Treat of the Week

A tribute to one of my favourite – if not absolute favourite – Venetian dishes, “Baccala Mantecato” i.e. creamed salt cod, served with polenta, but not usually in the form of fat fries … so this is an India, or rather Indian palate friendly version, and whilst the tuna is no substitute for salt cod, I suspect it is far more accessible to the local palate, besides which these perfectly crunchy fat fries with their preciously airy interior take precedence in this assembly.

I have indeed returned to the pork ribs, for they yield the most succulent meat, and I have been able to source blocks of ribs locally from www.artisanmeats.in, which allows me to cut and use them in a variety of ways …

In the month of May this year, (i.e. 2025) at a gelateria in Rome, Italy, I tasted a Zabaglione semi-freddo for the very first time, and it absolutely blew my mind … hence my version, in the absence of a churner, frozen & then unfrozen, chaperoned by a filo pastry cigar that is part of an old repertoire of mine and not only adds texture but also a little bit of ‘je ne sais quoi’ … best enjoyed in a micro dose, on to the recipe I go …

Yes, I do have a passion for duck, and in my youth, each time I travelled to France, this is a dish I ordered without fail whenever it was available on a restaurant menu. A French classic, ’Canard a l’orange’, even though the Italians like to take credit for it, as they do with a number of French dishes they claim were bequeathed to France by the Medici court …

Et Voila, round 3 of the Modern European Thali Service, comprising a carefully chosen selection of recipes from DiyaSethi.com, in part color coordinated with my fabulous new acquisition from ‘The House of Things’, the Gulmohar Kansa Thali …

A dessert as synonymous with France as the Eiffel tower, which I have combined with our very own home grown brand of ice cream, ‘Chubby Cheeks’, and that too the very original and absolutely delicious  ‘Holy Cannoli’ flavour that is in a league of its own.

My penchant for purism may be going down the tube, but I must say that I have tested this out as an hors d’oeuvre at two dinner parties thus far, and am pleased to report that it has been a resounding success…sour and sweet, fragile yet robust … in short an altogether seductive medley of flavours and textures, and super simple to construct.

So this may be called a ‘two for one’, since last week I demonstrated the making of a chicken mousse with which to stuff a ballotine, and I hereby show you how to transform the leftover mousse into the most delicious quenelles served atop a sweetcorn velouté … it’s easy, elegant & pretty darn exquisite.

… Served EITHER with Glazed Onions, Sauteed Mushrooms, Port & Brandy Enriched Cream Sauce, OR with Indian Ginger & Cumin Tempered Peas & Mushrooms, ‘Butter Chicken’ Gravy

Once again, I decided to try a little Indo-European partnership, and even if I say so myself, this too works like a dream … since each & every Indian home kitchen has their own unique versions of both tempered peas & mushrooms, aka ‘mushroom matar’, and butter chicken …

I do so love this unequivocally delicate, delicious and even somewhat coquettish little dish, which may be served as either an hors d’oeuvre or one of two miniature starters as part of a five course meal, lest your guests feel cheated!

The charming little story behind how, or rather why, I came up with this concoction, pertains to a Japanese tasting menu cooked with surgical precision by a friend at his home, in which his stand out dish was the classic Japanese Chawanmushi, crowned with seaweed & shrimp …

The origin of this most precious dessert lies in a picture postcard perfect little village in the south west of France, called Clermont, where I was taken on holiday many years ago by a French friend of mine, and it was at the principal bakery of Clermont, renowned for its pies, locally known as ‘Croustades’, for which every day without fail, there is a queue of people extending all the way around the village, that we discovered their meringue …

Once again, this is a dish inspired by one of Chef Prateek Sadhu’s culinary masterpieces, which I had the good fortune of tasting at NAAR on my last visit, and it has given me immense satisfaction to use this de-boning technique for pork ribs for the very first time, and to then be able to trim them down to the perfect proportion of meat and fat …

And here we go, round 2 of the Modern European Thali Service … but this time a slightly different format to the first, although both are equally efficient depending on the selection of dishes … this selection is served in four courses, one at a time, in individual wide surface bowls that are part of the thali set, courtesy Rezon luxury silverware, with the final main course protein served directly onto the leaf …

Now, I am not going pretend to be nonchalant about this one, for I am hyper-excited with the result of my trial, the origin of which is my love of Chef Manish Mehrotra’s Dodha Barfi Tart at the famed Indian Accent restaurant, and this is my way of paying a tribute to both the dessert and its creator.

And yes indeed, this is quite a sensation with respect to the textural transformation of the principal ingredient, made all the more enticing with the addition of what is a Dodha barfi infused butter toffee sauce …

Since we are on the threshold of the so called season to be jolly, which in reality, as families reunite for the holidays, is a period of heightened agitation and collective irritation, mitigated only by the consumption of vast amounts of alcohol that  facilitate the requisite merriment, I couldn’t think of a better recipe to present to you this week.

Not one for the waist watchers, but hey, who cares … as far as we know, we only live once, and the denial of all pleasure creates the kind of stress that will kill you much faster than the occasional added calorie … that said, this does not qualify as a fattening dish by any stretch of the imagination! Moreover, outside the US, this is not a salad that many F&B outlets do well, so for the Caesar lovers in New Delhi, India, here’s how you can tickle your taste buds at home the quick and easy way …

The showcasing of a partnership, as opposed to a marriage, between east and west, which unlike the latter does not demand or require a part submission, adulteration or embellishment of its members’ respective personalities & identities … why this?