Kitchen experiments

Vegetable tagine

2012-01-25T12:58:00.008+01:00

Preparation

Make a mix of tomatoes, olive oil and garlic. Simmer. You can make this the day before.

Fry aubergine (optional: bell pepper):

Fry courgette (in very small cubes) and onion (cut very finely).

Add prepared tomatoes with olive oil and garlic.

Add cumin powder, black pepper powder, paprika powder, chili flakes and salt.

Add pre-fried aubergine and green (bell) pepper.

Simmer until done.

Lamb tagine with prunes

2012-01-13T15:56:00.003+01:00

Fry lamb shoulder in olive oil until brown.

Fry sliced onion and tomato in olive oil in the tagine.

Add the pieces of meat.

Add 2 teaspoons of Ras el hanout spice blend, some saffron and water.

Add a bunch of parsley and stew until the meat is tender.

Add prunes filled with almond (fried) and rolled in toasted sesame seeds.

Pa Jun (Korean pancake)

2011-10-21T13:12:00.006+02:00

For two pancakes:

Mix 1 cup of flower (120 gram), 0.75 cup of water (180 ml), one egg (beaten) and some kimchi juice (according to taste) together. Add more water if the batter is too thick.

Add scallions, halved and cut into 2 inch lengths and some kimchi (finely cut). Optional: carrot, sliced red chili peppers, onion, zucchini or mushrooms.

Let the batter sit for about 10 minutes.

Fry the pancake in a skillet for 4 minutes.

Flip over and fry the other side for 2 minutes.

Serve with dipping sauce made from: rice vinegar and soy sauce (1:1) and some drops of sesame oil.

Or for a more elaborate sauce: 1/3 cup rice vinegar and 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon chili pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon scallions (thinly sliced) and 1 teaspoon chopped garlic.

Brussels sprout & marsala

2011-10-19T15:09:00.003+02:00

Clean, then boil Brussels sprouts for 5-6 minutes. I used 500 gram. Do not overcook Brussels sprouts! Overcooking releases the sulphur smelling glucosinolate, sinigrin.

In the meantime: fry 100 gram diced pancetta in a little oil for a couple of minutes. Add 20 gram butter & chestnuts. When the butter has melted add 50 ml. Marsala and cook until the butter and Marsala form a thick sauce.

Mix the drained Brussels sprouts and a handful of parsley with the pancetta-Marsala-sauce and serve.

Chicken fattee with rice, crispbread and yogurt

2011-10-14T08:44:00.012+02:00

Chicken fattee is a Lebanese layered dish. It's takes at least two hours to prepare. The best approach is to think in layers. The bread and yogurt can be cold, the rest of the layers need to be warm. Eat with your hands.

Layer 1 (crispbread)

Coat Lebanese flatbread with some melted butter and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the bread is crispy. Cut like a pizza in triangles. If you can't find flatbread, slice pita bread in half.

Layer 2 (rice)

Melt butter over a medium heat, add a cinnamon stick (or powder) and onion. Fry for 10 - 15 minutes. Add pre-soaked rice, water (200 ml for 100 gram of rice) and chickpeas. Boil, add salt and simmer until the rice is done.

Layer 3 (chicken and gravy)

Chicken:
The chicken takes the most time to prepare, so start with the chicken. Rub the chicken with olive oil, season with black pepper, salt and ground cloves. Bake in the oven for about 75 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool. Take the meat off the bone and slice into smaller peaces.

Gravy:
Deglaze the roasting tray - pour off most of the oil - with about 150 ml water.

Layer 4 (aubergine)

Cut an aubergine in small pieces, toss with salt and let sit for one hour. Rinse the salt off and pat dry. Fry the aubergine in olive oil until it's soft and light brown.

Layer 5 (tomato sauce)

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and fry sliced garlic until light brown. Add a cinnamon stick and a can of plum tomatoes, simmer for half an hour, then season with salt and pepper.

Layer 6 (yogurt)

Mix Greek yogurt and crushed garlic with salt.

Layer 7 (seasoning)

Chopped flat-leaf parsley and warm toasted pine nuts.

Assemble the dish.

Layer the crispy bread:

Add a layer of rice:

The chicken pieces:

Spoon some gravy over the chicken:

The aubergine:

Add a layer of tomato sauce:

Dot some yoghurt over the tomato sauce:

Finish with the flat-leaf parsley and pine nuts:

Korean ginseng chicken soup

2011-10-04T15:31:00.004+02:00

When you are ill you need to eat chicken soup. In Korea this chicken soup is eaten in summer time to strengthen the body when it's hot.

The recipe is easy. You need a small chicken, one chicken each person, so it needs to be really small.

Stuff the chicken with some soaked rice (sweet rice if you have it), dried Korean dates (also called Chinese dates), fresh garlic, fresh ginseng.

Boil the stuffed chicken in plenty of water and add some of the ginseng, dates, rice and garlic to the pot. Boil for one hour. In the last few minutes add spring onion.

Serve with salt for dipping the chicken pieces.

African Palmnut Concentrate

2011-09-13T13:24:00.016+02:00

Or "Sauce Graine" in Francophone Africa. For use in soups and stews.

Palm nut is the fruit of the African oil palm. The African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) is native to west Africa. The fruit is used to make palm wine, palm oil and palmnut concentrate.

Palmnut Concentrate from Côte d'Ivoire:

Palmnut stew recipe

Ox tail:

Chicken:

Crab:

Boil one ox trail, crab, chicken in plenty of water for 20 minutes. Instead of crab you can use prawn.

Add onion, tomato and hot peppers. After 15 minutes remove onion, tomato and hot peppers and mix into a puree and return to pot.

Return mixture to the pot:

Add palm nut cream according to taste. The more the heavier your stew will be. Stir. Simmer.

Add dried okra powder and season, according to the recipe. I used fresh okra.

Simmer until the sauce thickens but not too long! I made the mistake to simmer this stew for a couple of hours. The result was that the ox tail was fine but the chicken and the crab meat had completely dissolved into the sauce. Check the chicken while you stew and thicken the sauce with arrow root.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjun9iPAoIM

Pommeau

2011-09-12T09:10:00.003+02:00

Pommeau is a mix of apple juice and calvados, a brandy made from apples from the French région of Basse-Normandie. It's technically a mistelle. There are only two Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC): Pommeau de Bretagne, and Pommeau de Normandie.

Pommeau is consumed as an apéritif, or as an accompaniment to blue cheese, a Stilton in the above photo.

Okra stew in red palm oil

2011-09-08T18:12:00.008+02:00

Fry one onion in hot neutral oil. Add chicken pieces and fry until brown.

Add a couple of tablespoons of red palm oil.

Mix. The red palm oil will form a beautiful orange oily sauce. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Add water and hot pepper and boil until the chicken is half done. The hot pepper will break open and make the 'soup' spicy.

Add seasoning (just salt or a cube of Maggi) and plenty of okra, sliced.

Simmer for at least another 30 minutes. Simmer until the sauce has the right consistency. I added a little arrow root to thicken the sauce.

Mwambé (Congo)

2011-09-07T17:15:00.011+02:00

More leftovers to finish. A jar of palm oil. The distinct taste of the oil makes it best for African cooking.

Mwambé
Mix 500 gram meat (diced) with lemon juice, salt and hot pepper and marinate.

Heat palm oil and fry one onion. Add meat and fry until it's browned.

Add 3 or 4 tomatoes and water. Simmer.

Add palm nut sauce. Now, this is a problem. Mwambé or nyembwe sauce, or alternatively: canned palm soup base, also called "sauce graine" or "noix de palme") is not readily available in Amsterdam. Apparently you can use peanut butter (containing only peanuts and salt). If peanut butter is used, the dish is transformed into Muamba Nsusu.

Add greens (spinach or similar greens) and simmer for one hour.

Muamba Nsusu
Fill a large pot with enough water for soup. Bring it to a boil. Add one chicken and boil it until the meat is done and a broth is obtained.

While the chicken is boiling, gently sauté one onion in several tablespoons of palm oil until the onion is tender.

Remove the chicken from the broth and remove meat from bones. (Save the broth and keep it at a low simmer.)

Combine one cup of the chicken broth with half a cup (125 ml) peanut butter and a small can of tomato paste and stir until smooth.

Return the chicken meat to the broth and add the peanut butter-tomato paste mixture. Stir and continue to simmer until the soup is thickened.

More palm oil recipes:

Palm-Oil Chop
Heat the oil in a large pot or dutch oven over high heat. Fry chicken and beef until browned on the outside. Add ginger (or cinnamon) as the meat is frying. (It might be best to fry the meat in two or three batches; meat browns best when the pieces are fried without touching one another.) Set the meat aside after it is browned.

Fry vegetables of your choice (tomatoes, onion, okra, bell pepper, chili pepper) in the same pot, reduce heat and simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes. Stir vigorously to partially mash the vegetables.

Add prawns, tomato paste, palm soup base, thyme, spices. Stir. Add enough water to make a smooth sauce while continuing to stir. Reduce heat. Simmer for an additional five to ten minutes.

Add the chicken and meat and simmer for an additional thirty minutes to an hour or more, stirring regularly. Make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Some people prefer to remove some of the red oil which separates from the palm fruit as it cooked; if it is not removed it should be stirred into the sauce.

Serve with Rice and garnishes. Diners should get a plate of Chop over rice and should add garnishes (below) of their choice right on top.

Garnishes
hard-boiled eggs (everyone must have a hard-boiled egg)
sliced boiled yam or sweet potato
breadcrumbs or croutons
sliced fruit: such as banana, mango, orange, papaya, pineapple, etc.
shredded lettuce
parsley
chopped nuts
shredded coconut
sliced tomato
sliced onion: raw or fried
chile peppers
chutney
African Hot Sauce
salt, black pepper, red pepper

Palmnut stew
Boil one ox trail, shrimp, chicken in plenty of water.

Add onion, tomato and hot peppers. After 15 minutes remove onion, tomato and hot peppers and mix into a puree and return to pot.

Add palm nut cream according to taste. The more the heavier your stew will be. Stir. Simmer.

Add dried okra powder and season.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjun9iPAoIM

Okra stew
At least you don't need palm nut cream for this recipe, just the palm oil.

Fry onion in normal oil. Add chicken pieces and fry.

Add a couple of tablespoons red palm oil.

Add water and hot peppers. Stir and cook.

Season (Maggi cube) and add plenty of fresh okra. Boil for another 30 minutes.

Maman Blanc's Tomato Salad

2011-09-07T13:24:00.005+02:00

Slice tomatoes. Big juicy tomatoes. Spread them out on a big plate. Add red onion (sliced).

Dressing:
Shallot (very finely)
Dijon mustard (tablespoon)
Garlic (mashed)
Rapeseed oil (3 tbsp)
White wine vinegar (splash)
Hot water on the end and mix very well.

Drizzle on tomatoes and let it marinate for at least one hour.

Add salt and pepper, parsley and basil as a garnish.

Marinate the tomatoes with the dressing:

Chickpeas and chorizo

2011-09-07T13:02:00.005+02:00

Both are excellent together for a quick lunch.

Fry chorizo slices in as little olive oil as possible: 3 minutes.

Add sliced garlic and lemon peel: 1 minute.

Add cherry tomatoes (halved and deseeded) and chickpeas: 3 minutes.

Add basil leaves and lemon juice.

That's it!

Kerala Fish Curry

2011-09-05T14:00:00.006+02:00

What? No fish curry on my blog? I have some left over coconut milk in the fridge and I want to make it a policy not to throw food away.

Ingredients
Onion, chopped -- 1
Garlic, peeled -- 4 to 6 cloves
Gingerroot, peeled and thinly sliced -- 1 (1-inch) piece
Chile peppers, chopped -- 1 to 6
Tamarind pulp -- 2 or 3 tablespoons
Warm water -- 1 1/2 cups
Oil -- 3 or 4 tablespoons
Mustard seeds -- 1 tablespoon
Ground coriander -- 1 tablespoon
Turmeric --2 teaspoons
Fenugreek -- 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves (optional) -- 4 to 6
Salt and pepper -- to taste
White fish, cut into bite-sized pieces -- 2 pounds
Coconut milk -- 1 1/2 cups

Method
Place the onion, garlic, gingerroot and chilies in a blender or food processor and process until pureed but still a little chunky. You may have to add a little water and work in batches if using a blender.

Mix the tamarind pulp with the water and break it up with a fork or your hands to dissolve. Strain the tamarind water and discard the pulp.

Heat the oil in a large pot, kadhai or wok over medium-high flame. Add the mustard seeds and sauté until they start to pop. Add the dry spices quickly and stir just until they are absorbed by the oil. Do not allow the spices to burn.

Quickly add the onion puree and curry leaves. Reduce heat to low and cook until the liquid is reduced and the onions have lost their raw flavor, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the tamarind water, season with salt and pepper and simmer another 10 to 15 minutes to meld the flavors and reduce the liquid a little.

Stir in the fish ...

... and coconut milk and simmer slowly another 5 to 10 minutes until the fish is cooked through. Adjust seasoning and serve with basmati rice.

Variations
Fish curries in Kerala commonly use kudam puli (also known as kodampuli, kodum puli, kukum star or black tamarind) as a souring agent. This recipe uses regular tamarind as a substitute.
Kerala curry is good with a wide variety of fish. Use whatever is available to you.
Add 1/4 cup grated coconut with the tamarind water.
Add 1 cup chopped tomatoes if you like.
The dish is normally served quite spicy. Vary the number of chilies according to your taste.
Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of paprika along with the other spices.

I love my new De Buyer "Country Fry Pan" (24 cm). It's called a 'hapjes pan' in Dutch and has the same shape as a chef's pan (I think) but more importantly it has the same shape as an Indian/Pakistani "karahi". I used to own two original karahi's but they were made out of thin aluminum: completely useless. This country fry pan is made of heavy 99% iron - it weighs 1,5 kilo! It's perfect for curry's.

Raymond Blanc's apple tart

2011-09-02T19:28:00.007+02:00

A basic apple pie/tart, French style.

Four elements: the pastry, the apples, calvados butter and custard filling.

First make the pastry

Mix 250 gram flower, salt and 125 gram butter. Mix.

Add one egg and a dash of water. Mix and set aside for half an hour in the fridge.

Roll the pastry until it's 2 mm thin. Line the pastry in a tart form. Make holes in the bottom with a fork.

Apple
Peel four apples, take out the core and cut in chunky slices. Arrange in the tart form.

Calvados butter
Melt butter, squeeze a little lemon, add sugar and some calvados. Brush over the apples in the tart.

Bake in the over for 10 minutes (220 degrees) and 20 minutes (200 degrees).

Custard filling
Double cream, egg and 50 gram sugar, whisk.

Take tart out of the oven. Sprinkle a little sugar and pour the custard filling over the tart and bake for another 10 minutes.

Not perfect yet, the oven temperature was a bit too high at one point. The pie wasn't quite "golden brown". And I didn't have any double cream, so I made the custard filling with milk, sugar and egg yolk.

Bloedworst en appel

2011-09-01T14:03:00.001+02:00

In Aubel, Belgium, at the Abbaye du Val-Dieu I bought some sirop de poires et de pommes. You can serve apple-pear sirup with baked blood sausage and apple. Add some bread, cheese and a glass of Belgium beer and you have an excellent lunch. Origin: Belgium and Limburg.

[ wordt nog bewerkt ]

Belgische bloedworst is gebonden met gort, Limburgse met boekweitmeel.

Ingrediënten
250 g bloedworst (Belgische)
2 á 3 stuk appelen (goudreinet)
½ st rode ui
50 gram ontbijtspek
Garnering:
peterselie

Schil de appelen en verwijder het klokhuis. Snij de appelen in 10 schijven van 4 a 5 mm dikte.
Bak de appelschijfjes tot beetgaar en licht bruin in een pan met wat boter.
Snij de bloedworst in 30 schijven van ca 8 mm en bak deze in een hete pan met weinig olie. De schijfjes moeten stevig maar niet droog worden. Reken ca 3 min. baktijd. Snij de ui in dunne ringen en snij het spek in kleine blokjes. Bak de ui gaar samen met de spekjes.
Uitserveren:
Schik een appelschijf op een voorverwarmd bordje en leg hierop 3 schijfjes bloedworst.
Garneer verder met het uien/spek mengsel en versier het geheel met wat in hete olie gebakken grote roosjes peterselie

Golubtzi with smetana

2011-08-31T22:16:00.008+02:00

So, I bought smetana. Now I should find a recipe to use it. How about golubtzi? Stuffed cabbage.

Stuff the cabbage:
Boil cabbage leaves and spread them out on a plate once soft. Cut large veins to make rolling easier.

For the meat-mixture: saute onions and carrots until soft, about 5 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons tomato paste, some tomato sauce, salt, and black pepper, stir very well and cook for another 1 minute. Mix with rice, minced pork, fresh parsley, fresh dill and mix very well.

Put the meat mixture on the cabbage leaves and roll it into a small packages.

Make the sauce:
Fry one onion, add can of tomatoes, a small can of tomato paste and water. Boil. Carefully mix smetana into the tomato sauce. (use fresh dill)

Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls. (the sauce can be thickened with some flower) Bake in a 170 degree oven for 1 hour.

Serve smetana on the table as well.

Braised mackerel with radish

2011-08-31T22:04:00.003+02:00

A simple mackerel recipe. Cut the mackerel crosswise in 2-inch pieces, remove vins and head. Wash the fish.

Peel a Korean radish (Tae Baek) and cut in 2-inch chunks. One kilo for 2 mackerels. Slice 2 onions in large pieces.

Add all the ingredients to a large pot.

Make the seasoning:
12 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon shredded ginger
125 ml soy sauce
75 ml hot pepper flakes
2 tablespoons sugar
250 ml water

Bring to a boil. Pour broth over the fish.

Add spring onions and green and red pepper.

Simmer for half an hour. Evaporate excess broth.

Road side vegetables (Netherlands)

2011-08-26T14:47:00.003+02:00

Daslook - leaf. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daslook

Hondsdraf http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hondsdraf

Wilde venkel : http://dier-en-natuur.infoyo.nl/bloemen-en-planten/13387-wilde-venkel-maratho.html

Paardebloem

Doofnetel - flowers

Assorted flowers - for decoration.

Clupea (herring)

2011-08-26T11:39:00.011+02:00

The Netherlands are considered a herring-country but there are many ways of preparing herring. Smoked herring is chiefly exported to France, salted herring to Germany and 80% of 'Dutch' herring is imported from Norway.

This is a start of a long list of ways to prepare herring all across Europe.

Two types of herring are consumed: the Baltic herring, small, 14 to 18 centimeters; and the proper Atlantic herring.

Germany

Salzhering = raw herring in brine.

Netherlands

Bokking:

* stoombokking = warm smoked, Atlantic herring.

* spekbokking = cold smoked, Atlantic herring.

Hollandse Nieuwe / maatjesharing = Baltic herring, the head removed and ripened in salt water and caught between May and July.

Zoute haring = Baltic herring, the head removed and ripened in salt water and caught between August and April.

Zure haring = Baltic herring, zoute haring marinated in vinegar.

France

Smoked herring

Great-Brittain

Kipper = split from tail to head, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold smoked.

Russia

Salted and dried herring (eaten with beer):

Beurre noisette & clarified butter

2011-08-26T08:05:00.005+02:00

Heat a very good quality unsalted butter until it smells of hazelnuts. The color will be golden brown, but the butter hasn't been burned (yet). Basically you use your nose when making beurre noisette.

You can keep beurre noisette in the fridge for 2 - 3 weeks.

Clarified butter is different in that you heat the butter on a slower fire. This will separate the milk solids (proteins such as whey and casein) from the fat (the water in the butter evaporates). Commercial clarified butter can be made by direct evaporation, decantation and centrifugation.

To make beurre noisette you first go through the process of making clarified butter. Then increase the heat and toast the milk solids brown.

In India clarified butter is known as ghee. There are many cultures which use some type of clarified butter. Sometimes, like in Ethiopia, the clarified butter is spiced with cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, or nutmeg. In Morocco the spiced ghee is aged for months and sometimes, years. This is called 'smen'.

Waterzooi (Abbey Val-Dieu)

2011-08-25T20:51:00.011+02:00

Last Monday I had a very tasty chicken waterzooi at the Val-Dieu brewery in Aubel. I was used to a soup-like waterzooi but this sauce was very thick.

Basically you boil all the ingredients until done. Then you pour cream into the soup until it's creamy. In this case, a lot of cream.

I was driving home, so no beer. But we bought a bottle of Abbey beer (Brune), a bottle of local apple cider and 'sirup artisanal d'Aubel (apple & pear sirup). These will be used for cooking. Probably a meat stew with beer, pork chops in cider and the sirup will be great with fried apples and blood sausage.

The restaurant of the Abbey Val-Dieu:

The brewery:

Paella - Rick Stein in Mallorca

2011-08-25T14:08:00.008+02:00

1) Fry garlic in oil, add squid & black pepper.

2) Add onion.

3) Add bell pepper.

4) Add tomatoes.

5) Add rice and saffron (you can mix the saffron with the fish stock).

6) Add fish stock. Make sure it's salty enough. You can mix the stock with some lemon at this point.

7) Fry some prawns separately.

8) Let it simmer on the stove top until the rice is half done (15 minutes).

9) Put the paella in the oven until the rice is done and the paella has a crunchy top.

Dried fish (Russian)

2011-08-24T17:33:00.010+02:00

I discovered a new Russian food store in Amsterdam. And they sell dried fish at 7,50 euro per kilo. The fish is dried and salted and you eat it as a snack with a glass of cold beer. The one fish I bought cost me 75 eurocent. [ update: the fish is in fact herring ]

These fish are pretty dried out and you need to peel, or break, off the skin and bones with your hands.

What's left is some dried and oily fish meat, salty and damn tasty. It's a great alternative to crisps.

Priwet Rossia
Vijzelstraat 87
Amsterdam

Open: Mo - Sun from 10:00 AM - 10 PM.

Celeriac (winter vegetable)

2011-08-24T14:17:00.003+02:00

Instead of potato puree.

Peel and cube a celeriac and poach in milk with some salt (20 minutes).

Drain the cubes and puree with a little of the milk. Add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Make a "beurre noisette" and mix in puree.

Beet root salad (winter vegetable)

2011-08-24T14:11:00.007+02:00

Boil/steam beet root in skin and peel (40 minutes).

Cut the beet root in quarters, drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, shallot finely sliced and black pepper.

Garnish with hot smoked salmon (or other smoked fish), flaked, and fresh dill.

Sauce: crème fraîche, chopped dill and freshly grated horse radish.

Pickle for mackerel

2011-08-24T13:35:00.003+02:00

Dilute vinegar: 50% white wine vinegar + 50% water.

Add: fresh coriander (stems), pink peppercorns, 40 grams sugar, red onion (thinly sliced), lemon (thinly sliced).

Heat to 60 degrees. Don't boil it.

Cool and add mackerel fillet, flesh side down. Marinate for 20 minutes.
Grill mackerel for 5 - 6 minutes (score the skin sideways).

Serve with soy sauce dressing.

50% soy sauce, 50% water. Fresh lime juice, ginger (julienne), dark sugar. Mix.

Serve on salad (rucola and fennel).

Pork chops in Somerset cider

2011-08-19T19:30:00.007+02:00

Buy the best pork chops (Dutch: karbonade) available.

I bought some 'ribkarbonade'. Also available was a 'haaskarbonade'. According the butcher the 'rib' was more juicy and had double the frying time as the 'haas': 12 minutes.

Mix sage (chopped) with shallots, chopped very finely. Mix with butter, salt and pepper to coat the pork chops. Make some incisions to rub in the butter mixture deeper into the meat.

Pan fry the chops. No need to add extra oil or butter. When the chops are browned add a good organic cider (I brought one from Aubel in Belgium) and cook for 5 - 6 minutes. When they're browned add some butter and parsley.

Add some butter, parsley and serve with a simple cooked vegetable (early sprouting broccoli) and sautéed/baked potatoes. And a glass of cider, of course.

Parsley soup

2011-08-19T18:51:00.002+02:00

Another recipe from Rick Stein's Food Heroes.

Use curly parsley, chop parsley roughly.

Melt butter in a pan and add the parsley and chopped leeks. Gently fry the vegetables, add potatoes and add light chicken stock. I guess this could be a vegetable stock or even water. Simmer.

While the soup is simmering mix chives and cream*.

Add fresh parsley in the last minute of cooking and liquidize the soup in a food processor.

Back into the pan, add double cream, salt and black pepper. Serve with a spoon of chives-cream in the soup.

*) Stein doesn't say what kind of cream. It's quite difficult to buy good fatty cream in The Netherlands.

**) See above. Double cream is not available in The Netherlands. Slagroom is not fatty enough.

Freshly shelled peas

2011-08-18T15:36:00.009+02:00

If I had my own garden I would certainly grow my own peas. It's August and they are in season, and so are button (pearl) onions.

Shell 500 gram peas.

Cut dry cured ham in small pieces. Best would be Parmaham. I opted for a less expensive Dutch smoked bacon. Quite different in taste, very smokey, but it's a good combination as well.

Peal button onions.

Fry the button onions in two tablespoons of olive oil until slightly brown. Then add two tablespoons of water and simmer the onions with the lid closed for 5 minutes until just tender.

Add another two tablespoons of olive oil, garlic (sliced) and the ham or bacon. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the fresh peas, salt and plenty of black pepper and simmer for 15 minutes.

Chop a bunch of fresh parsley.

Stir in the parsley two minutes before the end of cooking.

Serve with bread.

Bartolomeo Scappi - eggplant

2011-08-16T14:00:00.010+02:00

This is a recipe form Opera dell'arte del cucinare, the famous cookbook by Bartolomeo Scappi (c. 1500 – 13 April 1577).

Basic ingredients are eggplant, fresh herbs, olive oils and spices.

Peel the eggplants:

Slice the eggplant and coat in flower:

Drizzle a baking tray with plenty of olive oil and add a layer of eggplant. Sprinkle with fresh herbs, cinnamon (powdered), cloves (powdered), sugar and salt.

Drizzle more oil. Add another layer of eggplant. Sprinkle more herbs (if you have the top of fennel), a splash of vinegar and more oil. I also used some fennel seeds.

Bake until soft. Be careful not to burn the herbs, the whole dish will taste bitter:

And the result:

"Bianco" - Fish soup from Corfu

2011-08-10T18:54:00.008+02:00

Apparently this soup is called 'bianco' because it doesn't contain tomatoes.

You need very few basic ingredients.

Take a big fish like a grouper. I made due with a small cod. Any non-oily whitefish will do.

Cut the fish in big chunks, don't remove the bones.

Fry very coarsely cut garlic in a deep layer of olive oil. Use plenty of garlic. [optional: use some butter as well and/or onion]

Add a little water, a lot of black pepper (about 2 tea spoons) and salt. Add the fish.

Add more water, a few sliced potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes. Squeeze some lemon in the soup.

It just takes 30 minutes to make and you don't need any difficult to get ingredients. It's all very simple. Just don't be stingy on the garlic, olive oil, black pepper, salt and lemon!

Wild greens omelette

2011-08-10T18:44:00.004+02:00

Also from Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape (Corfu).

Fry some leek rings in a pan and add fresh greens (anything which is on hand, like: dandelions, spinach, rucola). Simmer until the greens are soft.

Break eggs in a bowl. Add the greens, cheese and some coarsely chopped dill and mint. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven in a non-stick shallow pan for 45 minutes.

Serve with fresh tomatoes, red onion slices and white wine.

Spicy tomato sauce (for cold poached fish)

2011-08-10T17:33:00.011+02:00

From Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape, episode 2 (Sardinia).

Fry one onion and a few cloves of garlic in olive oil in a sauté pan. Add a few bay leafs, crumble some dried chilies and add a handful of parsley. Add a can of plumb tomatoes, plenty of salt and raisins (for an Arabian flavor). Season with red wine vinegar.

Cut the onion very finely.

In the program this sauce was served cold with poached fish (skate wings, skin peeled off after poaching in salted water).

But it's also a perfect sauce for hot pasta.

Ladolemono (Olive Oil and Lemon Sauce)

2011-08-10T15:45:00.002+02:00

120 ml extra-virgin olive oil
120 ml fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Simply mix the ingredients.

A classic Greek sauce used on grilled meats, vegetables, and fish.

Oktapodi Krasato (Octopus in Red Wine) FAIL

2011-08-05T09:16:00.025+02:00

FAILED RECIPE

UPDATE: It seems I got in quite wrong. It would be better to shear the onions in some hot olive oil and add a little sugar. Pre-cook the octopus as well. Then add all the other ingredients and simmer.

UPDATE: Avoid those frozen baby octopus.

Octopus in red wine and pearl onions, a Greek recipe. Now, pearl onions are in season from the end of July or early August, so you cannot use those little onions before the end of summer. You could use shallots instead.

Fresh octopus is not available in The Netherlands. I got a 1 kilo bag of frozen baby octopus from Vietnam. Defrost the octopus and boil them in their own water until they're dry. Discard excess water. You can also use bigger octopus. In that case, cut the octopus in bite sized chunks. In hindsight, I would use a big octopus next time. Those baby octopus are very tiny once the water has evaporated.

In the meantime, peel the onions. About 250 gram is the right amount for a kilo of octopus.

Add a few tablespoons olive oil to the octopus and add the pearl onions. Fry until the onions are a little soft. The only thing which can go wrong is when the onions are not soft and sweet. Because of the red wine and vinegar there is a lot of astringency to this dish, the onions need to be sweet.

Then add: 250 ml red wine, 80 ml red wine vinegar, two tomato's (skinned and grated or made into a pulp), a bay leaf, a teaspoon of dried oregano and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Simmer for 2 hours. The sauce should be thick. I believe a can of tomato puree could really make a difference. I have to try that next time.

Check whether the onions are soft and adjust the taste if necessary.

At the very end, add chopped parsley.

Stobá (Dutch Antillean meat stew)

2011-07-24T14:25:00.022+02:00

Stobá can be based on beef, but we opted for goat. You have to buy goat with lots of bones. Bones give flavor to a stew. I ended up buying 1,5 kilo goat, which seemed like a quarter of a goat. Chop the goat in pieces about 10 centimeters big.

Rub the meat with lime juice and dry the meat.

Fry the meat in oil until it browns.

Add: two chopped onions, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 3 tomatoes (cubed), 1 big tablespoon tamarind juice, a little sugar, nutmeg and (don't leave this out!): 1 or 2 madame jeanette peppers.

Mix everything so the meat gets coated with all the spices.

Add enough water to cover the meat, add salt according to taste and simmer for at least 2 hours.

Add one green bell pepper cut in small chunks and one big sweet potato (cubed) and simmer for another half hour. At this point I added a small can of tomato paste for extra flavor.

Add a handful of pickled caper and simmer another 15 minutes.

When you're finished the meat should really fall off the bone. It's almost like a soup. Since the stew contains sweat potato you don't even have to cook rice. But it's good to serve with pickled red onion.

A rare photo of myself in my kitchen:

Pipe Rigate ai Piselli e Prosciutto

2011-07-19T10:58:00.011+02:00

This recipe is both incredibly simple, tasty and rather laborious.

For the pasta I used rigatoni instead of pipe rigate.

Instead of piselli (peas) I used broad beans (Italian: fava, Dutch: tuinbonen). We spent the first half hour skinning the broad beans, first the pods, then the skin from each bean.

Next step: melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 cloves crushed garlic and add the beans or peas.

Add 150 ml chicken stock, wine or water. I used chicken stock. It's salty so be careful not to add too much salt. Sprinkle chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 5 -8 minutes. In the meantime boil the pasta.

Shred 100 gram of prosciutto crudo (dry-cured ham). I used Parma ham. It's expensive (5 euro per 100 gram) but worth it.

Add 100 ml panna da cucina and boil on high heat until the sauce thickens while stirring.

Add the Parma ham and remove from fire.

When the pasta is cooked add 1 tablespoon of butter and 100 ml panna da cucina to the hot pan.

Add the drained pasta.

Finally, pour in the sauce and toss. Sprinkle with fresh herbs before serving.

Cherry Jam

2011-06-18T19:57:00.003+02:00

The cherry tree in Roosteren, Limburg, The Netherlands.

Washing the cherries before they get frozen for a couple of days:

Der Rumtopf

2011-06-18T19:57:00.001+02:00

http://www.chefkoch.de/magazin/artikel/65,1/Chefkoch/Die-vielen-verschiedenen-Einlagen.html

Roast lamb and Mint Sauce

2011-05-16T11:39:00.006+02:00

I never made roast lamb before so this was a bit of an experiment. I simply rubbed the lamb with olive oil and some fresh herbs, which I had laying around. Then I stuffed garlic (cut in half lengthwise) and the tips of rosemary in slits and roasted the lamb first at high temperature for 15 minutes, then at a lower temperature for 25 minutes per pound of meat. Before roasting the lamb you should marinate it for a couple of hours.

The rosemary is prone to get burned in a small oven like mine. I think I used a bit too much rosemary, the lamb looks like a garden.

The result was okay I guess. Not so juicy as I had imagined but I believe the meat was from New Zealand, so had probably been frozen for many months.

I served the roast lamb with mint sauce, which was awesome.

2 tsp caster sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
A big pinch of ground cumin (optional)
6 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water and add a pinch or two of cumin. Mix with the vinegar. Add the chopped mint just before serving so it stays bright green.

Cumin rice

2011-04-18T13:10:00.003+02:00

An easy way to spice up your plain rice.

1 cup Basmati rice
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
0.5 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
2 cups water
salt and a dash of lime juice to taste. add some turmeric for color.

Heat ghee in a large heavy-bottomed vessel for about 2 minutes.
Add the cumin seeds and fry for 2 minutes till the seeds splutter.
Add the rice, lime juice, water, turmeric and salt. Mix well. Bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat and cook covered on low level for 15 minutes till all water evaporates.

Serve with dahl.

Garjarela (sweet carrot dessert)

2011-04-18T08:38:00.002+02:00

I haven't cooked much in the previous months but during the Sikh Vaisakhi festival in Amsterdam I stumbled upon a great tasting desert. It turns out to be garjarela and it's really easy to make. I haven't tried it yet, but will soon.

Ingredients
10 large carrots, peeled and grated
7 tbsp butter
5 cloves
green cardamom, crushed
a small piece of cinnamon sticks
75 ml milk
115 g granulated sugar

Method
1. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add in the grated carrots and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain into a colander.

2. Melt the butter in a pan with the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon on a very low heat.

3. Add the milk and stir well.

4. When you can smell the cardamom, add the sugar.

5. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and then add in the drained carrots.

6. Cook gently, stirring, until the liquid has cooked off, around 5 minutes.

7. Cover and cook on a very low heat for 15 minutes.

Cold beet salad

2011-03-11T17:08:00.004+01:00

Cut/dice and mix:

Boiled beet root
Gherkins
Red onion
Sour cream
Dille
Apple
Pickled herring

Baechu doenjang guk (배추 된장국)

2011-01-25T10:59:00.008+01:00

Cabbage and soy bean paste soup, or: Baechu doenjang guk. Doenjang being soy bean paste and guk being soup.

Doenjang is a base for many other dishes like Doenjang jjigae. You can use below recipe as a base recipe. Use tofu instead of cabbage or add mushrooms. It can be a vegetable soup, or meat or fish soup.

First blanche a Chinese cabbage, known as napa cabbage in English. Quarter the cabbage and cut off the bottom hard white part. Blanche in boiling water for one minute and rinse with cold water.

Chop the cabbage in small pieces.

Mix the cabbage with 5 tablespoons of doenjang. Doenjang is sold in brown plastic containers.

Add a couple of crushed and cut garlic cloves and a green pepper, sliced.

Mix the cabbage and doenjang with 2 tablespoons of flower.

Now add between 1 and 1,5 liter water.

A couple of dried anchovies are optional. The soup tastes great without the fish so it's not really necessary.

Boil for 20 to 30 minutes and serve hot. Optional: add cooked rice just before serving.

Steak & kidney pie

2011-01-21T14:56:00.008+01:00

More of a stew than an actual pie. It's a meat stew with pastry on top. The quantities below are for 3 people.

The filling

500 gram stewing beef, 250 gram ox kidney, 175 gram mushrooms, 50 grams of plain flour, one big onion, 700 ml. beef stock, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf and a spoon of tomato paste.

An ox liver weighs around 600 gram. If you use a whole kidney you need around 1200 gram beef.

Cut the beef, kidney, mushrooms and onion like this:

Coat the beef in about 80 grams of plain flower.

Fry the kidney light brown (this takes a couple of minutes), fry the beef golden-brown, the onion for about 10 minutes and the mushrooms for just a couple of minutes until they are light brown. Drain the ingredients from excess fat.

Add all the ingredients in a casserole, including the flower you used to coat the beef. This will make the gravy thick. Use proper beef stock and not a cube.

Stew in the oven at 160 degrees for 1,5 hours. Cool.

The pastry

Crumble 140 gram cold butter in 250 gram plain flower and a pinch of salt. Kneed the flower and butter until it crumbles. Add one egg yolk whisked together with 3 tablespoons water. Kneed until you have a firm ball. Cool in the fridge for at least one hour.

The assembly

Buy a proper pie dish. The dish used in the photo's is not ideal to say the least. Take the dough and flatten it. Cut out the shape of the pie dish and add an extra 1 cm all round. Cut out 6 cm-wide strips of pastry to go round the rim of the dish.

Butter the rim of the dish and line it with the strips of pastry. Carefully pour in the filling. You can use a so called 'pie raiser' in the middle to prevent the pastry form collapsing on the meat stew. I used a small inverted glass.

Drape the pastry lid over and coat it with egg was (whisk one egg together with a tablespoon of milk). Make a few slashes in the lid of the pie.

Preheat the over at 200 degrees. Bake the pie for 20 minutes at 200 degrees and a further 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

The result

You need a proper pie dish to make it look nice.

But this was actually incredibly tasty.

Boeuf Bourguignon

2011-01-12T12:23:00.008+01:00

A beef stew in red wine.

My version starts with marinating the beef overnight. Cut 1 kilo of beef (700 gram in my case) in bite sized chunks. Add 1 bottle of dry red wine, like a pinot noir, 2 onions cut finely, a carrot (cut), parsley, sage and thyme, and crushed black pepper. For extra flavor add a glass of grappa or cognac. Marinate in the fridge.

The next day take out the beef and set aside. Filter the marinate.

Pat the beef as dry as possible.

In a heavy iron pot heat 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the meat in small batches.

In the meantime heat the marinate.

When all the meat is browned add the marinate (filter again if you see foam like on the photo below).

Make a roux. Three tablespoons of butter and three tablespoons of flower will do.

Add some fresh parsley, sage and thyme to the stew and the roux. Simmer for two hours or more.

Prepare the garnish. Cut 150 gram smoked bacon in small strips and fry in its own fat. Remove and fry 200 gram sliced mushrooms in the remaining fat. Remove and fry 400 gram pearl onions if available (I used shallots) until slightly browned.

Add the bacon, mushrooms and onion to the meat and simmer for another half hour. Taste for salt.

Let it cool down and reheat. Serve with boiled potatoes, a pinot noir and green salad.

Blueberry soup (hot version).

2010-12-16T12:19:00.008+01:00

Test version 1:

150 gram blueberries
100 ml white wine
1 vanilla pod
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt.

Simmer for 10 minutes and puree with mixer.. Leave some blueberries whole. This version is pretty damn good.

Or:

4 cups frozen blueberries
3 cups water
5 T sugar
3 T lemon juice
1/4 t ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 t cornstarch
½ t vanilla
low fat vanilla yogurt for topping
granola for topping

Combine the first seven ingredients in a saucepan over a medium-high heat, stirring well. Bring soup to a gentle boil. Reduce and simmer until the blueberries are tender, about 5 minutes.

Gently mash some of the berries with a potato masher and serve topped with yogurt and granola. For a slightly sweeter version, use orange juice in place of all or part of the 3 cups of water.

http://scribbit.blogspot.com/2007/02/blueberry-soup.html

Moose fillet and blueberry soup in Norway: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2010/dec/16/christmas-in-norway-food-tour

Quince in Vin Santo

2010-12-02T18:19:00.005+01:00

Vin Santo is an Italian dessert wine. Traditionally you pair it with biscotti cookies that are dunked into the wine. Vin Santo can also be paired with quince.

Cut the quince in even parts. Leave the skin on, the skin becomes soft and is edible.

Bring 300 ml Vin Santo and 700 ml natural apple juice to a boil. Add the quince and a cinnamon stick/cardamon pod/lemon peel.

Simmer for 30 - 60 minutes until the quince is soft. Drain the quince. When cooked quince becomes deep orange.

Reduce the liquid to a sauce. You can use excess liquid for stewing/cooking red cabbage.

Serve with vanilla ice and a glass of Vin Santo. I drank a Castellare Di Castellina Vin Santo Del Chianti Classico S Niccolo 2004. Vin Santo is rather expensive, so you could substitute is for a similar wine like a Robertson Winery Almond Grove Noble Late Harvest, 2007 (half the price).

Quince (Dutch: kweepeer)

2010-11-29T10:35:00.003+01:00

Carne de Membrillo is a Spanish paste made from quince and sugar. The Spanish word for quince is 'membrillo'.

http://www.kweepeer.nl/recepten/membrillo-kweepeerpasta/

Sayur bobor tempe (Java)

2010-11-18T11:23:00.009+01:00

FAIL

Another sayur (=vegetables) from Indonesia. From De Complete Indonesische Keuken by Lonny Gerungan. This book is researched and written with anthropological precision, but many ingredients are very hard to find outside Indonesia.

For the coconut sauce make a paste from 3 shallot onion and a 2 centimeter piece of kencur (Kaempferia galanga L.).

Add this to 750 ml coconut milk and a few dried daun salam. Add salt according to taste.

Cut 250 tempe busuk and 200 gram yardlong beans (Dutch: kouseband) in 3 centimeter pieces.

It's practically impossible to buy tempe busuk (overly ripe tempe) outside of Indonesia. I used ordinary tempe. Simmer for 10 minutes. If you want to keep the beans bright green you should cook them separately and dump them in ice cold water after they're done. Add them to the pot just to warm them again.

I was disappointed by this dish. You really do need tempe busuk instead of ordinary tempe. Still, it's a cheap dish and it contains plenty of non-animal protein. But I won't make it again.

Next up will be Sayur Lodeh.

Madonoume Sake Brewing

2010-11-04T08:07:00.007+01:00

A junmai-shu sake from Madonoume Sake Brewing. Junmai-shu: pure rice wine; no adding of distilled alcohol.

There is no English on the website. This Sake is not dry at all, very fruity. Can be drunk warm or cold. I didn't like this sake too much.

1208 Yen in Japan (10 euro). 20 euro's in The Netherlands. Ouch!

Farfalle alla Crema di Gorgonzola

2010-11-01T17:27:00.006+01:00

Just three ingredients: panna da cucina, gorgonzola and fresh sage. Well, and black pepper and farfalle pasta...

Melt 175 gram diced gorgonzola in 200 ml. panna da cucina (for 300 - 400 gram pasta). Add plenty of black pepper. Remove pan from heat.

In the meantime cook pasta. Drain and pour gorgonzola sauce into the pan with the pasta. Add finely chopped sage. Season with salt and serve immediately.

Palak paneer

2010-10-26T12:13:00.020+02:00

My August 2011 version:

Popular North Indian dish.

INGREDIENTS:

500 gram fresh spinach
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced and chopped)
2 tomatoes
Paneer (see below how to make paneer)
Grated ginger
1 teaspoon cumin seed
4 cardamons
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
Dried fenugreek leaves

Boil the spinach is some water for a couple of minutes in a open pot. Drain spinach and put in blender. Will it blend? Yes it will!

Heat oil or ghee and fry cinnamon stick, cardamon, cloves and cumin seeds until they pop. Add minced garlic and a chopped onion. Add salt (cooks the onions faster). Fry until the onions are slightly brown. Remove cinnamon stick, cardamon and cloves!

Add ginger paste (freshly grated ginger). Add 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder and chopped tomato (one or two, skinned and chopped). Cook on medium flame until the tomato's are dissolved. Add 1 tsp cumin powder and 1 tsp coriander powder.

Add chili powder (according to taste, half a teaspoon). Add dried fenugreek leaves (crumbled). Add chopped fresh green chili. Fry.

Add spinach and simmer. Add paneer and simmer for a few minutes until the paneer has soaked up the flavor.

How to make paneer?

Bring 1 liter of fatty milk to a boil. Add juice of one lemon and stir.

The milk will curdle.

When the milk is curdled drain the paneer through a cheesecloth. Wash the paneer in cold water to remove the taste of the lemon luice.

Drain in the cheesecloth and put a weight on the paneer and cloth for half an hour. If the paneer crumbles add a little flower and knead the paneer like a dough. I kept the paneer in the fridge for one day. It tasted better than the paneer from the shop, possibly because it was more fresh. The quantity below is made with one liter of milk.

Navratan korma

2010-10-19T13:04:00.001+02:00

Cut & paste, needs rewriting..

3 cups - Boiled vegetables (9 varieties-potatoes, carrots, green peas, french beans, cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage, bottle gourd, cluster beans)
150gms - Grated paneer
3 - Tomatoes
2 - Grated onions
1 1/2 tsp -Ginger paste
1 1/2 tsp - Garlic paste
Salt To Taste
1 tsp - Turmeric Powder
1 1/2 tsp - Red chilli powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
2 tsp - Garam Masala Powder
2 tbsp - Cream
6 tbsp - Vegetable oil
1 tbsp - Ghee
1 cup - Milk / water
1/4 cup - Dry fruits (cashew nuts, raisins)
Coriander leaves for decoration

How to make navrattan korma :
Boil tomatoes till tender. Allow them to cool. Then peel off the tomato skin to make puree. Readymade tomato puree can also be used.
Take 1 tbsp ghee and slightly fry the dry fruits for about 1 min on medium heat.
Heat oil in a pan. Fry onions and ginger-garlic paste till golden brown.
Add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and fry for 2-3 minutes.
Next add tomato puree and dry fruits. Stir well and cook the mixture for 4 minutes. Ensure that the mixture doesn't stick to bottom of pan.
Add milk (use water alternatively). Bring it to boil. Reduce the heat and cook until the gravy becomes thick.
Add paneer to the gravy and stir well.
Finally add all the vegetables to the above gravy and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Serve the navratan korma hot. Put cream and chopped coriander leaves on the navaratna korma decorate .

Aloo Palak

2010-10-19T13:00:00.010+02:00

Aloo Palak simply means: potato spinach.

Start making a spicy spinach mixture. Cook spinach with 2 cloves garlic, ginger, onion and green chilies for 5 - 10 minutes (everything grated). Blend the spinach mixture to a fine puree.

Boil potatoes with salt and turmeric for 10 minutes.

Heet ghee in pan and fry cumin seeds, add 1 teaspoon garam masala, half a teaspoon of coriander powder and half a teaspoon of cumin powder. Add the spinach paste and fry for a few minutes.

Add potatoes and simmer to let the potatoes absorb the flavor.

Paella de marisco (seafood paella)

2010-10-16T12:58:00.012+02:00

This paella is based on seafood only. It's a basic recipe. You can substitute the gamba's for snails, the langoustine for chicken, rabbit and or bell pepper, add peas, substitute the fish stock for chicken stock or vegetable stock etc.

For 3-4 people:

Garnish:
4 langoustines (Spanish: cigalas)
4 big gamba's
mussels

For the stock:
400 gram cangrejo y galera (= sea crabs, you can also use shrimp)
400 gram gamba's or shrimp with head and tails (heads and tails for the stock, the gamba's need to be fried)
1 bay leaf
1 clove of garlic

Fry in pan:
olive oil
saffron
half an onion
salt
4 grated tomato's
1 cuttlefish (cut in small pieces)
Paella rice

Preparation
Boil plenty of water for the stock. Add "cangrejo y galera", bay leaf, 1 garlic clove (whole) and simmer. Peal gamba's and add the shells to the stock. Skim foam off stock. Add saffron to the stock. You can also make a stock with just the heads and tails of the gamba's, bay leaf and garlic (in that case skip the "cangrejo y galera").

Cut the cuttlefish in small pieces. Grate the tomatoes, discard the skin. Cut onion very finely. Clean the mussels.

Heat olive oil in paella pan. Fry mussels in oil, remove them and keep aside.

Fry langoustines and big gamba's, add a little salt. Remove them and keep warm.

Fry onion.

Add cuttlefish and small gamba's.

Fry tomato's together with the onion, cuttlefish and gamba's.

Add paella rice. Fry for a little while and add a glass of white wine. Let the wine absorb.

Add stock through a sieve. Add a little salt and simmer until the rice is half done. Instead of saffron you can add Spanish yellow food dye at this moment, although this is just for color and doesn't taste of anything (I was told).

Add langoustines, big gamba's and mussels to the pan and simmer until the rice is done.

Serve with lemon.

Note: a paella pan is very thin. When the rice in the middle was done, the rice near the sides was still uncooked. You really need an even fire.

Ossobuco (alla Milanese)

2010-10-09T11:36:00.012+02:00

Ossobuco can be made in a number of different ways. This is a basic version.

Veal shank
Butter
Onion (finely cut)
Dry white wine (250 ml.)
Flower
Garlic (pressed)
Bay Leaf
Celeriac (finely cut)
Carrot (finely cut)
Tomato's (without skin and grated)

For the gremolata
Parsley (finely cut)
Garlic (pressed)
Lemon zest (grated)
Anchovy (finely cut)

Rub shank with flower and fry in hot butter for 10 minutes. The shank should be no more than 4 centimeters thick, in The Netherlands veal shank is about half as thick. Remove shank. Fry onion, carrot and celeriac in the butter for 3 minutes, add garlic.

Return the meat to the pan. Add white wine and simmer; add beef stock and tomato's. Add bay leaf, thyme (sage is also an option). Simmer until meat is soft (two hours). Add salt and pepper. Reduce sauce.

Gremolata: mix ingredients (start with parsley; add other ingredients according to taste) and sprinkle over dish on plate.

Ossobuco alla Milanese
The traditional recipe from Milano is made without tomatoes and flavored with cinnamon, bay leaf and gremolata. Prepare as above but skip the tomato's. Ossobuco alla Milanese is served with risotto alla milanese. The modern tomato version can be served with potatoes.

Witloof in de oven

2010-10-09T11:35:00.009+02:00

A Belgium classic!

4 witloof (English: witloof chicory or Brussels witloof)
4 slices of ham (beenham = highest quality cooked ham)
200 ml milk
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons flower
100 gr butter
150 gr grated gruyère
1 tablespoon sugar
nutmeg
salt and pepper

Preparation
Clean the witloof chicory, remove bottom and bitter part near the bottom. Cut the garlic in small pieces. Melt 50 gram butter, add the witloof chicory, sugar and a little water. Simmer for 5 minutes, add the garlic and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the witloof chicory and keep the butter mixture, you will need this for the béchamel sauce.

Making the béchamel sauce
Melt 50 gram butter on a high fire. Remove pan from fire and add 2 tablespoons of flower. Add 200 ml milk, mix well and add the butter garlic-mixture. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper and half the grated gruyère cheese.

Bake in oven
Roll each witloof chicory in beenham and lay them in a buttered oven dish. Pour over the béchamel sauce and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Add the remaining gruyère cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.

It doesn't look good in this particular photo but it's very tasty!

Inlagd sill (pickled herring)

2010-10-04T17:33:00.013+02:00

A Swedish dish which has been on my list for a long time is inlagd sill. I was under the impression you needed raw herring for this Swedish appetizer, but you can actually use salted herring. UPDATE: I'm not sure about that. The taste wasn't as great as I expected, yet I seemed to have done everything right. Maybe I needed fresh herring?

Soak the herring overnight to remove the salt. Dry and cut in pieces.

INGREDIENTS
* 8 salt herring fillets
* 100 ml distilled white vinegar (12 %)
* 200 ml sugar
* 300 ml water
* 2 red onions, peeled and sliced
* 1 teaspoon allspice berries (Dutch: piment), crushed
* 1 bay leaf
* dill sprigs

METHOD
1. Soak the herring fillets in plenty of water overnight.
2. Bring white distilled vinegar, sugar and water to the boil.
3. Remove from stove and cool the liquid.
4. Add red onion, allspice, dill sprigs, and bay leaf.
5. Wipe the herring fillets dry before cutting them into chunks.
6. Put the herring chunks into a large glass jar.
7. Pour over the cooled liquid.
8. Keep in a cool place for 24 hours before serving.

Boil sugar, water and vinegar. Cool.

Crush allspice, slice red onion and cut dill sprigs roughly.

Marinate in fridge for 24 hours.

Herring In Sherry Pickle
1/2 cup sherry wine
4 tablespoons vinegar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
allspice berries
2 salted herrings (cleaned, desalted and cut)
1 onion, sliced

Method: same as above

Paddestoelen met Westmalle Dubbel

2010-10-04T09:48:00.010+02:00

Mushrooms stewed in Westmalle Dubbel Trappist beer.

400 grams mixed mushrooms (button mushroom, oyster mushroom, shiitake), cut in smaller pieces
100 gram smoked ham (optional) Use a high quality ham, like jambon d’Ardenne which has an appellation d’origine contrôlée.
4 tablespoons butter
sprig of thyme
1 bottle Westmalle Dubbel Trappist beer
2 cloves of garlic, finely cut
1 smal onion, finely cut
1 tablespoon chives
2 tablespoons crème fraîche or cooking cream

Heat the butter. Add the mushrooms and toss over high fire. Add the onion, garlic, thyme and smoked ham, simmer for a few minutes.

Add half the bottle of beer and simmer to reduce the sauce.

Add cooking cream, season with salt and pepper, garnish with chopped chives. Serve with toast and Westmalle Dubbel.

Stoofvlees op Vlaamse wijze (met Westmalle Dubbel)

2010-10-04T09:17:00.008+02:00

Flemish beef stew simmered in Westmalle Dubbel Trappist beer. Stoofvlees is a Flemish signature dish. There are many variations. This dish is closely related to Limburgs zoervleisj.

For 4 persons:

4 onions, roughly cut
1 kilo beef, cut in 2 centimeter pieces
75 gram butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (or: appelstroop)
2 tablespoons flower
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 bottle of Westmalle Dubbel Trappist beer
1 bay leaf
a few cloves
dried thyme
2 slices of old bread
mustard

Heat the butter and fry the meat on a high fire until brown (5 minutes and make sure the meat is at room temperature). Remove meat from the pot (season it with salt and pepper and set aside) and fry the onions for 3 minutes. Add sugar and flower and fry for a minute. Add vinegar, beer, bay leaf, cloves, thyme and the meat. Simmer for 1 hour.

Remove crust from bread and cover one side with mustard.

Put the bread, mustard side down, in the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.

Mix the bread with the sauce and simmer for another 1,5 hours (about 3 hours in total). Because of the alcohol and vinegar this dish will age well and taste even better the next day. Serve with fries and Westmalle Dubbel.

Soupe au lait des Ardennes

2010-10-04T08:26:00.005+02:00

La soupe au lait telle qu'on la mange dans les forêts ardennaises... or (Belgium) Ardennes milk soup.

For 4 persons:

3 leeks (only the white part, thinly sliced)
Endive (6 leaves, roughly cut)
1 big onion (roughly diced)
2 tablespoons butter
1 liter of milk
3 waxy potatoes, cut in 1 cm pieces
Salt and pepper
Optional: parsley for garnishing

Melt the butter on a low fire. Add the leek, onion and endive, simmer with lid closed for 10 minutes.

Add milk and potatoes, season with salt and pepper (also possible: bay leaf, parsley, thyme and nutmeg), bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Ragù alla Bolognese II

2010-09-21T16:38:00.014+02:00

I already made some notes on this Italian meat sauce.

My version for the 2010 Berlin Marathon carbo-loading week.

This recipe is based on the "official" recipe from the Accademia Italiana della Cucina as announced on October 17, 1982. Serve with Fettuccine or Tagliatelle and Parmesan cheese.

For 8 people:
600 gram minced beef
200 gram coppa (this should have been pancetta but three butchers in a row where out of pancetta) (very finely cut)
2 chicken livers (* not part of the official recipe) (finely cut) The Accademia allows the addition of Porcini mushrooms.
100 gram onion (finely cut)
100 gram carrot (finely cut) My Italian neighbor says I have to grate the carrot and not cut it.
100 gram celery stick (finely cut)
200 ml passata di tomato (* official recipes says 60 gram concentrated tomato puree)
A glass of white wine
Beef stock (* not part of the official recipe)
350 ml milk
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Fry coppa in its own fat. Add chicken liver. Add some olive oil and fry the onion, carrot and celery. Fry until vegetables are transparent.

Add minced beef. Fry until brown.

Time to add the white wine and some beef stock. Beef stock is not part of the original recipe so I added only a few soup spoons. Next add the passata di tomato.

Then add the milk little by little until it is completely absorbed.

Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook very slowly for 3 to 4 hours.

Heriheri

2010-09-17T19:21:00.027+02:00

Old Suriname dish dating back to the time of slavery. What does heriheri mean? Heri as an adj. means 'all' or 'whole' (From Dutch. Etym: heel) but I'm not sure whether heriheri has the same meaning. It could mean something like 'a complete meal'.

Drawing: John Gabriel Stedman

Prepare 500 gram bakkeljauw.

See how to prepare bakkeljauw in pictures.

Peel and cut one green (unripe) plantain, one ripe plantain, two fresh cassava and two sweet potato in smaller pieces (a little bigger than the size of your thumb). Plantain is called bakbanaan or kookbanaan in Dutch.

Boil water and add salt, first the green plantain, then the ripe plantain, cassava and (last) sweet potato. The green plantain should be cooked longer, say 30 minutes, the cassava, nappi and sweet potato is cooked in 20 minutes, or even a little less, the ripe plantain around 10 minutes.

Why green and ripe banana? They both taste differently.

Serve with bakkeljauw, hard boiled egg and zuur (pickles)*. I also found nappis as an ingredient, a Suriname root vegetable. Cook nappis together with plantain etc. To get some sort of sauce add some extra water when making bakkeljauw. The next day left overs can be baked in oil with some garlic, chili pepper and salt.

*) Surinaams zuur (pickles)
Cut cucumber, red onion and Surinamese pepper (adjoema or madam jeanette) in half rings, small strips or length wise. Mix some water with two tablespoons sugar, dissolve sugar in water by heating it. Add 250 ml vinegar. Cool. Add cucumber, red onion, pepper, salt, pimento, black pepper, fresh ginger and cloves. Instead of sugar Suriname people use 'Chinese suiker' (Chinese sugar). This is the artificial sweetener sacharine. Chinese sugar is sold in powder or small grains. (Another recipe)

Guide to the ingredients:

Green and ripe plantain

Cassava

Sweet potato

Surinamese sweet potato (expensive at 7,50 euro per kilo)

Nappi in Sranang Tongo, no idea how they're named in English, are these yams?

Madame jeanette pepper or adjoema, they are so similar. I believe these are adjoema. Adjoema (available in yellow and red) are more hot than madam jeanette

Bakkeljauw, salted pollock

Prepared bakkeljauw

Surinaams zuur (pickled cucumber and onion)

Fladder

2010-09-17T18:13:00.019+02:00

Fladder is a Surinamese creole delicacy. It's beef tripe boiled in a stock made from madam Jeanette peppers and some greens. It's incredibly tasty but finding a recipe proves difficult because few people (outside Surinam) like it.

I couldn't find a photo but in this video clip called Boriman (Sranang Tongo for 'cook') you see a pot with fladder at 0:50 minutes. Never mind the cocaine.

Update 18/09/10: Went to Dappermarkt and ordered a small (4 euro) fladder, vleesworst, bloedworst and very spicy yellow pepper. In the stock there were no greens but there was quite a lot of star anise.

I found just one poorly written recipe on a forum.

Wash the tripe. Doesn't say how. Clean with vinegar?

Add water to a big pot and bring to a boil. Add salt, bay leaf, onion, celeriac leaf and "other" soup vegetables, black pepper, ordinary (?) pepper, stock cube (possibly Maggi) and pepper (presumably madam Jeanette).

Add meat stock, tripe and simmer on a low fire for a long time.

The recipe doesn't mention any quantities.

Traditionally fladder is cooked with Suriname vleesworst (meat sausage) and bloedworst (blood sausage). Both sausages should not boil otherwise the skin might burst. Add at the last moment (if used).

I did find the recipe for Suriname vleesworst:

1 kilo minced meat (half beef, half pork), 2 speklapjes met zwoerd (thick slab of bacon), 2 onions, 3 cloves of garlic, fresh pepper (chili), 4 twigs celeriac leaf, 1 egg, 5 slices of old bread soaked in milk, 2 beef stock cubes, 2 teaspoons salt, 4 teaspoons sugar, black pepper, ajinomoto, pigs intestines.

Clean intestines in vinegar and run though water.

Fry onion, garlic, pepper, celerica leaf. Cool.

Mince speklap, mix with: minced meat, spices (stock cube, salt, sugar, black pepper and ajinomoto), egg, bread and onion mixture.

Fill intestines with meat mixture and steam 30 to 50 minutes.

Note: Ajinomoto is a Japanese brandname of monosodium glutamate, a flavour enhancer.

Haas' Super tosti

2010-09-17T17:06:00.011+02:00

Making a tosti seems straightforward enough. However, a good tosti needs some attention. Tomatoes are forbidden. There is too much water in tomatoes. It'll make the tosti mushy.

Get the best bread possible. I used sliced Grand-mère (white) baked by Vlaamsch Broodhuys. It's a traditional sourdough bread.

Assemble the tosti: slice of bread, a slice of a good quality young farmer's cheese, you need the rubbery texture when the cheese melts, some slices of good quality ham (not glued together in a factory), red onion, thinly sliced, another slice of cheese, slice of bread.

Butter BOTH sides of the tosti and fry in a pan.

Flip over frequently until both sides are golden brown.

Perfection!

Shchi (щи) Cabbage soup

2010-09-15T22:03:00.032+02:00

Shichi is even more of a quintessential Russian soup than borscht. Again, there are many variations.

It has to sit a few days before eating.

Basic ingredients:

1: Cabbage
2: Meat (optional)
3: Carrots or parsley roots
4: Spicy herbs (onions, celery, dill, garlic, pepper, bay leaf).
5: Sour components (smetana, apples, sauerkraut, pickle water).

Smetana is sour cream. I wonder if smetana is much different from Dutch sour cream. Where can I buy smetana in Amsterdam?

Basic Sour Shshi:

1) In a large pot put 1 kilo sauerkraut*, two carrots (chopped), two tomatoes (chopped) and a glass of water. Boil and simmer for 1.5 hours. *) Recipe said 1 kilo. This seemed a bit much so I used 500 gram sauerkraut and some left over white cabbage.

2) Fry a chopped onion in oil and add to the pot with sauerkraut.

3) Add 1.5 liters of water (vegetarian) or beef stock and cook for another 30 minutes.

4) Add 1 tablespoon of flower, pinch of black pepper and parsley. Stir and cook for 15 minutes. Optional: bay leaf, garlic. I also soaked some dried shi-take mushroom and added this to the shchi. And a can of concentrated tomato puree.

5) Simmer for 3, 4 hours on a very low fire.

6) Serve with sour cream.

Borscht (борщ) Beetroot soup

2010-09-15T22:03:00.024+02:00

So many variations on this soup. I will start by making a basic version. There is also a cold summer variation in Lithuania called saltibarsciai. Saltibarsciai is buttermilk mixed with beetroot, cucumber, fresh dill, green onion, hard boiled egg and sour cream.

Vegetarians can substitute the beef shank for some carrot, celeriac and other vegetables suitable for stock.

The heart of the soup is a nice piece of beef shank (Dutch: schenkel):

Put beef shank, fresh dill and chopped onion in a pan with three liters of water and simmer for 1.5 hours:

Half an hour after starting the beef broth, melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan. Add 500 gram beetroot (in small cubes), 2 tomatoes (and/or tomato paste) and 1 tablespoon vinegar to the pan. Simmer for one hour.

Fry this for one hour on a low fire in butter (I used three beetroots):

The 'other' ingredients:

Sauté the carrot and garlic 15 minutes before the beef broth is finished:

When the beef broth is cooked remove meat (discard bone) and fat, add chopped potato, 1/4 or 1/2 cabbage (cut in strips) and sautéd carrots & garlic).

Return meat to pot. Cook stock, potato's, carrot and cabbage for 15 minutes

Add the cooked beetroot and boil for 10 minutes:

Season with salt and pepper and add sour cream just before serving. Garnish with chopped dill or parsley. Make sure the sour cream is room temperature.

Rhubarb crumble pie

2010-09-13T09:28:00.008+02:00

The season for rhubarb has almost ended, it's a true summer vegetable.

Recipe for rhubarb crumble pies:

600 gram rhubarb cut in 1 centimeter chunks
6 tablespoons sugar
60 gram butter
a few teaspoons maïzena
vanilla powder (optional)

Fry above ingredients for a couple of minutes.

Make a crumble mixture. The basic crumble mix is half fat to flour and the same amount of sugar as fat.

100 gram flour
50 gram butter (cubed)
50 gram sugar

Rub butter in flower. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs stir in sugar.

Add the cooked rhubarb to small bowls, top with crumble and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and the rhubarb is soft and bubbling.

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons and Olives

2010-09-10T15:41:00.020+02:00

As a birthday present to myself I'm finally making chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives. It's an easy dish. Unless you have several weeks you need to buy the preserved lemons in a Moroccan food store.

This is the first time I'm using preserved lemons so i'm not sure whether you have to wash them before use to remove some of the salt. I didn't.

Update: Always rinse lemons before use!

First you marinate the chicken for a couple of hours or overnight in the following mixture:

one chopped onion
handful chopped parsley (or parsley & coriander leaves)
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons fresh ginger
black pepper
salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon smen (I left it out since even the Moroccan food store didn't sell smen)
1 preserved lemon, skin removed and cut finely.

Cooking
Add olive oil to the tagine to cover the bottom (optional: add some butter). Add the chicken and onion, another preserved lemon (quartered) and drizzle some more olive oil on the chicken. Add some water and saffron. Cover the tagine and simmer on low fire. Add green olives in the last 5 minutes. According to the recipe this dish should simmer undisturbed for 80 minutes, then turn the chicken over and cook until the meat is done. We shall see whether it will take this long.

Just before cooking:

After 1,5 hours. Half an hour more for the meat to "fall off the bone".

The result was pretty good but not perfect. Too salty. I used little salt on the chicken. I can only assume that the brine preserved lemons are very salty. Next time I'll wash them. Also green olives are pretty salty. The dish was also too oily. Use less oil and skip the butter.

Update: on my second attempt I used too much water. I actually preferred the oily sauce over the watery sauce. After rinsing the lemons the salt content was okay, even a little bland. Also, for such a small tagine half an onion is better than a whole onion.

Potage de Crécy

2010-09-08T14:13:00.009+02:00

Four French words for soup: consommé, potage, soupe and bisque.

Potage de Crécy is a creamy carrot soup from the town Crécy, although nobody seems to be sure from which Crécy (there are several towns named Crécy in France).

Recipe
Sauté onion, carrot and a potato in butter or an olive-butter mixture. Instead of onion you can use leek. Sauté for 5 minutes. I used just one potato, some recipes state the same amount of potato's as carrots. You can also add a little rice.

Add chicken stock and thyme and simmer for 30 minutes. De KleinsteSoepfabriek sells an excellent chicken stock.

Cool and puree.

Bring to taste with double cream*, lemon juice and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh parsley or thyme.

*) Due to the awful 'low fat craze' double cream is difficult to get in The Netherlands. I used slagroom.

Coleslaw

2010-09-08T11:42:00.009+02:00

I have tried coleslaw (Dutch: koolsalade) before but failed miserably. Now I know why. You can't just use raw cabbage, you have to marinate the shredded cabbage in salt and ample white wine vinegar overnight. This time consuming process softens the cabbage.

The recipe is simple. Shred cabbage and carrot with a mandoline (or electric shredder) in the desired size. I shredded the cabbage more coarse than the carrot. Sprinkle with salt and white wine vinegar and keep in the fridge.

The next day your coleslaw is ready. Mix with mayonnaise or with 50/50 mayonnaise and crème fraîche. Using crème fraîche gives the coleslaw a milder taste. I love to add a few caraway seeds. It's pretty tasty without the mayonnaise and/or crème fraîche as well.

Classic German Linseneintopf (Lentil stew)

2010-09-03T13:06:00.027+02:00

Attempt 1 (fail, but stock is excellent)

Step 1: make 1 liter stock with 700 gram smoked Schweinebacke (I used only 200 gram and probably not from that particular part of the pig), one onion (whole), a 40 gram piece of celery root, bay leaf, black pepper corns and salt. Boil and simmer for 60 minutes but after 30 minutes (see step 2).

Step 2: After 30 minutes remove onion, celery root, bay leaf, black pepper corns from stock and add 150 gram carrots (cut in small dice) and 250 gram potatoes (cut in small dice). At this point remove the meat and cut in small dice. Discard excess fat. Return to the stock, add 200 gram soaked green lentils and simmer for another 30 minutes until the lentils are soft and the juice has been reduced.

Step 3: Bring to taste with white wine vinegar and salt.

Note: I used French Puy lentils*, any green lentils are okay. Brown lentils are a better choice for soup.

*) Puy lentils are the wrong choice. They remain too firm. Puy lentils are excellent for a (cold) salad, not for a stew or soup. It's confusing since Puy lentils are also a type of green lentils. Sometimes Puy lentils are called French Green Lentils.

Attempt 2 (success)

I wasn't too pleased with the result yesterday. Puy lentils are completely wrong; they remain too hard. Half a liter of stock was left so I decided to try again, this time using ordinary green lentils.

Fry some smoked bacon in olive oil.

Add onion (diced), carrot (diced), potato (diced), celeriac (diced) and soaked lentils. I added the stock and brought it to a boil.

This time I also added, according to the jar, 'Duitse knakworst' (they resemble Wiener Würstchen).

Simmer until the vegetables are done. The result was excellent. This dish is easy to freeze.

Salty sea vegetables

2010-08-31T11:20:00.015+02:00

Salty vegetables (mostly) originating from the northern Dutch isles, the Waddeneilanden. Recipes will follow.

Zilte Zeekool

Lamsoor (Limonium vulgare)

Kortarige zeekraal (Salicornia europaea) See above photo. Blanched in water with a drop of vinegar. Possible recipe.

Zilte rucola

Zilte strandbiet, Sea beet the wild ancestor of beetroot and sugar beet.

Zilte monniksbaard (Agretti in Italian; Salsola soda in English)

Zeesla, not a vegetable but a green alga.

Codium, a genus of seaweed.

Wakame, not native to Europe but it's grown now in France, Great Britain, Spain and Italy. French name: fougère de mer (fern of the sea).

Home-made egg salad

2010-08-01T19:49:00.005+02:00

4 hard boiled eggs
4 T mayonnaise
1 t Coleman's mustard powder
Pickled gherkin, cut finely
salt and pepper
Chives

Cut eggs and mix all ingredients. Serve on bread.

Making celeriac salad: same method. Cut celeriac in fine strips and cook in salted boiling water for a short time. Cool and mix with mayonnaise, mustard and pepper.

Ssamjang (쌈장)

2010-07-31T09:56:00.006+02:00

No recipe. Buy the green container.

Ssamjang is made from fermented soybean paste, gochujang (chili paste), sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions, and sugar.

I love ssamjang as a dip for raw onion. Ssam means 'wrapped' and is usually used to eat leaf vegetables, like lettuce, wrapped around meat, rice and some ssamjang.

Chogochujang (초고추장)

2010-07-31T09:40:00.009+02:00

A spicy sauce for bibim naengmyeon - literally "mixed cold noodles."

A half of peeled Korean/Asian or European pear, a quarter of onion (about 3 tbs), 1 ts garlic, 1 ts of ginger, ½ cup of corn syrup, 4 tbs hot pepper flakes, 3 tbs hot pepper paste (gochujang), ¼ cup of apple vinegar, 1 tbs sesame seeds, 3 green onions, 1 tbs soy sauce.

Place the ground sauce into a container and add 1 tbs sesame oil and 1 ts of fermented mustard and mix it.

This will keep for 3 weeks.

Goan-style mussels

2010-07-30T13:13:00.016+02:00

Update: I really like my mussels as pure as possible since they taste great even cooked in water. I won't be making this recipe again.

Mussels are in season again. A long time ago mussels used to be in season from September onwards but nowadays the season starts in July and lasts until April.

I prefer to cook mussels in white wine and fresh herbs (oregano works just fine) but this is a different approach - Goan-style mussels. You basically need: onion, Indian spices and coconut milk. It should be noted that the fragrance of the coconut milk makes or breaks this dish. Some canned coconut milk just isn't very fragrant.

Shopping list:

1 - 2 kilo's mussels
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
piece of ginger
1/2 t turmeric
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/4 t salt
400 ml coconut milk. I get the best results by making my own (by soaking desiccated coconut in water and straining the liquid through a cheesecloth).

Step 1: Heat oil in pan, fry onion for 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and fry for 2 minutes.

Step 2: add spices and salt and fry for 2 minutes.

Step 3: add coconut milk, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add mussels, cover and cook for 7 minutes.

Garnish with chopped cilantro (not in photo). I guess you could drink wine with this dish, the spices are very mild. Not sure which wine, though. A light-bodied wine is best suited.

Cold brewed coffee

2010-07-19T12:50:00.011+02:00

Time: 5 minutes, plus 12 hours' resting

4 x 7 grams ground coffee (medium-coarse grind). A standard coffee spoon contains 7 grams of coffee.

In a cafetière (= French press), stir together coffee and 350 ml cold water. Let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.

In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. Let the ice melt and remove last bits of ice.

Add a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream for German Eiskaffee.

Cold brewed coffee contains very little caffein and doesn't have a bitter taste.

Kimchi pancake / 김치전 / Kimchi jeon

2010-07-16T11:53:00.005+02:00

Kimchi pancakes

1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Dutch: bloem)
1 cup of chopped kimchi
3 tbs of kimchi juice
2 tbs chopped (spring) onion
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix and fry like a normal pancake. First mix the flower with the water to make a smooth batter. Then add the other ingredients.

Dipping sauce:
Mix soy sauce and rice vinegar 1 to 1.

Naengmyeon (cold noodles) 물냉면 / 비빔냉면

2010-06-26T18:25:00.015+02:00

It's been a long time since I wanted to make this recipe. This week it's hot enough.

WARNING : WORK IN PROGRESS!!

(long) Shopping list for Mul Naengmyeon:

Buckwheat noodles [ http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/buckwheat-noodles ]
Onion
Garlic
Green onions
Ginger
Cucumber
Egg
1 Korean pear
Hot pepper flakes [ http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/hot-pepper-flakes ]
Hot pepper paste
Sesame seeds
Vinegar
Sesame oil
Corn syrup
Salt
Soy Sauce
Sugar
Mustard powder[ http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/mustard-powder ]
3-4 shiitake mushrooms
dried kelp
dried anchovies

Preparation:

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/naengmyeon

Let's break it down.

Make the stock.

A) Boil 2 liter of water with 3-4 shiitake mushrooms, dried kelp and 8-10 dried anchovies. Cool down. (See B).

B) Make naengmyeon broth by mixing 1 cup of Yeolmu kimchi juice and 2 cups of stock.( you can add some vinegar or salt and sugar)

Prepare 4 different toppings:

1) Mix 2 tbs of mustard powder and 1 tbs water and put it on warm place to ferment it.

2) Slice a quarter of cucumber thinly and sprinkle a pinch of salt, 1 ts of sugar, 1 ts of
vinegar, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes and mix it and set it aside.

3) Slice a half pear thinly and soak it in water and add 1 ts sugar to protect it from
changing color

4) Hardboil an egg, cut it in half, and set it aside

C) Boil the noodles. Rinse afterwards to remove all the starch. Serve cold!

After all these preparations assemble the cold noodle soup:

For mul naengmyeon:

Put some noodles into a serving bowl and fill the broth until the noodles are submerged. Add crushed ice and place toppings: yeolmu kimchi, a few pieces of pear and cucumber, and a half side of boiled egg on top. Add 1 ts of mustard.

There is a variation called bibim naengmyeon:

Put some noodles into a serving bowl. Add a half cup of icy broth (note: less broth than for mul naengmyeon). Place some hot and spicy sauce*, yeolmu kimchi, a few pieces of pear and cucumber and a half side of boiled egg on top. Add some more sesame oil if you want.

*) Make hot and spicy sauce for bibim naengmyeon, by grinding these ingredients:

A half of peeled Korean / Asian or European pear, a quarter of onion (about 3 tbs), 1 ts garlic, 1 ts of ginger, ½ cup of corn syrup, 4 tbs hot pepper flakes, 3 tbs hot pepper paste, ¼ cup of apple vinegar, 1 tbs sesame seeds, 3 green onions, 1 tbs soy sauce

Place the ground sauce into a container and add 1 tbs sesame oil and 1 ts of fermented mustard and mix it.

This will keep for 3 weeks.

Below: bibim naengmyeon.

Based on meat broth:

Rinse a half pound of beef brisket (runderstuk), London broil, or flank steak (buikvlees), place in a large stock pot with 1 medium onion peeled and cut in half, 2-3 cloves of garlic, and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Cover wtih 8-10 cups of cold water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour, or until meat is cooked through, skimming foam and fat occasionally.
Discard the onions. Strain the broth into a large container, add 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp sugar, and salt to taste. Place the seasoned broth in refrigerator to chill.

Read more: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/07/18/naeng-myun-is-another-asian-cold-noodle-dish/#ixzz0soU7bziV

Broth based on meat broth and anchovy broth (mix both):

http://www.hannaone.com/Recipe/naengmyon.html

Beef broth (8 cups):

*Beef Stock
2 pounds beef brisket (ribstuk in Dutch)
2 pounds beef bones
1 1/2 ounces ginger root
5 each hot green chili peppers
2 1/2 quarts water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 teaspoons salt or to taste

Preparation:
Beef Broth:
Rinse soup bones in cold water, then place in a large cooking pot (4 quart or larger)and completely submerge in water.
Bring to a full boil, remove from heat, discard water, and rinse bones with cold water.
Add the brisket, ginger, peppers, salt, and two quarts water to the pot with the beef bones and bring to a slow simmer over medium heat.
Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, skimming off oil and foam as needed, until reduced by 1/4 (1 1/2 quarts remaining).
Carefully remove meat from broth and set aside.
Remove bones from broth and discard, then strain broth through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth, and discard solids. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.
Slice meat into thin slices and refrigerate.

**Anchovy Stock (2 cups)

8 each dried anchovies
1/2 ounce kelp (kombu/dashima/dasima)
2 cups water
1 each medium sliced onion
1 each glove garlic

Anchovy Broth:
Roughly chop the onion.
Slice the garlic into thirds from top to bottom.
Place dried anchovies and kelp in a pan and slowly toast over low heat.
Transfer toasted anchovies and kelp to a soup pot, add onion, garlic, and water, then gently heat to a slow simmer over low heat.
Simmer for 5 minutes.
Strain the broth and discard solids.
Let cool to room temperature.

Mix Broth:
Remove any solidified fat and oil from the refrigerated beef broth.
Combine beef and anchovy broths with the vinegar and stir well.
Fill several ice trays with 1/2 the broth and freeze.
Refrigerate the remaining broth until cold.

Outdoor cooking: Coconut Salmon

2010-06-24T05:46:00.018+02:00

The first in a series of easy to make recipes for cooking on a camping stove in the park. Preparation is partly done at home in a real kitchen.

Prepare at home (30 minutes) :

Rub salmon steak with a mixture of 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Marinate in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil, fry for 5 minutes: one onion, 2 green chillies (deseeded), 2 garlic cloves and piece of ginger (chopped). Puree to a paste in a food processor. Mix with 1 teaspoon ground cumin and 1 teaspoon ground coriander.

In the bag:

1 - One sealed container with the salmon steaks.

2 - One sealed container with the onion paste.

3 - One cup of coconut milk or creamed coconut (bring water to dilute the creamed coconut or to make the sauce thinner).

4 - One sealed container with rice and one sealed container with cucumber raita.

5 - A small plate(s).

6 - Bring a cheap plastic bag to carry the dirty plates and fry pan! This I forgot.

Preparation in the park:

You need a camping stove with a simmer option and a lightweight frypan. I used my Trangia alcohol stove.

Fry the onion paste in a fry pan for a couple of minutes, add coconut milk and salmon steaks. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the salmon is done.

Ragù alla Bolognese I

2010-06-18T11:56:00.014+02:00

Updated!

There is one 'official' way to make Ragù alla Bolognese, registered in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina. The ingredients are: beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, red wine, and milk or cream.

My version in 2009:

Fry 200 gram pancetta in its own fat. Add one onion, stick of celery and big carrot (al diced in very, very small cubes) and fry for 5 more minutes.

In the meantime fry 400 gram ground beef in very little oil.

Add the beef to the pot, add 500 ml beef broth, 250 ml passata di pomodoro and 250 ml white wine*. For an extra punch I added a small can of tomato paste.

Simmer on a very low fire for 3 hours.

Some thoughts for 2010
Add two chicken livers, finely chopped.

Stir in 125 ml. cream or marscapone in the last 5 minutes.

More thoughts:
1) Heat 125 ml. olive oil, then add the diced vegetables and stir over high heat for 5 minutes. Add the pancetta, then add the chicken livers and brown. Mash the chicken livers with a fork as they cook to help them blend into the sauce.

2) Season 750 gram ground chuck steak with salt and pepper, and add. Make sure the meat is at room temperature to allow it to sear and not stew when it hits the pan. Brown the meat, stirring occasionally to prevent the vegetables from sticking. Add pinch of nutmeg.

3) Add the white wine and let it bubble up until it has almost evaporated.

4) Add the heated stock a cup at a time, allowing each cup to evaporate and enrich the sauce before adding the next. This is much like the process of making a risotto and will give you a truly voluptuous sauce.

5) Pour in the tomatoes with their juice, bring the whole pot to a boil then reduce to a low simmer and allow to gently bubble, uncovered, for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

6) Stir in 125 ml. cream or marscapone in the last 5 minute.

Baba ghanoush

2010-06-16T15:41:00.008+02:00

Version I tried today:

One large eggplant (made soft in oven)
4 tablespoons tahini*
Juice from 1,5 lemons
1 tablespoon olive oil
Some salt
A pinch of ground cumin

Mash together with fork.

Oops, now I realize I forgot the garlic!

*) I used a rather dark tahini. Maybe white tahini is better for baba ghanoush?

Cannabutter (FAILED)

2010-06-15T08:29:00.011+02:00

To make cannabis cookies you'll need cannabutter.

By heating cannabis and butter, the fat in the butter allows for the extraction of the cannabinoids (THC).

Problem number one: to make 350 gram of cannabutter you need 28 grams of cannabis. That'll cost a fortune when bought in a coffeeshop in The Netherlands.

[ work in progress ]

http://www.cannabis.com/faqs/cannabis_recipes/cannabis_butter_recipe/index.html

You need butter with a high percentage of fat. THC is lipidic, meaning that it binds readily with fatty substances. The more fat, the more THC the butter can hold.

Grind up the marijuana (stems, shake, trim, buds) very finely.

Put the marijuana in a pot with some water and the butter, bring to a boil and simmer for 6 hours.

During the boiling process, the THC becomes decarboxylated. The carboxyl group (COOH) on the end of the THCA hydrocarbon chain is destroyed, leaving a hydrogen atom in place. This process converts THCA to THC, processing it into a use able psychoactive form. [ source: http://www.rollitup.org/cooking-cannabis/100957-how-make-cannabutter-w-pics.html ]

Strain through a wire strainer and squeeze the butter from the plant mass.

Now you have a liquid mixture of water and butter containing THC. The butter must be solidified in order to extract it from the water. Set the bowl in the refrigerator until the top layer becomes hard. Remove the solidified butter and store separately. This is your cannabutter.

I bought 3 grams of King's Kush to try out the above @ 10,50 euro per gram. I used a few cups of water and 250 gram butter.

UPDATE: this experiment was not successful. Instead of high I became very sleepy. Not enough THCA converted to THC?

Hollandse Nieuwe

2010-06-14T19:56:00.011+02:00

'Hollandse Nieuwe', the first catch of the year. Herrings are caught between the end of May and the beginning of July in the North Sea near Denmark or Norway, before the breeding season starts. In this period the herrings are also the richest in fish oils.

'Hollandse Nieuwe' has to contain at least 16 percent oils. 2009 was an exceptionally good year. This year I bought three 'Hollandse Nieuwe' on the first day at 2,75 euro a piece. I ate one and used the other two in a German style potato salad. The 'Hollandse Nieuwe' this year aren't as rich in oils, therefor less tasty. But still good though.

How are they made? From wikipedia: "The gills and part of the gullet are removed from the herring, eliminating any bitter taste. The liver and pancreas are left in the fish during the salt-curing process because they release enzymes essential for flavor (this is called 'haring kaken' in Dutch, a 14th century Dutch invention). The herrings are then placed in brine to 'ripen' for the best taste." That's it.

100 gram 'Hollandse Nieuwe' contains:

At least 16 gram oils containing omega-3 fatty acid.
18 gram protein
Vitamines: A1, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, D en E

Update: bought some herrings a few days later and they were much tastier. Trial and error.

Dry Masala Okra

2010-06-14T19:21:00.006+02:00

Time for another Indian vegetable dish. You'll need okra and fresh spices.

You start by mixing a number of spices:

1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried coconut
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaf.

Trim 500 gram okra.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, add 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds and 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds. Fry 2 minutes until the seeds begin to pop.

Add the spice mixture and fry for 2 minutes.

Add the okra, cover and cook for 10 minutes on a low fire. It is a dry masala, so the greatest risk is burning the spices. Add a little water if needed and keep the fire low.

Mix with chopped tomato and serve with poppadums, or anything you like (chapati, rice).

Rhubarb (Rabarber) dessert

2010-05-28T13:49:00.007+02:00

Cut rhubarb sticks in 2 centimeter pieces. Butter an oven dish. Add rhubarb sticks, sugar (250 gram for 500 gram rhubarb) and top with shortcrust pastry or: kruimeldeeg. Boil in oven until rhubarb is soft and shortcrust pastry is done.

Kruimeldeeg:
200 gram flower, 150 gram butter, 100 gram sugar, 10 ml water, 1 gram salt.

Mix butter with wet sugar and salt.

Add flower and make 'crumbs'. Keep in fridge for one day.

Variation:
Add lemon peel to rhubar.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Raapstelen

2010-05-08T13:47:00.004+02:00

Boil a few potatoes. Fry some finely cut onion in olive oil. Roughly cut raapstelen (Brassica rapa).

Mash potatoes roughly (add a little water or milk). Add onion-olive mixture and raw raapstelen. Add salt and mix. To enjoy the vegetable best, use just two medium sized potatoes for 200 gram raapstelen. Use the heat of the potatoes to soften the leaves a little.

Classic fish soup

2010-03-21T17:49:00.013+01:00

A classic fish soup.

You need a couple of fish. Quantities are for 4 bowls of soup. Including prep and cooking you need 2,5 hours.

The stock:

Clean the fish and use the head and bones to make a stock. Simmer fish bones in 2,5 liters of water for 20 minutes. Drain through sieve and add onion, fennel, leek, celery, carrot, mushrooms and thyme. Boil for 30 minutes, drain through sieve and reduce to 1,5 liter.

Keep the fillet aside.

The soup:

Heat 100 ml olive oil. Add 3 gloves of sliced garlic and (cut roughly, 75 gram each): onion, celery stick, leek and fennel. Simmer for 20 minutes on a low fire.

Add: orange peel, 200 gram canned tomatoes, red chili pepper, bay leaf, thyme, saffron, fennel seeds, fish fillet and un-peeled shrimp.

Fry on high heat for 3 minutes.

Add fish stock (1,5 liters) and juice of half an orange. Simmer for 40 minutes.

Puree the soup and drain through a cone sieve. You can use the puree to make fish cookies.

Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

Serve with croutons and rouille. Croutons: fry bread in olive oil and rub with garlic.

This is a simple but tasty soup. You can dress it up with pieces of fish fillet, snails, sliced celery stick, thin slices of chili pepper, shrimp or other seafood, like clams.

Margarita (cocktail)

2010-03-08T14:26:00.006+01:00

Recipe:

3.5 cl (seven parts) tequila (100% agave, white)
2.0 cl (four parts) Cointreau or Triple Sec
1.5 cl (three parts) lime juice

Notes:

Shake ingredients with ice and serve straight up.

Rub the rim of the glass with the lime slice to make salt stick to the rim.

Traditionally the drink was made with agave nectar instead of Triple Sec.

Update: I decided I don't like tequila much, so I won't be making these any more.

Paneer Tikka Masala

2010-02-08T14:37:00.006+01:00

Marinate cubed paneer in thick yoghurt with spices and vegetables.

1) Take some thick yoghurt, add: chili powder, kasturi methi (=dried leaves of fenugreek), salt, lime or lemon juice, oil and mix. Add cut tomato, red onion and bell pepper (bite sized) and marinate with the paneer.

2) The sauce:
Heat oil in pan, add cumin seeds, finely chopped onion, salt, add pinch of turmeric, garlic-ginger paste and flower (maïzena). Add one cup of pureed tomato's, coriander powder, cumin powder and chili powder. Add water when the mixture becomes dry.

3) In another pan cook the paneer-yoghurt mixture. Make sure the tomato's don't become overcooked.

4) Boil sauce (add water if needed) and add the well cooked paneer-yoghurt mixture. Add garam masala powder and finish with adding cream.

Spaghetti with Tuna, Mushrooms and Pancetta

2010-02-08T14:30:00.004+01:00

Tried & tested:

Soak 15 gram dried porcini in hot water for 20 minutes.

Heat oil, add one clove of garlic, crush gently and cook for 2 minutes. Discard garlic.

Add 75 gram diced pancetta or bacon and fry for 4 minutes.

Add drained dried porcini (chopped finely) and 225 gran chopped button mushrooms. Fry for 2 minutes and add soaking liquid from the mushrooms (about 6 table spoons). Simmer for 10 minutes.

Cook pasta, adding remaining soaking liquid from the mushrooms.

Add a can of tuna to the sauce and taste for pepper and salt.

Toss pasta with the sauce and serve with grated Parmesan.

Note: leave out pancetta (or even the tuna) for a vegetarian version. Update: tried it and it doesn't taste as good. You need some pancetta, if only a little.

Spaghetti with Saffron

2010-02-01T21:43:00.005+01:00

For this simple dish you will need dried spaghetti, a few strands of saffron, 150 gram cooked quality ham, 200 ml panna da cucina, 2 egg yolks and 50 grams freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Cook the pasta.

In the meantime put the saffron in a few tablespoons of water and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils turn off the heat and leave to stand for a while. Add strips of ham. Stir in the panna da cucina and Parmesan. Add salt and pepper and heat gently while stirring. Remove from heat and add egg yolks. Mix well.

Add the sauce to the drained pasta and toss.

Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

Kimchi bokkeumbap (김치 볶음 밥)

2010-02-01T20:37:00.017+01:00

Kimchi bokkeum-bap means: kimchi-mixed-rice. It's the Korean version of nasi goring. You take some left over rice (don't use fresh cooked rice!) and fry it with several ingredients. The main ingredient is kimchi (김치) made from Chinese cabbage.

The basic ingredients: cooked rice and kimchi:

Kimchi is already pretty spice but you can add one teaspoon of hot pepper paste (gochujang). You can also make this dish without the hot pepper sauce, especially when you use many other ingredients. Gochujang is rather overpowering:

Cut kimchi finely (note: I didn't cut the kimchi in the photo's below). Fry the kimchi and pepper paste in some oil (sunflower, sesame or a mixture of both):

Add the rice and fry on a low fire for 15 minutes:

I make this dish as an easy and quick lunch. Prepare some side dishes like (Japanese) pickled daikon and seaweed salad (chuka wakame) and you're done in 15 minutes.

This is the basic version. You can also add a can of tuna, left over meat, shrimps, mushrooms, onion, carrot or zucchini. A can of tuna in juicy olive oil works best. Just make sure to chop all ingredients rather small. To serve you can fry an egg and put it on top of the kimchi bokkeumbap and sprinkle some shredded gim (dried seaweed), chopped scallions or sesame seeds as a garnish. You can make kimchi bokkeumbap into a rather rich dish. Or keep it simple when you're pressed for time.

In Amsterdam all ingredients are available in Dun Yong, Stormsteeg 9 near the Nieuwmarkt.

Red palm oil

2010-02-01T20:04:00.023+01:00

"Red palm oil contains vitamins, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients. The color comes from carotenes - the same nutrients that give tomatoes, carrots and other fruits and vegetables their rich red and orange colors." (Wikipedia) Apparently red palm oil contains 300 times more provitamin A than tomatoes. At the same time palm oil contains a lot of saturated fatty acids, so use in moderation.

Palm oil is made from the oil palm.

Ginjo Rokushu (sake)

2010-01-14T18:01:00.009+01:00

Ginjo Rokushu is a dry sake meant to be drunken very cold (5 - 10C). From the company website: "We have two breweries, DEWATSURU and KARIHO. DEWATSURU is a refined sake that has a soft and subtly gentle flavor, By contrast, KARIHO, made from hard water, is much drier, with a lively, crisp character."

Among KARIHO there are several sakes. I bought the Ginjo Rokushu for 20 euro. I would buy this sake again.

"Very smooth taste with a fruity aroma. This sake goes well with lightly flavored dishes. Recommended drinking temperature: 5-10C."

Company website: www.igeta.jp

Carpano 'sweet red vermouth'

2009-12-17T09:01:00.008+01:00

Apparently vermouth was invented in 1786 by Antonio Benedetto Carpano (1764, Turin - 1815, Turin). The brand Carpano still exists and it's marketed as a vermouth based on the old recipe: Carpano Antica Formula. It's well worth the investment. Carpano Antica Formula is a sweet red vermouth 'Italian style' and full of spice overtones, orange, vanilla ... It's great to drink on it's own, but also an important ingredient for the Manhattan (whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters) and the Negroni (gin, Campari, red vermouth). But I would start drinking Carpano Antica Formula as an apéritif.

Carpano Antica Formula is nowadays made by the Italian distiller Branca.

Fricassée de lapereau aux citrons

2009-12-16T16:31:00.027+01:00

A dish from Corsica.

One wild rabbit
50 ml olive oil
2 onions
3 carrots
2 garlic cloves
4 twigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaf
5 sage leaves
1 tablespoon honey
5 dl. dry white wine
1 or 2 organic lemons, quartered

I bought my rabbit at Poelier H. Jonk. Address: Haarlemmerdijk 53, Amsterdam, 020 6248454. Wild rabbits are rather small. One rabbit serves just two people. Note: two rabbits in the photo, quantities are for one rabbit. And yes, it's a bloody affair. Not like a tame rabbit whose meat looks pale like chicken.

Cut the rabbit in pieces. Heat the olive oil and brown the meat. Slice onion in rings, cut carrots in slices. Add onion, carrot and garlic (whole) to the rabbit. Fry until brown. Discard fat and add herbs, honey, salt and pepper. Add wine and lemons. Simmer for one hour on a low fire. Season liquid if needed.

Serve with a good quality white rice (basmati).

Update: Not very successful. Two lemons made this dish a bit too sour. Try one lemon instead. Wild rabbit needs to simmer for 1,5 hours before the meat is tender. Wild rabbits taste, well ... they have a very strong flavor. Don't eat too much meat, one rabbit should be enough for 3 people. Make sure to cut out the liver and kidneys and fry them separately for a short time; liver should be pink inside. If you use just one lemon, use some sour cream to make the sauce thicker. Otherwise, make a light roux or beurre manié. I found the taste a little bitter. Maybe the blood? Or the lemons? It's probably better to use lemon juice instead of simmering the quartered lemons.

Captain's dinner

2009-12-14T13:33:00.009+01:00

A dish from the era of the great sailing ships. While the crew survived on hard biscuits the captain had a somewhat more luxurious lifestyle.

Heat a jar of kapucijners, a type of pea (Pisum sativum L. subsp. sativum var. arvense (L.) Poir). Kapucijners are brown rather than green. Other Dutch name: blauwschokkers, grauwe erwt. In English: Dun pea, Dry pea, Field pea, Soup pea, Grey pea, Purple-flowered pea, Canning pea, Austrian winter pea.

Fry sliced onion on a low fire. Fry smoked bacon (Dutch: spek), cut in small cubes. Drain the kapucijners, spread them out on a plate, add fried onion and bacon. Serve with pickled gherkins, Dutch piccalilly and pickled onions (Dutch: zilveruitjes).

It's a simple dish, but rather effective.

Captain's dinner being served on the billiards table in 't Schippershuis, a small café in Hoorn: