If it’s too hot right now to turn on the oven where you are, save this recipe for later, because it is easy and delicious. Cod, potatoes, and tomatoes are all cooked together in the oven with garlic and herbs … Continue reading Baked Cod, Potatoes, and Tomatoes (Merluzzo, Patate e Pomodori al Forno)
These fennel ravioli are heavily inspired on these fennel ‘meatballs’ (polpette) that I discovered in Sicily at the great trattoria Tischi Toschi in Taormina. I prepare a lot of fennel, either in a salad, in pasta, or braised as a side. … Continue reading Fennel Ravioli (Ravioli ai Finocchi)
Even in the moderate Dutch climate in summer we have days that are so warm that it is nicer to cook outside than inside. What is locally called “barbecue” is usually a festive meal where everyone participates in the cooking … Continue reading Grilled Sea Bream and Fennel
The popularity of picanha as a cut of beef to be prepared on the grill (BBQ) hails from Brazil, and that is why the cut is known under its Brazilian (Portuguese) name. It is called rump cover or rump cap … Continue reading Warm-Aged and Hay-Smoked Beef Picanha
A simple fruit salad can be made special by the addition of a bit of rose water. Rose water is made by steeping rose petals in water and originates in Iran and India. It has a wonderful smell of roses. Berries … Continue reading Rose Water Fruit Salad
This is an elegant dish for a dinner party that is easy to prepare. Flatfish with mint sauce is a combination I saw in one of Biba Caggiano’s cookbooks. In this case I used sole. If turbot is the king … Continue reading Sole with Mint, Peas, and Fennel
Spain is very proud of its jamón iberico, and rightly so. The cured ham is made from a special breed of pig (known simply as iberico in Spain, but abroad often called pata negra because of the black hooves) and … Continue reading Croquetas de Jamón (Iberico Ham Croquettes)
It is always a treat when friends cooks for me. This simple but tasty dish is based on an appetizer that our friends Merel and Barthold served at a dinner party at their house. As usual with simple recipes, it … Continue reading Sea Bass Ceviche with Avocado
Scaloppine are a popular secondo in Italy because they are delicious and quick to prepare. Thin slices of meat are pounded even thinner and then served with all kinds of sauces, like balsamic, Marsala, with eggplant, mozzarella and tomato, or … Continue reading Veal Escalope with Mushrooms and Marsala (Scaloppine ai Funghi e Marsala)
Rillettes are usually made from meat, cooked slowly in fat until tender enough to be easily shredded, and then mixed with the fat. When my friend Robert mentioned he’d been gifted some skate and asked me to prepare it, skate rillettes … Continue reading Skate and Beurre Noisette Rillettes with Roasted Peppers
Sachertorte is a famous cake from Vienna that I had never made before. Thanks to CampariGirl’s post I was reminded of it. A Sachertorte is a chocolate cake with two layers, separated by a layer of apricot jam and finished with a … Continue reading Sachertorte
If you’ve been following my blog for some time, you may have noticed I really like the pairing of smoked eel with celeriac. And here is yet another dish based upon that combination, with the addition of toasted hazelnuts. The celeriac … Continue reading Smoked Eel and Caramelized Celeriac Mousse with Hazelnuts
In Italy many recipes have a “rosso” version (with tomatoes) and a “bianco” version (without tomatoes). For instance, a “pizza bianca” means a pizza without tomatoes. This also goes for pasta sauces, amatriciana is usually rossa, but amatriciana bianca also … Continue reading Pasta with ‘White’ Wild Boar Ragù (Pappardelle al Ragù Bianco di Cinghiale)
Stefano of Italian Home Cooking has done it again: he posted a delicious traditional Italian recipe that I had not heard of before. I love Ragù alla Napoletano, which is a large piece of beef braised in tomato sauce. The … Continue reading La Genovese alla Napoletana Sous-Vide (Ziti and Beef with Onion Sauce)
I don’t prepare enough classic French dishes, but luckily Nadia of Maison Travers keeps posting recipes to inspire me to cook more of them. In this case monkfish with Américaine sauce. This sauce, originally named Armoricaine, doesn’t have anything to … Continue reading Monkfish à l’Américaine (Lotte à l’Armoricaine)
This dish requires only seven ingredients: lamb shank, salt, pepper, thyme, flour, egg, and pecorino cheese. The lamb shank is cooked sous-vide, then shredded, and fresh homemade pasta is tossed with the shredded meat and the juices from the sous-vide … Continue reading Fresh Tagliolini with Sous-Vide Lamb Shank
Boeuf Bourguignon is a famous beef stew from the French region of Burgundy. The beef is stewed with red wine and served with mushrooms and pearl onions in a rich beefy sauce. I’ve posted before how to make it on the stovetop … Continue reading Boeuf Bourguignon Sous-Vide
Slow roasting is my favorite way to prepare cauliflower, and this time of the year I prepare it often (using this recipe or something similar). Slow roasting means it will take longer (90 minutes to 2 hours), but the cauliflower … Continue reading Slow-Roasted Cauliflower Ravioli
There are so many food blogs out there that it is hard to find the really good ones. But once in a while I discover a new food blog that I really like, and one of those is Stefano’s Italian Home … Continue reading Duck ‘in Salsa’ with Radicchio (Anatra in Salsa con Radicchio di Treviso)
I don’t prepare artichokes very often, because they are usually too expensive for what will be left after you clean them. This is what I commented when Jo of Frascati Cooking That’s Amore recently blogged about a recipe from Lombardia … Continue reading Roasted Artichokes (Carciofi al Forno)
When I saw swordfish on sale at the market, I knew what we were going to have for dinner. I love swordfish, but it is often hard to get it fresh (frozen means it will be dry) and for a … Continue reading Grilled Swordfish with Ratatouille
One of my favorite Italian food bloggers was Silva Rigobello. Unfortunately I have to write in past tense, as she passed away in 2015. I still prepare her recipes from time to time, and in this case it is a … Continue reading Pineapple & Coconut Upside-Down Cake
Following other blogs is a great way to discover new recipes. I saw a Mexican shrimp meatball soup on my blogging buddy’s Kathryn’s blog, Anotherfoodieblogger. Regular albóndigas from Spain are meatballs cooked in tomato sauce, but these shrimp balls are cooked in something that … Continue reading Mexican Shrimp Meatball Soup (Albóndigas de Camarón)
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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