Tag: cooking

4. Dolci (dessert), Dutch cuisine18 Comments

Appelflappen (Dutch Apple Fritters)

StefanGourmet

Appelflappen are almost as common as a treat for New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands as oliebollen. Appelflappen are also known as “appelbeignets”, and to make it more confusing puff fastry envelopes stuffed with apple and then baked are also known as appelflappen. Appelflappen are apple fritters: apple slices dipped in batter and subsequently deep-fried. “Oliebollen en appelflappen” is a common term for what we have on New Year’s Eve. Continue reading “Appelflappen (Dutch Apple Fritters)”

4. Dolci (dessert), Dutch cuisine47 Comments

Dutch Pancakes (Pannenkoeken)

StefanGourmet

Today is Kees’ birthday. I asked him what he’d like to eat for his birthday. He said: “Pannenkoeken!” (Dutch for pancakes.) This is the same answer that most Dutch children will provide by the way 😉 Dutch pancakes are thinner than American pancakes and thicker than French crêpes. Dutch pancakes are not usually eaten for breakfast, but for dinner (for children) or lunch or dessert. They are most simply served with dark syrup (molasses) or plain sugar, with apple and cinnamon, or for a hearty lunch they are also made with bacon and/or cheese. Continue reading “Dutch Pancakes (Pannenkoeken)”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)30 Comments

Malloreddus Pasta with Fennel and Sausage

StefanGourmet

I’ve been to most of the regions of Italy, but not yet to the island of Sardinia (Sardegna in Italian). Owen, one of the long time readers of this blog, requested a recipe for malloreddus, the typical pasta shape of Sardinia. At first I thought I had never heard of them, but then I realized that they are also known as “gnocchetti sardi”, and that DeCecco produces a dry version of them. I did some research and talked online to someone from Sardinia and found out that malloreddus are made from semolina flour and water, and that on Sundays saffron is added to the water (as saffron is too expensive to use on a daily basis). Continue reading “Malloreddus Pasta with Fennel and Sausage”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)12 Comments

Iberico Secreto Sous-Vide with Pomegranate and Chervil Root

StefanGourmet

For the main course of our Christmas dinner I wanted to prepare iberico pork, as I had liked it so much when I tried it for the first time. Because REMCooks’ pork with pomegranate sauce had looked so Christmas-like with the red and green colors when I first saw it, I thought it would be nice to do a pomegranate sauce for this pork as well. I prepared a very simple sauce: reduced pomegranate juice mixed with pork demi-glace, garnished with fresh pomegranate arils. It worked very well with the pork. Continue reading “Iberico Secreto Sous-Vide with Pomegranate and Chervil Root”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)24 Comments

Celeriac Ravioli with Eel Tomato Sauce

StefanGourmet

Obtaining fresh seafood on a holiday is always problematic, but I wanted to serve seafood for at least one of the courses of the Christmas menu anyway. I’ve done lobster in the past, which you can keep alive in your refrigerator. Then I thought of eel. In Italy eel is prepared for New Year’s eve to ward off evil, so it is traditional for the holiday season. When I saw live eel at the fishmonger’s, my problem was solved. Continue reading “Celeriac Ravioli with Eel Tomato Sauce”

1. Antipasti (appetizers)19 Comments

Ham of Lamb with Salt-Roasted Beetroot

StefanGourmet

Usually I first pick a dish and then the wine, but for the antipasto for this year’s Christmas dinner I did it the other way around. A friend of ours had brought a sparkling red from the Loire region, made from cabernet franc. I thought it would be great with the ham of lamb that I made last year, when paired with some salt-roasted beetroot. This way of preparing beetroot concentrates the flavor without making the beets too salty. Continue reading “Ham of Lamb with Salt-Roasted Beetroot”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)19 Comments

Risotto with Pear, Gorgonzola, and Walnuts

StefanGourmet

Happy Christmas everyone!

Risotto with pear and gorgonzola is a well-known dish in Italy. I had made it before, but a post by Francesca about risotto with speck and apples reminded me that I had never blogged about it. To add some crunch, I decided to include some walnuts as well. The combination of the sweet pear, piquant gorgonzola, and crunchy walnuts works very well with the creamy rice. Continue reading “Risotto with Pear, Gorgonzola, and Walnuts”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)32 Comments

Beef Wellington

StefanGourmet

This history of this dish and the origins of its name are uncertain according to Wikipedia, but it definitely plays an important role in my personal food history as Beef Wellington was one of the first gourmet dishes I learned to prepare. It was at the christmas party at my first job back in 1997. We were a small team at the office and since many of us loved to cook, for a christmas party we cooked our own dinner under supervision of a chef. I loved it and have since prepared it many times following the same recipe, even though I later found out that Beef Wellington often also includes pâté (which is not included in this recipe). Beef Wellington is beef tenderloin, wrapped in puff pastry with a umami bomb called duxelles (mushrooms, ham, tomato paste, shallots, garlic, and parsley). I always serve it with haricots verts and a strong red wine sauce. It is a great dish for festive occasions.  Continue reading “Beef Wellington”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)28 Comments

Fresh Pasta Squares with Peas and Prosciutto (Quadrucci con Piselli e Crudo)

StefanGourmet

On this blog I like to share all my foody adventures with you. More and more often they are inspired by other bloggers, and as you may have noticed if you have been following my blog for a while, I do not mind at all to blog about the results of trying other blogger’s ideas and giving them credit.

Today’s post is about a simple but very tasty Italian dish (aren’t they all): pasta with peas and ham. I’ve already done a post about pasta with (boiled) ham, peas, and cream, which was inspired by CampariGirl. Today’s version is different in a couple of ways: it uses cured ham (prosciutto crudo) instead of boiled ham (prosciutto cotto), it uses fresh pasta, and it doesn’t use cream. It has also been inspired by another of my favorite bloggers: Josephine of My Home Food That’s Amore. She is a wonderful person who shares her love for simple but tasty Italian food on her blog. Thanks, Jo, for introducing me to quadrucci, a type of fresh pasta that I had not seen before. I love them! Continue reading “Fresh Pasta Squares with Peas and Prosciutto (Quadrucci con Piselli e Crudo)”

Contorni (side dishes)24 Comments

Chard Stems Gratin

StefanGourmet

I don’t have many leftovers, because I usually cook exact portions. Sometimes I do have leftover ingredients, and I don’t like to throw away any food. One typical leftover ingredient is the stems of chard, because the leaves are used for a recipe such as these lovely pansoti and then the stems are left. From the same pansoti I also had some leftover home made ricotta, and so I decided to turn the chard stems with ricotta into a simple but nice side dish: chard stems gratin. This was easy to prepare and quite tasty. It would be more traditional in Italy to make the gratin using a besciamella (white sauce), but ricotta keeps it slightly ligther and I had used up the milk to make the ricotta. Here’s what I did. Continue reading “Chard Stems Gratin”

4. Dolci (dessert)12 Comments

Homemade Amaretti

StefanGourmet

Amaretti are those crispy Italian almond cookies that are crumbled and used for cakes, and in fact are not made of almonds but of apricot kernels. The word “amaretti” means “little bitter ones”. The home made variety is in fact made of almonds and it is initially more chewy than brittle. The recipe is easy: almond meal, egg whites, caster sugar, almond extract, and a pinch of salt. I’ve created my own recipe for cookies that was based upon this, adding lemon zest and coconut to the mix. I’ve been making them for so long that I wanted to make simple amaretti again just to see how I’d like them. The verdict is that I like them, but I like my enhanced variety better 🙂 Continue reading “Homemade Amaretti”

1. Antipasti (appetizers)19 Comments

Swordish, Fennel and Orange Salad

StefanGourmet

It is great to live on a latitude of 52 degrees in summer, because we get so much sunlight in the evenings. Now it’s payback time however, as the sun sets very early. When I saw fresh swordfish at the fishmonger (rather than frozen, which is usual), I decided to make this salad to bring a bit of the brightness of summer into the dark winter. The swordfish is served raw in this salad. If you don’t like that, you could briefly sear it in olive oil over very high heat and still serve it with a fennel and orange salad. Continue reading “Swordish, Fennel and Orange Salad”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)22 Comments

Stuffed Veal Bundles (Involtini di Vitello)

StefanGourmet

I don’t have many cookery books (at least not compared to many of you), and I do not use the ones that I do have very often. There is one exception, and that is my collection of Biba Caggiano books. By now I’ve probably cooked the majority of recipes in there, but there are still some that I haven’t tried. This recipe for fast stuffed veal bundles from “Modern Italian Cooking”, the first of her books that I owned and the one that got me started on Italian cooking, is one that I only recently tried for the first time. Perhaps because I thought it was too similar to Saltimbocca alla Romana, which is on the next page and one of my favorites. The main differences are that saltimbocca are never rolled up but always served flat, and that these stuffed veal bundles are cooked in a tomato sauce.  They also take a bit longer to cook than saltimbocca. Continue reading “Stuffed Veal Bundles (Involtini di Vitello)”

Contorni (side dishes)12 Comments

Butternut Squash Tartlets

StefanGourmet

Oops! On November 25, I blogged about Duck Breast Sous-Vide with Duck Red Wine Demi-Glace and promised that my next post would be about the side dish shown on the plate: butternut squash tartlets. Then I got so excited about the homemade Barolo Chinato I had just tried for the first time that I wanted to blog about that straight away and completely forgot about the butternut squash tartlets. So with a bit of delay here is finally the post about butternut squash tartlets… Continue reading “Butternut Squash Tartlets”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)28 Comments

Rack of Lamb with Carrot Puree, Thyme, Ginger and Cumin

StefanGourmet

I had a craving for rack of lamb after seeing Conor’s post on herbed rack of lamb. I picked up a nice rack of lamb, thinking I’d serve it with a sauce with a hint of ginger. When I thought about what to serve with it, I also remembered Conor’s post about carrot and ginger soup. And so I decided to serve the lamb with a carrot puree. Carrot, ginger, and cumin go well together, and lamb, ginger, and cumin go well together. So then lamb, carrot, ginger, and cumin should all go well together. And they did! There was only a hint of the thyme, ginger, and cumin in the final dish, but they did bring out the flavor of the lamb and the carrots very nicely. Continue reading “Rack of Lamb with Carrot Puree, Thyme, Ginger and Cumin”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)14 Comments

Pansoti con Salsa di Noci

StefanGourmet

In Piemonte ravioli are called agnolotti and should contain meat, whereas in Liguria ravioli are called pansoti (or pansotti) and do not contain meat. Instead they are stuffed with a mixture of cheese and greens. The traditional mixture of greens is called “preboggion”, which refers to greens found growing in the wild on the Ligurian coast. Pansoti are often served with a walnut sauce, the same as I used for gnocchi a few weeks ago. The traditional cheese is called prescinsêua and is a fresh cheese that is a cross between ricotta and yogurt. The word pansoti is derived from the Ligurian word “pansa” (pancia in Italian), which means belly or paunch. Pansoti can have different shapes, but they should be ‘paunchy’. Continue reading “Pansoti con Salsa di Noci”

Contorni (side dishes)14 Comments

Fennel Gratin (Finocchi Gratinati)

StefanGourmet

As a main course for the serata piemontese I prepared Brasato al Barolo, beef braised in Barolo wine. I used a wagyu brisket for this that was cooked sous-vide with 2 bottles of Barolo and aromatics for 48 hours at 57ºC/135ºF. The meat was tender and juicy and the sauce was amazing. I asked my friend Resi, who was born and raised in Piemonte, still lives there, and helps me out with my blog in Italian, for suggestions for a side dish for the brasato. She suggested a gratin of cauliflower, fennel, or cardoons. I chose fennel and it was indeed a great combination. Continue reading “Fennel Gratin (Finocchi Gratinati)”

1. Antipasti (appetizers)17 Comments

Bagna Càuda

StefanGourmet

As an appetizer for my Piemonte-themed evening I decided to make bagna càuda. This is a hot dip sauce made with olive oil, anchovies, and garlic and served with raw or cooked vegetables to dip. There are many varieties, with a lot of them including butter besides olive oil or even milk or cream. Also the vegetables used are endless. Continue reading “Bagna Càuda”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)24 Comments

Risotto al Barolo con Salsiccia

StefanGourmet

Today it is exactly two years ago that I started this blog. This is the 486th post, there have been almost 150,000 views, and more than 5,000 comments. It has been a great ride so far and I never could have imagined I would have learned so much from it. The fun and learning is thanks to the interaction with my readers and the blogs I follow myself — so keep it coming please!

This is an appropriate moment to try something new: at the bottom of each post I will feature a ‘flashback’ to a post from two years ago, as there are some very nice recipes there that you may have missed because I didn’t have many readers in the beginning.

And now for today’s recipe. Yesterday evening was the first serata piemontese, and it was a great success. Tonight is the next installment, with the same food but mostly different wines. I will do a full report in a later post. I included two primi piatti in my Piemontese menu: agnolotti and risotto al barolo con salsiccia. Risotto is usually made with just a bit of white wine, but Piemonte has the speciality of using red wine and quite a lot of it so the main flavor of the risotto is that of the wine. The end result will thus depend on the quality of the wine used, and though it may seem like a waste of a good barolo, I strongly urge you not to use a cheap red wine for this as that would ruin the dish. Last night everyone agreed that this risotto was different, but delicious. Continue reading “Risotto al Barolo con Salsiccia”

2. Primi (pasta, risotto)33 Comments

Agnolotti

StefanGourmet

Stuffed pasta such as ravioli can probably be classified as my signature dish. I love to prepare them and I love to eat them. Twice a year I organize a wine & food extravaganza for my friends — two evenings with a multi-course dinner with two different paired wines with each course to compare them and find out which one is the best match. After the Burgundy theme earlier this year, it is now time for the Italian region of Piemonte. Piemonte is the home of great wines such as Barolo and the home of great Italian food. After the Barolo Chinato (which I will serve with the dessert) I wrote about yesterday, today’s post is about the one of the primi piatti (pasta dishes) I will serve during my serata piemontese: Agnolotti.

Continue reading “Agnolotti”

Wine27 Comments

Homemade Barolo Chinato

StefanGourmet

Barolo Chinato is a spiced wine from the Italian region of Piemonte that was invented as a medicine in the late 19th century by pharmacist Giuseppe Cappellano in Turin. Commercial versions of Barolo Chinato are matured for over a year in oak barrels, but it is possible to make a very acceptable version at home. That is great, because Barolo Chinato is very good with chocolate and chocolate-based desserts, and it is quite hard to find outside of Italy. After maturation in the bottle only it is not the same as the commercial product, but a very acceptable substitute. It is very easy to make and only requires some patience (about a month). Continue reading “Homemade Barolo Chinato”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)30 Comments

Duck Breast Sous-Vide with Duck Red Wine Demi-Glace

StefanGourmet

After yesterday’s post about duck stock, it won’t come as a surprise that today’s post features duck. I love duck meat and this duck breast with a demi-glace sauce made from duck stock and red wine was particularly nice. It also won’t be a surprise what my next post will be about, as the side dish (a butternut squash tartlet) will have a post of its own.

Now there is more to this dish than just the use of duck stock to make a demi glace (which in the modern form is just duck stock reduced until it is thick and syrupy and loaded with duck flavor). You see, I took a bit of a risk when I cooked the duck breast and duck skin separately and glued them together with Activa, and then called this ‘Perfect’ duck breast. Grant from An American Baker in London left a comment saying that he had seen something similar on Masterchef, but with the duck skin cooked sous-vide rather than in the oven to render the fat out of it before gluing it to the duck breast. The advantage of cooking the duck skin sous-vide would be avoiding shrinkage. Cooking the skin sous-vide sounded like music to my ears, and I quickly forgot that my previous version was perhaps not as perfect as I had thought it was. Continue reading “Duck Breast Sous-Vide with Duck Red Wine Demi-Glace”

Basics20 Comments

Duck Stock

StefanGourmet

The flavor of soups, sauces, and especially risottos depends heavily on the quality of the stock used. Bouillon cubes are terrible because they are usually more than 99% salt. Store-bought stocks usually also have a very high salt content, which renders them useless for sauces and risotto. And it is so easy to make your own stock, it only takes a bit of patience.

From the comments of my readers and recipes on many other blogs, I’m starting to get the impression that many cooks out there believe there are only about four types of stock: vegetable stock, chicken stock, beef stock, and fish stock. However, stock can be made from virtually anything and each ingredient gives off a characteristic flavor. So you can also prepare lamb stock, shrimp stock, pork stock, rabbit stock, hare stock, pheasant stock, etc. If you make a lamb dish with a sauce or a lamb stew, you will get more lamb flavor if you use lamb stock rather than beef stock.

So even though making duck stock is not different from making chicken stock (except that you use duck rather than chicken), I’m posting about it anyway to emphasize that duck stock exists, easy to make at home, and preferable to chicken stock in most cases for duck dishes. Continue reading “Duck Stock”

1. Antipasti (appetizers), Secondi di Pesce (fish dishes)51 Comments

Irish Mussels with Irish Blue Cheese and Irish Parsnips

StefanGourmet

Recently we took a plane to Dublin for a return visit to Conor and ‘the wife’ (a.k.a. Sharon). They showed us a really great time.

DSC02353
We stayed in a wonderful house with a huge kitchen by Lough Derg (a beautiful lake in the county of Tipperary). Continue reading “Irish Mussels with Irish Blue Cheese and Irish Parsnips”

1. Antipasti (appetizers)22 Comments

Improved Octopus Carpaccio using Transglutaminase

StefanGourmet

Octopus cooked sous-vide is very flavorful and tender, and sliced thinly as carpaccio is a great way of serving it. Last year I prepared octopus carpaccio, but the slices fell apart. I tried adding gelatin and that didn’t help. Then I decided next time I would try to use a ‘meat glue’ enzyme called transglutaminase. I didn’t get around to doing that, and then I forgot about it until the succesful experiment I performed with Activa and duck breast. I prepared it exactly the same way, except that I added 2% transglutaminase by weight. And guess what? It worked! Perfect slices that didn’t fall apart. Continue reading “Improved Octopus Carpaccio using Transglutaminase”

Asian cuisine11 Comments

Sous-Vide Pork Belly Asian Style with Garlicky Broccoli

StefanGourmet

One of the things you can only do sous-vide is making tough meats tender while keeping them juicy and without cooking them ‘well done’. As I am a great fan of medium rare meat rather than well done, this is one of the reasons why so far, I’ve almost exclusively cooked sous-vide meats that way. The only exceptions have been duck leg confit sous-vide and pulled pork sous-vide. This means cooking meat sous-vide at temperatures between 55ºC/131ºF and 65ºC/149ºF, sometimes as long as 72 hours to allow the meat to become tender at such a relatively low cooking temperature.

Lately I’ve started to wonder about cooking meat sous-vide at higher temperatures. The meat will surely become well done and flaky, but I’m curious whether it is still better than a traditional braise on the stove top and in the oven. There is only one way to find out, and that is to try. The first experiment in this series is pork belly. Usually I cook pork belly sous-vide for 36 to 72 hours at 60ºC/140ºF, but in this case I tried it for 10 hours at 77ºC/170ºF. After that it was briefly crisped under the broiler. The inspiration for the recipe came from a post on Serious Eats. I thought it would be nice with broccoli stir-fried with garlic (inspired by REMCooks.com) and some rice, and that did indeed work well. Continue reading “Sous-Vide Pork Belly Asian Style with Garlicky Broccoli”

Secondi di Carne (meat dishes)42 Comments

My First Chili con Carne

StefanGourmet

When I wanted to try and make chili con carne from scratch for the first time, the natural place to go for a reliable recipe was REMCooks.com. Richard’s recipe for what he calls Super Bowl Chili, Texas-Style has been the basis. According to Richard (and I consider him a reliable source), true Texas-style chili includes only meat, chile peppers, and spices. This means that the chile peppers used for it are very important, as they are the determining factor in how the chili will taste. This is why I made my own chile powder rather than using store-bought. By using different types of chiles you can achieve great depth of flavor. Continue reading “My First Chili con Carne”

Basics16 Comments

Pickled Chipotles à la Richard

StefanGourmet

Ancho chile rub was not the only homemade goodness that Richard sent over, his wonderful package also included pickled chipotles. Chipotles are smoked jalapeño peppers and they are not only spicy but also wonderfully smoky. I had never tasted them prior to Richard’s surprise, and liked them instantly. I especially liked them in pork burgers. Just like the ancho chile rub, I ran out of the original batch pretty quickly, and so I had to make my own. I followed Richard’s recipe for them, and they turned out just like the batch that he had sent. Continue reading “Pickled Chipotles à la Richard”

Secondi di Pesce (fish dishes)11 Comments

Rose Fish Sous-Vide with Lemon-Roasted Cauliflower

StefanGourmet

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”