Chicken Piri Piri is a popular dish from the Algarve in Portugal. The name “piri piri” refers to the type of chilli pepper used in de marinade or sauce. If you can’t find this particular type of chilli pepper, you … Continue reading Chicken Piri Piri (Frango Piri Piri)
This vegetable appetizer was inspired by a dish we enjoyed at Casa Velha in Portugal a few weeks ago, though it is certainly not a Portuguese dish. I liked the idea of using thinly sliced celeriac (celery root) instead of … Continue reading Celeriac ‘Ravioli’ with Parsnip and Mushrooms
Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato is a very common dish in Portugal that many if not most restaurants have on their menu, also as tapas (called petiscos in Portuguese). Amêijoas is Portuguese for clams, and the dish has been named after the … Continue reading Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato (Clams in Portuguese Style)
Ripe fresh figs, directly from the tree, are one of my favorite fruits. They are so sweet, fragrant, and delicate. Unfortunately the local climate is too cold for that, and so we can only get imported figs that do not … Continue reading Fresh Figs Poached in Red Wine or Port
We love eggplant and we love Thai food, so it was no surprise that we loved this when our friend Melvin prepared this for us according to Pailin’s recipe. Although you could also make it with regular eggplant, it is … Continue reading Thai Eggplant Salad (ยำมะเขือยาว)
On Malta I really enjoyed the potatoes cooked liked a risotto with shrimp under the name of nosotto at Noni. And so back home I decided to create something similar. It is basically diced potatoes cooked in a fish and … Continue reading Nosotto (Potato-Risotto with Shrimp)
Bife de tira is a cut of beef that I had not seen before, so I bought it out of curiosity. It did look nicely marbled. I tried to google it to find out what it was, but found contradicting … Continue reading Bife de Tira Sous-Vide
Mexican street corn is my favorite way to eat corn. It is so tasty and easy to make when grilling. I was introduced to it by Richard and make it often, but it has only been mentioned on the blog … Continue reading Mexican Street Corn (Elotes Asados)
Green papaya is an intriguing ingredient to me, because it is just an unripe papaya, but here in the Netherlands costs about three times as much as a ripe one. The green papaya itself doesn’t have much flavor and provides … Continue reading Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum)
The topic of chilling after cooking sous-vide, also referred to as “shocking” or “ice bath”, is frequently debated in sous-vide support groups on Facebook. Some people insist chilling after sous vide should always be done, others don’t understand its use … Continue reading The Use of Chilling After Cooking Steak Sous-Vide
Yesterday I was interviewed by Jason Logsdon of Amazing Food Made Easy for the Exploring Sous Vide Show. Click here to watch the full interview on Facebook. It was great to talk to Jason about topics like how to use … Continue reading Pork Neck or Pork Shoulder Sous Vide Temperature Experiment
I have never been to Thailand, but I love Thai food (so I should probably go there at some point, if only for the food). Luckily my friend Melvin has been to Thailand many times, so together with Thai bloggers … Continue reading Mango and Sticky Rice (Kao Niew Mamuang)
These duck lettuce wraps are somewhat similar to mandarin pancakes with peking duck, but a lot less work to make (and a lot lower on carbs, if that matters to you). The crunchy lettuce with the flavorful filling has a … Continue reading Duck Lettuce Wraps
Yesterday I spoke at the Sous Vide Summit of the International Sous Vide Association about how to adapt stew or braise recipes for sous-vide. Because of the pandemic, the conference was held virtually. It was a great conference and if … Continue reading Adapting Classic Stew Recipes for Sous-Vide
Next week, August 21-23 2020, the second Sous Vide Summit of the International Sous Vide Association will be held. Because of COVID it will be a virtual conference, so the good news is you can join from anywhere. And I … Continue reading Pollo alla Cacciatora Sous Vide
Scallops were on sale if bought by the kilo (2.2 lbs), so I smoked some as an appetizer and cooked the remainder sous-vide to be able to keep them longer. But you can also prepare this dish using raw scallops. … Continue reading Pasta with Scallops and Bell Pepper
Dry aging is a technique that is applied to meat for three reasons: it concentrates the flavors by reducing the amount of water; it tenderizes the meat by the slow activity of enzymes that are naturally present in the meat; … Continue reading Umai Bags For Dry Aging Steak At Home
Clafoutis is a famous French pie with cherries. You can find my rendition of the classical version here. Since cherries work well with chocolate, I thought there must also be a variation with chocolate. Some googling did indeed confirm that … Continue reading Chocolate and Cherry Clafoutis (Clafoutis chocolaté aux cerises)
Unlike other ‘old-fashioned’ vegetables like parsnip that are now in every supermarket, chard is still difficult to find in the Netherlands. As research for this post I googled Italian recipes for lasagne alle bietole and noticed that most recipes use … Continue reading Chard Lasagna (Lasagne alle Bietole)
Octopus can be tough and tasteless, but when cooked sous-vide more flavor is retained and it will be tender with the right combination of time and temperature. So far I have always used 4 to 5 hours at 77C/170F or … Continue reading Octopus Sous-Vide Time and Temperature
The season for white asparagus started very early this year in the Netherlands due to the warm winter, but then came to an abrupt end caused by a shortage of people to harvest them due to the Corona crisis. But … Continue reading White Asparagus: To Sous-Vide or Not To Sous-Vide?
The combination of white asparagus, smoked salmon, and Hollandaise sauce is a classic one. With homemade Hollandaise, sous vide asparagus, and home-smoked salmon it is a lovely appetizer. You could substitute good quality store-bought smoked salmon and steam the asparagus … Continue reading Asparagus with Smoked Salmon and Hollandaise
Curing fish improves its texture for cooking sous-vide, and this miso cure also adds flavor. This recipe is often prepared with black cod, a type of fish that is not available here. I prepared it with salmon instead, and it … Continue reading Miso-Cured Salmon Sous-Vide
Most of the times when I’ve had paella in a restaurant or made it myself, it has always contained seafood. But there are also paella recipes without seafood, like this one from Alicante with rabbit and snails. Eva of KitchenInspirations … Continue reading Paella with Rabbit and Snails (Arroz con Conejo y Caracoles)
My friend Melvin is great with Asian food. The other day he prepared this mackerel in Thai red curry sauce for us, and it was so good that I wanted to make it myself as soon as possible. Melvin got … Continue reading Mackerel in Thai Red Curry Sauce (Choo Chee)
Baking seems to be popular when in lockdown, or at least the idea of baking must be, because flour, yeast, and other baking supplies are sold out everywhere. But pears were on sale and I had walnuts that needed to … Continue reading Pear and Walnut Cake (Torta di Pere e Noci)
With all the restaurants closed it is nice to make restaurant-style food at home, using ingredients that we usually eat at restaurants like lobster. The idea to combine lobster with cauliflower came from Aqua. Instead of using regular cauliflower I … Continue reading Lobster with Romanesco and Green Curry
Happy Easter everyone! I thought this white asparagus lasagne was going to be good, but it turned out even better than I expected and I am most definitely making this again. The secret to this lasagne is that the white sauce … Continue reading Asparagus and Goat Cheese Lasagne (Lasagne agli Asparagi con Formaggio di Capra)
The first time I prepared this risotto it was very much an improvisation because I had some zucchini that needed to be used up, and I regretted not taking photos for the blog. But it was a good excuse to … Continue reading Risotto with Zucchini, Pine Kernels and Basil
Simple dishes can be surprisingly good. Many traditional Italian recipes can be linked to the local circumstances. Liguria is a mountainous strip of land along the Mediterranean coast without any room for growing wheat. But there are lots of chestnut … Continue reading Chestnut Tagliatelle with Basil Pesto (Tagliatelle di Castagne al Pesto)
