My friend Antonella took a sabbatical to be trained as a professional pastry chef in Italy. Upon her return, she baked acetani for us, wonderful almond-orange cookies that are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and have lovely aromas … Continue reading Acetani (Italian Almond-Orange Cookies)
Two years ago I made jambon persillé for the first time, for a Burgundy-themed wine dinner. Jambon persillé is a terrine of ham hock (pork shank) with parsley. Back then I wrote that it was “quite a bit of work … Continue reading Ham Hock Terrine Sous-Vide (Jambon Persillé)
In the Netherlands, pea soup is a hearty winter soup made from dried peas and ham hock. Silva Rigobello reminded me that you can also make a lighter pea soup from fresh peas, perfect for spring. In this case, I … Continue reading Pea Velouté with Mint and Crispy Speck
Because of our, euphemistically put, shared history, kroepoek (Indonesian shrimp crackers, the Indonesian spelling is kerupuk or krupuk) is very common and very popular in the Netherlands. You can buy it at every supermarket and ‘Chinese/Indonesian’ restaurants sell large rectangular sheets of … Continue reading Kerupuk, Krupuk, Kroepoek (Shrimp Crackers)
Lamb shank sous-vide is one of my favorite cuts of lamb. I tend to avoid serving meat or fish with bones when preparing dinner for company, unless I know they are comfortable with it. And so in order to serve … Continue reading Deboned Lamb Shank Sous-Vide with Peas and Mint
Every time I browse the many cookbooks by Biba Caggiano I own, a recipe catches my eye that I haven’t tried before. In this case it was bucatini alle cipolle, a very simple pasta dish that makes the onions shine … Continue reading Bucatini alle Cipolle (Pasta with Onions)
Naan bread from India differs from ‘regular’ leavened bread for two reasons: it is made with yogurt and/or milk instead of water, and it is cooked quickly in a very hot oven (tandoor). If you don’t have a tandoor, you … Continue reading Naan Bread
Kees is working on the boat and I contribute by luring friends to help out by providing dinner. After a day of hard work, a baked pasta dish seemed like a good idea. This was also very practical, as I … Continue reading Baked Pasta with Ham and Peas (Pasta al Forno con Cotto e Piselli)
Cooking an unfamiliar cut of meat sous-vide is always a bit exciting, as I am always looking for the perfect combination of time and temperature to make it as tender and juicy as possible. So I knew it was show … Continue reading Venison Shoulder Sous-Vide
Calamari are mostly known as deep fried rings. They are especially delicious when you make them from fresh calamari. Calamari do not only consist of a body (that is cut into rings) but they also have tentacles. You could deep … Continue reading Linguine with Calamari Tentacles (Linguine ai Tentacoli di Calamari)
One of our favorite restaurants is the Librije, three Michelin star restaurant in Zwolle (Netherlands) of Jonnie and Térèse Boer (no relation). Less than a year ago, sister restaurant Librije’s Zusje (“zusje” means little sister) opened in the Waldorf Astoria … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Librije’s Zusje**
Side by side experiments are a great way to find out if what you are doing when cooking actually makes a difference. For instance, is it worth making pesto by hand with pestle and mortar instead of in the blender … Continue reading Cooking Sous-Vide With(out) Sauce Experiment (Coda alla Vaccinara)
This celeriac soup is very simple, but tasty, healthy and nourishing. I had cooked it about 5 weeks ago and almost forgot to blog about it. Celeriac (celery root) is almost out of season now, but with the cold weather … Continue reading Celeriac Soup with Walnuts
Béarnaise is one of the classic sauces from French cuisine and it is great with steak. The traditional way of preparing it au bain marie requires quite a bit of skill, as the sauces curdles easily. It also requires you to make … Continue reading Easy Foolproof Béarnaise Sauce
My favorite way of blogging is to cook something, eat it, blog about it right afterwards, and then read your comments. That’s what I did today. From the kitchen to the blog in a couple of hours. Risottos always take a bit … Continue reading Risotto with Cream of Shrimp (Risotto con Crema di Gamberi)
Canard à l’Orange is a French classic that I hadn’t cooked in a while. It can be prepared either with a whole duck or with duck breast, as I did here. Duck breast is called magret de canard (magret because it is, relatively speaking, … Continue reading Magret de Canard à l’Orange (Duck Breast with Orange)
Lately I’ve been getting a lot of inspiration from three Italian food blogging ladies that I follow. Even though I like to experiment with different cuisines and techniques, Italian home cooking always stays closest to my heart. In this case … Continue reading Breaded Lamb Chops (Costolette di Agnello Impanate)
“Secreto” is a cut of iberico pork that is called the “butcher’s secret”. It is very flavorful and marbled, and fairly thin. So thin in fact, that it made me think of veal scaloppine. One of my favorite preparations of … Continue reading Secreto Iberico Sous-Vide ‘Saltimbocca’
Hazelnut and coffee are a great combination, and this torte has it all: crunchy hazelnuts, crispy hazelnut meringue, and a luscious coffee-flavored buttercream. For this cake I used the recipe of the famous retired Dutch pastry chef, Cees Holtkamp. I’ve posted … Continue reading Hazelnut Mocha Meringue Torte
We are having some wonderful weather here — I would sign up for weather like this in Summer — and so during my lunch break I walked to the market to pick up some fresh fish for dinner, to be … Continue reading White Fish Gratin (Pesce Bianco Gratinato al Forno)
Have you ever heard of risotto alla bolognese? I had not. Or at least I couldn’t remember, because I found it in a cookbook by Biba Caggiano that I’d had for years. It’s not a traditional combination, but it it … Continue reading Risotto alla Bolognese
When I had made my first batch of homemade chipotles in adobo, I wanted to try them in a recipe. As a variation on chicken with mushrooms, chipotles, and cream, I prepared pork shoulder cooked sous-vide with chipotles, mushrooms, and … Continue reading Pork Shoulder Sous-Vide with Chipotles and Mushrooms
My favorite kind of chiles are chipotles because of their smokiness. Chipotles in adobo sauce, a sauce made from tomatoes and ancho chiles, are a great condiment. I love them for instance with chicken, mushrooms and cream. Chipotles in adobo … Continue reading Homemade Chipotles in Adobo Sauce
The more muscles work during the life of an animal, the more flavor the meat will have and the tougher the meat will be. The muscles in the cheeks are used for chewing food, and so it’s not hard to … Continue reading Wild Boar Cheeks Sous-Vide (Ganacini di Cinghiale)
To celebrate the coming of Spring I wanted to create a dish with spring vegetables, and came up with these wonderful ravioli filled with baby asparagus, snow peas, peas, baby carrots, ricotta, parmigiano, and basil. Served with a fresh tomato … Continue reading Ravioli Primavera
Seaweed is healthy and delicious, and it is pretty simple to make your own wakame seaweed salad. With a soy, sesame and chili dressing the crunchy seaweed is a delicious appetizer or snack. Wakame salad is usually made from reconstituted … Continue reading Wakame Seaweed Salad
Happy Easter everyone! With Easter we celebrate Spring by eating eggs and lamb. Recently I posted a recipe for veal scaloppine with balsamic, and blogging buddy Kathryn aka Anotherfoodieblogger commented that it could also be made with lamb. I really liked … Continue reading Lamb Scaloppine with Balsamic and Roasted Eggplant
Pastiera is a traditional Easter cake from Naples, filled with boiled wheat, ricotta, and candied citrus. The wheat provides an interesting texture and also makes the cake quite filling. The candied citron, candied orange, lemon zest, orange blossom water, and … Continue reading Pastiera Napoletana
Cooking a delicious weekday meal can be as quick as it takes to cook the pasta. Thanks to my blogging friend Simona and her wonderful blog Grembiule da cucina, here’s another one. The combination of tomatoes and sundried tomatoes works … Continue reading Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives (Orecchiette con Pomodori Secchi e Olive)
Research has shown that eating nuts on a regular basis is healthy. The best reason for baking these cookies however is that they are delicious! They are gluten free and dairy free, if that matters to you. Walnuts and hazelnuts … Continue reading Walnut-Hazelnut Cookies
