Crispy Risotto by Chef Igor Macchia

Here is a recipe that I though many of you would like because even so it is a Michelin starred recipes, you can actually as well use your left over risotto and dress it up beautifully. Of course we made everything from scratch, but that should be like this in a 5 Star hotel.

This dish we served as a Canape during our guest cocktail which is part of the whole guest chef experience, like this all the guests have the possibility to have at least a taster of Chef Igor's fantastic cuisine

As the other dishes, this one has a couple of items that might be difficult to get. One of them is Stracciatella. Even I was not really sure what it was so I asked one of my best friends....Google! and the answer was pretty easy. It basically is a type of Burrata, a buffalo Mozzarella with a creamy interior. It is generally very difficult to find so take Burrata instead....it will work very well

Bottarga is a dried fish roe from Italy....depending on quality it can be quite expensive but as you don't need much, go for a really good quality....you really just need a sliver on top to give the lovely salty flavor to it

Ingredients for saffron risotto:

300 gr             Carnaroli rice

     2 lt             Vegetable stock

   30 gr            Olive oil

   50 gr            Butter

   50 gr            Grated Parmesan cheese

     2 gr            Saffron

                        Salt

                        Pepper 

Method for saffron risotto:

·         Heat olive oil in a pan, add the risotto and roast for about 2\3 min. Add boiling stock flavored with saffron and cook for around 13\14 min. Add all other ingredients and season with salt and pepper if needed.

·         Lay the risotto in a tray of about 2 cm thickness and keep cold. Once the risotto will be cold, cut with ring mold. Flour the risotto and pan fried in a non-stick pan with olive oil.

Ingredients for presentation of the plate:

  1 nr               Crispy saffron risotto

10 gr               Stracciatella di mozzarella

  3 gr               Bottarga (air dried roe)

  1 nr               Tahoon cress

  1 gr               Roasted barley malt powder

Method for presentation of the plate:

·         Plate warm crispy risotto, add the stracciatella, roasted barley malt powder and sliced air dried roe. Garnish with tahoon cress before serve.

Magnum yourself

Manila has its own Magnum Ice Cream shop where you can make your own Magnum. This is soooo cool, an individual Magnum. There are shops as well in Hamburg, Paris and Istanbul, but to have one here in Manila is just absolutely amazing. The location is on the 5th floor in Aura Shopping Mall, one of the hip shopping malls in and around Manila. 

I always had a bit of a fetish for Magnum, I love the rich flavor of the ice cream and the lovely chocolate around, but to make your own flavor is just incredible. We had so much fun making our own flavor of Magnum, our own personalized Magnum.

You can choose from 2 ice cream flavors which is chocolate or vanilla, then from 18 toppings and 3 different dipping chocolates so you can make your own piece of art.

We took 2 extremes, one I call death by chocolate, it was with chocolate ice cream, milk chocolate dipping and then all sorts of chocolate toppings, the other one was the sweet delight, vanilla ice cream with a caramel chocolate dipping. The toppings were white crunchy chocolate pearls, mini marshmallows and freeze-dried raspberries which just looked so lovely and gave a bit of acidity to the extremely sweet concoction

There are some strange toppings available like broken chips and broken pretzels.....strange?? Yes but it actually goes well. The saltiness brings out the chocolate flavor even better so even so it sounds strange, it goes well with chocolate

Magnum Manila offers more than just Magnums, one can actually eat there with savory and sweet plated desserts available. The savory menu includes about everything from sexy crostini to pasta and salads all the way to the roasted Rib eye 

Cheese Room at Soneva Fushi

I think it is time to brag a bit again. It has been a while since I last wrote about the resort I am working for as Executive Chef. This time I like to show you some photos of our cheese and cured meats room.

Like the chocolate room, the cheese room is always open and mostly it is included in the room price. Mostly meaning during breakfast and lunch you can go wild, but if you feel like a nibble some artisan cheeses and cured meats during dinner or late afternoon, then we charge a small fee.

I spend a lot of time with the sourcing of these cheeses and meats. We have one main supplier, called Vanilla Venture where we buy most of our products from, but from time to time I can find something else that is special and I will put it in the Deli Room.

From time to time we have as well the owner of Vanilla Venture coming out here to do some training with the chefs. This is really important as most of the cheeses are really special. They are made in small batches, many times from raw milk. One of my favorite cheeses is the Tomme that is made from Goats milk, something really special.

The same is for the cured meats. We don't just have Parma Ham, no, we have different types of Pata Negra, the famous Spanish ham, we have the Ham from Bayonne, one of the best available, everything is local, the meat, the herbs and even the salt for curing comes from the River that is in that region.

Of course we have Asagio Speck from South Tyrol, a cured ham that is smoked as well for a wonderful intense flavor. We have about 5 types of salami, from Italy and Spain, I could not tell you which one is the best, they all taste fantastic

We have the possibility that you cut your own meat or we have a couple of plates of pre-cut delicacies. One of them I just have to mention is the Truffled Mortadella....it is just so sexy, the smell of the truffles, the finesse of the meat, all just too good to eat!

Then of course there are all the condiments, the olives which we marinate ourselves, the Kumquat jam, the Membrillo, a Spanish quince pate and of course the freshly baked bread. Now I am sure you can imagine why I have a daily quality control here in the Deli Room, just have to make sure all the meat and cheese is top!

I think I can say that the chocolate and the cheese room are something absolutely unique here in Maldives. I have not heard about any hotel that has something similar. This is why Soneva Fushi is well known for the food, it is not just the cooking, but as well the special offering we have here for our guests.

Carrot Salad from Tom Aikens

We just had an amazing time here at Soneva Fushi with our guest chef Tom Aikens, one of the top chef in UK. We did a couple of events here, a cooking class, a cocktail with his amazing canapes, a Gourmet Dinner and a chef's table

It was a lot of work, but I think it was absolutely worth it because it was great to see how everything came together at the end. There are a lot of individual techniques and cooking methods on each dish, so it was not always easy to get the ingredients and specialized products for the food.

Today I want to share one of my favorite dishes we did during his time here, the Carrot salad. It is an unbelievable amount of work, but trust me, this is no ordinary carrot salad, this is a piece of art, something extremely special, it is as well by far the longest recipe I have copied and even so usually I don't really work with recipes, here I have to

Tom with me and Roland, the CDC of our fine dining restaurant

You will see with the recipe below, how involved this recipe is, there is purees, dressing, Malto.....pickles and sorbet, all based around the carrot. It will take you a long time to do all the ingredients, it will take time and patience to find the ingredients and you will need specialized equipment, so this recipe is not for the normal cook, it is actually for the advanced professional to do. For anybody who dares to take on the entire recipe, I can guarantee you that this will be an explosion of carrot flavors. For everybody else, it is already great just to take an individual part of the recipe like the honey pickled baby carrots, something everybody can do

Then of course there is the Molecular part, like the Tarragon Malto, something you can attempt easily at home, but to have a great result you need an amazing blender. Malto is actually something very simple, Malto is a powder that either thickens oil to a jelly, or if you add more, it makes powder, The famous Molecular Gastronomy powder. So here we make a home made tarragon oil, then we add the Malto and make a light green tarragon oil powder, cool!

Carrot Dressing
250 G Carrots
300 Ml olive oil
2 G salt
4 G Castor sugar
12 Turn Pepper, ground
100 Ml Vinegar, white wine
300 Ml Muscat/Sauterne
500 Ml Carrot juice
400 Ml olive oil
12 G Tarragon
8 G Thyme
2 Ea Bay leaves

Peel the carrots and chop them finely, place a pan onto a low med heat and cook these in 150 ml of olive oil with the thyme, tarragon, 2g salt, 4g sugar, cook these on a medium heat for 5 mins so they start to cook down. Deglaze the pan with the white wine vinegar then reduce to almost nothing, add the 300 ml muscat and reduce by 2/3 then add the carrot juice that has already been heated and passed. Reduce this by 2/3 rds then add the 300ml olive oil and simmer for 3-4 mins on a very low heat. Then leave this this to cool, then sous vide and cook at 75c for 2 hours then refresh in iced water and leave for at least 3 days before use so it takes on more flavor, every day mix the bag up so that it takes on more flavor.

Ultatex Carrot puree
300 G Carrots
300 Ml Sauterne
1 G Citric Acid
8 Turn Pepper black
1 G Salt
Ultratex

Use 25 g Ultratex on 400 ml liquid

Juice the carrots, once juiced take of the scum with a ladle and then place into the sauterne, mix well with a whisk then add the citric acid followed by the seasoning, whisk in the ultratex then pass through a fine sieve.

Carrot Puree
300 G Carrots
50 G Butter
12 Twig Tarragon
8 Twig Thyme
2 G Sea salt
200 Ml Chicken stock
150 Ml Cream
20 Ml Lemon juice
12 G Sugar, castor

Heat a pan over a low heat then sweat the carrots in the butter with the salt, sugar, tarragon and thyme covering with a lid and cook for 8-10 mins with no colour stirring now and again, add the stock and cream and cook till this has reduced at a simmer for approx ten mins and is soft. Remove the thyme and tarragon, place this into a blender with the lemon juice and puree till very smooth, pass through a fine sieve.

Carrot Mousse
100 G Carrot Ultratex
100 G Carrot Puree
1.5 Leaf Gelatin
100 G Cream, whipped
8 G Tarragon leaves

Heat a little of the carrot puree then add the gelatin, add this back to the remaining carrot puree then add the carrot ultratex and semi set over ice and then fold in the cream, leave to set properly over iced water before you put it in a blue piping bag.

Carrot Vege Gel sheet
350 G Carrots
300 Ml Sauterne
15 G Carrot puree
1.5 G Citric Acid
1 G Salt
12 G Vege Gel (Gelatin powder)

Juice the carrots, once juiced take of the scum with a ladle and then place into the sauterne, mix well with a whisk then bring to a slow simmer, take off the heat and pass through a muslin then add the carrot puree citric acid and seasoning, whisk in the vege gel and heat to required temp then place over the cling filmed and oiled tray

Carrot Sorbet
375 G Carrot puree
500 Ml Carrot juice
25 Ml Lemon Juice
70 Ml Orange Juice
70 Ml Stock Syrup
3 G Citric Acid
1 Leaf Gelatin
1 G Guar Gum
4 G Stab 2000
40 G Lemon Balsamic

Best freeze everything together and use the Pacojet

Mix carrot puree with the Juice, OJ, Syrup, lemon juice, melt the gelatin in the syrup and add to the mix along with the stabiliser then guar gum and vinegar last.

Carrots Semi Dried
20 Ea Baby Carrots
300 Ml Carrot juice
250 Ml Sweet wine
3 G Bayleaves
30 Ml Lemon Juice
12 G Lemon Thyme
12 G Tarragon
2 G Salt

Baby Bunched carrots 10 in each bag, these are topped, tailed and peeled, leaving the tail bit on. Mix the above, then place into two vac pac bag’s and cook at 85c in water bath for approx 45 mins, till tender, reduce these down in a pan with all the liquid, then once reduced place into a dryer at 70c for 2 hrs till they have shrunk by half, then store them in an air tight container.

Tarragon Oil
200 Grapeseed oil
250 Tarragon leaves
2 Salt
4 Castor Sugar

Blanch the tarragon leaf, cook until just soft, then refresh in iced water and squeeze all the water out then place this into the thermomix and cook to 70c in 7 minutes then chill instantly, drain through a double muslin cloth secured with an elastic band over a small bain marie.

Tarragon Malto
50 G Tarragon Oil
30 G Maltosec

Mix the two together
whisk well so they are mixed and then pass through a fine sieve.

Blanching Baby Carrots
2 Kg Baby Carrots
2 L Water
12 G Salt
30 G Sugar, Castor

Bring all to a simmer then add the carrots individually in the right color and size, then once cooked refresh in iced water.

Honey Pickled Carrots
500 Ml Carrot juice
4 G Coriander seeds
2 G Fennel seeds
12 Ea Tarragon sprigs
8 G Thyme
8 G Salt
10 Ea Peppercorn black
300 G Honey
50 Ml Vinegar, white wine

Bring all to a simmer then place the peeled baby carrots into sous vide bag with the pickling liquor, cook at 85c for approx. 20-25 mins then cool in iced water.

Pickled Carrots
400 Ml Carrot juice
50 G Castor sugar
2 G Coriander seeds
1 G Fennel seeds
6 G Tarragon
6 G Thyme
8 G Sea Salt
14 Ea Pepper black
2 Ea Bay leaves
250 Ml Olive oil
100 Ml Vinegar white wine
100 Ml White wine

Place all the ingredients into a pan from the carrot juice to the white wine and bring to a slow simmer, checking the seasoning. Use this to cook the carrots in the sous vide bags.

Herb Yoghurt
200 G Yoghurt
20 G Tarragon keaves
20 G Parsley leaves
20 G Chervil leaves
20 G Lovage leaves

Bring a pan of 2 L water to a boil with 12 g salt and cook the herbs altogether till just soft, place instantly into the Vita prep with 100 ml of the cooking water added, the puree needs to go around in the blender till nice and smooth. Then chill instantly over iced water, weigh out 40 g for the recipe and place the rest into the freezer in a small container. Then once frozen turn out of the plastic container and wrap individually cling film then vac pac and freeze in two separate bags.

To finish yogurt
100 G Strained yogurt
40 G Herb puree
2 G Salt
8 Turn Black pepper

Mix all together

Malt Crumb
100 G Pearl Barley
100 G Malt flakes

100 G Spelt flour
100 G Rye flour

215 G Toast mixed flours
20 G Brown sugar
50 G Barley Malt syrup
80 G Butter, soft
2 G Salt

20 G Maltosec
100 G Rye bread crumbs

Roast the pearl barley and Malt flakes for two hours at 150c and then turn the oven up to 165c and cook till nicely caramelized then cool and blend to a fine powder and pass through a fine sieve

Toast all the flours at 165c, till they are nice and golden brown, then mix all the four flours together and weigh out the below

Mix all together in a bowl till a loose crumb is formed by mixing with your finger tips then place onto a baking tray on a plastic mat at 170c, cook till crisp and golden in color. Then allow to cool, then make to a fine crumb with your fingers.

Mix with Maltosec and rye bread crumbs

Black Ivory Coffee

Sometimes one comes across strange things, delicious things, bad tasting things and rare things.....among many other things. I came across a very rare thing called Black Ivory Coffee

What is so special on this coffee?

Firstly, only 200 kg are produced each year, that of course makes it extremely rare, especially when one thins that in Finland everybody consumes on average 11 kg coffee per year, so 20 Fins would drink up the entire production.

Secondly, and I think that is even more interesting, the coffee is not made in the traditional way, no, it is actually .........let me start from the very beginning

In northern Thailand there are coffee plantations, some very high quality Arabica cherries (coffee beans still in the skin). They get harvested and then, ha and this is the big difference, gets fed to street rescued elephants! So now you can imagine what happens: The elephants eat the coffee cherries, then digest them and .....yes they are coming out in the back again. Then the fermented cherries (only the nice and whole ones) get picked from the elephant poop. To produce 1 kg of coffee beans, one needs 33 kg of fresh coffee cherries. Why? Because when the elephants eat it, it gets mixed with fresh fruit and eaten as a snack, some of the cherries will get crushed between the teeth and are not usable anymore. Then sometimes the elephant do what they have to do in places that they can not find the poop or they are in the water....and everything is lost. So it is not easy.

Then they get cleaned and dried. The coffee gets then roasted at 200C to a medium roast, then packed and shipped immediately to conserve the freshness. So for anybody who has doubts about the cleanliness of the coffee? It has been tested and came out as one of the cleanest coffees available.

The preparation of the coffee is something special too. It work in a vacuum coffee machine, a replica of an 1840 model, and it works perfectly. The coffee beans get grind by hand at the table and then the coffee is prepared, so there is a lot of show and enough time for the waiter to tell a great story about the elephants and the coffee

Blake, the owner of Black Ivory Coffee demonstrating the grinding of the coffee

How does the coffee taste????? If you expect any special flavor....sorry to disappoint you, it tastes like coffee. OK, it is milder than coffee, maybe for many of us too mild, it even looks a little bit like a dark tea. I have to admit, I do prefer a nice espresso after dinner, but if it is explained properly on the flavors, one just takes a little sugar in the coffee, yes I have to admit it is actually very nice

How much does it cost? Let's jut say, it is not cheap, but if you want to try, we will offer it within the next couple of month as one of only 19 hotels world wide to be able to sell the coffee

There is another coffee that is made similar, but with Civets, but unfortunately because of the popularity there are now cases of animal cruelty, so one has to be careful with buying that coffee

Chocolate Room at Soneva Fushi

When talking to guest about the resort I work in I always compare it to a chefs paradise, partly because I can buy the best products from every where, then I have a great team that makes the best out of these products and I have guests who truly enjoy our offering.

But there is more, we have an organic garden that falls under me and I will tell you more in another blog about it, we have 3 amazing a la carte restaurants serving true Japanese foods, progressive Mediterranean and fusion Asian food, we do special events, sandbank dinners, organic garden lunches, buffets BBQ's and more.

Now our main buffet area has some really amazing features, something one will not find everywhere. One of these features is the Chocolate Room. It is most probably the absolute favored room by everybody on the island. All the chocolates are hand made with the best chocolate. We are buying different brands but some of the best is Valrhona Chocolate. I buy a very special chocolate from them which is their Fair Trade brand. Yes it costs a little more but here at Soneva we like to do our part in sustainability and Fair Trade chocolate is one part of it. Most of the chocolates we do is made from dark chocolate. There is a lot of healthiness to dark chocolate, I am not going too much into it, but yes, a little bit of dark chocolate improves your health....a little bit, hehehe!!!!

We change the chocolates all the time, at any given time we have at least 15 different chocolate on the buffet. The room is perfectly air conditioned, so the chocolates will stay nice and hard. Even the plates are made out of chocolate, like all the show pieces in the back ground. I have to say that I am blessed with a very creative team of chefs.

In the morning we serve only chocolate pastries in this room, chocolate croissants, chocolate bread and more, then it gets changes for our Pralines during the day.....yes the room is open all day and only gets locked at night.

We like to play a little with the flavors, one of the stranger combinations is dark chocolate with goats cheese. Sometimes we use blue cheese which I think goes a little better. Then of course we combine all the fruits into ganache, like raspberries, passion fruit, coconut, and blueberries. Then we like of course the classic flavors, coffee, toffee and salted caramel. We got the hot and exotic ones, the pink pepper, chili and ginger,

Then there are little chocolate lollipops, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered nuts. There is chocolate mousse, chocolate brownies and yes, there are huge chocolate slabs that one just want to take a bite.

Yes, the chocolate room is one of the reasons I love working in this absolutely wonderful spot, want to come and visit??????? 

Kobe Beef Sashimi a bit different

Today I give you the recipe of one of my many favorite Japanese Dishes. It is a Kobe Beef Sashimi, made in a bit of a new style. Of course one can take another beef too, but I have to advise everybody to best take an extremely marbled meat, like the Wagyu.

Wagyu is the type of beef, Kobe Beef is basically a Wagyu that comes from Kobe, only then it can be called Kobe Beef, but there is beautiful Waguy coming from Australia and other countries. One could even take a Prime cut from the US, best the fillet. Make sure you get a beef that is well marbled.

Now the new style I take a bit from Nobu, an amazing Japanese Chef who has now a whole load of restaurants, called Nobu. His food is not pure Japanese, but a fantastic fusion of local and Japanese cuisines. He worked for long time in Peru, so there is a strong South American influence.

The new style Sashimi is different from the normal Sashimi because just before serving the dish, hot, flavored oil gets poured on the meat, cooking it a bit, but still keeping it raw, the flavors you will get out of this dish are amazing

Just a word about the Yuzu. Yuzu are small Japanese lemons, very fragrant and different than the lemons used in theWest. The good thing is that Yuzu juice is nowadays widely available from good Asian stores

You might have some of the Soy-Yuzu sauce and the oil left, it is better to make a bit bigger quantities and keep for next time as it might be difficult to scrape the last bit of oil to pour over the meat

Recipe
600 g (20 oz) Kobe Sirloin (or Wagyu)
3 cloves Garlic
50 g (1.5 oz) Ginger
Chives
Toasted Sesame seeds
Garlic Chips

Yuzu Soy Sauce
100 ml Soy Sauce
60 ml Yuzu juice

180 ml Olive oil
50 ml Sesame Oil

Method
Cut the beef into thin slices about 3 mm thick
Pound then slightly
Arrange the beef attractively on the plates
Spread a little grated garlic on each slice of the meat
Top with a very fine ginger julienne and chives
Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds
Pour the Yuzu Soy sauce over the meat
Heat the oil to nearly smoking point
Carefully pour with a spoon a bit oil over the meat, it has to sizzle a bit
Garnish with garlic chips

Bangkok Night Market or how to make a special Cappuccino

Getting everything together for the Cappuccino

Today I like to tell you a bit from my travels on the ships. I have seen many corners of the world and tasted many foods, but sometimes one has experiences that are extra ordinary. I spent a lot of time on the different markets in the individual ports we went, for one of course to get some fresh goods, but then of course as well to educate myself more on local fruit and vegetables and often I saw new fruit, bought it and then we tried in the kitchen new dishes.

Having a smile at work

One of the funny experiences happened when we sailed to Thailand. We were actually docked in Patthaya, not too much I want to tell you about that port.........but our supplier suggested that we maybe should pay a visit to one of the big night markets up in Bangkok, one of the markets that is there for the restaurants, so not really open to the public, even so it is not closed so everybody can just walk in. Of course I said yes, I would love to go and then was able to invite some of my fellow chefs to come with.

Adding loads of coffee, sugar and powdered milk

He collected us at 1.30 in the morning, we needed a good hour to drive up to Bangkok and arrived just in time when the market was hustling and bustling. It is an amazing place to be, I had no idea where to start so we just followed our supplier. He was a great guide, coming from Denmark and married with a Thai lady, so she was there too and helped with translations.

The system is actually quite amazing. One goes through the market and if one wants to buy something, everything is of course only sold by box or crate, one negotiates the price. Then one has to pay and give the car registration number and the more or less direction where the car is parked. Then the food will be brought to the car.....at least that is how it was explained to me and amazingly it worked. When we were back at the car every single box of fruit and vegetables we bought that night was safely stored.

Pouring the coffee in the ice bag

Being on the market made me absolutely happy, we learned the finer things that make a difference, we tried Rambutan from the North and the South of Thailand and tasted the difference in sweetness, yes the one from the South is superior. We even tried Durian......one really has to love the taste... When the Durian is young it very much tastes like raw onions, but has a lovely yellow look. When the Durian gets ripe....ooohhhhh boy, then the flesh looks lovely like vanilla pudding, it smells and tastes like rotten eggs, caramba, what an experience and no, I am no fan of Durian.

Our take away "Cappuccino"

After all the walking and tasting the idea came up of having a cup of coffee, it was nearly 5 AM and we would be heading home soon. So there was a stand selling coffee and we ordered 5 Coffees. The question then was if we like it hot or as ice coffee. Ah yes, a ice cold coffee would be great, so the ladies started to work. One went away to get crushed ice in bags, the other one put 5 spoons full of Nescafe instant coffee...in each cup, then 5 spoons of sugar and the same amount of milk powder. Wow, I could not imagine drinking this coffee, it will be so strong that it must be nearly thick. But of course this was not the end, she added the hot water and then just after a little stirring simply poured the piping hot coffee into the ice filled bags. Then she looked at us, smiled and asked if we like Cappuccino? Yes, why not? So she took a tin of condense milk and poured a swirl onto each bag of coffee. A straw in bag and voila the Cappuccino was finish and believe me, it tasted just great.

Having coffee with the chefs and supplier, next to me Chef Tai, Chef Raf and Pastry Chef Wolfgang

We had an amazing night on the market, after having all worked a good 12 hour shift, having a couple of beers in the crew bar, then driving to Bangkok, seeing all these amazing fruit and vegetables, having a super coffee, we walked around a little longer and then at around 6 am went back to the ship in Pattaya. We had one more stop for a great breakfast consisting of Tom Yum and more, and then around 9 AM we were back, quick shower and starting another days work.........having an experience we all will never forget

Capsicum Soup

This time I like to share an old recipe of mine, something we did when I was still Executive Chef on "The World" There in the fine dining restaurant we had every week a different menu, just for 3 to four days in the evening. It was a lot of fun creating these menus, all the time with local products, freshly bought on the market.

Over time you will get a lot more of these recipes, it is because I found my old photos from the nearly 2 and a half years on this wonderful ship and I like to share with you a bit about the travels, the exotic destinations we went and of course about the food

This soup we made because I found these most amazing little mini Capsicums, or mini Red Peppers on the market. There were so wonderfully sweet and tasty. We simply roasted them with a little salt, pepper and olive oil in the oven, then opened them in the bottom carefully to get the pips out, then we peeled them and used them as a garnish for the soup, together with a roasted Prawn Tail and some grilled Zucchini.

To prepare the soup is really, really easy. I don't even roast them in the oven, I simply take out the pips, cut the green stalk away and then cook them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper till very soft. Then the whole thing gets blended and strained to make sure there is no skin. Like this you will preserve the beautiful red color of the Capsicum

Recipe
1 kg (2 lbs) Capsicum, red
250 g (10 oz) Onions
50 ml (2 oz) Olive oil
10 g (0.3 oz) Salt
Pepper
100 g (3.3 oz) Butter

10 each Mini Red Capsicum (if you can find them on a farmers market)
50 ml (2 oz) Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

250 g (9 oz) Baby Zucchini or Baby Marrows
30 ml (1 oz) Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

10 each Prawn Tails, peeled
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Method
Clean and cut the Red Capsicum
Cut the onions in small dices
Saute both in a little Olive Oil, without color
Add water that it is just covered
Season with Pepper and Salt
Simmer gently for 30 to 45 minutes
Blend and strain
Season to taste
Just before serving add ice cold Butter and mix the soup up

Mix the Baby Capsicum with Olive Oil and Seasoning
Roast in the oven till soft
Carefully peel and de-pip them

Heat the olive oil, saute the Prawn Tails, season to taste

Cut the Baby Zucchini in fine slices with a truffle cutter or similar, they should look a bit like noodles
Heat the Olive Oils and briefly fry the Zucchini in the oil
Season to taste

For the plating, garnish everything in the soup plate, then serve the soup separate

This should be enough for 10 Friends

Restaurant Review, Pepper Lunch in Aura Mall, Manila

This is the first time we went to the brand new SM Aura Mall in Manila......and wow, how fancy it all is. A total contrast to Market Market which is less than 5 minutes walk, basically opposite Aura Mall. The Mall is not yet fully opened, there are quite a few shops still not ready, but overall it is a very nice Mall, loads of space, everything is still shiny and polished, so definitely worth a try

There is a food court on the top level, next to the movies and there is a nice choice of food stalls, this time we wanted to try out Pepper Lunch, simply because the line in front of the restaurant was the longest one of all food outlet and I always like to go there where all the people go, it must be good. And good it was indeed. I was amazed at the simplicity of the concept, you choose your dish and then the chef just prepares it quickly on a sizzling hot metal plate, WOW.

The restaurant is a fairly new chain restaurant and there are branches popping up everywhere in Manila, but this is special, you see what they do on the plate. The choice in Aura Mall is a bit small, if you want to have a wider variety you need to go to Rockwell, but beware, the prices there are quite a bit higher.....location and rent I guess.

We had the Pepper Beef and the Teriyaki Beef, both were extremely nice and hot, yes of course, it is a sizzling plate and the food is piping hot. Be careful when you eat it or when you get it from the till as I was full of little sauce splatters over my shirt as I did not think about the food sizzling right in front of me, so to take precautions, even if a little late I used the serviette to protect me, hehehe, still plenty off little spots!

The idea is actually that you mix everything together, there is a pepper butter in the rice, so with mixing it it melts beautifully and flavors the rice. As the restaurant name gives it already away, it is peppery, so if you don't like black pepper, than this restaurant is nothing for you....we loved it.

Asparagus Terrine

Spring is coming, even so Europe just got another cold spell and a lot of snow, but yes spring is coming. With spring there is something else coming, one of my favorite vegetables, asparagus. I know nowadays one can buy asparagus the whole year round, but for me, April and May are the traditional Asparagus month when the fresh white asparagus is coming on the market. I love white asparagus, it has the wonderful taste, not as strong as the green asparagus, but lighter, more delicate and deeper. The queen of vegetables!

So what is the difference between green and white asparagus? Just the color, white asparagus never sees the sunlight, so there is no photosynthesis. When the asparagus grows it gets covered with mulch and black plastic. It does help to keep the flavor delicate and the asparagus stems tender.

We will have now a mini series of asparagus dishes, basically every dish except the asparagus soup, as I have made already a Blog with the recipe. I want to start with....yes you are right, another terrine. I admit, I love terrines, I love making them it is just something that is time consuming but at the same time relaxing. This terrine is gelatin based, so everything gets put together and then chilled in the cold room.

If you like to see photos of the entire menu, feel free to check out the Country Gourmet Traveler Face book site, there you can have a preview on the recipes to come.....or if you are patient enough, the recipes will feature soon here.

Recipe
750 g Asparagus white
750 g Asparagus green
300 G Parma ham
300 ml Asparagus stock
18 Ea Gelatin

1 Kg Potatoes
50 G Parma Ham
50 G Spring onions
50 Ml Oil
750 Ml Chicken stock

Method
Cook the white asparagus till soft in the traditional way
Blanch the green asparagus till soft, then chill in ice water
Cut the Parma ham thinly

Lay out a terrine form with plastic wrap
Then put a layer of Parma ham all around

Soak the gelatin in cold water
Then melt it in the warm asparagus stock

Put one layer of asparagus in the terrine, always
alternating white and green
Then add some gelatin
Repeat till the terrine is full
Close with a layer of Parma ham
Cool in the fridge over night

Cook the potatoes in the chicken stock
Take the potatoes out, cut in cubes and add them back
in the stock to marinate
Fry some Parma ham in the pan with a little oil
When hard and crisp take out and cool
Crumble the Parma ham

Make a salad with the potatoes, stock and balsamic
Mix in the spring onions at the end

Plate a slice of terrine on a large white plate
Add some potato salad, sprinkle with the Parma ham powder
Garnish with garden leaves like frisee and rocket
Add a slice of Parma ham to it

Foie Gras and Chicken Liver

One is French the other English? No, of course not. But calling goose liver Foie Gras just sounds more elegant. They are basically both livers, one from the chicken and one from the goose. But there is one huge difference, the goose liver is from a force fed animal. At least partly force fed. Already the ancient Romans enjoyed catching the geese when going south in late autumn, their liver big and fatty for the long journey.

Of course there is no comparison to the goose liver of today. Today, the geese are fed till the liver has a size that nearly fills the entire stomach cavity, not good, I admit. So the goal is to find a producer that produces the liver more natural, they are a lot smaller, but still have this lovely flavor.

I like to combine goose and chicken liver. There are several reasons for it, one is that they are both different in taste, but still compliment each other. And then there is of course a cost factor, it is a lot cheaper to do a goose liver terrine and then stretch it a bit, but still have it full of flavor

The recipe is actually totally easy, I got it from a great chef in Switzerland a couple of years ago and I am still doing it regularly.

250 g Foie Gras
250 g Kg Chicken liver, cleaned
250 g Butter
3 Eggs
25 ml Brandy or Cognac

Clean the foie gras and cut in 2 cm pieces
Blend the chicken liver, then strain through a fine sieve
Melt the butter, add to the chicken liver
Beat the eggs and add to the mix
Add Brandy and season to taste......yes you should taste the mix before cooking it, sounds terrible but can avoid that your terrine is too salty or lacks salt

Lay out a terrine form with plastic wrap
Pour the mix in the terrine form, then add the foie gras pieces
Cover and poach carefully at 80C for about 45 minutes.

Cool in the fridge, un mould and slice

Serve with a little port reduction and a crispy salad