The art of quick and light cooking...... the californian way.....

If i remember correctly and this was in october 2003 and i was doing Kitchen Management Training Programme ..... with the Park group of hotels a boutique class of hotels operating in India ...and i was based in their Chennai unit .... our then executive chef came up with an idea of opening a poolside restaurant on the eigth floor of the hotel..... very true that the swimming pool was on the eighth floor of the hotel...to serve a very different concept of cuisine there.... he termed it as Californian New world cuisine ... and nobody had even heard about this cuisine and neither knew how was it like to cook Californian new world food.....he made us watch a couple of food presentations and they were absolutely artistic.... and he said this is similar to what i want to serve there..... first of all to undersatnd this cuisine was a challenge.... He said its all about using fresh and local ingredients in cooking and presenting it extremely artistic.....
The first doubts to arise here:- Is any kind of food cooked and presented artistically californian cuisine.?
Going back to the history shortly this cuisine was basically introduced by a american lady called Alice Waters in 1971 ..... when she made her first trip to France and there she ate in local smalltime trattoria { a kind of family run restaurants basically serving homely n fresh food for example produced in their own farms and then cooked}... Fascinated she went back and along with couple of her friends opened a restaurant named Chez Pannise....which basically served French food but with a local produce and local flavour.... and this is what is supposed to be the so called roots of this cuisine....and Alice Waters was thus inventor of this cuisine which was strictly no import no frozen food.....
As this cuisine is not based on any restrictions on usage of ingredients focus was mainly made on using organic , healthy ingredients, shifting focus from greasy and heavy food to food cooked in olive oil and herb infused oils.... from using plain rice to using organically grown red rice and black rice.... thers.... so much to experiment in this cuisine ..... So with this concept in mind and the pictures and his research on this cuisine the restaurant was finally opened and till date can assure you they serve the best in the country.....
Some of the delicacies of that restaurant was a PANZANELLA { a salad of fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, spanish jumbo olives , Greek Feta and fresh basil and Pepper}, A Summer fruit salad on Cranberry Jelly, A Streudel of mushrooms with Almond Couscous , A Typical Thai infusion of Lamb Massaman Curry with Organic red rice.... are some all time favourites....
cooking this cuisine is very easy but just make sure that u are using the freshest fish,or meat or vegetable or fruits available......grown locally.....use lot of olive oils for salads and cooking fish, use fresh herbs as in DILL for fish , ROSEMARY for chicken and THYME for red meats and SAGE for Pork.....
Its worth givin it a try and i am sure yout beloved ones are going to pat your backs and say WELL DONE!!!!!
Cheers and Happy Cooking!!!!!

the art of latin american cookin.......wild.......

Prior to my assignment in the united kingdom i was in chennai doin californian new world cuisine.... again confusin isnt it..... too many cusines unheard of.... but yes there is so much indepth to do in the field of culinary these days.... most of us to include me before i studied the course of culinary used to have a norm in mind anything that was not indian and chinese was continental..... it included mexican, italian and god knows the list...... but i must appreciate the fact that people have become much adventourous these days and have an idea of cuisines like italian ..... as its gainin popularity for being fresh , light and health friendly.....
comin back to my title i kept wondering what would latin american cuisine restaurant serve... and the place i work is one of its kind in the United Kingdom..... mean there are extremely few competitors for this cuisine..... yet... but this blog of mine will take u all thru a rough guided tour.....
First of all when i landed here i was given a company handbook called the Rough Guide.... which basically talked about the regions which come in Latin america.... namely to say Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico , Spain, Cuba and theres lot of small countries to the list......
the guide talked about their food and drinkin habits.....
first of all their drinkin habits let me tell you are crazy .... they produce somethin called as Cachaca { native liquer produced and distilled from sugarcane and aged in oak casks}...... still remains an all time favorite..... which this cachaca a cocktail is made called Caprinha {basically this liquer is mixed with lot of lemon and flaked ice and caster sugar....... tastes WOW!!!!} should try
cookin latin food id more influenced with spanish cooking as these people have a habit of eating lot of nibbles called TAPAS.... or basically starters ... these need not be very elaborate but will be as simple as freshly baked breads and olives{ the peruvian olives is a favorite which is soaked in olive oil and paprika and lot of herbs}
they indeed eat of lot of fish i all kinds of preparations{ fish cooked in a sauce,, grilled or roastes fish} these dishes called PESCE
then comes their favorite MOQUECAS{ a coconut milk, fresh chillies and peppers based sauce} AND XIMXIM{ pronounced shimshim} mainly which has onions, peanut butter and cream and loads of lemon juice.... and of course not to forget PERI{ a spicy punjent sauce made with vinegar and chillies and lemon boiled and blended...... Hope by this time u are all hungry to grab some of these......
and for the passionate sweet lovers they have a classical coconut pudding called MANJAR , and figs stuffed with condensed milk ....... called BREVAS
this was a small tour...... hope was nice to read and know.....
cheers and please don mot hesitate if u guys and grils need to try making some latin american dish and u need a good recipe mail me.... and will be happy to share......
cheers and happy cookin.....

and today i know...... its never so late

i have been thinking and reading and heard of my friends saying BLOGGING..... BLOG.....
i always say to all.... mein bawarchi...hoon { i am a cook and will always be} but kind of become very savvy to the internet for the past couple of years..... and it took me gosh... till today to understand whats the concept of blogging or simply BLOG MEANS WHAT??????
over the past few days there were couple of people sending me links to view what they wrote and i kept wondering.... how nice... a space to be your own.... to voice out your views , good bad ,,,, talk about things which u feel good, things u get irritated of... its a very good oppurtunity
and finally today i decide to get into the process and register ..... and i feeel very contented with this first note.....
and thanks to my friends and dear ones who actually showed me this.....
i guess today person practising culinary like me would be so happy to get such space after that hot hours in the kithcen .... where there is pressure mounting on every order ticket.....
cheers