Saturday, January 22, 2011

Tapas,Prawn and Bacon Brochettes,Tiramisu ice cream,Savour These Appetisers Liquor Treats





When your appetisers are so good, you don't want them to end, or the desserts so yummy, you'd rather skip the main course, then it's time to savour the world of tapas and liquor desserts.

Liquor desserts

"Today's well-travelled guests experience different cuisines worldwide and look for international food and beverage offerings in their own city," feels Rossano Renzelli, Executive Sous Chef, The Westin Mumbai Garden City. And when it comes to desserts, who wouldn't offer their taste buds a slice of experimentation? Renzelli explains, "In order to cater to the well-honed palate, we introduced a wide selection of interesting liquor-based desserts such as Sambuca Sorbet and Baileys gelato. Liquor-based desserts are preferred by most guests, both Indian and international, because they are light and not too sweet, as compared to other local desserts. And, they also help compliment other food flavours."

Another reason leading to the popularity of liquor-based desserts is the influx of international tourists in India. "Thanks to an increase in the number of international tourists visiting India, it has now become a necessity to experiment with food. And since a variety of liquor are now available in India, liquor-based desserts are finding a larger audience," sums up Chef Prabhakar, Pastry Chef at Courtyard by Marriott Mumbai International Airport.

The most popular liquors used in desserts are:
  • Kahlua
  • Baileys
  • Cointreau
  • Sambuca


Tapas
Served in all the bars across Spain, tapas are appetisers or snacks that are eaten as an accompaniment to drinks and has slowly but surely gotten famous all over the world.

"A Tapas bar with its small portions and numerous options caters to both a restaurant and bar setting making it accessible to most food-a-holics. We serve a full menu of small plate offerings, making it a pleasurable mix of cuisine so that everyone can taste a host of things. Tapas, a mainstay of Spanish cuisine and probably the closest European cuisine to the Indian palate, make it digestible and easy to relate to here," offers Tricia Batliwalla, director of Valhalla.

Try this at home!

Tiramisu ice cream
Serves: 4

Ingredients
1500ml Fresh milk
500ml Fresh cream
500gm Mascarpone cheese
400gm Egg yolks
1 Vanilla bean
300ml Kahlua liqueur
300gm Amaretti biscuits

Method

1. Combine the egg yolks and vanilla
2. Place the milk and cream into a sauce pan and bring to the boil
3. Pour the hot cream onto the egg yolks and put back onto the heat until in becomes thick
4. Remove the vanilla bean and allow the mixture to cool
5. Add the Kahlua and start to churn in an ice cream machine
6. Half way through the churning, crumble in the Amaretti biscuits

Prawn and Bacon Brochettes
Makes 12 units

Ingredients
142 gm thinly sliced bacon
24 medium to large uncooked, headless prawns, peeled
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 lemons, quartered

Method

1. Cut the bacon into pieces which will wrap the prawns completely.
2. Place the wrapped prawns on a board and skewer them through the fattest part and the tail, making sure the bacon is firmly fixed.
3. Season them generously with pepper and drizzle them with olive oil.
4. On a high heat, grill or barbecue the prawn and bacon brochettes for 2-3 minutes on each side, so the bacon becomes crispy.
6. Squeeze over the juice of the lemon wedges and serve immediately.

No comments:

Post a Comment