Making traditional Italian venison pasta sauce is pretty straightforward, but it does require some patience because of the long cooking time involved. As you only have to stir every half hour or so, this is a perfect sauce to prepare during … Continue reading Venison Pasta Sauce (Ragù di Cervo)
Yes, you’ve read it correctly, a cake that contains beets (also known as beetroot). When I saw this recipe on Polianthus’ blog, I was intrigued and knew I had to try it. I am glad that I did, because the … Continue reading Hazelnut and Beet Cake
I always like it when I get requests for a dinner party, because it makes it easier to choose what to make. In this case, the request was something with shrimp and garlic. Because of the season I looked for … Continue reading Shrimp, Pumpkin, and Almonds
As a gift for her 18th birthday, I cooked dinner for Kees’ niece Liza. The center of the dinner was a nice bottle of Barolo from her year of birth, and so I had to come up with a dish … Continue reading Venison and Wild Mushroom Stew (Brasato di Cervo ai Funghi di Bosco)
This a great appetizer for a dinner party, because it is delicious, looks great, and is quite easy to prepare. Only a few ingredients are needed to make a fantastic dish. Scallops and bacon are friends, so bacon-wrapped scallops are … Continue reading Bacon-Wrapped Scallop with Pumpkin
When we visited Estancia Piedra for a wine tasting, our charming host Mary suggested that a risotto with tart apple, mushrooms, and goat cheese would be outstanding with the Rueda Verdejo from Estancia Piedra. Although the wine did smell of … Continue reading Risotto with Apple, Mushrooms, and Goat Cheese
I like using everything and reducing waste. When you buy a bunch of carrots, they come with the greens, but usually those are discarded or used to feed the rabbits if you have them. I’ve already posted recipes to use … Continue reading Pasta with Roasted Carrots and Carrot Tops Pesto
Fried fish is really good with remoulade sauce, but that mayonnaise-based sauce is not the most healthy of options. And so I decided to try making a version with yogurt at its base, and tried it with baby sole, pan-fried … Continue reading Sole with Yogurt Remoulade Sauce
This blog is sometimes about fancy food or wine, but mostly it is about food prepared from scratch using high quality fresh ingredients, in such a way that the ingredients shine. During our travels I didn’t do a lot of … Continue reading Grilled Sardines
We’re on a wine discovery vacation in Spain, and so there have been a lot of posts about Spanish wine lately. Although I do intend to write more about wine than I used to, this will remain primarily a cooking … Continue reading Five-Spice Duck with Napa Cabbage and Noodles
Rosenmuskateller is a rare dessert wine from Alto Adige/Südtirol, the German speaking north-east of Italy. It is made from the rare grape of the same name, related to other muscat grapes but with the distinctive quality that it smells of … Continue reading Blackberry Rose Water Sorbet
There is already a recipe for smoked salmon ravioli on this blog, but that one is for hot smoked salmon. Today’s post is about cold smoked salmon. The filling is as easy as it comes: simply blend smoked salmon with … Continue reading Smoked Salmon Ravioli with Whiskey Sauce (Ravioli al Salmone Affumicato con Whiskey)
For my friend Jelmer’s birthday I cooked dinner for him with a bottle of vintage port from his year of birth (1989). This meant I had to come up with a dish that would work well with vintage port. Unlike tawny … Continue reading Duck with Cherries and Port Sauce
Summer has finally started (not just on the calendar but also the weather) and that means that cakes for which you don’t have to turn on the oven are the preferred solution for dessert. Although this recipe is tagged “baking”, … Continue reading Quark Cake with Cherries (Kwarktaart met Kersen)
This is not an authentic Thai dish, but my own creation that was heavily inspired by Thai cuisine. Plaice (Dutch: schol) is a flatfish that is very common in the Netherlands. I had some rawit (Thai red chillis), galangal, and … Continue reading Thai Style Fish Mousse and Napa Cabbage
Lamb shank is one of my favorite cuts of meat, especially when cooked sous-vide. It is so flavorful, tender, and moist. And so I keep coming up with new ways to prepare it. In this case I thought it would … Continue reading Lamb Stew with Smoked Paprika and Zucchini
My friend Melvin is great at cooking Asian dishes, and recently he made tom yum goong for us. This is a sour (from lime) and spicy (from chillis) Thai soup with shrimp. We liked it a lot, so I wanted … Continue reading Thai Sour and Spicy Shrimp Soup (Tom Yum Goong)
Although in Italy eel is mostly eaten in winter time, fresh eel is available here in summer. And so I’ve made a summer version of eel ragù by making it with fresh tomatoes and basil. This makes the ragù very … Continue reading Tagliatelle with Eel (Tagliatelle al Ragù di Anguilla)
Spaghetti alla Carbonara is one of our favorite dishes that I make often because it is such great comfort food: filling and full of flavor. If you are a long time follower of this blog with a good memory, you … Continue reading Spaghetti alla Carbonara
The best dishes are those that use only a few ingredients. In this case: beets, mackerel, and balsamic vinegar (plus salt, pepper, and olive oil). It is a versatile dish: you could serve it lukewarm or at room temperature as … Continue reading Roasted Beets, Mackerel, Balsamic
Bacalà alla Vicentina is a famous dish from the North Italian city of Vicenza, prepared with dried cod. The cod is cooked low and slow and flavored with onions, anchovies, parsley, milk, extra virgin olive oil, and grated cheese (grana … Continue reading Fresh Cod alla Vicentina with Polenta
After making yesterday’s butternut squash risotto, I still had half of the pumpkin puree left. I opened my refrigerator and pondered what to do with the leftover puree. Then I noticed a nice piece of gorgonzola, and I quickly made up … Continue reading Wholewheat Fusilli with Pumpkin and Gorgonzola (Fusilli Integrali alla Zucca e Gorgonzola)
This summertime ragù is more elegant than ragù alla Bolognese and takes less time. It is best over fresh pasta, but as seen in the photo it is great on spaghetti or other store-bought dry pasta, too. As with many … Continue reading Pork, Fresh Tomato and Fennel Seed Ragù (Ragù di Maiale al Pomodoro Fresco e Semi di Finocchio)
Recently I posted a recipe for goat satay, saté kambing, prepared sous-vide. This had turned out to so well that I wanted to make it again soon, but this time with chicken. Unlike goat (or lamb) shoulder, chicken meat is tender … Continue reading Chicken Satay (Saté Ajam)
Spaghetti with a sauce made from fresh tomatoes is the only dish that I prepare quite often, but has not appeared on this blog yet. There are two reasons for that: one is that I thought it wouldn’t be interesting … Continue reading Spaghetti with a Fresh Tomato Sauce (Spaghetti al Pomodoro)
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
My old-fashioned butcher (which is not a bad quality at all in a butcher) is slowly catching up to new trends, and is now dry aging beef. I picked up a dry aged strip steak (called entrecote in the Netherlands) … Continue reading Strip Steak with Parsnip, Zucchini and Potatoes
When I posted my recipe for crème brûlée, I got suggestions to try white chocolate creme brulee (which I did and liked) and passion fruit creme brulee as well. Blogging is a continuing source of inspiration for my cooking, and … Continue reading Passion Fruit Crème Brûlée
Blade steak or flat iron steak is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef that when you cook it sous-vide becomes more flavorful than many more expensive cuts of steak, and just as tender. Look for steaks with a lot of … Continue reading Blade Steak Sous-Vide with Shii Take Mushrooms and Oyster Sauce
This is an Italian version of what is known in the Netherlands as kalfsvinken: a thin slice of veal stuffed with ground veal. It becomes Italian by the addition of prosciutto, parmigiano, sage, and nutmeg. The easiest way to cook … Continue reading Involtini di Vitello (Stuffed Veal Bundles)
