Last weekend Conor of ConorBofin.com and ‘the Wife’ visited for a great weekend of Food Blogging Without Boundaries. As you will notice, the pictures in this post and the next three are vastly superior to my usual point-and-click-and-hurry-to-get-back-to-the-cooking photographs. That’s … Continue reading Lobster Sous-Vide with Couscous
Baking your own bread is great. It tastes better, only has natural ingredients, and can be ready when you want it. It also means you can have fresh bread if there is no artisanal bakery near you. I haven’t bought … Continue reading Homemade Multigrain Bread
Venison, bell pepper and paprika are a good combination that make for a very flavorful stew. If you can’t find venison, lamb is a good substitute. I served it with roasted parsnips and mashed potatoes. The recipe is very similar to the venison and bell pepper ragù I posted a few days ago. In fact, only the end of the preparation is different. Ingredients For 6 servings 900 grams (2 lbs) venison stewing meat, in cubes about 250 ml (1 cup) warm water or venison stock 3 red bell peppers 1 Tbsp hot paprika (or 2 tsp sweet paprika and 1 tsp … Continue reading Venison and Bell Pepper Stew
Roasting is one of my favorite ways to prepare vegetables because it concentrates the flavor and makes the outside nice and crispy. Getting the texture of roasted parsnips right can be tricky, so I use them most often to make puree. As PutneyFarm pointed out, roasted parsnips with excellent texture can be made by parcooking them first. Steaming is better than (par)boiling, because boiling will dilute the flavor rather than concentrating it. This is less of an issue with steaming, but I thought of a different solution if you have enough time. Since roasted parsnips are great as a side to a … Continue reading Roasted Parsnips
The pasta course of a recent dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant in Amsterdam, Bussia, was spaghettini (angel hair spaghetti) with a spicy ragù of venison and crunchy red bell pepper. I really liked the combination of flavors, and it inspired me to create this pasta dish as well as a venison stew about which I will post soon. It is not a classic Italian dish (at least not that I have ever heard of), but it is in Italian style. The use of paprika gives it a touch of Hungary as well. I started the ragù with cubed meat … Continue reading Spaghettini with Venison and Bell Pepper Ragù (Spaghettini al Cervo e Peperoni)
On the 1st anniversary of StefanGourmet.com I wrote “ I would love for all of my blogging friends to meet and go on a big cooking spree together, but alas that’s not going to happen with the distances involved.” Conor from ConorBofin.com then responded “Your cook-up idea appeals.” And now, less than three months later, he is here with ‘the wife’ visiting for a weekend of cooking, eating, and a great time. I welcomed them with a dinner that included ravioli with a filling inspired by ChgoJohn’s recipe and PutneyFarm’s brownies for dessert. To include more of our blogging friends in this, we are making Richard McGary’s Butter-Poached Lobster Tails tonight. I couldn’t have … Continue reading Food Blogging Without Boundaries
Almost a year ago I wrote about my quest to recreate the braised chicken like my grandmother used to make. Most people have nostalgic memories of a favorite food made by their mother or grandmother. Just the smell of it will instantly propel you back to your childhood. In many cases the memory has been romanticized by our brains and it may therefore seem impossible to recreate it. For me, this was the braised chicken my grandmother made. Her husband, my grandfather, was the only one who had left the family farm, where his brothers and sister kept livestock including … Continue reading My Grandmother’s Chicken Sous-Vide
We eat pasta and rice much more often than potatoes, but when we do eat potatoes we most often eat them roasted. This preparation brings out the taste of the potatoes themselves and gives them a nice crispy crust without using a lot of oil. There are many variables you can change when making roasted potatoes: oven temperature, salting before or after, waxy or floury potatoes, etc. I decided to do a series of experiments to find the optimal recipe. This first installment is about salt: is it better to salt the potatoes before or after roasting? Instinctively I have … Continue reading Roasted Potato Experiment #1: Salting Before or After?
I made this lasagna for a dear friend whom we were visiting and who couldn’t cook herself because she was recovering from a slipped disc operation. Lasagna is a great dish for such an occasion, because it can be prepared in advance and can simply be heated up in the oven. This will even improve the flavor. My original plan was to make Lasagne alla Bolognese, but when ChgoJohn wrote that he used cream cheese instead of ricotta in his Lasagne dei Bartolini I was intrigued because I had never used either of those in lasagna before. I then learned … Continue reading Lasagne alla Napoletana (Lasagne di Carnevale)
Certosino is a traditional fruitcake from Bologna that I made around Christmas time. It is not hard to make and has a very nice flavor. It tasted great but I wasn’t completely happy with how it looked: I used a rectangular pan because I didn’t have a round pan of the proper size, and I wasn’t sure that the baking soda had done its job properly. I decided to make it again, using baking powder rather than baking soda (even though Italian recipes all call for bicarbonato, which is baking soda) and using a newly bought 20 cm (8″) round springform … Continue reading Certosino Revisited
One of my favorite types of sushi is ebi nigiri. The shrimp has a very nice slightly sweet flavor that goes very well with the rice and it also looks pretty. Although most people think of raw fish when they think of sushi, the shrimp is actually parcooked for this preparation. I’ve already explained how to make sushi rice and shape nigiri sushi in a previous post. In this post I will only deal with how to prepare the shrimp. For this preparation it is important to buy raw shrimp with the shells on. It is not important to have … Continue reading Homemade Ebi Nigiri Sushi (Shrimp Sushi)
It is Carnival and that is the festive season before Lent, a period of six weeks in which it was not allowed to eat meat. And that meant of course that during Carnival one would eat as much meat as possible. The word carnival comes from Latin “carnem levare”, which means “eliminate meat”. In the south of Italy and especially around Naples, the end of Carnival on Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday or martedì grasso in Italian, is celebrated by eating Lasagne di Carnevale or Lasagne alla Napoletana. This lasagna is different from the better-known Lasagne alla Bolognese, which is made from Ragù … Continue reading Pork & Beef Ragù Napoletano
Chef Moshik used to be the chef of restaurant ‘t Brouwerskolkje in Overveen, half an hour west of Amsterdam. He has recently moved to Amsterdam under a new name: &Samhoud Places and immediately received two stars from Michelin (the same as at Brouwerskolkje). We were curious and so went to pay a visit. We had the 7-course “Inspiration” degustation menu (EUR 159.50) with wine menu (EUR 65) and black truffle supplement (EUR 20). Photos made with my iPhone. The amuse bouche are travel themed: Hong Kong, Venice, Chicago, and Moscow. The first is dim sum of scampi: both the filling and … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: &Samhoud Places**
Quesadillas make me think of summer, and even though it is in the middle of winter with snow and everything, I decided to make chicken quesadillas just to bring a bit of summer to our table. I based this on a post by Cher aka The Pasta Princess. Thanks for inspiring me to make this! Quesadillas are quite easy to make and great if you like cheese. Yes, the “quesa” in the name refers to the Spanish for cheese (queso). We both love cheese, so it is strange that I had not made these before. I definitely will be making … Continue reading Chicken Quesadillas
I’m really happy with my new stand mixer. One of the things it does really well is making pasta dough. Of course you can also do this by hand, but especially when you’d like to make pasta dough from eggs and 100% semola di grano duro rimanicato (rather than 50% or 100% flour of type “00”) it is much more pleasant to use the stand mixer instead. Such dough can be very tough and difficult to knead, but the stand mixer does the trick as easily as with 00 flour. A stand mixer is also great if you’re lazy! Sometimes … Continue reading How to make Fresh Pasta Dough using a Stand Mixer
Salsa Verde is a green sauce that is great with boiled meats, like the chicken that’s left over when you make brodo (broth) for tortellini. It is also good with steamed or baked fish. Salsa verde turns bland fish or chicken into something really nice. With a blender it is very easy to make. The main ingredients are parsley, capers, garlic, anchovies, vinegar, and olive oil. There are many recipes for salsa verde around, some also include pickles, fresh breadcrumbs, or hard-boiled egg yolks. I like to include a bell pepper. In the photo you can see that the Salsa Verde I … Continue reading Italian Green Sauce (Salsa Verde)
Many recipes on the internet claim to be “the best”. After trying PutneyFarm’s recipe for the “Best Brownies Ever”, I have to say that in this case I agree. The recipe is the result of Carolyn’s experiments to pack as much chocolate into brownies as possible, and although I haven’t challenged the recipe by trying to pack more chocolate into them, these brownies certainly taste that way. They are no more difficult to make than other brownie recipes, but they are a hell of a lot more delicious! I also like that these brownies fool you a little. Did you … Continue reading Chocolate-packed Brownies
When you make Peking Duck, you only eat the crispy skin and just a bit of the meat right underneath. This means that you will have a lot of leftovers: the carcass as well as most of the meat. It is a shame to throw all of this away, especially since you can use this to make a classic Tuscan pasta dish: Pappardelle all’Anatra. The carcass is used to make a stock, and both meat and stock are used in the pasta sauce. The cooking time is quite long, but there is hardly any active time. Here’s how to do it. Ingredients … Continue reading What to do with leftover Peking Duck: Pappardelle all’Anatra
I haven’t been able to write a new post for almost a week because I was in bed with a pretty bad case of the flu 😦 This has been my longest time without a post since I started blogging. Making your own Peking Duck turned out to be quite simple, and so is making your own pancakes to eat it with! I found this recipe on Christine’s Recipes. Making these pancakes from scratch is easy. A good tip in the recipe is to roll out two pancakes on top of each other, as this makes it easier to make them very thin. … Continue reading Homemade Pancakes for Peking Duck
I love Peking Duck, but I always thought it was very difficult to make at home. I could hardly believe it when I saw the very simple recipe described by Stéphane on his blog My French Heaven. He just boils the whole duck with some honey and soy sauce, allows it to dry in the refrigerator and then roasts it for 1.5 hours at 250C/480F. I tried this and the result was quite good! Thanks Stéphane! Peking Duck is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. You eat pieces of crispy skin with some cucumber and scallions with a sauce, rolled … Continue reading Simple Peking Duck
This simple but tasty pasta dish is great for a weekday meal, especially since all the ingredients can be purchased quite a long time in advance. Thanks to CampariGirl to remind me to make this again. The only important thing to remember here is to use good ham, preferably the kind that only has pork and salt as its ingredients. A good ham really makes this shine. Ingredients For 2 servings 150-200 grams (.33 – .44 lb) penne pasta 100-150 grams (5 oz) ham, in cubes 150 grams (1 cup) frozen peas 1 onion, thinly sliced 1 Tbsp butter 1 … Continue reading Pasta with Ham, Peas, and Cream (Penne con Prosciutto Cotto, Piselli e Panna)
The final of five batches of a dozen muffins baked to celebrate my birthday at work: apple cinnamon muffins. I used a recipe from Putney Farm, thanks guys! My original plan was to do only 4 batches, but I wondered if that would be enough and since I still had two apples lying around that were about to become wrinkly, I decided to make these as well. I’m glad that I did: I liked them a lot and so did my coworkers! The recipe is not very sweet, so this is also an excellent muffin to make for breakfast. Like Putney … Continue reading Apple Cinnamon Muffins
I haven’t posted recipes for vegetable sides in a while, so it is about time for one. This recipe for a side of stuffed zucchini was suggested to me by Richard McGary of REMCooks.com. Thanks Richard! It looks nice, is tasty, and goes well as a side for most meat dishes. Ingredients For 4 servings 2 zucchini 50 grams (2 oz) pancetta, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 shallot, minced 1 tsp chopped fresh sage 1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme 2 Tbsp fresh breadcrumbs salt and freshly ground black pepper extra virgin olive oil Preparation Cut the ends off the … Continue reading Stuffed Zucchini
I wasn’t sure if I would post about how to rescue wilted basil, but I’m glad that I did because that post received the highest number of views and likes on the first day of all of my posts so far! Today it’s back to muffins, with the fourth batch of the five that I baked to celebrate my birthday at the office. The recipe I used from Joy of Baking is a keeper because it was a big hit at the office, especially with my female coworkers. I made a few minor changes: I used 70% dark chocolate chips and … Continue reading Chocolate Muffins
No recipe today but just a simple trick. I tried it on a hunch and was surprised how well it worked! Basil is notoriously difficult to keep because the leaves are not very robust and can’t withstand refrigerator temperatures — they turn black when kept below 12C/55F or so. But outside of the fridge basil wilts easily, as shown in the picture above. If it is only just a bit limp but not completely dry or black, it can be rescued with a very simple trick! Just submerge the wilted basil in cold (not too cold) clean water and wait. … Continue reading How to Rescue Wilted Basil (or Parsley)
This vegetarian pasta dish is a fancy version of the more rustic Sicilian Pasta alla Norma, and perfectly suited for a dinner party. Although the flavors are summery, the ingredients are available year-round so it is ideal to get a bit of summer in your house while it is snowing outside. The flavor of the eggplant is enhanced in a well-known Italian way called “trifolato”: it is sautéed with parsley and garlic. Rather than sautéing the aubergine raw which would make it very oily, I bake the eggplant first so only a minimum amount of oil is needed. The ravioli are served with … Continue reading Ravioli with Eggplant and Ricotta (Ravioli di Melanzane e Ricotta)
The next installment in my series of muffins is blueberry. They turned out great, even though “to die for” (as they are called in the recipe I used) may be slightly exaggerated. Perhaps that’s because I left out the streusel. I also replaced the milk with buttermilk as per the comments. The method is very simple: mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients, combine, fold in blueberries, and bake. The recipe asks for fresh blueberries — I used frozen and that turned out fine. I think you’d better use good frozen blueberries rather than sour fresh blueberries if no good blueberries … Continue reading Blueberry Muffins
Even though I’ve been cooking out of Biba Caggiano’s “Modern Italian Cooking” for 15 years now, I still haven’t tried all of her recipes. One of them was “Lamb Stew with Small Onions and Carrots”. I thought it would be perfect for the cold winter weather we’ve been having, and I was right. The stew is very hearty and flavorful and the vegetables have more color and flavor because they are cooked separately and are only added at the end. It paired very well with polenta. I’m not usually a big fan of polenta, but I liked it when my … Continue reading Lamb Stew with Polenta
The second dozen of muffins I baked to celebrate my birthday at work was banana nut. I found this recipe on JoyofBaking.com and it turned out great. The only thing I’ll change next time is to increase the amount of walnuts and put some on top for more crunch. The amounts in grams mentioned in the recipe did not match the amount in cups. Since it is an American recipe I used the amounts as prescribed in cups and provide the correct conversion into grams below (as per my digital scales). The basic recipe for muffins is very easy. Mix … Continue reading Banana Nut Muffins
I don’t cook a lot with turnips and I was wondering what I’d do with the turnips that I had bought for variation’s sake. I decided to turn them into a risotto, and it turned out wonderful. This is not a traditional Italian dish that I know of, but just a demonstration that you can make a great tasting risotto from just about anything using the basic recipe for risotto, fresh ingredients and a good homemade stock. We really love risotto and I usually prepare some type of risotto at least once a week. Since making risotto the traditional way requires … Continue reading Turnip Risotto (Risotto alle Rape)
