Contorni (side dishes)17 Comments

Eggplant Parmigiana ‘Light’ (Parmigiana di Melanzane)

StefanGourmet

Eggplant Parmigiana is a very tasty oven dish, consisting of eggplant, tomato sauce, and cheese. Using fresh tomatoes for the sauce (rather than from a can) takes it over the top. Eggplant, tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil go very well together. This is a classic Italian dish that is clear evidence of how good simple Italian food can be. The main drawback of the classic preparation is that the eggplant is pan-fried with lots of oil, as the eggplant slices are like sponges. I’ve found a way around that: I roast the eggplant in the oven after only lightly brushing it with oil. Salting the eggplant slices helps to cook them. In this case I forgot to buy the mozzarella that I usually put on top, and made an even ‘ligther’ version. The parmigiano does not melt as nicely, but it still makes for a nice dish. It’s your choice whether you want to put mozzarella on top or not. Continue reading “Eggplant Parmigiana ‘Light’ (Parmigiana di Melanzane)”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)18 Comments

Homemade Pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese

StefanGourmet

Pizzoccheri are a short and flat type of pasta from the Valtellina region in Northern Italy, made from buckwheat and flour. I already posted about preparing store-bought dried pizzoccheri with savoy cabbage. This time I decided to make the pizzoccheri myself, and use chard rather than cabbage. I already liked pizzoccheri the previous time I made them, but the fresh pasta and the chard make it even better.

Did you know that buckwheat, despite its name, is not a wheat? It is also interesting that the word buckwheat has been derived from the Dutch word “boekweit”. In Italian it sounds more fancy though: grano saraceno. In any case, in homemade pizzoccheri you can taste the buckwheat better than in store-bought ones, and they are surprisingly easy to make as they do not need to be rolled out as thinly as for other types of fresh pasta. So even though I did use my pasta roller out of habit, you could easily and quickly make them with a rolling pin. The fresh pizzoccheri also have a nicer texture than the dried ones. Continue reading “Homemade Pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese”

Cooking26 Comments

Scallops: To Sous-Vide or Not To Sous-Vide, That’s the Question

StefanGourmet

Sea scallops are one of my favorite foods. When I first got my sous-vide appliance over two years ago, it was one of the first foods I tried. And I was underwhelmed. I didn’t do any side by side testing back then, but I was pretty sure that I couldn’t find anything special about the scallops that had been cooked sous-vide. After that I didn’t sous-vide scallops anymore. Since I was still relatively new to sous-vide back then, I decided to do a proper side by side experiment to find out once and for all whether those rave reviews I had seen elsewhere about the magnificent texture of sous-vide scallops were true after all. Continue reading “Scallops: To Sous-Vide or Not To Sous-Vide, That’s the Question”

Dutch cuisine11 Comments

Hot dog à la Stefan

StefanGourmet

Eating hot dogs is not something that really fits with my reputation. It is true that I do not generally eat hot dogs. In winter I do however like to make my own gourmet version and that goes like this: I bake my own wholewheat buns, I procure artisan prize-winning smoked pork sausage (rookworst) from the butcher I frequent, and I serve it with sauerkraut and home-made ketchup. Home-made mustard and home-made sauerkraut would also be nice, but those are bridges I haven’t crossed just yet. And who knows, perhaps I’ll even smoke my own pork sausage one day? In any case, my “hot dog” tastes a lot better than one from a street vendor. Continue reading “Hot dog à la Stefan”

1. Antipasti (appetizers)25 Comments

Foie Gras with Goat Cheese and Beetroot

StefanGourmet

After the wonderful dinner my new friends Teun and Auldo cooked for me, it was time to return the favor. I decided to serve to them a collection of my favorite classic Italian recipes and some of my own creations. After an aperitif of a Bernard Pertois champagne, the first appetizer I served was something I’d created a few years ago before I started blogging, inspired by a dish we had at Librije: foie gras with crottin de chavignol and beetroot. Continue reading “Foie Gras with Goat Cheese and Beetroot”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)13 Comments

Beetroot Risotto (Risotto alle Barbabietole)

StefanGourmet

I saw a nice bunch of newly harvested beetroots with greens, and decided to turn them into a risotto. I thought it would be nice to use everything: leaves, stalks, and of course the beetroots themselves. Turned out I was right, a this turned out to be a very tasty risotto. I roasted the beetroots and the stalks, and especially the stalks became very nice and crispy. Continue reading “Beetroot Risotto (Risotto alle Barbabietole)”

Basics36 Comments

Is a Pressure Cooker better for making Stock?

StefanGourmet

You may not believe this, but until recently I did not own a pressure cooker. I didn’t know much about pressure cookers and I never really saw the need for one. I knew a pressure cooker cooks at a higher temperature in a shorter time, but since I’m mostly interested in cooking at a lower temperature at a longer time (such as sous-vide), that doesn’t seem very appealing to me. After some of my gourmet friends told me that it really worked better for making stock, I decided to buy one. Of course the first thing to try it with was homemade stock. Is a pressure cooker really better for making stock? Time for another side-by-side experiment! Continue reading “Is a Pressure Cooker better for making Stock?”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)13 Comments

Chicken Breast with Tarragon Sous-Vide

StefanGourmet

Chicken and tarragon are a classic combination in French cuisine: Poulet à l’Estragon. In this recipe the chicken breast is seasoned with paprika and served with a sauce made from chicken stock, white wine, shallots, and tarragon. The tarragon sauce was nice, although I may have used a bit too much tarragon as it overpowered the chicken just a bit.

Continue reading “Chicken Breast with Tarragon Sous-Vide”

Contorni (side dishes)16 Comments

Leek Tarts (Sformatini di Porri)

StefanGourmet

After the success of the spinach tarts I tried a version with leeks and it turned out great! Leeks and shallots that are cooked slowly can obtain a wonderful sweet flavor and the texture of these tarts is very soft. The tarts are relatively easy to make and quite impressive. You could also serve them in ramekins as soufflés, as the tarts rise dramatically (and also fall dramatically). You could try to beat the egg whites separately and fold them in for even more of a ‘soufflé’ effect. Without further ado, here’s how to make these lovely vegetarian tarts, that could be served as a vegetarian dish by themselves or as a side to either fish or white meat.

Continue reading “Leek Tarts (Sformatini di Porri)”

Contorni (side dishes)25 Comments

Parsnip Sous-Vide Fondant

StefanGourmet

One of the ideas I got from my new ‘modernist’ friends is to prepare vegetable fondant sous-vide. I tried it with parsnips as a side for the lamb with our Easter dinner, and it turned out great. I had never heard of vegetable fondant, but it seems to be very popular in restaurants in the UK. Root vegetables or potatoes are browned in fat and subsequently cooked in stock. It is relatively simple to do, but quite tasty as both the stock and the browning will add some nice flavor to the vegetable. This technique can also be used for potatoes, celeriac, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. Continue reading “Parsnip Sous-Vide Fondant”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)11 Comments

Risotto with Chard (Risotto alle Bietole)

StefanGourmet

Risotto with Chard (snijbiet in Dutch) is a humble yet tasty risotto. I parcooked the chard in the stock that I subsequently used for the risotto to capture all of the flavor of the chard. For this risotto I used only the leaves of the chard. If you like, you could also use the stems if you parcook them longer. The two most important things for making a fine risotto are the stock and patience. The stock must be homemade, not from cubes. Patience is needed to stir it for 20 minutes or so, but all that work is rewarded with a very creamy and tasty risotto. Continue reading “Risotto with Chard (Risotto alle Bietole)”

4. Dolci (dessert)18 Comments

Torta Mimosa

StefanGourmet
Mimosa (source: Wikipedia)

This post is a bit overdue. On March 8, four weeks ago, Italian friends of mine came over for dinner. I had never heard of International Women’s Day (La Festa della Donna in Italy) before, but my Italian friends had enlightened me when we set that particular date for this cena. Mimosa has become the symbol of la Festa della Donna in Italy since the mimosa trees in Italy blossom in the first days of March, and so I decided to surprise my friends by baking a Torta Mimosa for dessert. As you can see, there is a clear resemblance between the cake and the mimosa blossoms. Continue reading “Torta Mimosa”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)11 Comments

Lamb with Lemon-Egg Sauce (Abbacchio Brodettato)

StefanGourmet

As I mentioned in my earlier posts this week, Easter is celebrated in Italy by eating egg and lamb. So it was a given that the main course for our Easter dinner would be lamb. To make it even more appropriate for Easter, the sauce of this lamb dish is made with an egg yolk. Abbacchio Brodettato is a lamb dish from Lazio, the region around Rome. Abbacchio is suckling lamb, but any young lamb will do to make this dish. This dish has a very original taste, as lamb is not often combined with prosciutto, lemon, and egg yolk. It works very well and the lamb is very tender. It is almost like eating white meat, and therefore it can be no surprise that a full-bodied oaked white wine is a better pairing for this than red wine. Continue reading “Lamb with Lemon-Egg Sauce (Abbacchio Brodettato)”

1. Antipasti (appetizers)6 Comments

Asparagus and Egg Sous-Vide

StefanGourmet

Easter is celebrated in Italy by eating eggs and lamb. As a starter for our Easter dinner, I decided to make a sous-vide version of an Italian antipasto called Asparagi alla Milanese. This is simply green asparagus with a fried egg, melted butter and grated parmigiano reggiano. For the sous-vide version I cooked the asparagus sous-vide at 85C/185F for 15 minutes and the eggs 45 minutes at 64.5C/148F. The resulting egg is like a poached egg, but with a very nice texture. The asparagus are tender but firm to the bite with a nice full flavor. If you don’t have sous-vide equipment, you could of course prepare this in the traditional way by poaching (or indeed frying) the eggs and steaming or boiling the asparagus. Continue reading “Asparagus and Egg Sous-Vide”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)54 Comments

Lasagne alla Genovese

StefanGourmet

When you think of lasagne, you probably think of the famous Lasagne alla Bolognese with bolognese ragù and bechamel sauce. There are however more types of lasagne, such as Lasagna alla Napoletana with ragù alla napoletana, meatballs, sausage, and ricotta, or this Lasagne alla Genovese with pesto. I had never made it before but I will definitely make it again as it was delicious and surprisingly light. Lasagne alla Genovese is made with a mixture of pesto alla genovese and bechamel sauce, to which vegetables can be added. In this case I added roasted zucchini, an idea I got from the Italian blog Il Marito Perfetto (the perfect husband). Continue reading “Lasagne alla Genovese”

4. Dolci (dessert)18 Comments

Colomba Muffins for Easter

StefanGourmet

In Italy, Colomba Pasquale is for Easter what Panettone is for Christmas. Colomba is a sweet bread in the shape of a cross with candied citrus and an almond glaze. It is actually not supposed to be a cross but a dove, since that is what “colomba” means. It takes a bit of good will to recognize the shape of a flying dove. The traditional way of making colomba takes about 24 hours and 5 different rising steps. This recipe requires ‘only’ three, and with a stand mixer it is not a lot of work and just takes time. Continue reading “Colomba Muffins for Easter”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)14 Comments

Lamb a Scottadito

StefanGourmet

Easter is the celebration of spring, and in Italy this means eating eggs and lamb. Even though it is snowing and Easter is colder than Christmas this year and therefore there is no suckling lamb available yet, I am following that tradition by preparing Abbacchio a Scottadito. This is a piatto tipico from Lazio, the region of Rome. Abbacchio means suckling lamb, and although the dish is still called abbacchio it is more usually prepared with regular lamb. The lamb should be as young as you can find; the lamb I used was 4 months old. Continue reading “Lamb a Scottadito”

Secondi di Pesce (fish dishes)14 Comments

Broiled Cod alla Romagnola (Grigliata di Pesce alla Romagnola)

StefanGourmet

On the Adriatic seacoast of Romagna, all kinds of seafood are marinated with parsley, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice, and then coated with breadcrumbs and grilled or broiled. The marinade gives the seafood a nice flavor, whereas the breadcrumbs help to keep the seafood tender and moist. This recipe is quite similar to ChgoJohn’s recipe for Bacala alla Griglia, which is not surprising since the Marche region where is family comes from is just south of Romagna. Continue reading “Broiled Cod alla Romagnola (Grigliata di Pesce alla Romagnola)”

Basics42 Comments

Homemade Pesto: Man versus Machine

StefanGourmet

Freshly made pesto is vastly superior to anything bought in a jar, which is why I never buy pesto and always make it myself from scratch. I’ve always used the ‘modern’ way of making pesto: in the food processor or blender. My Italian blogging buddy Tuttacronaca convinced me to try at least once to make it using the traditional method with mortar and pestle. And so I decided to do a side-by-side comparison. The word “pesto” has been derived from the word “pestle”. Making pesto in the food processor takes only a few minutes, whereas by hand with mortar and pestle it almost requires half an hour of hard work. So it’d better be worth it! Is it? Read on to find out! Continue reading “Homemade Pesto: Man versus Machine”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)23 Comments

Coq au Vin Sous-Vide

StefanGourmet

Coq au Vin was ‘invented’ to turn a tough old rooster into a feast. Nowadays it is hard to find such tough old roosters, and most Coq au Vin is made with chickens that have only lived to be about six weeks old. They do not really require to be simmered for a long time in red wine to become edible, and have a lot less flavor. Coq au Vin is still good anyway. If you are looking for a good Coq au Vin recipe for regular chicken, click here.

After I had discovered a type of free range chicken that is allowed to grow more slowly and thus develop more flavor, which reminded me of my grandmother’s chicken, I was curious how it would work when served as Coq au Vin. My parents were coming over for dinner and they had dropped some hints that they were curious about the “kip van tante Ali” I had found. And so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and prepare that type of chicken sous-vide, served as Coq au Vin. Continue reading “Coq au Vin Sous-Vide”

Bread26 Comments

Homemade Italian Bread

StefanGourmet

When I have guests over for dinner, chances are I will cook a 4-course Italian dinner for them (antipasto, primo, secondo, dolce). With such a dinner I always bake this bread. Freshly baked bread is a treat that will impress your guests. It is not a lot of work if you have a stand mixer. Allow about 4 hours from start to ready to slice, but most of that is inactive time. Bread is also great for fare la scarpetta, cleaning every last drop of sauce from your plate with bread. This bread has a great crust and neutral flavor that doesn’t overpower the food. This is the reason why I do not generally bake bread stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes, olives, or the like, because then the bread would play the lead rather than a supporting role. Continue reading “Homemade Italian Bread”

Cooking38 Comments

I didn’t know Shawarma could be that good

StefanGourmet

Shawarma (or shoarma as it is called in the Netherlands) is Middle-Eastern way of preparing meat with spices on a vertical spit, which is subsequently served in pita bread with salad and garlic sauce. It is a fast food staple around the world, and not something you’d expect to read about on a foodie blog such as this. Most places that sell shoarma in the Netherlands have their peak hours in the middle of the night on weekends, when people get hungry after having drunk a lot of beer. If you were the owner of a shawarma place and you were serving your fare mostly to customers who are too drunk to care, would you care about the quality of what you are serving?  I’ve had such a shawarma sandwich (broodje shoarma) on a few occasions, but never cared much for the soggy, greasy, overspiced and overgarlicked concoction with a taste that lingered way too long. Not surprisingly however, it turns out that if you make a shawarma sandwich from scratch, it is actually outstandingly delicious! And when I say from scratch, I really mean from scratch, including baking your own pita bread. Continue reading “I didn’t know Shawarma could be that good”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)16 Comments

Veal Rib Eye with Mushrooms

StefanGourmet

According to my butcher, you will live to be 100 if you eat veal on a regular basis. This is not a scientifically proven statement (he bases it on a few people he knows who used to eat veal on a regular basis and have lived to be 100) and since he’s selling the veal his objectivity is questionable. I do like to eat veal though, and it is great with mushrooms.

Fresh porcini mushrooms are very difficult to obtain around here, as they are in many other places around the world. A trick I’ve developed is to soak dried porcini mushrooms in hot water, sauté the reconstituted porcini mushrooms with fresh cultivated mushrooms, and then simmer all of the mushrooms in the porcini soaking liquid to boost the flavor of all the mushrooms. The mushrooms are sautéed with parsley and garlic, which is called funghi trifolati in Italy. Together with the deep fried fennel I posted about yesterday and a good glass of white wine, this makes a great meal for Easter. Continue reading “Veal Rib Eye with Mushrooms”

Contorni (side dishes)16 Comments

Deep Fried Fennel (Finocchi Dorati)

StefanGourmet

Fennel is a versatile vegetable that can be prepared in many ways: caramelized, in risotto, braised, as a salad, or deep fried as in this recipe. It has a nice flavor that reminds us of aniseed. The Italian way of deep frying fennel is to parboil it and then deep fry it breaded with breadcrumbs and parmigiano. Finocchi dorati are tender on the inside, crispy on the outside, and the lovely fennel flavor is accentuated. This is great as a side dish to meat such as this bone-in veal rib eye (about which I will post tomorrow). I parboiled the fennel sous-vide, but if you don’t have sous-vide equipment you can simply steam or parboil in water. The advantage of sous-vide is that no flavor is lost and that the fennel will be tender but firm to the bite. Continue reading “Deep Fried Fennel (Finocchi Dorati)”

4. Dolci (dessert)14 Comments

Baby Lady’s Easy Lemon Chess Pie

StefanGourmet

One of my favorite pies is a Key Lime Pie. It takes a bit of work as you have to make a pastry crust that has to be baked ‘blindly’ before baking it with the filling, but it is worth it. A pie that is almost as good is this very easy Lemon Chess Pie, from RemCooks.com. The texture is like velvet and it has a very nice sweet lemony flavor. I had never heard of a Lemon Chess Pie before. The difference with my Key Lime Pie is that it does not have a separate crust. The crust and the filling are one. This also makes it a very easy pie to make: just blend all the ingredients together, pour them into a buttered pie dish, and bake. It is that easy. Thanks to Baby Lady for this great recipe! When I first saw this recipe, I was surprised at how easy it looked. I tried it, and it turned out great! Of course it is very easy to substitute lemon with lime and turn this into a faux Key Lime Pie as well. Continue reading “Baby Lady’s Easy Lemon Chess Pie”

1. Antipasti (appetizers)22 Comments

Smoked Salmon and Sous-Vide Egg Yolk Crostini

StefanGourmet

When I started my blog, it was an easy decision that it would be in English. Almost all of my fellow Dutchmen can read English well, and it would greatly enhance the number of possible readers worldwide. As a side effect I now have blogging buddies from Dublin, Chicago, Dallas–Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Northern California, Rome, London, Adelaide, Colorado, Northern Canada, Seattle, Saint Emilion, etc. but none from my own country. I do have Dutch readers (about 8%, in third place after the USA and the UK) and a lot of them are friends that I already know in real life.

No matter how much fun it is to exchange our recipes, photos, successes, failures and ideas with my blogging buddies, an important aspect is missing from such online friendships: cooking and eating together! This is impractical because of the distances involved, but luckily it has happened and if it’s up to me it will undoubtedly happen again.

Why am I telling you all this and what does it have to do with smoked salmon and sous-vide egg yolk crostini? I’m getting to that. Continue reading “Smoked Salmon and Sous-Vide Egg Yolk Crostini”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto), Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)26 Comments

Coda alla Vaccinara (Oxtail Stewed in Tomato Sauce)

StefanGourmet

All regions of Italy have their own traditional dishes, referred to as piatti tipici. I like to cook my way through Italy by trying piatti tipici  from different regions. Coda alla Vaccinara is a typical dish from the cucina povera (poor man’s kitchen) of Rome (Lazio). Oxtail is part of what is called the quinto quarto (the fifth quarter), the less desirable parts of an animal that remain when all the nice parts have been taken. As often with traditional Italian dishes, there are many different versions. I made an elaborate version with  raisins, pine nuts, and cocoa powder in the sauce. The sauce can be served over penne rigate or rigatoni, which is called Rigatoni al Sugo di Coda. Continue reading “Coda alla Vaccinara (Oxtail Stewed in Tomato Sauce)”

1. Antipasti (appetizers), Secondi di Pesce (fish dishes)22 Comments

Sous-vide Salmon-Pesto Roulade with Haricots Verts

StefanGourmet

The inspiration for this dish was provided by Richard McGary’s Salmon Roulade with Cilantro Citrus Pesto on Mango Corn Salsa, but it is quite different. A salmon fillet is butterflied, filled with a basil-lemon pesto, rolled up into a roulade, cooked sous-vide, and cut into slices that are served on haricots verts. Salmon cooked sous-vide to 43C/109F is amazingly velvety, which contrasts nicely with the crispy haricots verts. The round buttery flavor of the salmon is complemented by the fresh taste of the basil-lemon pesto. Continue reading “Sous-vide Salmon-Pesto Roulade with Haricots Verts”

Asian cuisine35 Comments

Kung Pao Chicken

StefanGourmet

Kung Pao Chicken is a dish I’ve discovered only recently because it is not on menus of Chinese restaurants or take-out places in the Netherlands. ‘Chinese’ restaurants in this country are in fact Chinese-Indonesian, the chefs are mostly trained in the Netherlands at the same school, and the menus of those restaurants are mostly all the same and have been like that for thirty years. I’ve never been to China and am certainly not a connaisseur of Chinese food, but I do know that this is healthy, very tasty, and quite fast and easy to make. Kung Pao Chicken is a stir-fry dish that originated in Szechuan cuisine, containing chicken, peanuts (or cashews), vegetables, (dried) chile peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns. The latter are not actual peppercorns but the husk around the seeds of a type of prickley ash. Continue reading “Kung Pao Chicken”