I’ve sung the praises of cooking from scratch before. Sure, you can buy something similar in a jar in the store. But you get to tune this homemade salsa to exactly how you like it, how about that! You can … Continue reading Chunky Salsa for Fajitas
You could probably consider ravioli to be my signature dish. I love serving those delicate parcels that burst with flavor. When Auldo and Teun came over for lobster bisque, I used one of the leftover lobster tails (and a bit … Continue reading Lobster Ravioli (Ravioli all’Astice)
After eating at three-star restaurants and trying complicated recipes, it’s easy to forget that simple food can be great, too. Fortunately I only need to browse one of Biba Caggiano’s cookbooks to be reminded of that, and that is where … Continue reading Gnocchi with Fish Sauce (Gnocchi con Sugo di Pesce)
Thanks to Miranti’s blog The High Heel Gourmet, I’ve been getting into homemade Thai from scratch. It is very different to my usual Italian stuff, but just as delicious in a completely different way. With the batch of thai red … Continue reading Thai Fish Cakes (Tod Mun Pla)
I’ve never yet tried my hand at lobster bisque, and so when Auldo claimed his lobster bisque was top notch I asked him to give me a demo. The result was outstanding, and he volunteered to do a guest post … Continue reading Auldo’s Lobster Bisque
Kaeng Kua is ‘basic’ Thai red curry paste that I will use in the next few days to make a thai red curry with chicken and thai fish cakes. Like so many other foodstuffs, thai red curry paste is better … Continue reading Thai Red Curry Paste (Kaeng Kua)
In Italy, ravioli with a seafood stuffing are usually made with potato rather than ricotta and/or egg to bind the stuffing. In this case I selected seabream (orata) to stuff the homemade fresh ravioli, and I served them with a … Continue reading Fish Ravioli with Seafood (Ravioli di Pesce ai Frutti di Mare)
Thanks to Miranti’s great blog The High Heel Gourmet, I’ve been trying out authentic Thai recipes for the first time. Miranti is very clear about what is authentic Thai and what is not, and I really like her style. The … Continue reading My First Pad Thai
I saw a recipe for chestnut gnocchetti with a taleggio sauce on GialloZafferano, and thought I’d give it a try. This was the first time I made something with chestnut flour, which has a bit of a sweet taste. It … Continue reading Chestnut Gnocchetti with Taleggio Sauce (Gnocchetti di Castagne)
It won’t come as a surprise that after visiting casa Remcooks, I have been inspired to do some Mexican/Tex-Mex/Southwestern cooking. Baby Lady got me a big bag of corn masa flour, needed to make corn tortillas and she also taught … Continue reading Homemade Corn Tortillas and Hard Taco Shells
Pisarei e fasö is a typical dish from the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna. Cristina from The Blog Around the Corner was inspired to blog about this dish from her region by my post about pasta with stewed beans. I already … Continue reading Pisarei e Fasö (Breadcrumb Gnocchi with Beans)
I really like the combination of amarena cherries and almonds, as you may have noticed from this almond meringue cake with amarena cherries. I also really liked the texture of Mimi’s hazelnut cranberry cookies. And so it wasn’t hard to … Continue reading Almond Amarena Cookies
The success of many recipes depends on using a good stock. Most store-bought stock has too much salt in the best case, and in the worst case even lacks flavor. Not to mention bouillon cubes… Homemade stock is easy to … Continue reading Homemade Pork Stock
Kees and I like to enjoy Spring Break in Miami Beach to enjoy some long awaited sun after the cold rainy winter with little daylight in the Netherlands. As Miami Beach is relatively close to DFW, we thought it would … Continue reading StefanGourmet & REMCooks Fusion: Ancho Chile Ravioli with Smoked Bacon and Sage
After the success of my first homemade puff pastry, I thought croissants and pains au chocolat would be just as easy. There is one major difference though: croissants and pains au chocolat (basically croissants with a different shape and stuffed … Continue reading Homemade Croissants and Pains au Chocolat
Aioli (Catalan) or Alioli (Spanish) is the Spanish version of mayonnaise with garlic instead of mustard. It is served with various tapas. Traditionally it is made with pestle and mortar and a whisk, but a blender does a pretty good … Continue reading Homemade Aioli
Pancetta is Italian cured pork belly. I had looked into making it myself before, but the recipes I found required a curing chamber. A curing chamber is a cabinet with controlled temperature and humidity. Even for me it seems over the top to own one. But then I realised that pancetta was originally invented to preserve pork belly when refrigerators had not yet been invented (let alone curing chambers), so I figured that a cellar should do the trick as well. We don’t have a cellar, but in winter our garage comes pretty close with a temperature around 16ºC/60ºF. So I compared many recipes I found online on Italian blogs, on American blogs, and in the end based my first homemade pancetta upon a Dutch blog called missFromage (I bet Shanna likes that name!).
Making your own pancetta is quite easy and not a lot of work, it just requires a bit of patience. The result was great! My first homemade pancetta has a more elegant and detailed flavor than store-bought pancetta available around here. As an added bonus it is cheaper as well. Thanks missFromage for making it look as easy as it actually is! I will definitely make this again. Continue reading “Homemade Pancetta”
Today was my birthday and in the Netherlands it is customary (although not everyone complies) to treat your co-workers to cake on your birthday. This cake can be store-bought or homemade, and it’s easy to guess what I chose. I love gevulde speculaas, which is spiced sweet shortbread (speculaas or also known as speculoos outside the Netherlands), stuffed with almond paste. Speculaas is very Dutch, as it celebrates the spices that were imported by the Dutch (from today’s Indonesia) in the 17th century. It is very popular around the St Nicholas celebration (December 5). The spice mix contains many of the spices that were very exotic back then: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardemom, and white pepper. The combination with almonds works very well. Continue reading “Gevulde Speculaas (Speculoos Stuffed with Almond Paste)”
Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes) have gotten their name because these tubers taste like artichokes. I was curious what jerusalem artichoke gnocchi would be like, and so I decided to make some. The gnocchi tasted as expected: like artichoke! I don’t think you could be able to tell the difference. Making these gnocchi from jerusalem artichokes rather than real artichokes is less work and more economical, as from real artichokes you’d only be using the heart (which is only a small part and a lot of work to get to). Continue reading “Jerusalem Artichoke Gnocchi (Gnocchi di Topinambur)”
Sometimes I can be a bit of a purist (OK you may laugh). Everyone can do as he pleases in the kitchen and everybody can eat what he likes, but please let’s not confuse each other by calling things what they are not. If you want to eat spaghetti with bacon and cream, fine, but don’t call it carbonara (which is made with guanciale or pancetta and eggs, and definitely without cream). There is nothing wrong with using garlic and parsley in a pasta sauce with meat and tomatoes, but don’t call it bolognese. I always try to prepare dishes as authentic as possible, which is sometimes difficult as most of the dishes I cook have not originated in the Netherlands. So I try to research and disclose it on my blog when I am not sure about the authenticity or when I cut corners.
What does this introduction have to do with Thai green curry? I’ve never been to Thailand and I don’t eat at Thai restaurants often, but when I do I tend to like the food. And so I thought I’d do some research and try to prepare an authentic Thai green curry. I found the High Heel Gourmet blog and had a blast reading it. You think I am a purist about Italian food? Check out this lady! I quote: “If you want to follow the “Do it yourself” recipe that uses green onion, cilantro, ginger root, lime juice and THE WHOLE POD of cardamom to make green curry paste so much, go ahead, but don’t call it Thai curry paste and please, don’t serve the curry to the Thais. They would barf!” I love it! She even critiqued Richard’s green curry, but was very nice about it. (That is actually how I discovered her blog.)
As the High Heel Gourmet appears to know her stuff, I decided to go by her rules. I managed to find the authentic ingredients as specified and prepared my first Thai green curry with it, and absolutely loved it! Also my friends loved it, who have been to Thailand and who eat at Thai restaurants all the time. The curry had great depth of flavor and tasted very fresh. This was of course due to making fresh green curry paste from scratch. That is not a lot of work if you own a blender, the work is in finding the ingredients. It was hot but not extremely hot, and you can of course control the heat by using less or more chili peppers. Continue reading “Thai Green Curry with Shrimp”
This is the fourth and last installment (for now, anyway) of my series of Dutch sweets made with batter, which so fas has covered pancakes, oliebollen and appelflappen. Poffertjes are tiny pancakes made with a yeasted batter in a special pan called a poffertjespan. They are usually served with melted butter and powdered sugar. Poffertjes are something you eat mostly as a kid, as a treat from grandma. Poffertjes are prepared at home or bought from a specialized streeet vendor, a poffertjeskraam. Poffertjes should be slightly crispy on the outside and soft and airy on the inside. Continue reading “Poffertjes”
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”
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”
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)”
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”
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”
I’ve never really liked pomegranate juice because I always thought it was too astringent. Boy was I wrong! I had just never tasted fresh pomegranate juice before. Just like with orange juice, there is a huge difference between the real thing (i.e. freshly squeezed) and store-bought stuff. A post on REMCooks.com inspired me to try making my own pomegranate juice, and I absolutely loved it. Thanks, Richard! Fresh pomegranate juice is as different from store-bought pomegranate juice as freshly squeezed orange juice is different from orange juice from concentrate. Fresh pomegranate juice is sweeter, less astringent, and has a wonderful flavor. It also is very healthy. Continue reading “Fresh Pomegranate Juice”
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.
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”
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”
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 