Ski-in gastronomy

My niece Christel is a chef. With her husband Gilles, they run “Les Rhodos,” the family restaurant in which I worked as a young waiter, in the picturesque mountain village of Les Lindarets, France, nestled in the heart of the Portes du Soleil, ski interconnect. That's right, in winter their eatery is ski-in, ski-out, so it's no wonder that when she had to officiate as one of French and Swiss chefs representing the dozen Franco-Swiss ski resorts tethered together, and compete in the “Star-studded Snow Culinary Contest” held in nearby Châtel, she had little choice but ski to where the competition was held, just after serving lunch, while her father in law was bringing her utensils and other implements by road to that little mountain town.

This happened this past Saturday, January 29. The rare, thin and bullet-proof snow made her trek over the mountains her biggest challenge of the day as my niece had to tread very, very carefully on the icy slopes. In spite of the dreary conditions, she made it safely to her stove and had barely the time to take off her skis before starting to cook.

All chefs were asked to prepare a dish using the true fera (coregonus fera), a fish from nearby Lake Geneva and the even more local Abondance cheese. Well, lo and behold, Christel, her ski-propelled appearance and delectable dish won the entire Jury (made of some famous French Chefs and food critics) and went on, as the sole female in the competition, to win the contest. Bravo Christel, now email me a portion of your true fera on a bed of risotto!