Easy Recipe from a Dubai Chef
Meet Eric Melosh, Chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai. He came to Kazakhstan to take part in The Good Life culinary arts festival at The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty.
Eric is a charismatic, open person, he was happy to meet us, told us a little about himself and his personal life, and also happily shared with Look.tm readers an easy recipe for a lamb dish that you can cook at home.
I was born in Canada, Southwestern Ontario. I chose the profession of a chef and trained at the Banff Springs Hotel - a legendary hotel in Canada, and in 2003 I studied at The Ritz-Carlton in Florida. Then I moved to Jamaica, then to California, then to Dublin and now I have been in Dubai for two years. So, I have been working in The Ritz-Carlton hotels for 13 years. At 16, I decided to become a chef and have never regretted it.
In each hotel we prepared different dishes, based on local products. The dishes we make in Dubai are different from those we are used to making on the island or, say, in California. We change the menu every season, for this you need to be imaginative and creative. The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai has seven wonderful restaurants. One of them is the Blue Jade restaurant, which was awarded as the best East Asian restaurant in Dubai in 2014. Each restaurant has its own atmosphere, where you can choose any cuisine from around the world.
I eat healthy myself: I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables every day. In Dubai, I start my day with a run, but now it’s getting a little more difficult because I have two kids to go to school. The whole family moved with me. We get up at 6, I run, then we have breakfast and take our kids to an American school, which is also in Dubai. My wife is from Jamaica and is not a chef by education, but when she was very little, she was into cooking different dishes. And although she didn’t become a professional, she cooks phenomenally!
Eric knew we were coming to visit him and had prepared everything in advance. He chose a dish of two pieces of lamb that were bought at the Almaty market and gave precise instructions on how to prepare it.
Recipe:
To prepare you will need:
- 2 pieces of lamb (shoulder)
- 2 tablespoons butter
— beetroot 0.5 pcs.
- carrot 1 pc.
- garlic 1 pc.
- onion 0.5 pcs.
- a bunch of rosemary
- 100 ml red wine
- 100 ml of water
1. Pour sunflower oil into a frying pan.
2. Place a piece of meat in the pan and start cooking.
3. Add butter and rosemary.
4. Pour hot oil over the meat for 7-10 minutes. Bake the result in the oven. The first part of the preparation is finished.
5. The cook has prepared the second piece for us in advance. Bake the second piece of meat in the oven. When the meat is cooked, use your hands to finely separate the meat into fibers. Take the grated carrots, onions, garlic, beets and add everything to the meat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place the resulting mass in a mold and bake everything again. Cook slowly in the oven at 150 degrees.
You can puree the remaining carrots and beets and use them to decorate the dish.
6. Place the first piece of cooked lamb on a plate and garnish with herbs. You can add sauce if desired.
For the sauce, you need to take the lamb ribs, stew them in wine and water. Leave to simmer slowly. Then add some onion, carrot and garlic, salt and pepper. Once the vegetables are cooked, the sauce is ready to eat.
