The gourmet touch

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MasterChef, Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen… and so on, the reality TV has acquired a new dimension thanks to all the food shows. While most of these shows feature ordinary people creating magic with everyday ingredients, there are also experts

who show how a simple dish can turn into a fine dining experience right at home. Here are some recipes that became famous through these shows, they use simple ingredients and don’t require too much time to put together.

Grilled chicken on creamy spinach
Ingredients
For the chicken:
2 chicken breasts, cleaned and trimmed
1 tsp red chilli powder
3 garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp of black pepper powder
1 tsp of oregano
Juice of one lime
½ cup of rolled oats
3 tbsp of olive oil
Salt to taste
For the spinach
3 cups of spinach leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup of milk
2-3 tbsp of maida
2 tbsp of fresh cream
1 tbsp of butter
Salt to taste

Method:
For the chicken:
Rub the chicken with some lime juice and salt and allow this to marinate for an hour. After that mix the oregano, garlic, chilli powder, salt and pepper powder in some oil and rub this on the chicken. Let this rest for a while so that all the flavours are absorbed. Coat them evenly with the oats and allow it to rest again. Pre-heat an oven, arrange the chicken breasts on a greased baking tray, sprinkle some oil on top too and grill for 20 minutes till done. Let it warm in the oven for about 5 minutes after done.

For the spinach:
Heat a saucepan on a low flame and melt the butter in it. Now add the maida and stir quickly just till it changes colour, make sure it doesn't burn. Slowly add the milk to this and keep whisking with a balloon whisk to avoid lumps. When it’s formed a smooth paste, turn off the flame and stir in the cream and season. Add the spinach leaves and cover for a minute or two till the heat cooks the leaves.
On a clean plate spread the spinach mixture evenly, now place the grilled chicken breasts on this. Garnish with some dried herbs and drizzle olive oil just before serving.

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Shortcut Tiramisu
Ingredients
250 gms plain vanilla sponge cake (you can use a store-bought one)
¾ cup of strong filter coffee decoction
1 packet of vanilla flavoured custard (cooked as per instructions on the packet)
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
1 cup of fresh cream, whipped
½ tsp of instant coffee powder

Method
Cut the sponge cake into long pieces that are about ½ inch wide. Now place these along the surface of a clear glass dish, moisten them with some coffee decoction and press them against the surface. Keep this in the fridge for about 30 minutes until set.
Spread a thin layer of the whipped cream on the cake and sprinkle some cocoa powder on this, after this evenly spread half the amount of custard and sprinkle some more cocoa powder. Follow this with another layer of cake and repeat the entire process. Finally, sprinkle both the cocoa and coffee powder. Allow this to set for about an hour or two before serving.

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Apple-rosemary cake
Ingredients
1 large apple — one half diced into small pieces and the other thinly sliced, soak this in water with a little lime to prevent discolouring
1¾ cup maida
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup of butter, melted
¼ tsp of vanilla essence
4 eggs
½ cup sugar
½ tsp of rosemary, if you’re using the dried version then soak in warm water before adding to the batter

Method
Sift the flour and baking soda together with a pinch of salt. Keep this aside.
In a bowl cream the butter and sugar together, slowly add the eggs one by one until it forms a smooth paste. Add the vanilla essence and rosemary and mix again. Now slowly add the flour and then beat it until it’s smooth with an electric beater. Fold in the diced apples into this batter.
Pour the batter into a greased cake tin and arrange the apple slices on top of this. (I sprinkled some demarara sugar on top of this for a golden, crunchy topping.)
Bake for 45 minutes at 180 degrees C. Cool and cut into slices, it’s best served warm.

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Roasted Pumpkin soup
Ingredients
250 gms of red pumpkin, peeled, de-seeded and chopped
100 gms of broccoli, cut into small pieces (reserve 1-2 tbsp of this to garnish)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
½ cup of milk
¼ cube of vegetable seasoning (use the Maggi cubes)
2 cups of water
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
On a greased baking tray, place the pieces of pumpkin and garlic. Drizzle some olive oil over this and sprinkle some salt. Roast in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees Celsius till it is soft. Once done, remove it from the oven, allow it to cool down and mash into a pulp.
Meanwhile, boil the water along with the carrot, broccoli and vegetable seasoning. When the vegetables have cooked, turn off the heat and let it cool down to room temperature.
In a mixie, make a paste using these cooked vegetables and the mashed pumpkin. Add the milk to this to make it smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add some water to adjust the consistency, add salt and simmer the mixture for a while to allow all the flavours to come together. Ladle the soup into serving bowls, add the remaining broccoli, sprinkle some pepper powder, drizzle with olive oil and it is ready to be served.