February 14th, 2010
Picture the scene, four chefs in a dark dungeon like place discussing their mad creative concoctions and disasters, the door to this place is creaked open and the natural light of the world floods the darkened room to the flinches of the chefs, swiftly followed by the voice of lynsey, “Ricky is here”
That folks is where the story of the golden lobster started (not really)
But with valentines now upon us the chefs have been hard pushed to come up with some wonderful love themed ideas “use Viagra in a dish” comes from one corner of the kitchen. These are the boundaries that lastella will press against, although not always presented to the table. But for those of you that are visiting us tonight at lastella we will have valentines themed surprises for you, but I wouldn’t spoil it for you, and for those of you that have not managed to get a table with us tonight we hope that you can join us next valentines or sometime in the near future for one the years next themes..Watch this space…..
But what about the golden lobster I hear you all cry…well…first off i should thank George Hosie and Ricky, two of Aberdeens finest fish suppliers. George firstly for the langostines and other fish he supplies to us. Straight off the boat and straight to our prep tables. Also Ricky for the most fantastic new season lobsters, the biggest weighing in at 1.5 kilo (so far). So upon cooking and prepping the lobster it is then turned into lobster ravioli for our valentines special and we are left with the tails “what can we do with these” cries Chris.
And after some time of thinking up ideas we came to the conclusion that a classic surf and turf was the order of the day, with only Aberdeen Angus, perfectly centre cut fillet steak and lobster tail (weighing from half a kilo upwards) “that’s not enough to make it special” the chef cries “I’ve got it”, Chris vanishes into the office and returns with a hand full of post-it sized bits of paper, held within is the gold leaf that we had left over from the new year “lets use this” and so with some playing around and idea spitballing, the golden lobster was born! if I remember right the idea came from this http://www.emiratespalace.com/en/home/index.htm?item_id=97981&details=1&offer=1 why not offer the nice folks of Aberdeen there own little slice of luxury.
Enjoy the eye candy
with the end of this blog I would just like to remind everyone that the site is fully interactive with links to all our sites on the top right of the website and you can also reply to any of our blogs, so let’s hear what the hardcore foodies and molecular gastronomy gear heads of Aberdeen would like to see us try, or if you have any questions or queries the chefs are always available to answer.
Posted by Stuart, Sous Chef on Feb.14, 2010
Posted in Kitchen Updates | 2 Comments »
February 5th, 2010
Hello everybody
Welcome to the new and improved La Stella website. For te past few months Dave Moles & Steve Cardno have been working closley with Chris & his tem @ La Stella to enchance the old website. As of 12.30am last night the new site has now went live. The main objective of the new site is to encourage customer interaction and promote all our suppliers & friends who help make La Stella a success.
Over the next few months we will be adding frequent blogs & videos of the chefs in action in the kitchen creating all your favourite dishes we serve @ La Stella as well as all the intresting experiments we do to better your dining experience with us.
A new feature of the website is the Library section. The current Winter Creations Menu 2010 (the one we have on at present) will be published at the beginning of April with full colour photographs and recipe’s. These will be downloadable & printable for you to try and create in the comfort of your own home. The idea is for you to contact us with any questions you may have about the dish you attempt to recreate. Imagine a dinner party, wowing your guests with a recipe from the La Stella website where the chefs were quide you through the blog tool to host the perfect dinner party. It would be like having the chef there!!
To summarise please take the time to have a look through the NEW website, leave a comment on the blog & sign up to our newsletter. we will be sending these out quartley with news and subscriber offers!!
ENJOY !!
Posted by Chris, Head Chef & Proprietor on Feb.05, 2010
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
December 11th, 2009
Remember when you were a kid and you begged your parents for bags or sticks of candy floss then complain of pain afterwards…well take that excitement and times it by 5 and you will have the feeling of the chefs earlier tonight
The safe arrival of our machine and other goodies namely xantan gum sent the chefs into a wild child like flurry tearing at boxes and wrappers like an early Christmas within seconds the candy floss machine was out and strapped in for use…what can we put in it apart from sugar was one of the first questions asked *queue impending doom music*
But like good little chefs we played by the rules and made some pink normal floss…even though our imagination was awash of bitter lime floss like cloud we could float on a sea of cream sauce and other creations.
Along with our toys was the elusive xantan gum…one of chefs favourite things and has been eyeballing it for quite a while now…he took the step and I’m glad he did…it enabled me to make balsamic and dark chocolate dressing with total ease without having to shout or curse at a bowl of split oil vinegar and chocolate that would refuse to bind together despite my pleas and it was great it tasted of what it was meant to be and held together…huge grin
This put the idea into my head on how to make our flaming sorbet even better!!…as well as our 24c gold leaf sheets…that’s right..24c gold sheets that you can eat (these are future stories and we will keep everyone posted)
But with that note i should once again remind everyone about the fantastic refurb that La Stella is going to go through in Jan…and everyone is more excited about that than Christmas
Posted by Stuart, Sous Chef on Dec.11, 2009
Posted in Kitchen Experiments | No Comments »
December 10th, 2009
The elusive flaming sorbet (sorbet that is on fire for those not in the know) one of the masters of the craft Heston Blumenthal wowed the TV going public a while back but left the ingredients a secret.
that secret has been slightly cracked by our team in the kitchen every night the chefs slump off home the smell of garlic shallots and toasted ola oil clinging to their hair and skin and dig in to their sofas with a favourite drink/food and gorge themselves with knowledge the 9th of December was such a night.
and by the 10th had the ideas and planning to make this dream a reality and thus ventured forth into the depths of the La Stella kitchen to create (pictures to follow) the tipple of choice to make the fire was chosen (tequila) and the fire brigade but on stand by…the sorbet was balled..the liquid poured…and with a smile and a cheer the flames licked the sorbet with almost zero meltage and with the sorbet staying ice cold to boot…fantastic…then lunch service.
the day was also taken up with ideas for 2010 and new years for 2009 one that got out little chefy hearts pumping was the idea of fois gras candy floss this has a pin in it at the moment but watch this space…it’s going to be…an adventure.
In the mean time keep an eye on our website for up and coming changes in the next 2/3 weeks www.lastella.co.uk
That’s all for today folks we will post a little more often when we get the chance being Christmas and all were all knackered and so so busy but thank you all for your continued support.
Posted by Stuart, Sous Chef on Dec.10, 2009
Posted in Kitchen Experiments, Kitchen Updates | 2 Comments »
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