Luxurious Dining
Just last week, the luxurious Al Bustan Palace reopened its door to much anticipation. Kicking the opening in high gear, the Palace has also done major changes and upgrades to their restaurants and kitchens to meet the government requirements of the new normal. To give everyone an opportunity to taste some of the delicious dishes they have in store for their guests, the busy chefs of the Al Bustan Palace is sharing some of their best menus for everyone to copy at home.
INGREDIENTS:
400 gms Beef Short rib
20 gms each, mire poix vegetables (onion, carrot, celery, leeks)
600 ml Veal stock
1 tsp Tomato paste
2 pcs Baby Carrots Heritage
20 gms Broccolini-15 Gms
20 ml Espresso
Salt
Pommes Puree
120 gms Potatoes: Yukon or Ratte
30 gms Chilled butter cut into small cubes
30 gms Milk/ Cream (half-half)
Tempura Onion
3 pieces White onion
30 gms Tempura flour
50 ml soda
3 gms salt
SIDE DISH PREPS:
For Mashed Potato
Boil the potatoes in salty water for 25 minutes - keep the skins on and stop when tender. Leave potatoes to cool before peeling the skins. Add milk and slowly warm.
Run the peeled potatoes through a food mill on the smallest setting into a pan. Heat the potatoes on medium heat for around five minutes to remove excess moisture. You want to dry them out. Turn the potatoes to low heat and slowly start to add small cubes of the chilled butter as you stir. You have to stir the potatoes a lot and fast to give them a perfectly creamy consistency.
Once the butter is mixed well, add the warm milk and whip quickly and energetically to make them smooth.
Taste and season. Finally, pass the puree for an extra silky texture.
Crispy tempura onion
Prepare the batter by mixing the flour, soda and salt for tempura. Coat onion rings with batter, letting excess drip back into the bowl. Fry onion rings in the hot oil in small batches, turning once, until just beginning to colour. Drain on paper towel. Repeat process, skimming oil of tempura batter bits as necessary until all onion rings have been fried. If oil becomes dark, begin again with fresh oil. Serve immediately.
Preparation and cooking instructions:
Season each short rib generously with salt. Coat a pot large enough to accommodate all the meat and vegetables with olive oil and bring to high heat. Add the short ribs to the pan and brown very well, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
While the short ribs are browning, puree all the vegetables and garlic in the food processor until it forms a coarse paste. When the short ribs are very brown on all sides, remove them from the pan.
Drain the fat, coat the bottom of the same pan with fresh oil and add the pureed vegetables. Season the vegetables generously with salt and brown until they are very dark and a crud has formed on the bottom of the pan, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape the crud and let it reform. Scrape the crud again and add the tomato paste. Brown the tomato paste for 4 to 5 minutes. Lower the heat if things start to burn. Reduce the mixture by half.
Return the short ribs to the pan and adds 600ml of veal stock or until the stock has just about covered the meat. Add the thyme bundle and bay leaves. Cover the pan and place in the preheated oven for 3 hours. Check periodically during the cooking process and add more water, if needed.
Turn the ribs over halfway through the cooking time. Remove the lid during the last 20 minutes of cooking to let things get nice and brown and to let the sauce reduce. When done the meat should be very tender but not falling apart. Serve with the braising liquid and add 5 ml of espresso.
Roast the carrots until tender.
ABOUT THE CHEF
CHEF ANOOB ASHRAF
Executive Sous Chef
Al Bustan Palace, Muscat
Hailing from the Southern part of India, Chef Anoob has developed the passion at a very early age from his father who managed to transform daily meals into something delicious and beautiful. He officially began his culinary journey right after finishing 12th grade and joining a culinary institute. By 18, he was already working for his first job at Le Meridian Hotels.
After 3 years, he travelled to Malaysia working for an Indian and Thai restaurant until he decided to join The Oberoi Groups of hotels in India a year later. Further developing his skill for Indian cuisines, he would embark in his Middle East journey in 2008 landing in Jeddah for Rosewood Hotels. He worked with Award-winning French Australian and Moroccan Chefs and also learned a lot about Arabic cuisine and the European Cuisine as well finally becoming a junior sous chef in 2010.
He joined The Ritz Calton Hotels in Doha in 2011 as Assitant Chef de Cuisine. He joined Al Bustan Palace in 2015 and from Chef de Cuisine would rise into the ranks and become the Executive Sous Chef for the palace in 2016. From the renovations to the reopening of the Palace, Chef Anoob has been instrumental in rebuilding the entire culinary team. As of today, Chef Anoob also specializes in Fully Buy out Indian Weddings, exclusive weddings, and gala dinners.
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