While our modern society promotes high productivity and profitability, the Mas Fabre de Laferriere prefers using traditional methods for producing a particularly elegant and subtle olive oil.
Three factors influence the productivity: the quantity of fruits per tree, the amount of trees per hectare and the quantity of oil produced per olive. Huile des Orgues has preferred quality to quantity. Here are the reasons why.
In the intensive production model, all these parameters are optimized, for instance planting the tree in hedges, using machines to harvest the fruits (like for wine production) and selecting varieties of olive producing a lot of oil. As a result, trees in this kind of intensive production get exhausted and have to be replaced every 10 years, while in a traditional culture, as you know, an olive tree can produce for thousands of years!
Noël and Lily Fabre have made the choice of traditional production, in harmony with nature, and with trees planted at 7 meters from each other to better get the sun. The Roussillon is backed by the Pyrenées (see on the photo the Canigou mountain), a very windy area (see the orientation of the trees) and very sunny.
The main variety of the property Laferrière, the Oliviere, requires 10 kg of olive to make a liter of oil, that is twice more than other varieties, but when we taste the Huile des Orgues, we understand the value of our agricultural choices![:]
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Cooking with olive oil offers gastronomic perspectives that no other oil can offer. Here are some explanations.
As explains Christian Pinatel, world expert in this area, olive oil is an exception because it is made from fresh fruits and because the oil is contained in the pulp of the fruit, not in the seed. This is why we can find in olive oil many flavors that exist in other fruits.
Olive oil offers much more aromas than any other culinary oil which is extracted from seeds and is – most of the time – refined, which kills its organoleptic properties. When you’ll taste our single variety “Oliviere” from Huile des Orgues, you’ll discover delicate flavors of fresh tomato and raw artichoke. This fruity flavor, associated with a spicy taste due to polyphenols, makes the joy of gastronomes and offers unlimited culinary possibilities. It is very specific of the olive oil from Roussillon.
This is what motivated Lily and Noel Fabre, initially peach producers to convert to the production of olive oil.
From “Tasting Olive Oil Part II” by Christian Pinatel in “Le Nouvel Olivier” – November December 1999.
An excellent starter for a summer lunch
On the photo, at the back, you can see the olive oil “Huile des Orgues” Traditions, selected by our Chef for this delicate recipe.
Ingredients (4 people)
320 g. of Saint Pierre filets (raw)
4 Cl of olive oil “Huile des Orgues” from Ille sur Têt (Roussillon)
12 capers from Italy
20 black grape (variety Cardinal) and white grape (variety Muscat)
1 bunch of dill
20 g. of pine nuts
2 cs of mango vinegar
1 root of ginger
2 lime
1 orange
Fleur de sel
Preparation
Make a tartar with the St Pierre filet
In a bowl, add the fish, the grape cut in two (and with no seed), the dill, the grilled pine nuts, the ginger, the skin of the orange and lime, grated.
Add the olive oil “Huile des Orgues” and the mango vinegar.
Then, add the “Fleur de sel” and the capers
Tip
Prepare this starter 2 to 3 hours before to serve and let it wait in the fridge.
Smart idea
This recipe can be adapted to many different fishes, (Salmon, bream…) at different cost.
Wesley Durand, Toque Blanche, is the Chef of the restaurant “Le Cédrat”, Casino du Boulou
Everyone knows the Poire Belle Helene but here is a new way of preparing pears and chocolate with a taste of caramel slightly perfumed with vanilla, thanks to the vanilla olive oil from the Mas Fabre de Laferriere in Ille sur Tet. A real must!
This is a very easy to make dessert that will surprise your guests thanks to the original mix of pear, chocolate, caramel and vanilla, together with the sweet taste of olive oil from Roussillon, made from the variety oliviere. Julien Blaya, very dynamic and friendly chef, also Toque Blanche from Roussillon, has put all his passion in this nice dessert.
Ingredients for 4 people
Pears: 2
Liquid cream: 300 g and 350 g
Vanilla bean: 1
Cumaru: 1
Chocolate: 455 g
Brown sugar: 50 g
Vanilla olive oil (Huile des Orgues)
Preparation
Ganache
Heat the 300 g of cream in a pan. Scrape the vanilla bean to extract the seeds and dip in the cream, all together. Add the chocolate to the warm cream. Stir the ganache and pass it through a strainer to remove the vanilla.
Caramel
Heat the vanilla olive oil from Huile des Orgues together with the sugar in a pan to prepare a caramel.
Pears
Cut the pear in small cubes and add them to the caramel. Mix. Stop the heat and let the pear get caramelized.
Mousse of ganache
Take the crème Chantilly prepared previously with the 350 g of liquid cream. Add two tablespoons of cream in the ganache and mix with energy. Add 5 tablespoons of cream without mixing. Mix softly the mousse just before serving.
Presentation
Put the pear in the bottom half of the glass. Add a lay of chocolate mousse above them. Clean the glass. Add the shavings of the cumaru and add a little bit of vanilla olive oil from Huile des Orgues.
To be served cold.
Enjoy!
Restaurant La Senyera
81, rue Saint Jean
66500 Villefranche de Conflent
Tel : 04 68 96 17 65
Toque Blanche
Restaurant “La Senyera” in Villefranche de Conflent
We are pleased to supply this restaurant, famous for its authenticity. Julien Blaya put a Mediterranean touch in his way of cooking. His restaurant is located in the heart of a fortified city, on the way to Cerdagne. His meals are creative, always made from the best local products, as his “Aïoli aux pommes” made with our Oliviere oil and which recipe is available in our Blog.
La Senyera
81, rue Saint-Jean
66500 Villefranche de Conflent
Tel. 04 68 96 17 65
https://la-senyera-restaurant.eatbu.com/?lang=en