Above and Beyond, the cook-book by chefs who’ve served Singapore Airlines Culinary Panel, attempts to debunk the notion that plane fare is pretty much cardboard on a plate. A collection of 50 recipes from 10 culinary stars, the book taps plenty of famous folks who have proven their mettle in the chef-eat-chef world of food. Gordon Ramsay, the notoriously temperamental personality and three-star Michelin chef, leads the pack.
There’s Matt Moran, a champion for fresh, seasonal Australian produce; James Beard winner Alfred Portale, French three Michelin-starred Georges Blanc; Nancy Oakes, a recipient of James Beard award and a popular chef in San Francisco; HongKong-based Yeung Koon Yat who revolutionized abalone cooking; Singapore celebrity chef Sam Leong; Zhu Jun, who made a name for himself in modern Chinese cuisine; Sanjeev Kapoor, one of the first celebrity chefs in India to garner his own cooking program; and Michelin awardee Yoshihiro Murata, a master in the art of kaiseki.
Each chef put together a menu suggestion of three courses, beginning with a small appetizer, pocket-sized entree and dessert. Since each course is designed to be miniature — to fit the plane’s regulation sized ovens — the dishes are plated to represent the smaller proportions. But as the cookbook is designed to encourage on-air diners to try out their favorites from the airline menu, serving sizes for each dish range between four to five.
Recipes range from the somewhat difficult and somewhat time consuming (braised abalone in superior sauce with egg noodles which requires simmering a can of abalone for about 10 hours) to the easy and quick (cold shabu-shabu of beef in sesame wasabi sauce which can take about 10 minutes to put together).
The cookbook succeeds in what most airline ads fail: it makes you excited to get on a plane to try out what the airline has to offer.
“Above and Beyond is inspired by the positive customer feedback we’ve received over the years for our inflight gourmet offerings,” says Yap Kim Wah, Singapore Airlines senior VP for product and services. “With this cookbook, we hope that not just our customers, but everyone can re-create and enjoy these dishes by the master chefs in their own homes.”
Chestnut and mushroom cream soup
Australian chef Matt Moran puts a twist on the traditional cream of mushroom soup and throws in chestnuts, not just because its seasonally appropriate for Christmas, but also because the chestnut’s richness and sweetness offers the perfect balance for the earthy mushrooms.
Ingredients
1 tbsp. butter
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
80 g. leek, white part only, slicked
salt and pepper to taste
220 g button mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups unsalted chicken stock
60 g vacuum-packed ready-to-eat chestnuts
1/2 cup cream
1 cup milk (optional)
Heat a large pan and add butter. When butter is melted and hot, add onion, garlic and leek. Cook until soft, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add sliced mushrooms and cook over high heat for five minutes until ingredients are dry.
Heat stock in a separate pot and add chestnuts. Cook for 10 minutes then stir in cream. Pour in mixture into hot pot of mushrooms and cook over hight heat for another 10 minutes.
Set some mushrooms and chestnuts aside for garnish. Using a handheld blender, process soup and remaining mushrooms and chestnuts into a fine puree. Pass puree through a sieve to remove any lumps and ensure soup is smooth. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Prepare milk foam, if desired. Warm milk in a pan. D not allow it to come to the boil. Hold a handheld blender at an angle and create foam in milk.
Spoon milk foam on soup and garnish as desired. Serve immediately.