Lately I’ve been creating recipes to make snacks that keep well at room temperature, are nutritious, tasty, and easy to transport. These savory muffins made with chickpea flour (garbanzo bean flour) certainly fit the bill. Chickpea flour is very high in protein (22%) and fiber (10%). To flavor the muffins I use parmigiano reggiano, dried oregano, … Continue reading
L’Amaryllis is the restaurant of chef Cedric Burtin in the village of Saint-Rémy, near Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy, France. It is housed in an old watermill, le Moulin de Martorey. In the dining room the old cogwheels are still there, which makes for a very nice ambiance. We opted for the chef’s ‘surprise’ 8- course menu … Continue reading
If you’ve been following my blog for some time, you may have noticed I really like the pairing of smoked eel with celeriac. And here is yet another dish based upon that combination, with the addition of toasted hazelnuts. The celeriac is pressure cooked with baking soda to caramelize it and deepen the flavor. The smoked … Continue reading
In Italy many recipes have a “rosso” version (with tomatoes) and a “bianco” version (without tomatoes). For instance, a “pizza bianca” means a pizza without tomatoes. This also goes for pasta sauces, amatriciana is usually rossa, but amatriciana bianca also exists (which is also called alla gricia). A famous recipe from Tuscany and Umbria is papparadelle … Continue reading
Duivekater is a traditional festive bread that originates in Amsterdam and surroundings and is now still popular in the Zaanstreek where I grew up (and still live), just north of Amsterdam. There are sources as far back as the 16th century describing this bread, and it is depicted on paintings like this one from Dutch … Continue reading
Stefano of Italian Home Cooking has done it again: he posted a delicious traditional Italian recipe that I had not heard of before. I love Ragù alla Napoletano, which is a large piece of beef braised in tomato sauce. The tomato sauce obtains a wonderful beefy flavor, and is served over pasta as primo piatto. Then … Continue reading
I don’t prepare enough classic French dishes, but luckily Nadia of Maison Travers keeps posting recipes to inspire me to cook more of them. In this case monkfish with Américaine sauce. This sauce, originally named Armoricaine, doesn’t have anything to do with America but has instead been named after Armorica, the ancient name for the … Continue reading
This dish requires only seven ingredients: lamb shank, salt, pepper, thyme, flour, egg, and pecorino cheese. The lamb shank is cooked sous-vide, then shredded, and fresh homemade pasta is tossed with the shredded meat and the juices from the sous-vide bag. Finally it is served with freshly grated pecorino cheese. That’s it. For such a … Continue reading
Ladyredspecs aka Sandra has a great blog Please Pass The Recipe, which I have been following for years. Although geographically speaking India is about halfway between us, in terms of climate or familiarity with the cuisine, she is a lot closer to Indian cuisine than I am. Lately Sandra has been posting Indian vegetable recipes … Continue reading
Librije’s Zusje is the “little sister” of Librije in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Amsterdam, with two Michelin stars. Two years ago we had dinner there for the first time, and I concluded back then it was the best restaurant in Amsterdam. So now we were curious to try it again to see if it had evolved. … Continue reading
Boeuf Bourguignon is a famous beef stew from the French region of Burgundy. The beef is stewed with red wine and served with mushrooms and pearl onions in a rich beefy sauce. I’ve posted before how to make it on the stovetop or using a pressure cooker. It is delicious, if you succeed in stewing the beef … Continue reading
Carnitas is a Mexican recipe to prepare pork: slow cooked in lots of lard. This will make the pork tender and juicy on the inside, with some crisp edges on the outside. With sous-vide and a broiler you can get a similar result that is very tasty and does not require a bucket of lard. … Continue reading
Slow roasting is my favorite way to prepare cauliflower, and this time of the year I prepare it often (using this recipe or something similar). Slow roasting means it will take longer (90 minutes to 2 hours), but the cauliflower will have much greater depth of flavor compared to roasting it quickly in a hotter … Continue reading
Spring is really arriving here in the Netherlands, but on some days it is still a bit chilly and perfect for a hearty pasta dish with the last of the season’s savoy cabbage. This humble pasta dish with cabbage and sausage is taken to the next level by adding some vinegar and some butter, which marry … Continue reading
There are so many food blogs out there that it is hard to find the really good ones. But once in a while I discover a new food blog that I really like, and one of those is Stefano’s Italian Home Cooking. After trying his hand at being a cookbook writer and chef, he now teaches … Continue reading
Suzanne of apuginthekitchen recently posted about a coconut cauliflower soup that looked great, and so I wanted to try making it as well. With roasted cauliflower, coconut milk, and Thai red curry paste it promised great depth of flavor. As Suzanne made the recipe as published and wasn’t completely happy, I decided to make some … Continue reading
When cooking sous-vide, you have perfect control over how done the meat is going to be. But it does require you to know what temperature corresponds with how you like your steak done. And so I prepared the above chart for you. You can look at what the meat will look like in the photo, … Continue reading
We love Mexican food and we love fish, so I wanted to make fish tacos. I looked at many recipes, but many did not appeal to me because the fish was breaded and/or served with a white sauce. But then I found Pati Jinich’s recipe for Rodrigo-Style Fish. That recipe seemed very nice because of … Continue reading
Guacamole is a dipping sauce that you are probably all familiar with. You get the best guacamole by making it at home from fresh ingredients rather than buying it in a store.As guacamole is an avocado-based sauce, it is the most important ingredient. Of course the avocado must be ripe. Luckily avocados are fruits that … Continue reading
I don’t prepare artichokes very often, because they are usually too expensive for what will be left after you clean them. This is what I commented when Jo of Frascati Cooking That’s Amore recently blogged about a recipe from Lombardia for oven-roasted artichokes with parmigiano, breadcrumbs, and mint. Lo and behold, just a few days … Continue reading
When I saw swordfish on sale at the market, I knew what we were going to have for dinner. I love swordfish, but it is often hard to get it fresh (frozen means it will be dry) and for a reasonable price. Swordfish is very meaty with a mild fish flavor. I served with ratatouille … Continue reading
When Paola presented this savory tart on her blog she suggested to make this quickly before Spring arrives, as this leek and squash tart is more suitable for Winter. I was intrigued by the combination of leeks and squash, as well as poppyseed, and so I followed her advice and prepared it right away. It … Continue reading
Podium onder de Dom is a restaurant in Utrecht (half an hour south-east of Amsterdam) that is located right under the city’s main landmark, the Dom (cathedral) tower. They do not have a Michelin star (yet) — but it seems that they are aiming to get one. Chef Leon Mazairac’s motto is “Simplicity is complex … Continue reading
One of my favorite Italian food bloggers was Silva Rigobello. Unfortunately I have to write in past tense, as she passed away in 2015. I still prepare her recipes from time to time, and in this case it is a pineapple and coconut cake that is more American in origin than Italian. I wish she could … Continue reading
Following other blogs is a great way to discover new recipes. I saw a Mexican shrimp meatball soup on my blogging buddy’s Kathryn’s blog, Anotherfoodieblogger. Regular albóndigas from Spain are meatballs cooked in tomato sauce, but these shrimp balls are cooked in something that is more like a tomato soup. You should buy shrimp with heads and shells for … Continue reading
Pulled pork is a classic dish from the South of the United States. Purists may not agree with the method I present here, as they insist that pulled pork has to be made by tending a smoker for hours and hours, and that one has to worry about stuff like a ‘smoke ring’ and ‘bark’. … Continue reading
When you have guests over for dinner, you want to please and possibly even impress them (in Italy this is called fare la bella figura). Over the years you have developed some dishes that you can always rely on in such an occasion, which in Italy is called your cavallo di battaglia, your ‘war horse’. My … Continue reading
In summer there is ample choice of fresh produce to choose from, but in winter we have to make do with what is available, especially if you want to cook with local seasonal ingredients. Fresh peas are only available in summer, but dried split peas are available year round. In the Netherlands they are used … Continue reading
Many people don’t make soup anymore. They just buy a can or a package of instant soup. Homemade soup is more flavorful, contains less salt, more actual chicken meat, and no chemical flavors and preservatives. The traditional way of making chicken soup is to boil a whole chicken in water with aromatic vegetables, and then … Continue reading
Blanquette de veau is a classic French dish that I was reminded of by Nadia. Visit her wonderful blog for a classic recipe. I’ve prepared a sous-vide version that turned out delicious. Blanc is French for white, and so everything but the parsley in this recipe is ‘white’: veal, mushrooms, pearl onions, white sauce, and … Continue reading
