Back Online!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I was off line longer than I thought I would be. I have been quite busy over the past 6 weeks as I am in charge for the galleys of a ship at the moment, the beautiful Celebrity Summit. I had to come here on short notice and will be handing over the galley in a couple of weeks.

We did a couple of runs in the Caribbean out of San Juan. I have a little entry soon when we stopped in St. Maarten. Now we are sailing out of Bayonne, New Jersey. I can see the Statue of Liberty and the Skyline of New York not too far from the ship, what a beautiful sight. And then we do runs over to Bermuda, another entry that will come very soon.

Like I said, it was really busy in the past couple of week, getting used to the new ship, every cruise fully booked with at least 2100 guest, I had an absolutely fantastic time with a great team behind me (120 Chefs). I have loads of public appearances from Captains Cocktails, Cooking Demonstrations, Galley Tours all the way to our own Star Chefs Cooking Competition on the last sea day.

So I think you will hear soon a lot more from me.

Sorry again for the long quiet time, but the Gourmet Traveler is back on the move!!!!

French Toast on a big ship

More travel, more adventures, new places. In the last cruise I have been in five countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and now Mexico. It all goes a little fast, but that is how the cruise ship is going. I don’t have time to go out in every port, but sometimes I take the time for a little walk like through Roatan in Honduras. It is a little island just of the coast with absolutely beautiful nature. Everything is green, green, and green. It is hot and humid, tropical and there is a slightly sweet smell in the air.

There is plenty of diving around and the beaches are stunning, if one goes to the other side of the island. We were in the harbor of Roatan, so I just went out a little bit. There are plenty of shops, mainly t shirts and other little souvenirs. There are plenty of small bars and restaurants, but nothing looked very inviting to me so I just walked up and down main road a bit and then went back to the ship for a good work out in the gym, nicely air-conditioned. Yes you hear right, I am usually not a big gym goer, but here on board I have to taste so much food, I just need to have an extra work out from time to time.

Just to give you a little run down of the ship I am on at the moment. We have just over 3000 guest and 1200 crew. 170 of them are working in the galleys and we easily prepare more than 14’000 meals a day. So yes, that is quite a production we have going here. We prepare two sessions in the main dining room, usually having around 1400 guest per seating. We have 2 main galleys as the main dining room is on 2 levels. We serve around 900 guests on the bottom level and then another 500 on top. Now if you expect shouting, screaming and performing chefs during service, sorry you are wrong. Service goes generally very quietly and organized here. Of course there is the odd word and of course it is noise, imagine how many people are on the line (20 on one line in the main restaurant), the pans on the stove, the plates the people, but that hustle is what I enjoy most.

Now we are busy looking at French Toast. I know it is such a simple thing, but a good French Toast in the morning is just the right way to start, so I thought I give you the recipe for a simple but good French Toast. I have chosen the French Toast as we still cook it to order or just a little bit in advance to make sure it is perfectly fresh and cooked for our guest.

90 ml (3 oz) Milk
2 ea Eggs
15 g (0.5 oz) Sugar
Cinnamon
Vanilla Essence

30 g (1 oz) Butter

Icing sugar

Whisk the eggs and milk together, add all the spices and the sugar.
Dip the sliced Toast in the egg mix; let it in the mix for 5 seconds on each side.
Drip off excess egg mix
Heat up butter in a pan and fry the French Toast on both sides till golden brown.
Cut diagonally in half, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve immediately.

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena, Colombia

Yes I am in Colombia, no danger, no drugs, just a beautiful town called Cartagena. I didn’t read anything about the place so had no expectations, but what I saw truly blew me away. It is a town with over 450 years of history, the old town is really well preserved and just invites to sit and have a drink. People are very relaxed here and very friendly. I just got a nice feel about this town.
The Spanish built huge fortifications and still now one can see the walls all the way around the old town of Cartagena. There are still 11 km of wall preserved. Of course there are plenty of museums, art galleries and shops, especially for the Colombian Emerald, a lovely and glitzy green gem stone.

They say as well that Cartagena is the town of mangoes as every house has their own mango tree and yes, when one arrives at the cruise terminal, there is an absolutely humongous Mango tree.

I just took a taxi driver and he drove me around town, telling me all sorts of stories, trying to get me into some special jeweler stores, asking if I wanted to go so “special” bars for a drink…..no thank you! And I am sure ripped me off for the tour, but after all it was worth it as I really had about 2 hours to explore and one needs to take a taxi to town anyway. He was also able to give me a lot of history and back ground information, which was really nice. A bit more than an hour later he earned 25$ and I was able to see a lot of the town, stop and go and he even walked with me like a tour guide through town, so I think it was not a bad deal after all.

Opposite the old town is the new part of Catagena, high rise buildings, then beaches with huge hotel complexes. It was nice to stand on the walls of the old town and look over the bay to the new side. When walking in the streets of the old town, one easily forgets that Cartagena is actually a big and bustling city.

At one place I just couldn’t resist buying a couple of sweet from one of the many sweet stalls. They are all very, very sweet, caramel based and some of them with coconut. I tried them together with Denton, the Executive Chef on board and with Thierry; he is the Senior Corporate Traveling Pastry Chef. The sweets are not very refined, but they were tasty and were reason for some more animated discussions. Especially with Thierry who was not overly impressed and actually didn't want to taste them, chicken!!!

So today it is more about town and travel, rather than recipes, but no worries, there are still plenty more recipes to follow.

Gourmet Diner in Miami

Gourmet Diner

Being in the States Diners are not necessarily associated with gourmet, but wow, I was proven wrong this weekend while back in Miami.

I am just waiting to join the next ship up in Fort Lauderdale and after being a day in the office I had time to go shopping and have a bite to eat. This time I am staying in the Wyndham Hotel, which is basically next to the airport. All the other hotels were full so I had to go here. In general the hotel is not bad, but no comparison with the other hotels I usually stay. I had a lovely dinner last night, a steak with salad……which unfortunately did not agree with me for some reason and my tummy was not feeling well at all in the morning.

Never mind that, Bruno, the Corporate Executive Chef came to fetch me in the morning that we can go shopping a bit, just all the necessities one needs, tooth paste and so on, so off we went and I got everything I needed. Then we decided to have some lunch and Bruno saw this little diner called Gourmet Diner. So in we went and what a surprise we had. The diner runs since 1983 and the interior is so typical Diner, blue plastic chairs, simple interior. But then we saw the menu we were totally surprised with what we saw.

Fresh Artichoke with vinaigrette
Steamed Mussels
French Onion Soup
Brisket in jus
Snails in Garlic Butter
Snapper Provencale

Wow what a treat.

So we had an artichoke to share as a starter, plain and nice, we picked off the leaves and dunked them into the vinaigrette deeply in discussions about food, products, foie gras and cooking. Then we had a brisket sandwich with its own jus. What a treat to have the soft and tender braised brisket in the crunchy baguette, with melted cheese, wow. We dunked the sandwich in the jus and loved every bit, for me the best Diner I have been to (and there are quite a few of them.

The owner has to be from Europe, there is just too much lovely food there and I will for sure be back, inviting maybe Mike and Marilynn for a treat as they have always looked so well after me while here in Miami.

It is a little bit of a drive to get to this Diner, it is on Biscayne Boulevard driving north from the city centre, fairly close to Aventura Mall on the right side and yes, it is simply called Gourmet Diner, a real treat!!!!!!

But now a little recipe, let’s go a little gourmet too

Seafood on Saffron Risotto for 4 people

120 g (4 oz) Risotto rice
50 g (2 oz) Onions
15 ml (0.5 oz) Olive oil
60 ml (2 oz) White wine
300 ml (10 oz) Chicken stock
1 g (0.05 oz) Saffron
60 g (3 oz) Butter
30 g (1 oz) Parmesan, grated
Salt

Cut the onions in fine cubes
Heat the olive oil to medium heat, add the onions.
Shallow fry till translucent, then add risotto rice.
Again fry till nearly translucent, but no color.
Add white wine and saffron, simmer, stirring all the times
Then add chicken stock and simmer uncovered till rice is al dente. You might have to add a little more chicken stock, depending on the rice.
Add ice cold butter and parmesan just before serving
Season to taste

8 ea Scallops
8 ea Prawns
8 ea Mussels
120 g (4 oz) Snapper
120 g (4 oz) Eggplant
90 g (3 oz) Cherry tomatoes
Olive oil

Cut the eggplant in cubes, half the cherry tomatoes.
Fry the eggplant in olive oil till tender, season to taste, add the cherry tomatoes at the very end to avoid them getting too soft.
Fry all the seafood, season to taste.

Place the risotto in deep bowls and top with the seafood.
Top with the fried eggplant.

Next Blog will be about the new ship I am on, the Equinox, a dream of a ship, so much I can already tell you!

Creme Brulee in Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman and Creme Brulee????? Oh yes, I like it. I am on a quick trip to Grand Cayman and back to Miami with one stop in Key West. So I should actually write something about Key Lime Pie, which is absolutely wonderful, but as I could not go out in Key West I decided that I write something about Creme Brulee.

I think it is as well as we have just received 300 new Creme Brulee forms and everybody is very exited about it, so I want to show you the perfect Creme Brulee!

But before that a bit about my days here. It is a lot of fun, I really enjoy my job. For the time being I am not cooking too much but that will change soon as next week I have to photograph some chicken dishes, yes and I will of course give you a glimpse and some recipes too. At the moment we are trying to get the guest eating in the alternative dining venue called Destinations.

The food is fantastic there, but it seems that many people forget about this place, so tomorrow we will be doing a presentation table together with the bar manager and hopefully more people will be booking a table.

Then we will look at the presentation of the Tapas in Cova Cafe. One of my favoured spots on the ship where I have my daily dose of Cappuccino and Espresso. They serve the most amazing Danishes and Croissants in the morning, then lovely Pastries in the afternoon and then around dinner time there are a range of Tapas with lovely live music, changing from classical to acapella to jazz, just a great place to be. So all we want to do is making sure the standard is as the company requests and that the crew is well trained and the buffet looks nice. So another busy day but at least loads of little projects.

But now enough talking, here the promised recipe

Creme Brulee for 10 friends

750 ml (0.75 quart) Cream

750 ml (0.75 quart) Milk

1 ea Vanilla Beans

200 g (7 oz) Sugar

8 ea Eggs

4 ea Egg yolks

100 g (3.5 oz) Sugar for Caramel

Boil up milk, cream, sugar and scraped out vanilla pod

Strain through chinoise strainer

Whisk egg yolks and eggs together

Add hot liquid carefully, stirring all the time

Pour the mix into creme brulee containers

Poach in the oven in a water bath at 110 o C (230 o F) till cooked, about 25 minutes

Cool the brulees down completely

Sprinkle the remaining sugar on the creme brulees

Caramelize the sugar with Blow Torche

Enjoy the Brulees as soon as possible to have the caramel still nice and crispy

I am siting at Grand Cayman airport right now, still nearly 2 hours to go for my flight, but having fun writing this Blog and watching Cricket at the same time!!!!

Ship swapping

I am back in Miami, just for one night. After one month on a beautiful Cruise Ship, the Constellation, and starting to feel at home there, I am swapping ships here in Miami. I will go for 4 days to a different class, a little smaller than what I have been on till now. It will be the Century. Then I will most probably go up to Fort Lauderdale to join one of our top end ships, the Equinox with around 3200 guest on board. So I have some interesting times ahead, lots of new ships and experiences. The only thing that will stay the same is that they all cruise around the Caribbean. The Constellation, the ship I was on for the past month is sailing of through the Panama Canal and then further on to Hawaii, NICE!

So cruising has been fun, even so it is hard work, I have enjoyed every minute. There is never a dull moment on a ship and sometimes one wishes that the Day had more hours and one wouldn't need any sleep. Apart from learning and getting to know the Millennium Class of ships I had to write recipes, do photo shoots, did hands on training with the chefs and spent quite a bit of time with Sanitation training, en extremely important part of ships life.

People shore side have in general no idea what is involved in ships sanitation, how many hours everybody spends in cleaning and sanitizing, measuring temperatures and filling in logs. Knowing all the rules and regulations of USPH (United States Public Health) Walking around early morning with torches and testers to check that the galleys are really clean. But then again, it is all about food safety here. I can honestly say that when the guys are finished cleaning the galleys, I would happily eat off the floor, that's how clean it is. Of course it is not just about sanitation, but I always feel that it is so much nicer working in a clean environment rather than a messy one.


Now let's go to the fun part, another recipe. I thought today we do some pasta, something vegetarian for a change. I often see these huge pasta shells in the shop and thought that they are just really pretty, so here the recipe

Pasta Shells filled with Ratatouille, Bechamel sauce

90 g (3 oz) Onions
15 g (0.5 oz) Garlic, crushed
90 g (3 oz) Tomatoes
120 g (4oz) Eggplant
120 g (4 oz) Baby Marrows
90 g (3 oz) Red Peppers
60 ml (2 floz) Olive oil
30 g (1 oz) Tomato paste
Thyme

60 g (2 oz) Onions

40 g (1.5 oz) Strong flour

10 ml (0.5 floz) Olive oil

300 ml (10 floz) Milk

240 ml (8 floz) Cream

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan

Cut all the vegetables in 5 mm (0.3 inch) cubes.

Heat Olive oil in pan, then add first the onions and garlic. Fry without colour till translucent

Then add the other vegetables, except the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, then fry without color for another 5 minute.

Add tomato paste and thyme, fry a little longer.

For the sauce cut onions in stripes, then fry them without colour in the olive oil, add flour and roast for 5 minutes, without giving any color.

Add cold milk and cream, bring to the boil and season.

Strain the sauce to have a smooth, white sauce

Season to taste and add a tiny bit nutmeg at the end

Cook the pasta shells till al dente, cool in ice water.

Fill the shells with the ratatouille, sprinkle with a bit Parmesan and heat in the oven

Banana Rum Mille Feuille in Curacao

I am in the last port of this cruise, in Willemstad, Curacao. It is really beautiful here, similar to Aruba but with more historic buildings. There are plenty of restaurants, bars and street cafes, the perfect place to just relax a little bit. Of course there is plenty of shopping opportunities here too, but as I am traveling all the time, there is really no space for anymore luggage

There is as well a lovely fruit and vegetable market; I could have gone wild here as all the fruit looked just so fresh and delicious. Bits further down there are a couple of fish stands as well with great fresh local fish. This is the nicest market I have seen so far in the Caribbean, at least on this trip. The cold is still there, but I think I just got used to the constant sniffing and occasional coughing, but think it will go over soon. It seems to go around a bit, I see several other crew member struggling a bit, just one of these things I guess.
Willemstad is the capital of the Netherlands Antilles and Curacao. I really enjoyed walking through the streets here, just taking in the atmosphere and enjoying a little time off. We will be at sea for the next two days, back to Miami where I will sign off, stay for a night and then join the next ship this Monday. I will pop quick in the office for some meetings and to pick up my chef jackets, nicely embroided with my name.......

Now being in Curacao I thought I should do a dessert for a change. I haven’t done too many dessert recipes so it is about time to do one again.

Banana, Rum and Chocolate Mille Feuille

1 ea Puff Pastry Sheets

10 ea Bananas

90 g (3 oz) Butter

90 g (3 oz) Sugar

300 g (10 oz) Dark Chocolate
3 ea Egg yolks

60 ml (2 oz) Rum

500 ml (0.5 quart) Cream

200 g (7 oz) Dark Chocolate

90 ml (3 oz) Cream

60 g (2 oz) Butter

Cut Puff Pastry sheet in half and bake in the oven till golden brown. Cool the puff pastry sheets completely down.

Heat the butter and add bananas and sugar. Roast quickly on high heat to caramelize the sugar a bit, then add rum and flambee.
Whisk the egg yolks in a bain marie with the rum till ribbon stage.

Melt the chocolate and fold into the eggs. Cool to room temperature.

Fold in whipped cream carefully.

Lay the bananas on the one puff pastry sheet, then top with chocolate mousse. Press carefully the second puff pastry sheet on top and cool completely in the fridge.

For the Ganache boil up butter and cream. Take off the stove and add chocolate. Cool to room temperature and pour carefully over your mille feuille. Spread the Ganache with a spatula, then cool in the fridge.

Cut your mille feuille just before serving and maybe serve a glass of well aged Caribbean Rum.

Blue Cheese and Pear Phyllo Parcel

The travel goes on, I am now in Trinidad Tobago, In Scarborough, Tobago to be exact. I was very much looking forward to getting out of the ship today; I need a bit fresh air. The air-conditioning is not very favorable to me and I caught a little cold, but nothing a little extra dose of Vitamin C and a cold tablet can solve.

The towns main attraction is a well preserved historical site called Fort King George, an 18th century fortification which now hosts a museum. When we anchored I could see where the castle is, not very big and a bit away from town on a hill top. But then when I got out in the afternoon I could see that it is a bit far to walk there so I just had a quick glimpse at town……very quick. Because Scarborough has really not too much to offer, it is very poor, a little dirty and only has some bars and restaurants which didn’t look too inviting to me. It took me a whole of 20 minutes till I was back on the ship for a good session in the gym. Yes I do go to the gym, rather infrequently but better than nothing. The beaches so are apparently really nice with palm trees and fine sand and of course there are some rather beautiful resorts on the island.
Then of course nature is beautiful with lush tropical vegetation and loads of wild life especially for bird watchers, there are great lakes and waterfalls and of course diving is great with plenty reefs

I browsed a little through the little stand, loads of them selling clothes, all sorts of souvenirs but some of them had really nice fruit and vegetables. There are mango and citrus orchards on the island and they are getting sold in the little stands amongst plenty of other fruit and vegetables.

When we sailed away we could see a bit of the rest of the island, especially the part of Scarborough where all the expensive villas are, absolutely beautiful. I had a last good look at the fort shining in the sun set, I think this another island that needs a bit more exploring.

The recipe for today is a lovely and easy to prepare starter, a blue cheese and pear parcel, it is vegetarian and can be made in advance; the blue cheese goes beautifully with the poached pears

Poached Pears
500 ml (17 floz) White wine
75 g (3 oz) Sugar
1 ea Cinnamon Stick
5 ea Fresh pears

Phyllo Squares
10 ea Phyllo dough
200 g (7 oz) Blue Cheese
200 g (7 oz) Poached pears
100 g ( 3.5 oz) Clarified butter

Berry reduction
100 g (3.5 oz) Rasperries, frozen
50 g (2 oz) Sugar
100 ml (3.5 floz) Red wine
100 ml (3.5 floz) Port wine

For the phyllo parcel brush two sheets of phyllo with clarified butter
Cut them into about 7 cm wide stripes
Put the crumbed blue cheese and pears in the middle of the one strip and then roll it, giving it a square shape
Then turn the parcel around and roll on the open sides on a second sheet of phyllo to close the parcel
Then fry it on all sides in a little clarified butter till crisp and keep warm

Boil the berries with the sugar, wine and port and reduce to half, blend and strain.

Plate one parcel per person in the middle of a plate, garnish with a roasted pear wedge and serve with a little salad and the berry port-reduction

And we are back at sea, one whole day to get to the last two stops, Aruba and Curacao, this time I will go out in both places, especially Curacao!!!