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)
Ceviche was often on the menu in restaurants during my trip to Yucatán, Mexico. Ceviche is raw seafood that is ‘cooked’ by marinating it in citrus juice. What surprised me most when I ordered it in Yucatán, was that it … Continue reading Black Ceviche
Bistro de la Mer on Utrechtestraat 57 in Amsterdam is the sister restaurant of De Juwelier, just a few doors down on Utrechtsestraat at number 51. It is also owned by Richard van Oostenbrugge, chef of Restaurant 212 (just around … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Bistro de la Mer*
The combination of mussels and potatoes is a classic one. For instance in Belgium as moules et frites (mussels with fries). In the Bistrot in Maddalena, Sardegna, Italy, we enjoyed a potato velouté with mussels. My version was inspired by … Continue reading Potato Velouté With Mussels (Vellutata di Patate con Cozze)
If you cook octopus sous vide, you will get tender flavorful octopus, as well as a lot of flavorful liquid in the bag (more than a third of the original weight of the octopus, see this post). Het is a … Continue reading Octopus Risotto (Risotto al Polpo)
When I make ravioli, usually I put most of the ingredients in the filling and serve them with a simple sauce. But when I had ravioli stuffed with ricotta and seafood ragù at Pepe Nero, I realized that the other … Continue reading Ravioli di Ricotta al Ragù ai Frutti di Mare
We love clams and we love Thai food, so I knew right away this would be a winner. I mostly followed Hot Thai Kitchen’s recipe, but substituted chicken stock with Thai fish stock. These Thai clams are wonderfully fragrant and … Continue reading Thai Coconut Lemongrass Clams (hoi lai tom ka)
The advantage of preparing a stock sous vide is that you are extracting the flavors in a sealed bag, so the aromas can’t go anywhere but into the stock. If you make a stock on the stove, all the aromas … Continue reading Lobster Stock Sous Vide
Octopus can be tough and tasteless, but when cooked sous-vide more flavor is retained and it will be tender with the right combination of time and temperature. So far I have always used 4 to 5 hours at 77C/170F or … Continue reading Octopus Sous-Vide Time and Temperature
Quahogs are a type of large clams. In New England and especially Rhode Island they are prepared stuffed and then called “stuffies”. Since quahogs are not available in the Netherlands, I used a fairly large type of clams called “sea … Continue reading Stuffies (Rhode Island Stuffed Clams)
Still more recipes to go from the memories of our trip to Southern Italy last year. We had dinner at Già sotto l’arco* in Puglia and the dish I remember the best was squid ink tortelli filled with tuna and … Continue reading Tuna Ravioli (Ravioli al Tonno)
Six years ago I did some testing and concluded that there was no added benefit of cooking scallops sous-vide before pan searing them. However, scallops were on sale by the kilo (2.2 lbs) jar at the market, and because of … Continue reading Sea Scallops Sous-Vide
Smoked salmon bonbons are a popular appetizer in the Netherlands, but I had never made them. It was the perfect way to serve some homemade cold smoked salmon as a good looking appetizer. The smoked salmon is stuffed with a … Continue reading Smoked Salmon and Shrimp Bonbon
There are already two other recipes for lobster ravioli on this blog (here and here), but I like them so much that I couldn’t resist posting yet another variation. This is now my favorite version, as the lobster bisque that … Continue reading Lobster Ravioli (Ravioli all’Astice)
Moscardini are baby octopus, and it is not often that I can get them fresh in Amsterdam. And so when I saw them, I grabbed them at the market (this was before we left to Italy, but I am typing … Continue reading Pasta Shells with Baby Octopus (Conchiglioni ai moscardini)
To my surprise I had not yet blogged my recipe for risotto ai frutti di mare. That needed to be rectified as soon as possible, and it is certainly no punishment to have to eat this. There are two important … Continue reading Risotto ai Frutti di Mare (Seafood Risotto)
Four years ago I thought I had perfected lobster ravioli, but meanwhile I have developed an alternate version that is at least as good (and is an even better pairing with high quality oaked Chardonnay). This version has more texture … Continue reading Lobster Ravioli with Bisque Sauce (Ravioli all’Astice)
BBQ’ed octopus is a popular street food at Taiwanese night markets. The photo above was taken at a night market in Taipei, but we saw it everywhere. Large octopus legs are put on a skewer and cooked slowly above a … Continue reading Taiwanese Night Market BBQ Octopus
We really loved the street food in Taiwan. On the island of Cijin that is part of the harbor city of Kaohsiung, we had very tasty oyster cakes. You could also call them fritters, because the oysters are deep fried … Continue reading Taiwanese Oyster Cakes
This is what we had for dinner tonight and a perfect example of cooking with what you have on hand. In this case I had some leftover scallops and from the fresh vegetables that I had only the bell peppers … Continue reading Tagliatelle with Scallops and Roasted Bell Pepper Sauce (Tagliatelle Capesante e Peperoni)
These oysters are a famous dish from Chinese restaurant Nam Kee in Amsterdam, because a book and movie have been named after them (and because they are so good). The oysters are steamed with a Chinese black bean sauce. You … Continue reading Steamed Oysters with Black Bean Sauce (Oesters van Nam Kee)
When choosing a restaurant in Taiwan, do not let the (lack of) decor fool you, as it does not say anything about the quality of the food. Besides, most restaurants look like this so you would probably starve if you … Continue reading Taiwanese Stir Fried Shrimp With Black Beans
Fregola or fregula is one of the typical pasta shapes from Sardinia (the other one is malloreddus). It is like very thick spaghetti made from durum wheat, cut into short pieces and then toasted. It is a bit like large … Continue reading Fregola Sarda con le Cozze (Fregola with Mussels)
Saté is Indonesian for a grilled skewer of meat or seafood. Popular versions are chicken and goat. Four years ago, Putneyfarm posted a recipe for a Singapore/American version of shrimp satay (saté udang) that I put on my list of … Continue reading Shrimp Satay (Saté Udang)
Another delicious seafood antipasto at La Perla in Calasetta was scallops gratin with almonds. The nice thing about Italian cooking is that once you know the ingredients (vocabulary) and cooking techniques (grammar), you can very easily reconstruct dishes (sentences) without … Continue reading Scallops Gratin with Almonds (Capesante gratinate con le mandorle)
Can you guess what this is? No, it is not smoked chicken breast. Hint: we’ve just returned from a wonderful vacation on the Italian island of Sardinia. It is bottarga di muggine, or the salted and dried roe pouch of … Continue reading Spaghetti con la Bottarga
Scallop and parsnip ravioli is a dish that I came up with five years ago and I already blogged about back then, but my photos were pretty terrible back then, I had hardly any followers, and besides I have made some … Continue reading Scallop and Parsnip Ravioli (Ravioli di Capesante e Pastinaca)
After the trilogy of posts about understanding what happens to meat when you cook it in terms of juiciness, tenderness, succulence, flavor, and appearance, another important subject to cover is food safety. This post does not just apply to meat, … Continue reading Understanding Food Safety
Škampi na Buzaru is a traditional dish from the peninsula of Istria in Croatia and another discovery from our recent vacation. It is prepared in nearby Italy as well, and there it is called Scampi alla Bùsara. Like with many … Continue reading Scampi alla Bùsara (Škampi na Buzaru)
I love it when a reader reports about having tried a recipe from this blog, and even more so when they post a picture on Stefan’s Gourmet Blog’s Facebook page. Jev Kuznetsov did something similar, as he started with my recipe … Continue reading Risotto al Polpo e Chorizo (Octopus and Chorizo Risotto)
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