When you have guests over for dinner, you want to please and possibly even impress them (in Italy this is called fare la bella figura). Over the years you have developed some dishes that you can always rely on in such … Continue reading Ravioli with Spinach and Ricotta (Ravioli Ricotta e Spinaci)
In summer there is ample choice of fresh produce to choose from, but in winter we have to make do with what is available, especially if you want to cook with local seasonal ingredients. Fresh peas are only available in … Continue reading Split Pea Risotto with Hot Smoked Salmon
Many people don’t make soup anymore. They just buy a can or a package of instant soup. Homemade soup is more flavorful, contains less salt, more actual chicken meat, and no chemical flavors and preservatives. The traditional way of making … Continue reading Chicken Soup
Blanquette de veau is a classic French dish that I was reminded of by Nadia. Visit her wonderful blog for a classic recipe. I’ve prepared a sous-vide version that turned out delicious. Blanc is French for white, and so everything … Continue reading Blanquette de Veau Sous-Vide (Creamy Veal Stew)
Dutch cuisine is not known for its finesse, but more for hearty dishes like stamppot, potatoes and vegetables mashed together. One of the classic winter dishes is zuurkoolstamppot met rookworst, sauerkraut mashed with potatoes and served with smoked pork sausage. … Continue reading Sauerkraut and Potato Mash with Smoked Pork Sausage (Zuurkoolstamppot met rookworst)
Celeriac and smoked eel work very well together, and I’ve posted recipes using them before. This time, I added hazelnuts to the mix and created a restaurant style appetizer. The celeriac is prepared in three ways: as a very smooth … Continue reading Celeriac Three Ways with Smoked Eel Ravioli
What you see in the photo above is the result of a bit of playfulness. Or silliness. It is salmon and sea bass, glued together, and then cooked sous-vide as if it is some kind of mutant fish with layers … Continue reading Salmon and Sea Bass Glued Together
Recently we had green apple and goat cheese as dessert at Restaurant Jacob in Leiden. I have a few bottles of a wonderful late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre that I thought would work particularly well with that combination. And … Continue reading Apple and Goat Cheese Dessert
After having cooked sous-vide for six years, I still discover some improvements now and then. Until recently, when cooking beef sous-vide I would usually choose as low a temperature as possible, and then cook long enough for the meat to become … Continue reading Flank Steak Sous-Vide Temperature Experiment
In Italy there are two kinds of pizza. Round and thin pizza, cooked for a couple of minutes in a very hot (wood-fired) oven, is available in pizzerias. That type of pizza is difficult to make at home with a … Continue reading Sheet Pan Pizza (Pizza in Teglia)
You can encounter baby octopus in a hot red sauce all along the long Italian coastline. “Alla diavola” refers to the use of chilli flakes. You can make it as hot or as mild as you like. If you are … Continue reading Baby Octopus Alla Diavola (Moscardini alla Diavola)
Can you make a delicious pasta dish using only four ingredients, counting salt and pepper as the first two? Yes, you can! Boneless and skinless turkey thigh becomes tender, flaky, juicy, and tasty after cooking it sous-vide for 24 hours … Continue reading Tagliatelle with Sous-Vide Turkey Thigh
After the positive reactions to the report of my failure trying to make oyster sauce from fresh oysters, here is another experiment that didn’t turn out so well. The photo above is the “crispy egg” we got served for breakfast … Continue reading Crispy Egg with Smoked Eel (Failed Experiment)
After reading Conor’s post in which he showed us how to prepare delicious roast leg of goat, I got curious and wanted to try goat meat, too. Now there are a lot of goats in the Netherlands, kept primarily for milking, … Continue reading Goat Stew from Abruzzo (Capra alla Neretese)
When I saw this yogurt cake on Mimi’s blog, I wanted to make it straight away. She had eaten it at Moro, a restaurant in London, and loved it so much that she made it at home. I can see … Continue reading Yogurt Cake with Pistachios and Pomegranate
For months now I’ve been making muffins for breakfast with oat bran, quark (or cottage cheese or skyr), eggs, and stevia as the base. I bake them every weekend to eat for breakfast during the week. These muffins are nutritious … Continue reading Banana Oat Bran Quark Stevia Muffins
As there aren’t many Mexican restaurants around here and those that are there are probably not very authentic, I don’t eat a lot of Mexican (or Tex-Mex) food that I don’t prepare myself. And so I had never before seen … Continue reading Pork Tamales
We love foie gras and I was curious to try and make foie gras ice cream. I looked at some recipes on-line, but found none that made sense to me. Some even suggested to discard (!) or save for another … Continue reading Foie Gras Ice Cream
I’ve posted a recipe for beet risotto before, a risotto made with regular vegetable or chicken stock and then combined with roasted beets. When I saw a recipe on Hans’ blog Chefsopinion in which he boiled beets and then used … Continue reading Beet and Goat Cheese Risotto (Risotto alle Barbabietole e Formaggio di Capra)
My recent short trip to India inspired me to try and cook some more Indian food. After the success of Shahi Salmon, I decided to try my hand at Lamb Korma. It is similar because it also has a creamy … Continue reading Lamb Korma
Pimientos de Padrón are green chilli peppers from Spain that are usually mild, but sometimes one of them can be very hot. They are very tasty, a bit like green bell pepper but better. To prepare them, you only need … Continue reading Pimientos de Padrón
Stroopwafels are a Dutch treat that is very popular both inside and outside the Netherlands. They are thin round waffles, filled with syrup that has a hint of cinnamon. They are very addictive! When a Dutchman wants to charm a … Continue reading Homemade Stroopwafels (Dutch Syrup Waffles)
Calamari and squid are both types of cuttlefish. You can use any type for this recipe. Squid can be cooked in two ways: either very short or very long. Something in between, and it will be tough. Since I was … Continue reading Pasta with Calamari and Bell Peppers
With as much cooking experience as I have, most new dishes I try turn out well the first time I make them. And so what you read on this blog is mostly successes. But to allow you to learn from … Continue reading Oyster Sauce: Don’t Try This At Home
Using chard for the filling of the ravioli alla genovese meant I had leftover chard stems. I thought what a home cook from Genoa would do with leftover chard stems, and that is how I came up with this contorno (side dish) … Continue reading Baked Chard Stems (Coste di Bietola al Forno)
I wish you all a happy and healthy 2017 with delicious food and wine. As my first contribution to this, I present to you homemade lychee ice cream. Lychees are a tropical fruit with a complex delicious aroma and flavor. When … Continue reading Lychee Ice Cream
For Christmas I wanted to make a traditional Italian dish that I had not prepared before, preferably something that involved stuffed pasta. As I’ve already made so many stuffed pasta dishes over the years, I wasn’t sure if I would … Continue reading Ravioli alla Genovese
For Christmas I wanted to make a traditional Italian dish that I had not prepared before, preferably something that involved stuffed pasta. As I’ve already made so many stuffed pasta dishes over the years, I wasn’t sure if I would … Continue reading Sugo di Carne alla Genovese: Il Tocco (Genoese Braised Veal and Meat Sauce)
This is the type of salad that I often eat for lunch during the weekend, and I will be posting a few more of them. It is low in fat and low in carbs as well as vegetarian, so perhaps … Continue reading Lentil, Fennel and Skyr Salad
Every year we celebrate our anniversary at Librije, our favorite restaurant in the Netherlands and one of our favorite restaurants in the world. The restaurant run by chef Jonnie Boer (no relation) and his wife and sommelier/maitre Thérèse is located … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Librije*** (2016)
