This raspberry and almond cake is inspired by the kind of simple, flavorful baking you might get served for breakfast at an agriturismo or a cozy B&B in Italy. The tartness of fresh raspberries pairs beautifully with the soft, nutty … Continue reading Raspberry Almond Cake (Torta di Lamponi e Mandorle)
My friend Irene got me some organic pears from the tree in her garden. They were not the typical pears that are used to make poached pears in the Netherlands (stoofpeertjes), which turn red when you cook them. But they … Continue reading Poached Pears with Lemon Syrup
Since we love Thai food and many recipes require kaffir lime leaves and kaffir lime zest, I decided to put 2 kaffir lime trees in my garden. They are in pots, so I can move them inside in winter. Kaffir … Continue reading Kaffir Lime Tartlets
Strawberries are in season and this cake is a simple yet delicious way of serving them. It is an Italian recipe without whipped cream like in this strawberry cake and I reduced the amount of sugar, so it is quite … Continue reading Strawberry Cake (Torta di Fragole)
Strawberries with pastry cream on a sweet shortcrust pastry crust are a classic. You could make a large tart, but it looks much better and is easier to serve when you make individual tartlets. There are some special techniques used … Continue reading Strawberry Tartlets
Limburg is a province in the South of the Netherlands that is famous for its pies, known as vlaai. I’ve already posted recipes for a version with cherries, kersenvlaai, and one with apricots, abrikozenvlaai. One of the most famous types is … Continue reading Gooseberry Meringue Pie from Limburg (Kruisbessenvlaai, Krosjelevlaai mit Sjoem)
As every year, for my birthday I baked to treat my colleagues. This year I made a pound cake, almond cookies stuffed with amarena cherries, and an Italian apple cake. Other than Dutch appeltaart (the same as American apple pie), Italian torta … Continue reading Torta di Mele (Apple Cake)
A friend who came over for dinner announced he would bring a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc, a Sancerre to be more precise. This is the dessert that I came up with to accompany it: cheesecake made from goat cheese. Goat … Continue reading Goat Cheesecake
Traditional strudel isn’t made with puff pastry but with its own special dough. Although its origins are Turkish (related to baklava), it now mostly known as a recipe from Austria. You can also find strudel in North-East Italy, because of … Continue reading Apple Strudel
Happy New Year everyone! May you eat well in 2014! On New Year’s Eve we eat oliebollen (literally: “oil balls”) in the Netherlands. Oliebollen are deep fried yeasted batter, often filled with raisins. They have been prepared in the Netherlands … Continue reading Oliebollen
The dinner I cooked for Clayton when he visited had to contain something Dutch. After some thinking, I came up with Limburgse abrikozenvlaai, a tart from the province of Limburg that is made with a yeasted dough. I already wrote about kersenvlaai (with cherries) a while ago. Since it’s summer, fresh apricots are available. The apricots are cooked before they are used in the vlaai.
Continue reading “Apricot Tart (Limburgse Abrikozenvlaai)”
One of my favorite pies is a Key Lime Pie. It takes a bit of work as you have to make a pastry crust that has to be baked ‘blindly’ before baking it with the filling, but it is worth it. A pie that is almost as good is this very easy Lemon Chess Pie, from RemCooks.com. The texture is like velvet and it has a very nice sweet lemony flavor. I had never heard of a Lemon Chess Pie before. The difference with my Key Lime Pie is that it does not have a separate crust. The crust and the filling are one. This also makes it a very easy pie to make: just blend all the ingredients together, pour them into a buttered pie dish, and bake. It is that easy. Thanks to Baby Lady for this great recipe! When I first saw this recipe, I was surprised at how easy it looked. I tried it, and it turned out great! Of course it is very easy to substitute lemon with lime and turn this into a faux Key Lime Pie as well. Continue reading “Baby Lady’s Easy Lemon Chess Pie”
Soufflés have a reputation of being difficult, but they are not that hard and extremely festive. Just remember that they will fall no matter what you do as soon as they cool, so serve them as quickly as possible. We got a raspberry soufflé for breakfast at Librije’s Hotel a few weeks ago, and I liked it so much that I decided to create my own. I don’t have their recipe, this is something I created myself by mixing and matching various recipes for other soufflés that I found in various sources. I also used Harold McGee‘s advise for … Continue reading Raspberry Soufflé
We have a group of young friends that we like to have over for dinner because they know how to enjoy good food and wine and like to learn about it. Recently 8 of them came over for a do-it-yourself dinner party, where everyone was helping with the shopping, cooking, etc. and we had a great time. You can imagine it was a bit chaotic, so I don’t have photos of everything. We started with home-made sushi and sashimi, of which I don’t have enough photos to blog about. So we’ll leave that for another time. Then we made home-made … Continue reading Strawberry Cake
This is one of my favorite desserts in summer time. Only three ingredients, easy to make, and delicious. As with many of my recipes, it helps to use the best strawberries you can find (ripe and fragrant), nice honey and the best aged artisan balsamic vinegar you can afford. The best to use for this is the real stuff: aceto balsamico tradizionale aged for 12 or even 25 years. That stuff is very expensive, but also very good. If you live in the Netherlands, the 12-year old balsamic from De Librije is almost as good for about 1/6 of the price … Continue reading Strawberries macerated with Balsamic & Honey
Whenever I’m in Florida, I eat Key Lime Pie all the time because I love it. There are lots of different versions: with or without whipped cream, with or without meringue, with a crust from graham crackers or with a baked crust, etc. I like all versions, because what defines key lime pie for me is the contrast between the velvety texture and the sour tanginess of the custard. It may be impossible to find key limes out of the US or Mexico, but it’s fine to substitute with regular limes (living in the Netherlands, I do too!). Since key … Continue reading My Key Lime Pie
I tried this new idea for a cake on Sunday for a dinner party with my parents, and it was a big success! I had seen a recipe for a pear cake using ricotta instead of butter on GialloZafferano.it, and … Continue reading Pear-Ricotta-Almond Cake (Torta Pere, Ricotta e Mandorle)
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 