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Mokha Café, Grand Hyatt muscat
Fine dining with a Mediterranean flavour: an old favourite with a new twist

The Mokha Café is launching its new Provencal range of dishes. Whether dining inside or al fresco, you can be assured that you are in safe hands as the café boasts numerous culinary awards, including the Oman Today Best Restaurant Award for Cafés in 2003 and 2004, as well as the award for Best Service in 2005.

A selection of the new recipes, as compiled by Chef de Cuisine Andre van den Heuvel, includes chicken saltimboca with air-dried parma ham delicately placed between the skin and meat of the bird to infuse a salty taste. Braised onions, carrots and celery accompany this Mediterranean dish. Other delights include sumptuous squid stuffed with salmon, hammour and shrimps and a delectable slow braised lamb with a spinach and garlic stuffing. But the piece de resistance comes in the form of slow cooked sea bass, lashed with olive oil with sautéed cherry tomatoes, rosemary, basil and thyme. In true Provencal style, each dish evokes that 'home-cooked' feeling, as preparation is uncomplicated. "Easy food is widely considered the best", adds Andre.

Method of preparation
Clean and wash the squid and dry them with kitchen paper. Cut the salmon, shrimp and hammour into small pieces and put them in a blender with the cream and two ice cubes. Add the remaining ingredients into it and blend. Put this fish mousse in a piping bag and stuff the squid. Keep your oven on steam at around 80ºC and steam the stuffed squid for seven minutes. Take out the steamed squid and pan fry on high flame very briefly to add colour to the dish. Add some pearl onions if you have with some cherry tomatoes and the canned tomatoes and simmer it down. Serve in a nice cooking pan.

Method of preparation
Take the whole chicken and wash and clean from inside. Stuff the bird with sage and rosemary and season it with pepper. Put the whole chicken into the oven heated at 160ºC. Add the vegetables to it. Let it braise slowly and baste it regularly with the liquid that collects in the pan until it becomes a nice brown colour. Take it out after an hour. Remove the leg and the breast pieces. Use the bones to making your sauce by adding it into a pot with the remaining juice and the parma ham. Garnish with the ham

Note: The original recipe contains pork and wine

Method of preparation
Clean the sea bass and season it with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a cooking pan. Pan fry the sea bass only on the skin side. Add the cherry tomatoes and celery. Lift the sea bass out of the pan and let the fish rest for five minutes on a tray. Add the fish juice and butter to the pan. Season the sauce with the parsley, basil and a little salt and pepper. Finally add the fish back into the sauce and simmer for a minute. Garnish drizzled with olive oil.

Method of Preparation
Wash and clean the lamb loin, removing any skin and excess fat. Cut the lamb loin into a butterfly cut piece. (Your local butchery will be able to do this if required). Season the lamb with salt and pepper and half the garlic. Sauté the cleaned fresh spinach with shallots, the remaining garlic and cream. Simmer to reduce it. After seasoning, cool it down and use it for the stuffing. Close the second half of the butterfly cut and tie the whole lamb loin with a kitchen string. Pan fry the meat slowly in the oven at around 160ºC. Remove from the oven after seven minutes and let it rest for ten minutes. Before serving take off the kitchen string and put it into the oven pre-heated at 120ºC for around eight minutes or medium rare.

Method of Preparation
Cut the loin into a nice piece and season with cinnamon and salt. Pan fry the tuna on low heat for just 20 seconds on each side. Leave it outside at room temperature. Peel the beetroot and fennel and sauté them together in a frying pan. Add some orange juice and honey into it and simmer for a while. Cover it with aluminum foil. Lastly, add all the remaining ingredients into it and serve. Put the tuna three minutes before serving into the oven with some crushed pepper over it. Garnish with cherries and the sauce.

Method of preparation
Peel and slice the potatoes very thin on a slicing machine. Layer the potato slices on a tray in a nice rectangle with a little butter. Put them in the oven and cook them until half done. Take out and let them cool. Now slice all vegetables and sauté and season them. Layer the half done potatoes on a sheet of aluminum foil in a rectangle shape. Season it with sun dried tomatoes, chopped olives, salt and pepper. Put the vegetables on top and roll the potato slices around the vegetables. Press it very hard together and freeze for an hour. Remove from the freezer and slice the terrine. Pan fry after taking off the aluminum foil, for ten minutes. Before serving, take off the kitchen string and put it into the oven pre-heated at 120ºC for around eight minutes or medium rare.