Brunch at Palate Culinary Studio

Sunday is the day of rest. It's a day to spend quality time with loved ones, to have delicious lunch then to enjoy few hours of recreation or a long snooze.

I love Sundays

This week was something more special. A brunch invitation at Palate Culinary Studio for launching a new product Alpen Koch Recletta Grill and to try some flavors of Aspri spirits

On the note of Brunch, mind wanders off to Guy Beringer, a man who invented the term and the concept of ‘brunch’. This word was coined in 1895 or 1896 for a magazine article to help understand the heavy breakfast that extends over several hours.

It was easy to locate the studio at the back of Survodaya society at Santacruz, (a large garage is artistically transformed in state-of-art studio) Green and yellow entrance stirs the positive moods immediately. The studio is tastefully done with food quotes adorning the furniture and the shelves, hand-painted plates on one wall, while colorful kitchen articles on other, all shining brilliant under numerous spotlights.

An open kitchen in the center of the room was the setting of the proceeding for the morning. The table was set with all the ingredients we would require to grill the meals: raw meat of lamb/chicken/sea food, marinated meat and vegetables, sauces, dips, salads, condiments, all neatly arranged increasing our hunger pangs with every glance.

The idea was to understand the product and its usefulness. I remember having grill food at Korean restaurants where the center of the table is the hot plate and we are served raw meat and veggies, that we toss it on the hot plate and watch it cook while we drink. The idea is similar. Recletta grill can be placed in the center of the dinning table; every guest gets his own pan that fills the grill.

We used it to melt Recletta cheese and made egg omelets that we poured over grilled meat. Most of us made our own choice of combinations of meat and veggies. Very soon the kitchen was smoky and fragrant with roasted smell of food.

 The brunch included gourmet Raclette cheese, assorted vegetables and meat, sausages, Asian style rice, a selection of breads and dips followed by some amazing deserts (Tiramisu, Chocolate cake and Blueberry cheese cake).

Aspri, the official spirit partner served some amazing white and red wine during the brunch. I am not much fond of drinks, but having said that I did try the sparkling white wine and it tasted good with meals.

All said and done, it was an entertaining brunch. Meeting food bloggers is always a wonderful experience of sharing notes and getting inspired to try something new, the food, the wine, the company, everything seamlessly falling in place.

Came back home with beautifully gift-wrapped plum cake stuffed with fruits and raisins that I shared with my family during late afternoon. It tasted divine with a cup of coffee.

Honestly, life cannot get better than this.

Thank you Rakhee Vaswani for hosting the event at your Palate Culinary Studio, thanks to Sameer Malkani of FBAI for the invite and thanks to food bloggers who shared their morning with me

Potluck Party to Celebrate Terra Madre Day

People in Kenya revived the tradition of cooking in the earthenware pots, People in Istanbul gathered to discuss the importance of wheat as ‘Our wheat, our history’ Some people had honey festival, some people celebrated with workshops, art and discussion on seed and garden food, all the food-conscious people who wanted to revive the age-old tradition were celebrating around the world, a day called Terra Madre day. 

The worldwide Terra Madre network is working to create an alternative model of food production and consumption, in line with Slow Food's philosophy of good, clean and fair, good for our palate, clean for humans, animals and the environment, and fair for producers and consumers. 

10th December was Terra Madre day and it was going to be celebrated in my town, in Mumbai too.

A group of Mumbai food bloggers would cook traditional regional dish and enjoy the potluck party at one of the bloggers’ terrace. Rushina, our mentor brought all the food blogger together to celebrate this day. Nikhil Merchant was kind enough to do us the honor of sharing his terrace as a perfect venue to celebrate this event. The theme for this potluck was unusual traditional dishes from regional cuisines of India.

At 8pm, I arrived at Nikhil’s terrace to enjoy the potluck party. It was a full moon night and food bloggers had gathered in smaller groups, some sitting on a swing, some around the pool table, some near the drinks bar and some closer to the serving tables to enjoy their multiple visits for each serving, all enjoying the food and clicking their best shots. Everybody was excited sharing their dish, talking about its history and food culture associated with that particular cuisine. It was interesting to listen to other food blogger relating their story and some were happy to share their recipe too.

 I had brought with me the traditional mutton dish. It is the spicy dish cooked in cardamom and black pepper.

This is the traditional Sindhi dish and has been relished since Sindh days, when my family lived in Pakisthan, before the 1947 partition days. Mutton is stir fried in ghee with black pepper and cardamom till it is properly coated with the ingredients. Spinach, tomatoes, green chilies, ginger, coriander powder and salt is added and it is allowed to cook till all the juice dries up. It is then mixed and stirred till the oil begins to float. One cup of water is added and it is allowed to simmer till it is tender. Chopped coriander leaves, black pepper and lime juice is added before serving. This is a very healthy dish and tastes good when served with a buttered Bhakri roti

Talking about food makes one more hungry, and I shifted my gaze towards the drinks station, some were enjoying varied combinations of the drinks I am not familiar with. I stuck to my usual fresh juice.

 Finger food is what I am fond of and most of the parties that I attend; I normally have my fill on snacks.

 There was a huge variety of main dishes, just spoonful of each was not doing justice to the food, but since that was the only way that I would be able to taste all the dishes, I tasted as many dishes as I could.

 I am not a desert person; therefore, at desert station it was just tiny-viny bits to taste the flavor.

 The best part of this event was the take-away goodies which were on and under the Christmas tree. The cookies and goodies hung on the tree, sauces, masalas and sweets packed in beautiful packets surrounded the tree.

 I met some interesting people, made new friends and came back with happy memories of the event spent with like-minded people.