasoning and set aside.
Mix the yogurt with salt. Add the sliced lemon and set aside.

Dressing
1. In a flat plate, place a leaf of wild garlic and three asparagus.
2. Use a pipette or a spoon to pour a few drops of wild garlic emulsion and preserved lemon lassi
3. Arrange the asparagus, crisp vegetables, asparagus strips and country ham harmoniously on top.
4. Decorate as desired with pansy flowers and sprouted seeds. 

 

Ingredients for 4 people

Main Course Spring_Nutrition Institute

For the Arctic char
• 2 pieces of Artic char from Lake Geneva
• 15g of Moulins de Severy walnut oil
• 50g of butter

For the romaine lettuce juice
• 1 romaine lettuce
• Vegetable broth

For the cauliflower purée
• 1 cauliflower
• 3g plum seed oil

For dressing
• 1 bunch of red radish
• 1 tray of ground ivy or sanguisorba


Preparation
Heat the butter in a large non-stick pan. Reduce heat, sear fish fillets about 2 minutes on skin side, turn over, continue cooking about 2 minutes, salt, set aside.
Blanch the lettuces thoroughly and then cool them with ice cubes to fix the chlorophyll. Then add the vegetable stock. Blend.
Cook the well-drained cauliflower heads in salted boiling water, then blend with 3g of plum seed oil.

Dressing
In a flat plate, dress according to your desire.

 

Ingredients for 4 people

Dessert Spring_Nutrition Institute

For the kiwi marmalade
• 4 kiwi fruit from Morges

For the buckwheat espuma
• 30g of buckwheat
• 150g of liquid cream
• 150g milk
• 50g of egg yolk
• 30g of sugar

For the lemon blancmange
• 100g of egg white
• 30g of sugar
• ½ lemon zest
• ½ zest of lime

For the buckwheat milk skin tuile
• 10g of milk
• 12g buckwheat flour
• 5g sugar or xylitol

Preparation
For the kiwi marmalade, cut the kiwis into brunoise, set aside.
For the buckwheat espuma, roast the buckwheat seeds in a pole over medium heat without oil. Boil the cream in a saucepan, add the roasted buckwheat and let it infuse for 10min. Strain, add the milk and bring the new mixture to a boil. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns white. Pour the milk-cream mixture over the yolks while stirring. Thicken on low heat for 5min without stopping to mix. Leave to cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Emulsify with a siphon or an electric whisk.
Whip the egg whites until stiff, mixing in the sugar in two batches and the lemon zest. Poach the whites on a filmed plate and microwave for two minutes at full power. Set aside in a cool place.
Preheat oven to 175°C. Mix the ingredients for the buckwheat milk skin tuile. Bring to a boil. Spread the mixture very thinly on a silicone sheet. Bake for 45min or until the tuiles are dry.

Dressage
Place the kiwi marmalade and buckwheat espuma in a verrine. Finish with the blancmange and pieces of tuiles.