Cruising: A great way to travel

The first destination is the French –speaking city of Montreal. With its busy sidewalk cafes, cobblestone streets and designer boutiques it oozes with Parisian like charm.

From there we cruise to the waters of Canada and New England in autumn, and enjoy the changing foliage colours and the rugged natural beauty of this part of the world.

Next, a journey to Alaska. From the deck, with binoculars we can spot, not only glaciers but all sorts of wildlife like .humpback whales, sea lions and porpoises and if we look up the occasional American bald eagle gliding among the clouds.

Time to sip a few cocktails (some great recipes for these are scattered throughout the book!) and to  try one of the recipes for a tasting menu especially created for this voyage by the highly acclaimed chef Michel Richard .The Tomato Tartar with Gruyere chips looks like quite a lengthy process , with many ingredients and complex flavours but he’s running a cooking class on board so we’ll be able to watch how he does it.

Next we’re off to the Mediterranean starting at Istanbul, one of the world’s great maritime cities, then from Turkey to Greece. Here we are joined by world famous chef Anton Mossiman who divulges his recipe for grilled scallops with vegetable ragout.

In the Western Mediterranean we cruise into Monaco alongside the magnificent yachts of multimillionaires and visit the casino. Then Florence, the city which gave birth to the Renaissance with its magnificent art and architecture, once home to Michelangelo, Dante and Botticelli. Then it’s on to Corsica and Marseilles. Then to Spain where we feast on Anton Mossiman’s Gazpacho Andaluz.

A cruise to Asia is next on the list: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan. Each country vastly different but fascinating. The highly acclaimed Japanese chef, Nobu Matsuhisa is on board and we feast on his black cod in miso.

Then we cruise the South Pacific and see Tahiti described as “perfect blue lagoons, colorful reefs, volcanic mountains, bright flowers and a real atmosphere of tranquility, the Society islands and the Merquisas. There are some gorgeous tropical recipes. I’d settle for the Tahitian marinated tuna.

On our Australasian journey we tour Australia and New Zealand which the authors astutely describe as close neighbours with completely different personalities. Australia as the vast and ethereal Outback with kangaroos, emus and crocodiles, colourful parrots and koala bears and New Zealand with  its snowcapped mountain peaks and beautiful valleys as seen in the three Lord of the Rings movies.

Although North Islanders may quibble, the South Island is seen as the star of the show thanks to its spectacular mountains, lakes and glaciers.

In Australia we check out the Great Barrier Reef, jump into the ocean to see the coral, and swim among reef fish, giant clams, starfish and perhaps even a shark or two. The chef on board is Benjamin Christie who co-hosted the popular televison series Dining Downunder. He tempts us with some of his signature dishes: Kangaroo fillet with Yakajirri rosti and Cauliflower soup with marron, lemon myrtle and paperbark smoked oil.

We’re almost done. Last up Mexico and the Caribbean, two hugely popular cruising destinations. In Mexico we stop off at Acapulco, loved by the 1950’s Hollywood Jet Set like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

The grand dining finale is in the Caribbean .The Vintage Room (available on 2 of the Crystal Cruising ships) seats only 12-14 people. One of a kind gastronomic experiences are held in this room featuring some of the finest wines in the world. They cost over US$1000 per head., and are aimed at  true connoisseurs.

Even in my wildest imagination this is well out of my range. So I’ll just sit outside on the deck and enjoy the verdant valleys of sugar cane and bananas, towering volcanoes and coral reefs teeming with colourful marine life.

At the end of the book there’s a recipe for a chicken Quesadilla which can be made in the sandwich maker. It’s a breeze to make, tortillas filled with lightly fried strips of chicken breasts, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn and cheese, and a dash of tabasco sauce. We can have that for dinner tonight. And tomorrow I may just have to start saving for a cruise and turn dreams into reality.

The following recipes come from Cruising by Johanna and Ben Hall.

16 fresh scallops (in shell)

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

A few small sprigs of fresh basil to garnish

1 small zucchini cut in half lengthwise and seeded

1 small yellow zucchini cut in half lengthwise and seeded

1 small red capsicum, seeded

1 small yellow capsicum, seeded

1 small green capsicum, seeded

1 small eggplant (aubergine)

4 tbsp olive oil

3 medium tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

4 fresh basil leaves, finely shredded

Open the scallops with the tip of a small strong knife then scoop them off the half shell with a soup spoon. Remove the debris and wash briefly but thoroughly to remove all the grit. Rim and pat dry, then brush the scallops with olive oil and season lightly. Set aside in a cool place until needed.

To make the ragout, dice all the vegetables, and then heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté with the diced tomato and garlic for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the shredded basil. Keep hot or allow to cool as the ragout can be served hot or cold.

12 large Roma tomatoes

3 tbsp finely minced shallots

1 small beet cooked and diced

1 garlic clove

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp soy sauce

½ tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp drained capers, chopped

1 tsp minced chives

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt and freshly ground
Black pepper to taste

Tabasco sauce to taste

8 Gruyere chips

Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F). Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment. First, cook the beet in water for half an hour, strain, reduce juice to half, and keep the juice aside. Then, cut out and discard the cores from the tomatoes, cut each one lengthwise in half and place cut side up on the baking sheet. Slow-roast for 3 hours to partially dry the tomatoes.

Next, bring a small pan of water to the boil, add the shallots and blanch quickly. Drain in a fine-mesh sieve, run cold water over to cool them down, and dry on a paper towel. Take the tomatoes out of the oven, remove the skins and scoop out the seedy centers, leaving tomato ‘shells’. Chop the tomato flesh, place in the centre of a piece of cheesecloth, hold over a bowl, and wring out to remove the excess liquid. Place the tomatoes in a medium bowl.
Add the shallots to the tomatoes, and one tablespoon of the beet juice to ‘colour’ the
tomato to look like beef. Mince the garlic directly into the bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and refrigerate the tartare until it is cold.

To make the Gruyere chips, preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F), and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat. Cut 8 very thick slices of Gruyere, arrange on the sheet, leaving about 5 cms (2in) between them, and bake for about 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and browned to a golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the chips firm up. When they are easy to remove, lift them with a spatula and place on paper towels to cool.

Place all of the ingredients for the shallot dressing in a blender, and blend until smooth.
To serve, place a 7 cm (3in) ring mold in the center of a serving plate and fill loosely with one-quarter of the tartar. Remove the mold and repeat on three more plates. Spoon the shallot dressing around each tartare, sprinkle with chives, and garnish with 2 Gruyere chips.

1 part Bacardi Raspberry

1 part cranberry juice

7-8 fresh raspberries

Mash all of the raspberries, saving two for garnish, and press through a sieve. Then put the raspberries, Bacardi and cranberry juice into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a small martini glass, garnish with the remaining two raspberries, and serve.

Blue Aegean

1 part vodka

1 part Blue Curacao

3 parts fresh orange juice

A dash of soda water