Sometimes I get the inspiration for a new dish from something I’ve enjoyed in a restaurant. Very seldomly I try to copy a dish exactly, but I do use the combinations of ingredients or preparations. At two Michelin star restaurant … Continue reading Grouper Sous Vide with Vanilla and Lemon Zest
I often get inspiration for dishes from wine pairings. I like rack of lamb with a red Burgundy, and aged red Burgundy can have a hint of cauliflower. And so I created this dish of rack of lamb with slow-roasted … Continue reading Rack of Lamb Sous Vide with Slow-Roasted Cauliflower
Cappon Magro is a delicious and special dish from Liguria with fish and vegetables. It is on the menu in Liguria for special occasions such as the holidays. The name means “lean capon”, which indicates that it was an alternative … Continue reading Cappon Magro Sous Vide (Stack of Fish and Vegetables with Green Sauce from Liguria)
This is what we’ve just had for dinner, or as the primo piatto to be more precise (with a flat iron steak as secondo piatto): orecchiette pasta with slow-roasted cauliflower, capers, anchovies, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and … Continue reading Pasta with Slow-Roasted Cauliflower (Orecchiette al Cavolfiore)
This appetizer is decadent and delicious, yet easy to prepare. It was inspired by an amuse bouche we had at Spectrum. There it was served as a small portion inside a whelk shell (a whelk is a sea snail). The amount … Continue reading Caviar with Cauliflower and Lime Mousse
My favorite way of preparing cauliflower is slow roasting it. This gives the cauliflower great depth of flavor that is so much more tasty than steamed or boiled cauliflower. Cauliflower can be roasted quickly in half an hour at 225C/440F. … Continue reading Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower (Pasta e Cavolfiore)
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 … Continue reading Slow-Roasted Cauliflower Ravioli
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 … Continue reading Cauliflower Coconut Soup with Ginger and Turmeric
A pizza crust made from cauliflower is often presented as a low-carb substitute for real pizza. I put the word ‘pizza’ between quotes in the title of this post, because I do not think it is a substitute for real … Continue reading Cauliflower ‘Pizza’ with Smoked Mozzarella
No fancy stuff today, but simple honest Italian home cooking. Frittata is the Italian solution to leftovers. Just add some eggs and turn it into a wonderful meal. Although I have been blogging about Italian food for over four years, I’ve … Continue reading Roasted Cauliflower Frittata
Skate is a fish that is not very well known. Both its flavor and its texture are different than other fish. When prepared correctly, it is delicious. When overcooked, it is dry and stringy. The best way to prevent this … Continue reading Skate and Cauliflower
Italian cooking is about the art of “less is more”. When I thought of this pasta dish, I thought the flavors of roasted cauliflower, boiled ham, and cumin would work well together. And they did! And I resisted the urge … Continue reading Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, Ham, and Cumin
Last Saturday I hosted another wine dinner: 6 courses with 2 wines accompanying each dish for a group of 15 friends. If you’d like to see some photos of the event and read about what I served, visit my page … Continue reading Pasta with Romanesco and Sausage (Pasta con broccolo romano e salsiccia)
We love risotto and so I think of new risotto recipes on a regular basis. The basis of almost each risotto is risotto rice, onion, stock, white wine, butter, and parmigiano. The type of stock and other ingredients added determine the … Continue reading Cauliflower Risotto (Risotto al Cavolfiore)
When I made my first batch of ravioli with a cauliflower stuffing some weeks ago, I contemplated whether I would make it with red wine or with white wine and ended up making a delicious red wine version with great depth … Continue reading Cauliflower and Lemon Ravioli
I had picked up a cauliflower because it was on sale, without knowing what I was going to do with it. Then when it was time to cook I wanted to try something new, and as ravioli is one of … Continue reading Cauliflower Ravioli (Ravioli al Cavolfiore)
A traditional side dish of Sicily is Bastaddi affucati, a Sicilian type of purple cauliflower braised with wine. I got the inspiration to try this dish from Viaggiando con Bea. Since bastaddu (in Sicilian, bastardo in Italian) is difficult to find … Continue reading Braised Cauliflower (Cavolfiore Affogato)
Viaggiando con Bea is one of the Italian blogs that I follow to get inspiration and feedback on my Italian recipes directly from the source. A while ago she published a recipe for a Sicilian side dish with cauliflower called … Continue reading Sicilian Pasta and Cauliflower Gratin (Gratin di Mezze Maniche al Cavolfiore)
Rose fish is called “Roodbaars” in Dutch, which literally translates to “Red (sea) bass”. I like all seafood so when I checked out the market and the rose fish looked the freshest, that is what I got. From the name and appearance I assumed wrongly it resembled sea bass or snapper, but instead the texture and flavor turned out to be more like cod. I prepared it like I prepare sea bass, by cooking it sous-vide and then crisping up the skin. It turned out okay, but not as nice as actual sea bass and just slightly dry and flaky. Next time I’ll prepare it more like cod, cooked sous-vide at a slightly lower temperature (45ºC/113ºF instead of 48ºC/118ºF). White fish pairs nicely with roasted cauliflower, and so I served the fish with lemon-roasted cauliflower that turned out nicely. Continue reading “Rose Fish Sous-Vide with Lemon-Roasted Cauliflower”
Whoa! The more experience I have with cooking, the more I dare to experiment and try new things without using recipes. In this case I made up a recipe from scratch, and I am truly amazed how delicious it turned out to be. From Paul’s That Other Cooking Blog I got the inspiration to deep fry pork belly in cubes rather than as a roulade. And from blogging about Dutch nasi with atjar I got to think about Indonesian cooking. Now this recipe is not Indonesian and not authentic, but it is certainly inspired by Indonesian cooking and uses Indonesian ingredients. Don’t worry though if you can’t get Indonesian ingredients, as I’m sure that it will be just as delicious with substitute ingredients that I will provide.
This dish is bursting with flavor. It starts with pork belly cubes cooked sous-vide for 36 hours at 60C/140F with 5-spice. (You can also prepare this without a sous-vide cooker, though.) (I have since then discovered that pork belly is even better when cooked sous-vide for 36-48 hours at 57C/135F instead.) The pork is then deep fried briefly to crisp it up. The juices from the pork belly are used to create a darkly flavored sweet & sour sauce that is bursting with flavor from sambal oelek, fresh ginger, and caramelized onions. This sauce pairs well with the juicy tender pork belly. As a contrast to the deep dark flavors of the sauce, I prepared atjar-inspired spicy sweet & sour cauliflower that is equally bursting with flavor, but in a different fresher way. Served with some rice, this was one great meal! I will definitely make this again, and I won’t change a thing. Continue reading “Spicy Sweet & Sour Pork Belly and Cauliflower”
A few weeks ago I dined at my favorite Italian restaurant in Amsterdam: Bussia. The risotto I was served there was a cauliflower risotto and it was the inspiration for the risotto I created. This risotto is very creamy with most of the cauliflower used to make a cauliflower puree and the remainder roasted in the oven for some additional flavor and crunch. As a finishing touch I added some roasted almonds. I was happy with the result and will definitely make this again. If made with vegetable stock, this is an outstanding vegetarian dish. Continue reading “Cauliflower Risotto (Risotto al Cavolfiore)”
The dish with sole and hazelnut emulsion with romanesco we recently had at a fancy restaurant in Amsterdam was not such a big success because the sole was overpowered by the hazelnut emulsion, but it did inspire me to make this pasta dish because it made me realize that hazelnut and romanesco work very well together. Romanesco is an Italian green variety of cauliflower. If you can’t find it, you could substitute with regular cauliflower. A hazelnut emulsion is basically a warm mayonnaise made with hazelnut oil. I was happy with the result, as also in this pasta dish the combination worked very well and it was a nice variety from other pasta dishes that I make. Because of the nuts it is not really needed to eat a secondo of meat afterwards. And it only takes about 20 minutes to make. Continue reading “Pasta with Romanesco and Hazelnut”
This is a very simple but amazingly delicious recipe that I discovered mostly by accident. If you make beef stock from scratch and allow it to cool, a layer of solid fat will form on the top. I always used to discard this fat, but not anymore! There is a lot of flavor in it, and together with the cauliflower, ground cumin and pecorino sardo the flavor is out of this world. So next time you make beef stock, keep the fat and make this dish. I promise you won’t regret it! This is a week night dish that is … Continue reading Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Fat from Beef Stock
Summer still seems far away here in the Netherlands, so I felt like making this hearty pasta dish. It’s a simple dish with an original flavor, and very filling. This is not an original Italian dish; the combination of cauliflower and almonds is my own invention. Ingredients For 2 servings 150-200 grams (1/3-1/2 pound) penne pasta 300 grams (2/3 pounds) cauliflower florets 50 grams (2 oz) blanched almonds 1 garlic clove, minced 1/2 cup home-made chicken stock (or vegetable stock) 1 cup whipping cream salt and freshly ground white pepper 6 fresh basil leaves, finely shredded 1/4 cup freshly grated … Continue reading Penne with Cauliflower and Almonds (Penne Cavolfiori e Mandorle)
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