A Gathering in Bonnie Prince Charlie Country

We’re counting down to 21st August, when the annual Glenfinnan Gathering will take place in the village.

The event is held to mark the anniversary of Raising of the Standard at Glenfinnan in 1745 by “The Young Pretender” Bonnie Prince Charlie – the day he rallied his troops for the doomed Jacobite Rebellion.

It’s a particularly significant event for us because it’s where we got our name! The Prince’s House Hotel was, at the time, a coaching inn – although there’s no concrete evidence Bonnie Prince Charlie visited the inn, it’s very possible.

At the moment we’re cooking up a special way of commemorating this historic event, so if you have any ideas please let us know….

What To Eat Now?

It’s summer, at last, and I thought I’d share some of the things I’m looking forward to cooking (and eating) over the next few weeks at Prince’s House Hotel.

English asparagus: We’re serving this in the bar at the moment, poached with crisp pancetta and butter fried duck egg. We also serve a miniature version as an Amuse Bouche (appetiser in plain English) in the restaurant – I poach the asparagus tips,  wrap them in pancetta, grill them and serve with a poached quails egg and cider vinegar butter.

Brill – I’m serving it baked with poached summer vegetables and Arisaig mussel broth.

Venison – we got our first beast of the season this week ( two actually), a bit later than usual because the chap we get them from (John Macdonald) has been on international duty shooting for Great Britain. Apparently he’s No. 9 in the world – in fact, there was an article in the Press & Journal about him recently….

Scottish strawberries and raspberries –delicious, and used in all manner of things from Strawberry and Cream ice cream, to Eton Mess and even peppered strawberries served with smoked beef or locally-cured ham.

The first salad leaves from our neighbour John Whyte’s garden have arrived, along with some excellent Champagne rhubarb – good served with Rhubarb and Scot’s Tablet ice cream. John grows a lot of our vegetables for us and we’re fortunate to have a really good working relationship with him – our menus are influenced by what he has in the garden and if we want a particular ingredient for a dish he will sometimes plant it for us.

In other news,  I have bought a food dehydrator which I’ve been experimenting with. I’m currently drying Granny Smiths apple slices to accompany potted duck as an Amuse Bouche for the dining room – so we’ll see how that turns out!  I have lots of ideas for this piece of equipment, I just need to find the time to try them all – will keep you posted on developments…

Kieron

A very cultured (and busy) week

It’s been a brilliant but hectic week at Prince’s House, as we welcomed a BBC film crew to Glenfinnan…

They were in town to cover the Loch Shiel Festival for The Culture Show, for a programme to be shown on BBC2 this Thursday. The week-long festival has been in the area for several years, showcasing classical music in the villages around Loch Shiel, and violinist Charles Mutter has been the Artistic Director since 2006. This year Sue Perkins was on hand to cover a performance of Benjamin Britten’s opera Noye’s Fludde which was developed with people from the local community – including our sons Alasdair and Christopher.

Because of all the extra people we were mobbed on Friday night, doing fifty covers in the bar that evening. This was made even more of a challenge for Ina and I because the boys weren’t there to help – they were down in the church taking part in the big performance (one of the instruments they were playing was something called ‘slung mugs’ which, you’ll see here, appears to be a string of mugs that you hit with spoons).

'Slung mugs' - One of the unusual instruments at Loch Shiel Festival

It was fantastic having the crew staying with us and we were pleased to get some great feedback about the food – James Naughtie said our venison was excellent, which was nice!

We’re looking forward to seeing if the hotel – and the kids – managed to make it to the final cut on Thursday evening (tune in at 7pm on Thursday 20th May on BBC 2 if you want to see for yourself.)

Kieron Kelly

www.glenfinnan.co.uk