Sailing on a yacht in the Mediterranean is like sheer hedonism (the doctrine according to which pleasure is the highest good and the goal of life), because enchanting landscapes around, the sea is filled with the warmth of the tropical sun, in a glass with red its rays are beautifully reflected with wine, and dolphins are racing alongside the ship.
Delicious and nutritious food is the most important part of such a holiday, so there is always time on the yacht to prepare something special. In this article, we will try to tell you how to enjoy not only travel, but also a full stomach, even if you are a complete newbie in this business. You can arrange a Mediterranean summer right in your kitchen by preparing simple, but at the same time, very colorful dishes that are usually fed to sports teams during the regattas.
Having visited several regattas, we found out several important points regarding cooking on a yacht. First of all, you need to understand that the ship's kitchen is very small in size, and although it has a stove with a variety of dishes (and sometimes even an oven), it is not easy to cook any dish on it. So, making your own adjustments to the cooking process can, for example, be a pretty shabby frying pan or dull knives, not to mention the weak gas in the stove and other important points.
Cooking is for the whole team, which means that, for example, while you are frying the last pieces of beef, the first ones will already be cold. For yacht cooking, choose foods that are quick to cook and best cook in one large pot.
You shouldn't spend more than 40 minutes cooking dinner - in any regatta there will be more interesting activities than self-isolation in the kitchen with butter and boiling soup sizzling in a pan.
As advised by experienced sailors 2yachts, it is necessary to choose products that, if necessary, you can take with you, if they never came in handy in the kitchen. For example, a jar of capers or a package of Italian pasta can be a great souvenir if you don't feel like eating them along the way. And, of course, all dishes should be delicious, summer, simple and beautifully decorated, just like the very stay in the Mediterranean on a yacht, from the board of which life seems simple and carefree.
Note that the recipes presented are meant for 2 servings - you can calculate the number of necessary products for cooking for the whole team yourself.
Soft polenta is a great substitute for risotto or pasta, which can get boring for the whole team when traveling. This dish is distinguished by one remarkable property: it is very simple to prepare it, it does not take much time and, unlike risotto, it is almost impossible to mess up and spoil the dish here. In appearance and consistency, polenta resembles a thick porridge, it contains corn flour, which is obscenely popular in northern Italy.
Along with pasta, polenta can be seasoned with a wide variety of sauces and toppings, but the version with mushrooms and spinach is the simplest and most attractive in appearance. Plus, this dish is perfect for vegetarians, since it does not contain meat and, in terms of calorie content, it completely compensates for the energy deficit, which is needed many times more on travel.
Spaghetti is one of the most popular dishes on yachts - pasta can be stored indefinitely, it can be prepared quickly and easily, and a large variety of sauces, with proper skill, allow you to cook this dish almost every evening. For dining on a yacht, the classic puttanesca spaghetti is one of the more palatable options, as the recipe is very simple and takes a minimum of time to prepare.
In comparison with the mega popular Bolognese in regattas, this pasta does not require the preparation of a huge amount of vegetables and a long preparation of sauce, in addition, it is suitable even for those who do not digest red meat. Since all the components of the puttaneski are canned, they can be purchased at the very beginning of the regatta and, if necessary, taken with you (it may also happen that the crew prefers to take part in the octopus festival in one of the restaurants in nearest marina). This pasta is perfect for organizing a dinner at home, when there is no desire to cook something complicated, and the stocks in your refrigerator are nearing the end.
If you like seafood - by no means skipping mussels in the regatta, on the shore you can always buy them at the nearest supermarket or at Mediterranean farms, which can be approached directly from the water. Once you buy mussels, you can cook them quickly and enjoy great taste with white wine. You can arrange a dinner on a yacht in order to meet some of the most beautiful sunsets at any convenient time during your trip, but at home you can also remind yourself of these pleasant moments by purchasing mussels in the store. The main thing when choosing is to purchase them in the sashes, and not peeled.
On a yacht, you can apply the simplest recipe - packing mussels, a little white wine and herbs, a saucepan with a lid, and after a few minutes you can plunge into the atmosphere of hedonism. This option is great if you have purchased a bag of farm fresh clams, but with frozen mussels it is best to make sure to prepare the appropriate sauce. For example, a good option is to cook mussels with any blue cheese you brought back from your last trip to Europe.
Another great way to fill the stomachs of an entire crew of sailors is to cook fish in a frying pan. Note that if you are going to cook this dish at home, then you will have to purchase additionally spicy pickled lemons and harrisu - a pasty Arabic sauce made from hot chili peppers. It is clear that in regattas, there should be no difficulty in acquiring spices, since you can find everything in large supermarkets on the coast, focusing on soy sauces and other Asian food. Ideal if you find salty Moroccan lemons.
If you succeed in cooking, a dish of delicate fish in a spicy sauce awaits you. Plus, the garnish in the form of sweet-spicy couscous will add color to everything. If the sauce seems extremely spicy to you, Greek yogurt can help thin it a little.
In conclusion, consider a very simple, but at the same time surprisingly tasty dish that does not require complex selection of ingredients and delights the yachtsman with the contrast of fresh and seasoned creamy taste. It is enough to cook pasta with lemon in your home in the kitchen to feel like somewhere in Sorrento, when the sun goes down, snow-white yachts loom on the horizon, and you plan to watch your favorite movie with the whole crowd.
It is very important to note that only fresh pasta should be selected for this dish - you can buy excellent pasta while traveling around the Mediterranean in any supermarket on the shore. Cooking pasta at home is very interesting, it is not difficult either in terms of tracking the quality of the dish, or in terms of time. But if you have no desire to cook pasta at home, you can limit yourself to ordinary spaghetti bought at the nearest store.
If you need to buy or rent a yacht in the Mediterranean or any other region of the world - you can successfully contact specialists of the 2yachts company. We provide full support in the process of choosing a yacht and signing a contract. With us you will not only get acquainted with the best offers on the yachting market, but also acquire a dream yacht!