4 easy gourmet dishes and cocktail recipes to dine in with style during the global pandemic
We asked top chefs and mixologists to give us their favourite cocktail and main dish recipes that you can easily make at home during the coronavirus outbreak
While the world is battling a pandemic, eating out at restaurants or hopping around bars is not advised or even impossible in large swathes of the world. Instead, we’re all getting creative in the kitchen – to keep your juices of inspiration flowing, we asked some top chefs and mixologists to share their favourite recipes which are easy to master from home while you self-isolate.
Vijay Malhotra, cluster executive chef of ITC Royal Bengal & ITC Sonar, shares an easy broccoli soup recipe from the Food for Thought Initiative by ITC Hotels
Ingredients: Leek – 1; Olive Oil – 2 tsp; celery sticks – 2; broccoli, chopped – 1 ½ cups; potato, diced – 1; thyme sprigs – 4; vegetable stock – 2 ½ cups; Gorgonzola or any blue cheese – ½ cup; salt to taste; black pepper – 1 tsp; double cream – 4 tsp
In a sauce pan, sauté leeks in olive oil for about two minutes. Then add celery, broccoli florets and potatoes and sauté for a minute. Add thyme, vegetable stock and bring it to a boil until cooked. Then, remove to a blender and mix. Return to pan, add in cheese and simmer on low heat until ready. Pour into a bowl and garnish with cream.
Fancy a drink? Mixologist Rohan Rege at The Ritz-Carlton, Pune has concocted a lip-smacking Earl Grey martini for those balmy evenings
Ingredients: 45ml of gin infused with Earl Grey; Cointreau – 15ml; lime juice – 15ml; sugar syrup – 15ml
Pour 120ml of gin over two teaspoons of loose Earl Grey leaves and soak for one hour in a glass jar. Strain the gin back into an empty bottle. Do not press the tea. Combine 45ml of the Earl Grey infused gin into a shaker along with 15ml of Cointreau, 15ml of lime juice and 15ml of sugar syrup and shake. Strain into a coupette glass. Garnish with a slice of dehydrated orange/lemon.