History of the Llama PMP & Sailing Part II

F2 race

I left off the story last time with having just cheffed the 2010 Monaco GP in May aboard Necker Belle. This was a great time, and I really got a taste of hardcore gourmet cheffin. During the 3-4days that the boat was chartered, I think the total food costs ran into the neighborhood of 30,000euros. That's seriously enough cash to start a small farm. Everyday, deliveries would arrive with at least 50 Lobsters, a mountain of shrimp, fresh vegetables from the market, specialty products like 300euro bottles of balsamic vinegar.. the works. Here's some of that vinegar on a prosciutto wrapped, Roquefort stuffed fig, that I baked in the oven for about 20min at about 200degrees Celsius. I've topped it with a bit of shaved Parmesan and the leafs of some micro basil.

 

Another easy little canape that I threw together and have photographic evidence of, is a nice zesty bruschetta, a popular fave that used to get done up when I was working at the Red Pump Inn. The recipe is as follows

 ZESTY BRUSCHETTA

The recipe and method for 1 margarine tub of Bruschetta mixture is as follows:

4 red peppers
2 large tomatoes, cored and deskinned
1/2 Red Onion
1 Lime
1/2 Lemon
2 Cloves garlic
Handful of fresh Basil
1/2 cup Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Thoroughly Char/Blacken 4 Red peppers over the gas range. Following this, immediately place them in a bowl of ice water and cover with cellophane. This will help their skin blister off. Allow to sit for at least 20min. Remove the blackened skin and take out seeds and stem. Rinse thoroughly under cold water to avoid any seeds or black bits remaining behind. the red pepper flesh should feel velvety to the touch. Take flesh and trim off any excess white stuff from the underside. With a sharp knife, dice into tiny little cubes. Take onion and dice into similar size pieces ( the smaller the better). Skin tomatoes by slicing an 'X' into the underside, taking out top core, and quickly dunking into boiling water. Slice into quarters and remove seeds and inside- you only want the tomato flesh. Cut into little pieces the same size as both the pepper and the onion. Zest the lemon and lime into the mixture, and then squeeze the juice from both into it as well. Add the garlic, minced, into the mix. Finely slice the basil, stir in evenly. Add the olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

TO SERVE:

Take a baguette and diagonally slice thin pieces off of it. Put them on a cookie tray, drizzle with a healthy amt of extra virgin olive oil (or for extra flavor, use bacon fat). Bake until golden brown. Spoon Brushcetta mixture on top and top with goats cheese and some fresh micro basil. 

Sailing along on Necker Belle

Another epic sunset

Anyway, following the GP, the captain graciously allowed me to stay on with the boat and sail with the crew back to Palma de Mallorca. From here, he seemed to think I'd be able to find another Chef job, and he also recommended that I do my STCW95 training, something anyone that wishes to work in the yachting industry needs to have. Bluewater training just outside of Palma in Portals is a pretty good place to get it.

The captain was right, and within a week of completing the STCW 95- which was kind of fun firefighting, doing first-aid, floating in a life raft kind of stuff- I received a telephone call from the captain of a 47m yacht in Istanbul, Turkey...