Platetrotter
Discovering the world one bite at a time
  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • COUNTRY GUIDES
  • GOURMET BREAKS
  • PRESS
  • ABOUT

A Treat of an Afternoon

12/9/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
Arabic food intrigues me. It always amazes me that so much flavour can be coaxed out of such a small number of ingredients. (You have to bear in mind I come from India where almost every main dish contains no less than 10 ingredients - onions as a base, numerous spices, fresh herbs, yogurt, meat... the list goes on).

So I was quite excited to have got the chance to join in an Arabic master class at Treat - the food festival that's currently running at BurJuman until September 22nd. 

The invite promised a dish that simultaneously sounded exotic yet simple - Za'atar marinated lamb with lemon crushed potatoes. I'd definitely be having some of that if I saw it on the menu so of course I signed myself right up.

Chef Ron Pietruszka, Executive Chef at The Ritz-Carlton DIFC was the man in the big white hat (well, as was I and the rest of the bloggers at the afternoon's class) and we started off - poised behind our compact little Teka kitchen islands, neatly laid out with stoves, pans, knives, chopping boards and the mise en place for the dish. 
Picture
First step, brown off the lamb cutlet that was pre-marinated in za'atar, onions, a little olive oil and then seasoned with salt and pepper. When the lamb was nicely caramelised, it was spread with watered-down tahina and coated in a mixture of za'atar and breadcrumbs before being popped into the oven to be finished off. That took all of 10 minutes...
Picture
Next step, heat some butter in a pan and add pre-boiled baby potatoes that were roughly chopped up. 
Picture
In a separate pan we heated up a little olive oil, to which was added a little chopped garlic and freshly grated lemon zest. The fragrant oil was poured over the potatoes and everything was crushed up in the pan. A touch of salt and pepper, a dash of lemon juice and that was done too! Easy.
Finally, it was on to the sauce and that was the only disaster (thankfully) I experienced  this afternoon, having added the demi glace to a pan that was a little too hot, so it instantly caramelised (um... ok, burnt). So I had to steal some of my fellow blogger's demi glace... not really cheating as the sauce was prepared in advance :)
Picture
The final touch... a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and that was it! Have rarely cooked anything that looked and tasted this good in such a short span of time. (Ok, so in real life I'd have to do my own mise en place, marinate my lamb, boil my potatoes and make a demi glace or red wine sauce myself... but thankfully, even those steps wouldn't really have complicated the dish.)
Picture
The class was kept light and friendly by Chef Ron, who shared his tips with the audience and at one point was even joined by his 11-year-old daughter who helped out in crushing the potatoes. All in all a really fun afternoon out :)

And there's lots more in store at Treat until next weekend in the form of daily free masterclasses and cooking demos, 'Guess the Ingredient' competitions, table setting and dining etiquette workshops, hot and cold canape classes and the BurJuman Junior Chef 2012 competition... as well as the chance to walk away with a AED25,000 hamper of goodies and dining vouchers.

I think I might be making my way back to BurJuman a few more times over the next few days...

For more information on Treat - The BurJuman World Food Fest 2012, visit www.burjuman.com 

Related posts
Picture
Ready, Fly, Cook

Picture
Hit the Rhodes

1 Comment
IshitaUnblogged link
12/9/2012 02:46:18 am

Are you a robot? Wow! That's like super super quick.... it was fantastic meeting you off the blog. It was an amazing experience... will be posting my blog soon. Well not as soon as yours I guess.

Look forward to more interaction!

Reply



Leave a Reply.


    Named Best Blog for Food & Travel
    Picture
    Top 10 UAE Food Blogs in UAE
    Picture
    Featured in
    Picture
    Picture
    ExpatsBlog.com - Where Expats Blog
    Picture
    Picture
    Contributor on
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Follow me on Instagram

    RSS Feed

    Countries

    All
    Austria
    Azerbaijan
    Bahrain
    Bosnia And Hercegovina
    Brazil
    Bulgaria
    Cambodia
    Chile
    Croatia
    Cuba
    Cyprus
    Ecuador
    Egypt
    England
    Finland
    Germany
    Hong Kong
    India
    Indonesia
    Ireland
    Italy
    Japan
    Jordan
    Kosovo
    Kyrgyzstan
    Lebanon
    Macedonia
    Malaysia
    Maldives
    Mexico
    Montenegro
    Mozambique
    Nepal
    Oman
    Peru
    Philippines
    Poland
    Portugal
    Romania
    Russia
    Scotland
    Seychelles
    Singapore
    South Africa
    Spain
    St Kitts & Nevis
    Switzerland
    Taiwan
    Tanzania
    Thailand
    Turkey
    Uae
    United Kingdom
    United States Of America
    Vietnam
    Wales

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • COUNTRY GUIDES
  • GOURMET BREAKS
  • PRESS
  • ABOUT