I am slowly sharing my experiences about our recent trip on the Carnival Breeze in the Caribbean. If I were to write about it all in one post, smoke would probably start coming out of my computer... so much to say!
One of the most fun things I did on the ship on one of the "Sea Days" (where we were just sailing... no stops) was attend a Cooking Demonstration in the ship's fancy restaurants called "Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse". It was on Deck #5 and it was one of the restaurants where you had to pay $35.00 per person to eat at this restaurant.
I very much regret I did not bringing my camera to the demonstration. We got to see each dish prepared and we got a little sample. By the time we were done with soup, salad, main dish, and dessert, it was pretty much a full meal. They gave us the recipes and the menu included:
- Mushroom Cappuccino
- Mac N Cheese
- Baby Leaf Spinach & Fresh Mushrooms
- Broiled Supreme of Free Range Chicken
- Tiramisu
This soup was so good. The chefs told us they use a combination of five mushrooms: button, shitake, oyster, cremini, and portabello. They served the hot soup in a little mug with a seasoned crouton on top. Beautiful and delicious! I will try to make this at home and I think it will probably be fine without the truffle oil. I imagine that is rather expensive.
The salad dish was also good. I couldn't take a good photo of that recipe since the copy was very dark. Basically, the recipe was for the salad dressing which was made from extra virgin olive oil, blue cheese, lemon juice, as well as salt and pepper.
This Mac N Cheese was to die for! The chefs, who were from Nepal and India, loved pointing out that while Mac N Cheese is considered an American dish, none of the five cheeses in this version are from America. Brie, Mascarpone, Swiss, Parmesan, and Mozzarella. I will be trying to make this at home.
This recipe looks like it might be a bit more difficult to duplicate at home but I liked the idea of marinating the chicken in rosemary and garlic infused olive oil. They served the chicken with the Mac N Cheese and some pan fried potatoes.
They also served us dessert... Tiramisu. I will definitely try to make this some day at home but this looks to be an expensive dish that will require a trip to the liquor store. Marsala Wine, Kahlua, and Grand Marnier. I'll post that recipe when I make it which will hopefully be sooner than later.
6 comments:
I am nervous about cruises with all the stuff going wrong lately - glad yours went well and what a cool cooking class!
Carnival Steakhouse - Baby Leaf Spinach & Fresh Mushrooms Salad
Serves 4.
Ingredients
1/4 lb. Baby spinach
6 strips bacon
2 Oz. Blue cheese
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Portabella mushroom
1/2 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup mixed chopped mushrooms
1/4 tbsp. Lemon juice
2 Oz. Parmesan cheese (cheese crisps)
Few sprigs Chives
Salt
Black pepper
Directions
1. Dice bacon. Render bacon till crisp. Drain off excess fat. Keep warm till used.
2. Clean, wash & dry spinach in salad spinner.
3. Remove the stem and gills of Portobello and peel. Cook in brown butter with salt $ pepper. Cut into rounds. Shred the left over trimmings and mix with cooked mixed chopped mushrooms.
4. Make a napoleon with mushroom rounds at top and bottom and mushroom mix in center. Keep hot.
5. Blend extra virgin olive oil, half the blue cheese, lemon juice, salt & pepper with a hand blender. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Finish & Presentation
1. Place a large cookie cutter at center of plate and place mushroom napoleon in center.
2. Toss spinach with dressing and top mushroom napoleon.
3. Garnish with blue cheese crumbles & fresh bacon bits. Top with Parmesan crisp.
Thanks for the Spinach Salad recipe. Looks delicious!
After a similar demo in the Steakhouse during my cruise on the Dream in October 2016, the chef shared what he called a secret ingredient in the mac and cheese recipe--truffle oil. I haven't made the dish, but I do know it was the best- tasting mac and cheese I've ever tasted.
I've never tried truffles or truffle oil, but I sure have heard folks rave about it! I wonder if truffle oil is a less expensive way to enjoy truffles? I hear truffles are outrageously expensive! Yum. Now I am craving mac and cheese.
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