SEAFOOD AT IT'S SUBLIME BEST

Red mullet, tick.  Bivalve clams, tick.  Fresh prawns, great stock, silky freshly made pasta tick tick tick.

The seafood items are difficult for most people to source for one dish but here in Dubai we have the most sublime of seafood it is actually possible to do such a stunning creation.  The red mullet is a local catch (as are the prawns and clams).  Fresh as fresh and fresh off the boat.  An absolute honour to fillet, pin bone, de vein, clean, everything.  Fresh from the sea is fresh from the sea.  It's all just so sensationally clean smelling that dealing with it becomes a pleasure rather than a chore.

Tonight, we cooked together.  We made a stock from the red mullet bones and prawn heads (saving one full prawn each.  We love eating the heads (and for those of you who are saying yuk - I feel pity), saffron, pastis, white wine, fennel, onion, dill the usual then reduced.

Pasta is an easy knock up and fresh is best.  Dried has an unusually slimey texture.  Fine for a knock up but given an extra 10 minutes the fresh stuff is so silky it does not ever compete with dried (no matter what you read and Italians do not use dried pasta unless they are out of time which is common place.  Fresh is a different ingredient that cannot be compared).

We cooked the prawns, cleaned of vein but with the shell on, in a hot pan. The shell imparts so much flavour and cooked in a little oil on a searing heat means they are edible and lend a lovely crunch (along with the taste).  The clams went into the reduced stock in the final moments before tossing through the pasta.  A little fresh chopped fennel and tomato, dill and chives were added as a finishing touch.

Without a doubt one of the best seafood dishes we have had ever anywhere.  No this is not an exaggeration.  Pure essence of the sea beautifully balanced.  The additions of anise flavours, sweetness and acidity along with a little saffron.  Very difficult to fault and who wants to fault a dish that all you are doing is eating and not touching the wine which was one of Slovenia's finest.

On to the wine.  We picked it up from the wine maker who owned the villa in which we stayed late May. A Sauvignon but not as you know it.  Mealy, nutty and generous (in both taste and % by volume, it came in at a whacking 15%!  No wonder it was a good night!!)

What the photo does not show is the saffron aioli which we added at the end and the silky pasta coated in stock underneath.  These brought the dish together and ... well yes as I said I'd be happy to eat it anywhere, anytime. To have it at home was a treat beyond my mere words. YUM happy tum.

Beef with 'Raji' sauce

A while ago I discovered a ready made Indian line of spice pastes which put all other spice pastes to shame.  Raji make incredible chutneys too (and I'm not talking about over sweetened mango jobs which taste like jam, their chutneys are fresh and absolutely zinging).

The spice paste though is the stuff of gods.  It is cooked at high heat to give off a seriously toasty flavour.  To do it at home would mean your kitchen would smell of said spices for well over a week.  They would be very very difficult to replicate and whilst I rarely buy ready made anything, Raji is my exception.

The variations I buy are rogan josh paste, chicken tikka paste and chicken tikka masala paste.  I put some of the richly coloured paste in a pot, add a little sherry vinegar, salt sugar and water and mix up a sauce that is beyond words in depth of beautifully balanced indian spice flavour.  Each one I've tried are delicious and I vary depending on mood but basically each paste works with any protein.

This dish was therefore simple as anything.  Some 'Raji' sauce (this time the rogan josh version) served simply with fennel and star anise crusted beef fillet (cooked rare), green beans and beetroot.  Yum.
Job done.

Chardonnay

We have had a few wines over the decades (a few too many I would surmise). 

Chardonnay in New Zealand was my personal kicking off point for enjoying fabulous wine.  In the early 90s NZ had started to hit its straps it would have appeared.   Black label Villa Maria, Kumeu River Chardonnay along with their Mate’s Kumeu River, moving on to  Clos de Ste Anne (Milton estate)  along with the sublime Ararimu Chard and the unequivocal Neudorf Moutere .    Generous with oak, mealy nutty and absolutely huge.   That was the chardonnay back in the day and I loved it.

I recollect a rather drunken evening at Mama Rossa’s in Kohi (a guess? 1992) when Andy and I had this idea of taking some bottles of Kumeu River chardonnay to France (a place we had NEVER been to) and suggesting these ‘French’ tasted it and understood great chardonnay!.   How very naïve of me.    The intentions were good, the grounding and intellectual understanding of wine, history and specifics of flavour - absolutely flawed. 

I love NZ … geez  it’s me and will always be but to think the chardonnays of NZ are the epitome of chardonnay?… sorry guys but no it’s just not.  There lacks a flintiness, a freshness, a balance of vanilla versus the oak….even the great ones -  I might have missed something along the way over the decades but … no it’s not present.  I went off chardonnay altogether until recently and rediscovering it in a different style – the French style.

Pouligney Montrechet specifically.  The fact this village delivers pretty much the best the world can offer in chardonnay, well a teeny bit ridiculous on my part not to have heard of it (but I admit my European wine study focuses on reds apart from the whites of Alsace and Mosel whites due to my peskiness with the chardonnay grape).    No excuses, I have been narrow in my focus for far too long. 

The whites from this very small village are superb.  SUPERB.  Sublime.  SUBLIME.  Unreal.  UNREAL.  Get my drift?  I kind of like them.   I have yet to try the big granddaddy Grand Cru but the entry levels and Premier Crus are stunning.  Not cheap.  The basic whites even buying them from the celler doors start at around 20Euro (expensive for Europe) and escalate rapidly depending on cru and age.  One day I want to get a fully aged Grand Cru….and I shall.  For now feeling like I’ve rediscovered an old friend who has a far more refined and polished finish is comforting and very very delicious.

Venison fillet

Venison fillet dusted with dried orange, star anise, fennel, ground beetroot and leek ash served with braised cabbage and consume (I’m in love with consume!) with dill flowers and fresh dill.  The venison was cooked rare as it should be,  sublimely tender and just damn delicious.

Beef Carpaccio, tomato granita, chorizo crumbs, dill emulsion and horseradish.

An intriguing combination of textures, temperatures and flavours.  A light starter with a powerful hit of flavour.  The South African beef fillet available here is so tender it absolutely melts.  Stunning.

Duck with orange, star anise and freeze dried passionfruit

An absolute knockout.  Confit duck cooked crisp, dusted with oven dried and ground star anise and orange rind mixed with freeze dried passionfruit (thanks Tim and Sandra!).  On a bed of softly imbued saffron celeriac puree with braised white cabbage and white wine with roasted fennel.  I also added a dressing of beetroot juice and pomegranate molasses to give it vibrance and acidity.  As I said, an absolute knock out.   Not a looker but a keeper.

Beetroot cured salmon with the best of India

I do like curing salmon before cooking it.  The curing process firms the texture slightly extracting extra moisture and giving the salmon flesh a beautiful texture when just cooked.

I keep the cure off the skin so that the skin still crisps up beautifully when cooked rather than burn as the cure contains some sugar.  Beetroot cured salmon is so pretty in colour.  The taste of the beetroot doesn't come through, it's purely an aesthetic thing and worth it.

I served this with fennel tomato sauce from my Rasoi cookbook.  I paired it with pea.  Basically fennel seed, anise seed, cumin and fresh ginger cooked off together, peas added then roughly blended to create a rough puree (rather than a fine puree).  I then froze it and scraped it like granita.

This really came together rather well in my opinion.  The flavours were spot on, the textures and contrasting temperatures created a unique mouth feel and one that was incredible.  More than the sum of it's parts.

Smoked salmon salad

Quality smoked salmon, beetroot, grated horse radish, leek yoghurt, roasted fennel seed, pickled cucumber and avocado.  Classic flavours....

Asian braised and pressed pork belly

Pork belly, braised and slow cooked.  Cooled then pressed  for 48 hours.  Finally, cooked skin side down.  This is not a crackling dish (highly overrated in my opinion) this is a pork dish identifying the essence of delicious unctuous meat with a fully rendered, sticky skin.  Sublime. 

The pork was  braised in a mix of South East Asian spices, served with Asian steamed buns (home made, they're fun),  a punchy salad of ginger and kaffir lime leaf , spinach and lime along with freshly grilled prawns. 

Ummmm???…yummmm!!!

Pastis cured crispy skin salmon with cucumber and pastis

Pastis cured salmon being first job as it takes 24 hours – tick

Leek yoghurt horseradish – tick

Cucumber cured in cucumber vinegar – tick

Crispy cooked pastis cured salmon….yes tick.

Roasted fennel – tick

Dressed with a little fresh cucumber vinegar and pastis – tick.

Grand cru Chablis - tripple tick!!!

Andy came up with an idea of incorporating avocado for it’s richness and creamy texture…next time that will be a tick.  Overall a compelling dish.  One to be recreated with an addition of avocado.  Non bene but who cares!