On Tuesday I had a chance to try some dishes at the Heron Portico restaurant Mdalasini. We had a starter, main meal and dessert. It was a fantastic meal. The chef was kind enough to give us the recipes for the dishes that we ate. I will be doing the review of the food later. My favourite was the starter salad which is a meal in itself. Try this at home or even better make your way to the Heron Portico Hotel.
Spiced Chicken Caesar salad
Ingredients
• 200g chicken breast boneless
• 1 Romaine lettuce
• 1 Slice of bread
• 15g Parmesan cheese
• 80g Bacon
• 1/4 Chili
• 1 poached egg
• 2 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
Method
• Place all the Ingredients in a food processor and blend until fine
• Cut the bread into cubes and toss in garlic butter and roast until golden brown
• Place the romaine, croutons, cheese, poached egg and dressing in a large bowl.
• Arrange the salad on plates, season with pepper, and serve immediately.
Traditional Fish masala
Ingredients
• 1kg fish fillet
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp oil
• salt to taste
• 200g peeled sliced potatoes
• 4 chopped tomatoes
• oil for frying
• 1tsp Tumeric
• 2tsp Ground coriander powder
• 150g sliced eggplant
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 2tsp coriander/cumin powder
• 1/4tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp red chili powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp Plain yoghurt
Method
• Clean the fish and rub in salt and lemon juice Leave for 15mins
• Fresh chopped coriander leaves
• Mix ingredient two to make the paste
• Apply some paste on both sides of the fish and grill until is cooked
• Put 3tbsp oil on fry pan and fry the tomatoes until almost dry
• Add the remaining paste and fry
• Add some water and mix well until sauce is well blended
• Meanwhile fry the potatoes , egg-plant and remove excess oil with a towel
• Pour the sauce over the fish, potatoes and egg-plant.
• sprinkle with coriander leaves before serving with rice and rotis
Espresso mousse
Ingredients:
• For the brownie layer:
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ cup (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp. instant espresso powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
For the mousse layer:
• 2 tsp. instant espresso powder
• 1 tbsp. hot water
• ¼ cup chocolate
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• Chocolate shavings, curls, or sprinkles, for serving
Affogato(dessert)
• 12 scoops good-quality vanilla ice cream
• 6 shots hot espresso coffee
Cook method:
• Several hours in advance, lay ice cream on a freezer-proof tray and put the tray back in the freezer.
• To serve, put balls of ice cream into 6 small glasses or bowls, and pour a shot of hot espresso coffee over each. Little cream into the hot coffee so that it melts a little
• Serve straight away, stirring the vanilla ice cream into the hot coffee so that it melts a little.
