Asian Italiano Fusion Menu
I created this menu for a friend’s birthday on a creative spur of the moment. The tapas size dishes are inspired by my various visits to Master’s Home in Munich Germany, though the dishes themselves are my own creations.
As most lovers of food, I cook with feelings, my senses and a lot of trials and errors. For these reasons, I don’t know how to document recipes for the things I whip up or am experimenting with. Below are the steps on how I created the dishes, including the customised menu. I hope you find inspiration and enjoy reading about this menu and the pictures the same way I enjoyed creating it.
The meal was served with Penfold’s St. Henri Shiraz Vintage 2004.
A couple of puffs on Dominican Republic cigars, a sip of the Blue Label, Pavarotti in the background … and the cooking experience was complete.
z
z
Grilled Aubergine Rolls with Spicy Raw Garlic
For great tapas-sized shapes use the long/Asian/Turkish aubergine. Wash aubergine and remove ends. Pat try aubergine, slice lengthwise in 5mm thickness and pan fry with a little olive oil and set aside to cool.
In stone mortar and pestle ground raw fresh garlic, lots of it. Add a splash of the best virgin olive oil and oldest balsamic vinegar you have with a pinch of salt and freshly cracked pepper. The mixture should form a thick paste. Scoup a little of the paste and spread over each slice of the grilled/pan-fried aubergine before rolling up and put them through a tooth pick (2 pieces) per entree size serve. Position on serving dish and drizzle balsamic glaze for effect.
Bocconcini & Grape Tomato
Also known as Caprese Salad or Baby Mozzarella with Tomato and Basil Salad in many different variations, this one is created with a twist. The secret is in the Asian/Thai basil with the aniseed overtone.
Don’t marinate the bocconcini. Good bocconcini is best served as is, and the marinate of the balsamic vinegar will discolour the cheese. Simply skewer the grape tomato first, then a small aniseed basil leaf (flavour is quite strong so pick a small leaf so it does not over power the rest of the flavours) and a single bocconcini.
Place 2 skewers on each plate and before serving, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and some cracked pepper over the top.
.. . . .
z
Mushroom Stuffed with Baby Spinach and Ricotta
An easy to make and refreshing appetizer is to toss some Baby Spinach into a hot pan with some olive oil and season with pepper only (the Ricotta will add its own flavour). Remember a full bag of spinach will be reduced to a fraction of its mass so buy a little extra so you don’t run out.
As for the Ricotta, you can go for the reduced fat Ricotta version, but my preference is always go for the “full flavour” 
version and do everything in moderation. Break up Ricotta in pieces and mix together with the cooked spinach.
Spoon content into cleaned mushroom and bake in oven for a couple of minutes. Served warm.z
z
Warm Octopus Salad Drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A common dish in Italy and a slightly different variation in Spain, it’s the simple and fresh ingredients that brings out the exquisite flavours in this dish, not some exotic cooking techniques. For this dish only the tentacles of the octopus are used. For a menu for 4, I used 2 large tentacles which are enough to be used for both the entree and main course.
Leave tentacles whole and boil in a generous amount of salted water. Don’t over cook, make sure tentacles are still firm (not chewy) when removing from water. Depending on the size of the tentacles this should take around 20 min.
Peel off some excessive red outer skin after cooking that may appear unsightly. Slice tentacles on angle of approx 3mm each and place on plates. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the top together with freshly cracked pepper. Serve warm.
z
Grilled Roma Tomato Soup
I like the Roma tomatoes for their flavours. Once grilled the flavours become even more intense.
Slice tomatoes in halves and remove core. Place tomatoes cut side up and drizzle with some olive oil before placing in oven to roast. Remove from oven and peel the skin, which should just fall off. Cut the grilled tomato into large chunks.
Ground a generous amount of raw garlic in a mortar and pestle. Heat pan with some olive oil and brown the ground garlic. Add the grilled tomato, fresh Italian spices, a sprinkle of crushed chilli, salt & pepper to taste. Serve hot with some garlic bread and garnish with an aniseed basil leaf.
z
Picante Picollini with Semi-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes Hearts & Tiger Prawns, Accompanied by Rucola in Parmesan Basket
And to the Finale of the evening. The rest of the octopus tentacles are tossed in with a dry medley pasta of primarily Italian ingredients with a spicy and fragrant Asian twist.
z
Rucola in Parmesan Basket
But first, to the salad, or rather, the basket for the salad. If you’re keen, grate some parmesan otherwise buy the pre-grated stuff. Heat a small non-stick pan and place an amount of grated parmesan in the pan to melt. Once the cheese is melted and begins to brown, gently lift the whole piece and place over an up-turned glass to form the basket.
z
Toss your rucola salad, a favourite in Europe in some (yes again) balsamic and olive oil. For garnishing use shavings of parmesan and dried fig. If you love cheese and you love parmesan, don’t forget to eat the basket.
zz
Picante Picollini
Once the salad is served the pasta can be prepared and served hot.
- Picollini boiled in salted water. Make sure it is extra al dente as it will be tossed in the wok again
- Slice the rest of the octopus tentacles from the entree
- Cut semi-dried tomatoes into 5mm strips and quarter artichokes
- Clean and devein tiger prawns
- Thinly slice about 3 large garlic cloves and also thinly slice a small red onion
Heat wok. Brown the fresh garlic in olive oil, add onion and a little bit of tomato paste. To this foundation add the rest of the ingredients: octopus, semi-dried tomatoes, artichokes, any remains from the grilled aubergine above, mushroom stems not used in the spinach and ricotta, prawns and a diced tomato. To flavour use fresh or dried Italian spices, crushed chilli and thinly sliced aniseed basil leaves. Add salt and freshing ground pepper to taste.
z
Tiramisu & Espresso
And in keeping with tradition, the evening ended with a Tiramisu and espresso. The Tiramisu recipe is from Megan Mills (thank you). I choose it because the zabaglione is made from scratch, and as all lovers of cooking know, it’s all in the details that makes the difference to the final creation.
Tiramisu is made with savoiardi (lady finger biscuits) dipped in espresso (giving it the bitter taste) and layered with a mixture of egg yoke, mascarpone (a triple-cream cheese made from crème fraîche) and sugar.
z
Zabaglione is in itself a dessert but is added to the tiramisu for an even a creamier taste and flavour. Add a sweet wine (traditionally Marsala or a liquer) to the egg yokes and sugar stir gently over a double boiler until the consistency is like custard and the zabaglione is ready. (Tip: have some cold water ready in the sink to dip the bowl in and stop the cooking quickly once the zabaglione is ready).
Tiramisu Cream. Stir (but do not beat) the mascarpone until well blended and smooth. Whip the cream until thick - just past the soft peak stage. Fold together the mascarpone, whipped cream and zabaglione one at a time.
Dipping Mixture. Mix together the coffee, caster sugar and the wine/liquer. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.
Assembly. Dip Savoiardi sponge finger biscuits into the cooled dipping mixture until they are moist but not sodden and line the bottom of the dish with them. Layer half of the Tiramisu Cream over the top of the biscuits. Repeat another layer of dipped Savoiardi biscuits and Tiramisu Cream.
z
Bang the dish firmly to make the Tiramisu Cream settle into the gaps between the biscuits. Cover and chill overnight. Just before serving dust liberally with cocoa. Serve with espresso.
What a night. Hope you enjoyed the menu. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions by leaving a comment or rating this article. Until my next creation.
PS. Here’s the smallest and youngest member of the family and I do believe Coco gave us a seal of approval too for the Tiramisu.
BlueCloud
“Asian Italiano Fusion Menu”