A taste of Morocco: Potatoes Maekouda

We have just opened a new restaurant in the hotel, called Marrakesh. and of course being a beautiful city in Morocco, we are serving Moroccan snacks and delicacies together with traditional tea and coffee and of course Shisha.

The restaurant is absolutely beautiful, being situated next to our Liquid Bar, one can relax on the carpets and sofas, the swimming pool in front, and then of course the waves splashing against the rock, really a relaxing place to be

When it comes to the food, we went as authentic as possible, our two Moroccan chefs really worked hard to get everything ready on time and after the food tasting, a first evening with all the senior management and a pre-opening cocktail party, we are starting today with being open to our hotel guests.

To make the dish of today is really, really easy. It is basically mashed potatoes flavored with some braised onions, then crumbed and deep fried. Like this you will get a deliciously light interior with the crispy and crunchy outer part

You can easily do that in advance and freeze, just do the crumbing a la minute, then fry immediately and serve 

Recipe
1 kg Potatoes
100 g Onions
10 g Salt
2 g Pepper, white, ground
3 ea Eggs
150 g Panko Crumbs
100 g Flour

Method
Peel the potatoes and boil in salt water till soft
Dry the potatoes in the oven a bit
Put them through a potato masher
Chop the onions finely and fry in olive oil without color, then mix with the potatoes and season
Form discs of about 50 g each
Beat the eggs
Put potatoes in flour, then eggs, then crumbs
Deep fry and serve immediately

Beef Tartar with Salmon Roe

I always feel that Amuses or Amuse Bouche are such an important part of a meal. It is the business card from the kitchen, the little surprise that gets the guests going, the start of a great meal.

As the name says it already the Amuse Bouche is a bit like a teaser to the taste buts, the preview of things to come. I have eaten in some of the best restaurants in France where the kitchen would serve even an Amuse for the desserts, the pastry liking to show off as well.

The beef tartar is actually a very easy to make amuse. At the same time it is a dish I would only eat in a reputable restaurant as it has its dangers when eating raw meat. It really has to be super fresh and the hygienic conditions in the kitchen have to be top

I like to mix in some different flavors so this time I added some salmon roe and crème fraiche. All together it is a lovely experience of the meat flavors, the saltiness of the roe and the creaminess of the crème fraiche

Here is the recipe for 4 friends (starter portion)

320 g Beef fillet or any other lean and tender cut

50 g Onions

10 g Garlic

25 g Spring onions

10 g Mustard (Moutarde de Meaux)

Salt

Pepper

10 ml Olive oil

60 g Salmon Roe

40 g Crème Fraiche

Method

Cut the meat in very fine cubes, I prefer it like this as you have more texture to the dish.

Chop the onions and garlic very fine

Cut the spring onions

Mix the meat with all ingredients except the roe and crème fraiche

Season to taste

Plate the tartar in small rings

Garnish with roe and crème fraiche

Optionally garnish the tartar with a sweet potato chip and or a small salad

Prawns on Avocado Tartar

Here is something really simple, you can make it quick and even on short notice, have some cooked prawns in the freezer and an avocado in the fridge and basically you have everything you need to do this little but very effective and delicious starter. I am a strong believer of having always something as a back up that when friends pop over it is easy and fast prepared, the title sounds grand, but basically all it is Guacamole with Prawns, shushed up a little bit, but here the recipe

Just some useless information about the prawns, or shrimp in certain countries. When you buy them they are either called by a name like Giant, King, Queen which means the size, or you get number, like 21/25, 15/20, 9/15. This shows you the size as well, the number means how many prawns are in each Kilo (2.2 lbs) so the smaller the number, the bigger the prawn. For general cooking 21/25 are perfect, if I BBQ and have them butterfly I try to go for bigger Prawns. In Asia you get the huge ones 2/3!!!! they are nearly the size of a lobster and taste delicious!

2 ea Avocados
0.5 ea Onions
1 ea Red Chili
Lime Juice
Salt
Pepper

16 ea Prawns (21/25) cooked
20 ml Olive oil
10 ml Lemon juice
Sea Salt
Pepper

For the avocados, cut the onions in very fine cubes, then de-seed the chili and chop. Peel the avocados and cut in cubes. Mix all ingredients and season to taste.

Marinate the prawns in olive oil, Lime juice, salt and pepper, leave for a couple of hours

To plate put the avocado in a round form and then dress the prawns on top of the avocado.

Garnish with some micro herbs

Salmon Confit on Parsnip Puree

Another nice starter we did here on Orion. Cooking with the guys is really fun here. It is a dedicated team of 11 chefs and Utilities and I can honestly say that it is a pleasure to be with these guys. Everybody works hard and the food that comes out of the galley every day is really good. I would love to be a guest and enjoy the daily treats

Salmon Confit


500 g (17 oz) Salmon Fillet
Coarse salt
Pepper
Bay Leaves
Lemon Zest
Olive oil

Make sure the salmon fillet is trimmed off all the fat (dark pieces), then rub it with coarse salt and pepper.

Put the salmon in an oven proof container, just big enough to hold it. Add the other spices and then submerge completely with olive oil. Heat the dish on the stove till the is about 55 C hot. Transfer the dish to the oven and poach at around 90 C till the salmon is still translucent, but flaky (about 30 minutes). Cool down and leave in the oil till you use it.

Pull the flakes carefully apart.

Parsnip Cream

500 g (17 oz) Parsnip, peeled and grated

250 ml (8fl.oz) cream

250 ml (8fl.oz) milk

3 leaves of gelatin, soaked

100 ml (3½fl.oz) cream, semi whipped

2 Tablespoons virgin olive oil, a light variety

100 g (3 oz) Shallots

½ cup baby leaves– basil, celery, parsley, cress  

Tomato Jelly

1 kg tomatoes, eyes removed

1 tablespoon Tabasco

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

35 ml (¼fl.oz) Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar

20 ml (¾fl.oz) verjuice

35 ml (¼fl.oz) Vodka

4 leaves of gelatin, soaked

For the Parsnip Cream, 
heat a large bottomed pot to high heat, sweat the eschalot until translucent, add the grated parsnip, cream and milk and continue to simmer on a high heat until tender, stirring occasionally.

Using a food processor, purée the parsnip until smooth and pass through a fine strainer and cool.

In a small saucepan, heat a quarter of the parsnip purée, adding the squeezed gelatin leaves to it and stir until melted and completely incorporated. Fold this warm mixture very quickly back into the cool parsnip puree and 

Marinated Artichokes

We are back in Baltimore, our home port for the Caribbean Season. As usual turn around days are hectic for everybody, but exciting at the same time. We have around 1800 guest leaving the ship after having had a great vacation (the weather was great, the ports beautiful and the beach BBQ stunning) and then after the ship gets cleaned from top to bottom, another 1800 guest are joining us, looking forward to a nice vacation. This time we will be out for 12 days doing the Eastern Caribbean with ports like St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Johns and St. Maarten........looks like we are visiting all the Saints in the Caribbean!

Anyway, this time in Baltimore we had to go out and get some special dishes for the ship, we have a Tapas station in one of our outlets and need to get more plates....not an easy thing in Baltimore. We were driving around for quite a while till we found everything and instead of just popping out for a short while it became a mission and a half, but we got what we needed, now we can continue doing our Tapas which are serve with live music, it is either our String Quartet that plays or we have a great Piano player

So my question to all the people in Baltimore, where can I find a really fantastic Kitchen Equipment store that has a great variety of China ware????? Help me here, please.

I still haven't gone to explore Baltimore, but what I could see so far is that it is a beautiful City, close to Washington DC. Two of my chefs went out to visit family and went all the way to see the White House....what an amazing experience I hope one day I can get there too!

So talking about Tapas, I got another Tapas Recipe, again, nice and simple, but very tasty

Marinated Artichokes

Ingredients

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) Artichoke quarters (Tinned)

30 g (1 oz) Shallots

15 g (0.5 oz) Garlic

A little bit Tarragon

A little bit Oregano

Kosher salt

White pepper

Olive Oil

Preparation

Drain artichokes

Chop herbs finely

Mix all ingredients carefully

Season to taste

Marinate over night

Marinated Kalamata Olives

Let's do some Tapas and start very, very easy. I love Tapas, it is not just good in summer, but simply every day, something to nibble with a good glass of wine. We are doing Tapas on our ship and it is very popular in the late afternoon in Cova Cafe. There is beautiful life Music, one can of course still have coffees too, but there is a very nice selection of wines too and what could be better then listening to some wonderful music, fresh Tapas and a glass of wine.

So, here is the recipe, really very simple

2 lbs Kalamata Olives

2 Quart Olive Oil

1 Bunch Thyme

4 Lemon zested

4 Orange zested

4 oz. Shallots chopped

4 oz. Garlic chopped

Drain the olives

Add all ingredients

Marinate for 1 day

By the way, just some travel updates. We just finished a beautiful Caribbean Cruise sailing out of Baltimore and going down to Labadee in Haiti for a great beach BBQ, then to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, San Juan and St. Maarten. Yes I am spoilt to be able to go to all these places, great weather and it is nice and warm. Always when we get to Baltimore I get a hint of winter....big hint as it can get feezing here.Life is good here on one of the beautiful Celebrity Ships, especially as a chef as food and wine is one of he high lights here on a Celebrity Cruise.