Chinese Char Siu BBQ Pork is one of my favorite dishes. Most of my cooking starts with natural ingredients, rather than using store-bought. Pesto for instance, is so much better if you make it yourself than store-bought, also because most … Continue reading Char Siu Marinade From Scratch
After having made fresh Mexican chorizo, I looked for recipes to use it. One of my favorite blogs with Mexican recipes is Irene’s My Slice of Mexico and that’s where I found this recipe for green beans with chorizo. It … Continue reading Green Beans with Mexican Chorizo (Ejotes con Chorizo a la Mexicana)
The chorizo we know here in Europe is Spanish chorizo, which is a dry cured pork sausage with smoked paprika as the dominant spice. Mexican chorizo is different because it is wet (or fresh, only lightly cured) rather than dry, … Continue reading Homemade Mexican Chorizo
When planning our trip to Sicily, the first thing I decided was that I wanted to return to La Madia after the wonderful dinner we enjoyed there in 2013. Chef Pino Cuttaia still holds two Michelin stars. The restaurant looked … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Madia** (2024)
Signum is the restaurant of chef Martina Caruso in the Signum Hotel on Salina, one of the Aeolian islands between Sicily and Naples, which has held a Michelin star from 2016. The restaurant and hotel are only open in the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Signum*
This is the third and final part of the tour to Campania that I organized as a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). After a day of getting to know the wines of Sannio, we continued … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 3: Irpinia
This is the second part of the tour that I organized as a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). After a day of getting to know the wines of Sannio, we continued our exploration of Campanian … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 2: Costa d’Amalfi
My posts are not completely in chronological order at the moment, because the wine tour of Campania has already finished, but I have two more installments to post about that trip. After the trip I took the ferry to the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Dani Maison**
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and after the great wine trips with the association to Piemonte, Lombardia, and Australia, I have now organized a trip to Campania in Italy as a member … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 1: Sannio
Nam Prik Pao is Thai chilli ‘jam’ and has a great flavor of slightly spicy, sweet, sour, and a lot of umami. You can make it from scratch or buy it. A very popular dish is cashew chicken, which is … Continue reading Thai Cashew Chicken
After the great meal at 212 last year, I couldn’t wait to go back again and decided to take my friend Melvin there for his birthday dinner. I hadn’t checked the menu when I made the reservation, so I only … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: 212** (2024)
Aria fritta literally means “fried air”. This is what chef Peppe Guida called the deep fried pizza that he served as an appetizer at his agriturismo Villa Rosa (read about my visit here). It is also simply called pizza fritta. … Continue reading Aria Fritta (Deep Fried Pizza)
MOS restaurant in Amsterdam has one Michelin star and offers a beautiful view of the river and Central Station from the large windows. The restaurant by chef Egon van Hoof and maître Henry Pattiwael opened in 2015 and has held … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: MOS*
Pasta with meat ragù is one of the best known Italian dishes around the world. Each region in Italy has its own version. The most famous is Tagliatelle alla Bolognese. It is so famous in fact, that outside of Italy, … Continue reading Rigatoni Strascicati col Ragù (Pasta with Florentine Meat Ragù)
Chef Mimi is my oldest blogging friend (oldest as in for the longest time). We’ve followed each other’s blogs since 2012, and we’ve had the pleasure to meet in person in 2014 when we were both visiting our mutual friend … Continue reading Thai Squid Salad
I created this dish to use up what was in my fridge — so I could also call it pasta svuotafrigo. I had some leeks, left over prosciutto, and left over ricotta that all needed to be used up. I … Continue reading Pasta with Leeks, Prosciutto, and Ricotta (Trofie ai Porri, Crudo e Ricotta)
Restaurant Aan de Poel is located in Amstelveen, the wealthy suburb of Amsterdam. It is situated and named after a small lake called “De Poel”. The terrace offers a beautiful view of the lake, but the weather wasn’t The restaurant … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Aan de Poel**
Ricotta and spinach are a classic combination in Italian cooking, especially as a stuffing for ravioli. It also works great with a ‘pink’ tomato sauce, which means a tomato sauce that is mixed with either cream or white sauce (besciamella). … Continue reading Spinach, Ricotta, and Tomato Lasagna (Lasagne di Magro)
Restaurant Heimat in Utrecht has just opened. In fact, I was there for the first regular night, after a trial week. My main purpose to be there was to catch up with a dear friend, who lives around the corner … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Heimat
Yellowtail is one of my favorite types of fish. It goes by many names, like hamachi in Japan, ricciola in Italy, as well as amberjack and kingfish. It is a white fish but more fatty and therefore more flavorful and … Continue reading Yellowtail Sous Vide With Smoky Jus
For Easter dinner I wanted to enjoy a nice bottle of Barolo from the 2006 vintage, that I had acquired at the winery in 2010 and had been aging in my wine fridge ever since. It was easy to select … Continue reading Fresh Pasta with Beef and Porcini Mushroom Ragù (Tajarin al Ragù di Manzo en Funghi Porcini)
My friend Melvin had enjoyed Spaghetti V.G.P. at a restaurant in Sicily, and suggested we make prepare this. Pasta with vongole, gamberi (shrimp) and pistachios is quite common in Sicilian restaurants; it uses local ingredients and is a great flavor … Continue reading Spaghetti V.G.P. (Spaghetti with Vongole, Shrimp, and Pistachios)
Zoldering is one of my favorite restaurants in Amsterdam. This was my 5th dinner there, but strangely enough this is the first blog I’m writing about it. Zoldering was established in 2019 by Tomas Bron (chef), Job Seuren (sommelier), Wout … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Zoldering*
In the Netherlands we have a saying: a good neighbor is worth more than a friend far away. We have the best of both worlds, as our neighbors are also very good friends. One of the things we share with … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Flore**
A popular dish from Yucatán (Mexico) is Poc Chuc. “Poc” means roasting in Mayan, and “Chuc”, means charcoal. The name doesn’t specify what food is being roasted, but if it just says Poc Chuc it will be charcoal roasted pork. … Continue reading Poc Chuc Sous Vide
Since I really liked the flavor profile of a Portuguese dish I made of rice with lobster and clams (Arroz de lagosta), I thought it would be nice to turn it into a risotto. The Portugese arroz is much more … Continue reading Risotto Astice e Vongole (Lobster and Clam Risotto)
Six years ago, I studied the Modernist Bread books, and greatly improved the bread I was baking. I’ve been baking bread this way ever since and everyone loves it. I’ve been directing people who wanted to bake the same bread … Continue reading My Bread
Spectrum is the restaurant of chef Sidney Schutte and maître-sommelier Cas Kratz, located inside the Waldorf Astoria hotel in the historic center of Amsterdam. The restaurant, formerly known as Librije’s Zusje, has held two Michelin stars since 2015. Since it … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Spectrum** (2024)
Coda alla Vaccinara is a classic dish from Rome that is oxtail stewed in tomato sauce with lardo, wine, garlic, and the holy trinity of Italian stews (onion, carrot, celery). Some recipes include more ‘exotic’ ingredients like raisins, pine nuts, … Continue reading Ravioli di Coda alla Vaccinara (Oxtail Ravioli)
This is what we had as secondo piatto for our Christmas dinner this year. This dish is very suitable for a special occasion, as you can prepare almost everything beforehand and to serve you only need to quickly brown the … Continue reading Venison Rolls Stuffed With Porcini Mushrooms and Red Wine Sauce
