Caviar Appetizer Recipe: A Taste of the Ocean

A delicious reminder of the ocean, caviar appetizers are perfect for entertaining and just may remind you of your most recent voyage with us. This caviar with crushed fingerling potatoes and lemon sour cream dish was recently featured on CBS’ “The Dish” and is served in The Grand Dining Room. I invite you to try this recipe and take a memorable journey back to your most recent sailing aboard Oceania Cruises.

Caviar with Crushed Fingerling Potatoes and Lemon Sour Cream
Serves: 10

Ingredients:

• 3 ½ ounces white Pacific sturgeon
• 2 ¾ cups fingerling/baby potatoes
• 1 cup butter
• ¾ teaspoon Fleur de sel de Guerande sea salt, to taste
• 1 ¾ ounces fresh chives, cut into sticks
• Finely ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 ¼ cups sour cream
• 1 lemon, fresh

Directions:

1. Cook the potato (skin on) in salted water. Drain from water and peel them while still warm. Crush potatoes with a fork. Add the butter with a spatula (no whisk). Then, at the last minute, add the chopped chives to keep the color. Season to taste with fleur de sel and pepper.
2. Mix the sour cream and juice from the lemon and add it into a squeeze bottle.
3. Spoon the warm potato mixture into a 2 ¾ inch small ring and top with the paddlefish caviar quenelle.
4. Dot or drizzle the lemon sour cream over the top of the caviar to your liking.

About Executive Culinary Director Alexis Quaretti
Born in Fontainebleau, France, Alexis Quaretti began showing a particular interest in cooking from an early age when cooking with his grandmother. At the age of 16, he had developed his passion for food to such a level that he knew he had found his vocation. A graduate of the hotel school in Reunion Island, he started his career at the 1-Michelin-star Château de Marçay in Chinon, France, a member of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux Association. In 2001, Chef Alex then joined Alain Passard at the famous 3-Michelin-star restaurant L’Arpège. In 2004, he joined the Oceania Cruises team, and in 2008, he was promoted to Executive Chef at the young age of 27. In 2017, Chef Alex pursued an opportunity to spread his culinary wings and expand his career knowledge and creativity, and he returned to Oceania Cruises as the line’s Director of Culinary Programs & Development in 2022. In 2024, he became our Executive Culinary Director alongside Eric Barale. Chef Alex oversees all aspects of culinary operations across the brand’s seven acclaimed ships and its restaurants and dining outlets, including the development, introduction, and implementation of new concepts to continually elevate the most awarded dining experiences at sea.