LATVIA – Food workshop at Mazsālijas country house

Visitors will learn how to cook a meal on a firewood stove from the home produce – vegetables, trout, and fallow deer meet. The food workshop includes cooking of a three-course meal: a starter (fallow deer tartar, salted trout), the main course: trout fried on butter with steamed vegetables, fallow deer meet with rosemary and potato gratin, a dessert: cream cheese with strawberry sorbet.
The beginnings of the ‘Mazsalijas’ country house date back to 1847 when Baron von Hahn decided to build a water-mill. ‘Mazsalijas’ is proud of the barn building, fully preserved with authentic roof covering, main walls and old fir-tree beams. Now the old water-mill building is a guest house and an organic farm. The farm breeds fallow deer and trout, grows vegetables and fruit, makes wine. Visitors can see the deer and wild boar, taste berries and fruits directly from the garden, participate in creative workshops and cooking master classes.
The hostess combines the regional culinary heritage traditions of Kurzeme and contemporary cuisine. The food will be prepared on live fire, using the deer, trout and vegetables from the farm. For the starter you will prepare deer tartar, salted trout à la Kurzeme. For the main course, there will be butter-fried trout with steamed seasonal vegetables and fallow deer with rosemary and potato gratin. Dessert: cream cheese with strawberry sorbet. These dishes characterize the activities in ‘Mazsalijas’- hunting and fishing that are still important in Kurzeme region.