Our Dubai Sunset Soiree and Launch of Grantourismo with Arabian Cocktails and Canapés

We hosted an Arabian-inspired Dubai sunset soiree for the Dubai launch of Grantourismo and our year-long grand tour yesterday here at our luxurious villa rental on The Palm island. As is typical of Dubai, our home for many years, our guest list was multicultural, and included Dubai bloggers and tweeps, and friends old and new, all from the media, publishing, arts, academia, hospitality, and airline industries – and all really really lovely people.

With Lara’s help, I devised the menu for our Dubai sunset soiree that launched Grantourismo and our yearlong global grand tour dedicated to advocating slow, local and experiential travel. I prepared all the dishes in the kitchen of our luxurious villa rental on The Palm, our first of many ‘homes away from home’ of the year, and Dubai’s most quintessential digs.

We spent about five hours prepping for the 30 people we’d invited. The villa’s kitchen was perfect for this kind of entertaining with a good stove and a decent-sized fridge with an ice-maker, and an ‘island’ in the middle of the kitchen that is tailor-made for plating plenty of dishes.

As this year’s grand tour project is all about inspiring you all to stay in holiday rentals over hotels so you can shop the local markets and cook some local food using local ingredients, whether it’s as simple as a breakfast or lunch or you’re entertaining, we thought we’d share what we served.

Our Dubai Sunset Soiree and Launch of Grantourismo – Our Arabian Cocktails and Canapés

These are the cocktails and canapés that we served at our Dubai sunset soiree that launched Grantourismo.

The Cocktails at our Dubai Sunset Soiree

Our welcome drink was inspired by the traditions of Arabian hospitality, and the ‘breaking of the fast’ during Ramadan, when camel milk and dates are served to guests. I’m not a big fan of milk-based cocktails, but this went down a treat.

As we had some Muslim friends coming, we made alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions. We served them in shot glasses on a small bamboo tray with a date on a toothpick on the side – Lara’s genius idea. It meant that people could pick up their little taster upon arrival and have a walk around the villa and check it out while they settled in…

Marhaba!

(Marhaba means welcome in Arabic)
2 oz Baileys
1 oz date syrup
1 oz camel milk
Note that date syrup is very strong so err on the side of caution.

There are a lot of Indian expats in Dubai, and they make up a majority of the expat population, so I thought we’d go with a variation of one of my favourite cocktails from Asha’s, an upmarket Indian restaurant we used to frequent when we lived here full-time. We tried a non-alcoholic version of it in Kuwait, and thought it would be ideal…

Ginger and Basil Cocktail

2 parts ginger-infused vodka
handful of torn basil,
dash of lemon juice
1 part apple juice

To make ginger-infused vodka, just grate a small knob of fresh ginger and put it in the vodka bottle. Leave for at least 24hrs.

Pour the 2 parts of ginger-infused vodka into glasss, then add a handful of torn basil, a dash of lemon juice, and 1 part apple juice, and stir.

This cocktail disappeared fast.

Pomegranate is ubiquitous in the Middle East – it’s one of Lara’s favourite fruits. We thought it would mix nicely with gin. And it did!

Pomegranate Pop

2 parts gin
1 part pomegranate juice
small amount of muddled mint leaves
ginger ale

To make, simply combine the ingredients in a shaker or glass, and shake or stir, as you prefer.

Arabian Canapés at our Dubai Sunset Soiree

I’ve been developing some Middle Eastern dishes for a project that shall remain a secret for the moment. I prefer finger food for these kinds of soirees, but I don’t really like the ubiquitous greasy samosas that most people opt for here in Dubai. I used to serve most of the dishes below at the dinner parties we had when we lived in Bur Dubai a few years four years ago.

Fattoush Salad

tomato
green capsicum
cucumber
shallots, parsley and mint, all chopped finely

We love fattoush, a typical Middle East salad, but how do you serve it as finger food? Use one of the ingredients as a container for the rest! I sliced the cucumber into large chunks and scooped out the centre on one side to form a cup. The ingredients above go inside the cucumber ‘cup’.

Toasted Lebanese bread is usually broken to create crispy pita chips that are mixed through the fatoush, however, it goes soggy very quickly. I decided to create crunchy breadcrumbs and use them in the same way Thai chefs use toasted rice powder in larb gai (chicken salad).

So I made crumbs from Lebanese bread and added rock salt. Just before serving I added lemon juice and olive oil. People really enjoyed both the freshness of this dish and my refreshing take on it, and I’m proud of having found a new way to serve it!

(Update: we’ve since published a proper fattoush salad recipe.)

Middle Eastern and Med-Inspired Pintxos

The rest of the dishes were Middle Eastern-inspired variations on Basque pintxos and Spanish tapas.

We used French breadsticks, which we sliced and toasted. But you could make homemade croutons, which are crunchier and last longer, and there are just so many things you can do with croutons to add texture and crunch to soups and salads.

Then we brushed the slices with olive oil, and served them with the following Middle Eastern- and Mediterranean-inspired toppings.

Hummus with coriander
Za’atar, peppered lamb mince and pine nuts
Muttabal with roasted capsicum strips
Basil pesto, rocket & Parmesan
Olive tapenade with coriander & capsicum
Philadelphia cream cheese with anchovies and chives

(Update: we now have an easy authentic hummus recipe and a basil pesto recipe on our website.)

Dubai Sliders

I wanted to serve something more substantial for the stage of the night when everyone was tipsy feeling peckish, so I had the idea of doing mini burgers or sliders that were Middle Eastern flavoured.

I went with burgers that I made with lamb kofta-style mince. A traditional lamb kofta mix contains cumin, coriander, garlic, and mint. Here in Dubai and elsewhere in the Middle East, kofta is squeezed around skewers and cooked over charcoal. I made the lamb kofta mix into burger patties instead.

The tiny buns were halved and toasted, spread with hummus, topped with caramelised onions, a slice of roasted capsicum, and then the lamb patty. I secured the top bun with a gherkin-skewer. Around 30 of them were devoured in about 30 seconds!!!

It was a great night, made so with a great crowd of people! Thank you for coming everyone!

Next stop: London, for our official London Grantourismo launch party, which we’ll be hosting in our lovely London holiday rental and our second ‘home away from home’ of our yearlong trip. We’ll be co-hosting with our project partners, HomeAwayUK, and inviting the London travel media and travel industry peeps, and ‘friends’ from Twitter and the blogosphere, who we’ll meet in person for the first time. Exciting!