The ongoing Mediterranean food festival at le Meridien is all about traditional ingredients and original flavours. Chef Davide Zelnick shared details with Iknoor Kaur
Sautéed vegetables, tangy sauces and the cheese that melts in your mouth — I’m talking about the delicacies from the Mediterranean Sea. Though not officially defined in practice and even confused with several other cuisines, Mediterranean food has always stood out for its freshness, flavour and presentation. However, the cuisine still lies scattered in conceptualisation in India. Thus, le Meridien brought flavours from Greece, Turkey, Italy and Spain in order to define the cuisine.
According to Chef Davide Zelnick, the man behind the festival, the cuisine is all about detail and ingredients. “It was only a week ago that we decided to do this festival and the only thing that was bothering me was arranging the ingredients. The entire essence of the cuisine lies in its ingredients. Rather than the long cooking process it is more about taking individual ingredients and cooking them for a certain amount of time. It is a symbiosis of flavour and the right cooking procedure,” he said.
Davide feels that the most important part of the festival is the freshness of the food. He explained, “People in India don’t usually get a chance to have international cuisines the way they are. Thus, the USP of this festival is fresh flavours and combinations which are simple but can be fancy.”
A lot of focus has been on the knick-knacks in the menu. He continued, “The snack food is more popular with people. That too not something that is too heavy but just a bit or two, for example olives and eggplant. This is so because the people in that region like to have their dinner over a lot of courses. So, their portions are small.”
The festival runs only during the night and has a buffet which contains six starters, four salads, a soup, six main courses and desserts.
Amongst all of that there are dishes that stand out. For the appetiser there is a spicy crab crostini with blended crab meat, sautéed onion and spring onion topped with parsley, coriander, red chillise, lemon zest and fresh pepper.
“The crab meat cooks till it is little dry. Then it is seasoned with olive oil and served over toasted French bread that is later drizzled with basil oil,” shared David.
The best among the salads is the baby spinach and artichoke salad with shaved parmesan and sun-dried tomatoes. However, the highlight is the main course with the Greek lamb in red wine reduction. “The meat is first browned with a light sauté. Then the pan is deglazed with red wine and freshly made chicken sauce to extract the juices. Once all of that is done onions and garlic along with some diced carrots are tossed and all the ingredients are mixed and put on simmer,” he added.
Davide feels that each dish in the cuisine goes with a separate beverage. He said, “A full bodied red wine goes well with the lamb, while a rousseau or chardonnay are a perfect for the crab. The cuisine also needs to be consumed slowly,” he added.
The festival also offers authentic desserts. “One of the desserts we offer is profiteroles, a typical French version of an éclair. It is a choux pastry that is hollowed out and served with either baker’s cream or whipped cream and topped with chocolate sauce,” said Davide. The festival is on till October 27.