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
Dutch cuisine is not known for its finesse, but more for hearty dishes like stamppot, potatoes and vegetables mashed together. One of the classic winter dishes is zuurkoolstamppot met rookworst, sauerkraut mashed with potatoes and served with smoked pork sausage. Sometimes other ingredients are added like apple, but here is the basic version. Some people … Continue reading
Celeriac and smoked eel work very well together, and I’ve posted recipes using them before. This time, I added hazelnuts to the mix and created a restaurant style appetizer. The celeriac is prepared in three ways: as a very smooth creamy puree, smoked cubes, and as a crispy chip. The smoked eel is used to … Continue reading
What you see in the photo above is the result of a bit of playfulness. Or silliness. It is salmon and sea bass, glued together, and then cooked sous-vide as if it is some kind of mutant fish with layers of orange-pink and white flesh. This is possible by using a (perfectly natural and harmless) … Continue reading
Recently we had green apple and goat cheese as dessert at Restaurant Jacob in Leiden. I have a few bottles of a wonderful late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre that I thought would work particularly well with that combination. And that is how I came up with this very simple but delicious dessert of green … Continue reading
After having cooked sous-vide for six years, I still discover some improvements now and then. Until recently, when cooking beef sous-vide I would usually choose as low a temperature as possible, and then cook long enough for the meat to become tender. This has as an advantage that the beef retains as much juices as possible, because … Continue reading
In Italy there are two kinds of pizza. Round and thin pizza, cooked for a couple of minutes in a very hot (wood-fired) oven, is available in pizzerias. That type of pizza is difficult to make at home with a domestic oven (but it is not impossible to get close, click here to find out … Continue reading
You can encounter baby octopus in a hot red sauce all along the long Italian coastline. “Alla diavola” refers to the use of chilli flakes. You can make it as hot or as mild as you like. If you are fortunate enough to have access to good ripe tomatoes and fresh baby octopus, all the … Continue reading
Can you make a delicious pasta dish using only four ingredients, counting salt and pepper as the first two? Yes, you can! Boneless and skinless turkey thigh becomes tender, flaky, juicy, and tasty after cooking it sous-vide for 24 hours at 74C/165F. It will release a lot of juices when cooked that way, but that … Continue reading
After the positive reactions to the report of my failure trying to make oyster sauce from fresh oysters, here is another experiment that didn’t turn out so well. The photo above is the “crispy egg” we got served for breakfast at Librije last December. It was amazing: a light and very crispy crust with a … Continue reading
After reading Conor’s post in which he showed us how to prepare delicious roast leg of goat, I got curious and wanted to try goat meat, too. Now there are a lot of goats in the Netherlands, kept primarily for milking, but since there is no local market for the meat it all gets exported. And … Continue reading
When I saw this yogurt cake on Mimi’s blog, I wanted to make it straight away. She had eaten it at Moro, a restaurant in London, and loved it so much that she made it at home. I can see why, because it is both original and delicious. The nice thing about this yogurt cake … Continue reading
For months now I’ve been making muffins for breakfast with oat bran, quark (or cottage cheese or skyr), eggs, and stevia as the base. I bake them every weekend to eat for breakfast during the week. These muffins are nutritious because they are high in protein and high in fiber, low in fat, and contain … Continue reading
As there aren’t many Mexican restaurants around here and those that are there are probably not very authentic, I don’t eat a lot of Mexican (or Tex-Mex) food that I don’t prepare myself. And so I had never before seen or tasted tamales. Ever since I saw the recipe on Richard’s blog, I wanted to make … Continue reading
We love foie gras and I was curious to try and make foie gras ice cream. I looked at some recipes on-line, but found none that made sense to me. Some even suggested to discard (!) or save for another use the fat rendered from the foie, and to replace it with butter?! That would … Continue reading
