Starter
By Sinju Varghese, head chef at Emirates Palace’s seafood brasserie Sayad
Sayad ceviche and fish platter
Ingredients
60g Fresh tuna
60g Fresh salmon
60g Fresh hammour/snapper
20g Avocado
5g Mayonnaise
1 Lemon
5g Caper berries
5g Chives
Chop 80 percent of the three fish for the tartar and slice the remaining 20 percent thinly for ceviche. Dice the avocado and mix it with mayonnaise and lemon juice.
Vinaigrette
15ml Lemon juice
100ml Extra virgin olive oil
3g Dijon mustard
5g Honey
3g Salt
15g Fresh ginger
10g Fresh Thai chili
For the vinaigrette
• In a mixing bowl put in the mustard, honey, salt and lemon juice, mix it thoroughly and gradually add the olive oil whisking well.
• Equally divide the vinaigrette into three parts, add finely chopped chili to one part for chili vinaigrette and ginger to another part for the ginger vinaigrette.
• Keep the last part for the lemon vinaigrette.
For the ceviche
• Mix the tuna tartar with the ginger vinaigrette, salmon tartar with the lemon vinaigrette and hammour tartar with lemon vinaigrette.
• Fill all three into three different moulds and arrange in the centre of a serving platter and dress with lemon vinaigrette and chopped chives. • Garnish with caper berries and serve it with toasted baguette. Serves two.
Dessert
By Cyril Calmet, chef de cuisine at Pearls & Caviar
Ricotta beignets with caramel chocolate sauce
Ingredients
4 Large eggs
75g Sugar
3g Salt
5g Orange zest
450g High quality ricotta
280g All purpose flour
2.5g Baking powder
Caramel chocolate sauce
530g Whole milk
200g Callebaut 100% Cocoa Mass (Callet or coarse block)
900g Callebaut caramel loaf, cut into small pieces.
For the beignets
• In a bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, orange zest and juice, 75g sugar and ricotta cheese at a low speed.
• Sift the flour and baking powder together, then gently fold into the ricotta mixture using a spatula, being careful not to overmix.
• Cook portions of the dough in a deep fat fryer.
For the caramel chocolate sauce
• In a saucepan, heat the milk until it simmers.
• Add the cocoa mass to the milk, then stir in the small pieces of caramel loaf.
• Using a handwhisk, mix well and thoroughly over a low heat until the caramel is completely melted and the sauce is smooth.
To finish
• The beignets are best served warm, drizzled with warm caramel chocolate sauce.
Classic roast turkey
By Cladys Magagna, executive chef at Fairmont Bab Al Bahr
You will need a large roasting pan fitted with a roasting rack, a brush or turkey baster, and a meat thermometer.
Ingredients
6-7kg Whole turkey
100ml Vegetable oil
20g Freshly ground black pepper
75g Dijon mustard
20g Salt
250g Unsalted butter 350g Onion, quartered
350g Celery sticks
5g Rosemary
Method
• 24 hours before roasting the turkey, remove all contents from the cavity, including the giblets (heart, liver and gizzard) and the neck.
• Using generous pinches of salt, rub all over the turkey, including under the skin covering the breast.
• Smear the turkey with black pepper and Dijon mustard.
• Place the turkey in a dish or on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until the next day.
• Heat the oven to 210°C.
• Pat the turkey dry inside and out with paper towels and tuck the wing tips back and underneath. Rub a generous amount of vegetable oil inside the cavity and all over the outside.
• Break butter into little chunks and place them under the skin covering the breast (optional).
• Use rosemary, onions and celery as the bed on the tray or to stuff the cavity while roasting the bird. This will infuse the flavours into the bird during the roasting process.
• Place the turkey in the oven, breast up, and leave for 15 minutes to colour.
• Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160°C and allow to cook for close to 2½ hours, basting every 20 minutes with the pan juices.
• Roast until the turkey registers 70°C (using a meat thermometer inserted into the inner thigh) or until the juices in the thigh run clear when pierced with a knife.
• Remove the turkey from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes before carving.
