Michiel and Jeen

Oyster Mushroom Salad

16 May 2024

A few weeks ago, we posted a recipe for a salad with fried and marinated white button mushrooms. A rich, velvety salad with some acidity and lots of umami. This mushroom salad combines raw oyster mushrooms with radishes, sesame oil, mirin and cilantro. It’s both colourful and flavourful!
The variety we used is the Golden Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus Citrinopileatus) and its colour makes the salad even more vibrant. This mushroom is native to China, Japan and Russia. The ones we bought are cultivated. Compared to the more common grey oyster mushroom the caps are smaller in size and their taste is sweeter.
Another colourful oyster mushroom is pink (Pleurotus Djamor). Its taste is somewhat bitter. Perhaps not the best choice for a salad. If cooked well, it is supposed to taste like bacon, but by then it has lost all its colour.
Cultivated oyster mushrooms can be eaten raw. If you’re not sure, ask your greengrocer.

Wine Pairing

The salad comes with a range of flavours and obviously some acidity, which is important when choosing your wine. Perhaps a white wine with even more acidity? Or a wine that adds flavours or aromas to the dish? We decided to drink a glass of Vinho Verde with our salad, produced by Adega De Monção. This Portuguese white wine is made from Alvarinho and Trajadura grapes. Some citrus, slightly tropical, with notes of apples and pear. Tasty, elegant and refreshing. In general, you’re looking for a refreshing, easy to drink wine that has some acidity and flavours that make you think of apple, apricot or peach.

What You Need

100 grams Golden Oyster Mushrooms
(Coloured) Radishes
For the Dressing
- Excellent Olive Oil
- Rice Vinegar
- Mirin
- Light Soy Sauce (we used Tsuyu)
- Sesame Oil
Cilantro

What You Do

Wash the radishes and slice vertically in eight or six, depending on the size. Make the dressing. Add the sesame oil as the last ingredient because it’s very present. Combine the radishes with the dressing and the thinly sliced cilantro. Leave for a few minutes. Combine with the golden oyster mushrooms and serve immediately.

Charlotte Aux Asperges

9 May 2024

May is our peak season for white asparagus: great quality and reasonable prices. Which is very helpful because for this relatively small Charlotte you need lots of very tasty asparagus. Our Charlotte has a 16-centimetre diameter, and it requires 18 asparagus. The Charlotte has four components: the bottom made from potatoes and seasoned with nutmeg, the filling made from an asparagus mousse with ham, the side, made from halved asparagus tips and the decoration. The combination of fried potatoes, asparagus (soft in the mousse and with a gentle crunch in the tips) and egg is delicious.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of Pinot Blanc from the German Mosel region made by Dr. Loosen. The wine is dry and fresh with some acidity and minerality. Notes of pear, apple and citrus. It worked very well with the Charlotte. In general you’re looking for a subtle white wine, given the delicate flavors of the Charlotte.

What You Need

For the Filling
- 50 grams Cream
- 50 grams Ham
- 13 grams of Gelatine
- 18 asparagus
For the Bottom
- 1 large Potato
- Nutmeg
- Butter
- Salt
For the Decoration
- Two eggs
- Parsley
- Black Pepper

What You Do

The recipe is for a springform with a diameter of 16 cm. The bottom of the Charlotte is a Paillasson de Pomme de Terre. See our post about Alain Passard. Peel and grate the potato. Add salt and nutmeg. Bake in a heavy iron skillet with lots of butter for 15+10 minutes until golden. From time to time you may need to add extra butter. Do this by slipping small dots of butter down the sides of the pan. In parallel peel the asparagus and cut of the tips. Steam the tips for 10 minutes. Steam the eggs for 12 minutes. Allow the tips to cool. Peel the eggs and set aside. Quarter the remainder of the asparagus and cook in water for at least 20 minutes or until very well done. Blender the asparagus chunks with some of the cooking liquid until very smooth. You will need approximately 400 grams of this mixture. Use the back of a spoon to pass the asparagus mixture through a sieve. Transfer the potato to the bottom of the springform. Coat the side of the form with neutral oil. Halve the tips and add these to the form, with the cut to the outside. See picture. Follow the instructions of the gelatine. Whip the cream until thick. Finely chop the ham. Heat some of the asparagus liquid, when warm, add the gelatine. Now it’s time to combine cream, ham and asparagus mixture. Cool the mixture and add gently to the springform. Allow to cool for at least 2 hours. Just before serving make mimosa with parsley and black pepper.

Bottom and Side of Charlotte aux Asperges ©cadwu

Mushroom Salad

2 May 2024

White Button Mushrooms and Cremini can be eaten raw, but we think they are tastier when fried or marinated, which is exactly what we do for this salad. A tasty accompaniment that will bring umami and depth to your dish. We combined the salad with carrots prepared in butter, lemon and lamb chops. The meat was fried in olive oil and seasoned with chopped thyme and black pepper. A delicious and light combination.

Wine Pairing

The salad comes with some acidity, but not too much. The main aspects in the dish are the sweetness and the velvety coating of the carrots, the aromatic lemon and thyme, the deepness of the salad and the richness of the lamb. We decided to open a bottle of Macon, a red wine from East-Central France. The region is well known for its white wines, Pouilly-Fuissé for instance. Most white wines in this region are made from Chardonnay grapes. This red wine is made from Gamay grapes. The wine has a beautiful ruby red colour, and it comes with aromas of black cherries and strawberries. A balanced wine with a touch of spiciness and nice tannins. Not too difficult and great with the various aspects of the dish. In general, we would suggest a red wine with fruit, freshness and character but not too complex.

What You Need

250 grams of Button Mushrooms or Cremini
Olive Oil
White Wine Vinegar
Parsley
Garlic Clove
Black Pepper

What You Do

Clean the mushrooms with kitchen paper. Slice the mushrooms, heat a heavy iron skillet and fry the mushrooms for a few minutes. Leave to cool. Combine excellent olive oil and white wine vinegar. Chop some parsley. Finely chop a garlic clove. Combine the mushrooms, the dressing, the parsley and the garlic. Add some black pepper. Leave in your refrigerator for 24 hours. Feel free to stir a few times.

Baba Au Mandarine Napoléon

27 April 2024

On April 27th, we celebrate the birthday of the King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The Dutch royal family is also known as ‘de Oranjes’, which is reflected in the use of the colour orange when referring to Dutch royalty. Actually, there is no link between the royal family and the colour. The ‘orange’ in their name refers to the French city of Orange, a Principality one of his ancestors inherited in 1544.

Over the years we prepared Orange Sabayon, Queen’s Soup, Orange and Almond Cake, Bouchée à la Reine, Orange Flan and Canard à l’Orange on this day. What better way to celebrate a birthday than baking a Baba, a flavourful and moist cake? Traditionally a Baba au Rhum (preferably with raisins or currents) is served with a syrup based on brown rum. Today we use a delicious Belgian liqueur: Mandarine Napoléon. It’s a unique mandarin liqueur, made from macerated Sicilian mandarins and cognac. It was originally created in 1892 by Napoleon’s physician. Rich, long, intense en delicious!

What You Need

10 large Baba’s
- 4 grams of dried Yeast
- 100 ml Milk
- 15 grams of Sugar
- 200 grams All Purpose Flour
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 2 Eggs
- 100 grams of Butter
- 80 grams of chopped Candied Orange Peel
- 2 grams of Salt
- Butter to coat the moulds
- Finely chopped Candied Orange Peel
Syrup
- 500 ml of Water
- 200 grams of Sugar
- 200 ml Mandarine Napoléon

What You Do

The milk should be lukewarm and the butter melted but not hot. Start by combining milk, yeast and sugar. Mix well. Add the sieved flour and mix. Now it’s time to add the eggs and the egg yolks. Use kneading hooks to mix very, very well. This may take 10 minutes. The result should be an elastic, sticky dough. Add the butter, mix and then add the salt. The dough is now even stickier. Coat the moulds with butter. Add the dough to the moulds and let rise for approximately 2 hours. They should double in size. Preheat your oven to 200 °C or 400 °F and bake for 15 minutes depending on the size. Keep an eye on the baba’s, you may want to reduce the heat after 10 minutes.
In the meantime add water and sugar to a pan. Warm the mixture until nearly boiling. Stir and make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Now add Mandarine Napoléon to taste. Leave to cool. Add an extra splash of Mandarine Napoléon to give the syrup an extra push. Allow the baba’s to cool somewhat, remove from the mould and let them soak in the syrup for a few hours, or longer. A day or two will be perfect, Sprinkle with finely chopped candied orange peel and serve at room temperature.

Panna Cotta with Agar

18 April 2024

A few days ago Suzanne’s Mom wrote about Piper McAloon. At 17 she became Pastry Chef at Foglia, an award-winning plant-based restaurant located in Bristol, Rhode Island. A truly inspiring story!
When asked what she is making right now, she mentioned Panna Cotta. At Foglia she makes a gluten-free version with agar. Which was something we wanted to do for a long time. We love Panna Cotta, but using gelatine (made from animals from the meat industry) is far from ideal. Agar is made from the cell walls of red algae. Popular throughout Asia and fortunately also available where we live.
We served our Panna Cotta with a coulis of red berries. Very tasty, but was it a real Panna Cotta? It didn’t seem as creamy as the version with gelatine. The texture was certainly different. The version with gelatine was smoother and firmer; more how we think panna cotta should feel in your mouth. We were happy with the result, but we’re not sure if we will use agar next time we’re preparing Panna Cotta. To be continued!

What You Need (for 4)

500 ml fresh Cream
1,5 grams of Agar (powder)
1 Vanilla Bean
30 grams of Sugar

What You Do

Add the agar, the seeds of the vanilla bean and the sugar to the cream. Mix very well, the agar must to be completely dissolved. Bring to the boil on slow/medium heat. Stir frequently. Keep close to boiling for 1 or 2 minutes. Continue stirring. Transfer to a water bath with cold water. Cool the liquid somewhat before filling the forms. This is where you need to be careful. Gelatine gels at a lower temperature than agar. You need to transfer the mixture when it’s relatively warm. Use silicone molds; they work very well panna cotta. Let cool and then store in the refrigerator. Don’t forget to seal with cling foil, otherwise your panna cotta will absorb aromas from other food in the refrigerator.

PS

Cook the red berries in some water for perhaps 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a sieve and use the back of a spoon to squeeze out the liquid. Add sugar and lemon juice to taste. Reduce the liquid somewhat. Let cool. You could also start by blending the berries. This makes squeezing out the liquid easier plus you will get a richer taste and some bitterness.

Asparagus!

11 April 2024

End of March, Mid April, depending on the weather, hurray!, it’s the beginning of the white asparagus season in the Netherlands (and many other countries). We simple love them!

One of the classic ways of serving white asparagus is with melted butter, boiled eggs, ham and parsley. Enjoying them this way, allows you to taste the slight bitterness and sweetness of the asparagus. The butter and egg bring a velvety feeling to your pallet, and the parsley and white pepper give a touch of sharpness to the dish. In this case we prefer a dry Muscat from the Alsace. A delicate, slightly sweet but dry taste, the smell of fresh fruit.

Combining white asparagus with scrambled eggs makes a lot of sense, especially if you add just a handful of shrimps. The salty, intense taste in balance with the very rich eggs and the asparagus is a very clever idea. The chives in the scrambled eggs lift the dish to a higher level. Enjoy with a Pinot Blanc from the Alsace.

Sauce Gribiche is made with capers, cornichons, and chives. The freshness works very well with the taste of the asparagus. A dish that requires a bit of work, but the result is delicious. Enjoy with a glass of Macon. The wine, made with 100% chardonnay grapes should bring gentle acidity, fruitiness and a floral aroma.

Another exciting combination was created by Johnny Acton and Nick Sandler and is included in their classic book Mushrooms (published by Kyle Books and still available via for instance Amazon and other channels). It’s about three seasonal products: asparagus, morels and wild garlic. To be enjoyed with a full-bodied white wine with a fine acidity.

White Asparagus with Scrambled Eggs and Shrimps © cadwu

White Asparagus with Morels and Ramson © cadwu

Salad of White Asparagus and Chervil © cadwu

White Asparagus with Ham, Egg, Potatoes and Parsley ©cadwu

White Asparagus, Chives, Shrimps and Eggs © cadwu

Caponata

4 April 2024

This very tasty dish originates from Sicily and is a mixture of chopped and fried vegetables. Eggplant (Aubergine), Tomatoes, Celery, rRed Onion and Green Olives are the main ingredients. The vegetables are prepared and served in an agrodolce sauce, so sweet and sour. Although we’re not keen on using sugar in a salad, in this case the combination of sugar and vinegar is perfect.
Perhaps the ingredients make you think of Ratatouille. Caponata and Ratatouille are very different dishes. Capanota is about fried vegetables, about crunchy celery, about sweet and sour.

Food and Wine Pairing

We served our Caponata with a roulade of pork with sage, rosemary, pancetta, black olives and black garlic. A dish we enjoyed with a glass of Barbera del Monferrato 2022, produced by Livio Pavese. In general, we suggest a full-bodied red wine with perhaps a touch of oak. Some acidity to balance the caponata and dark fruit (plums, blueberries).

The next day we served the Caponata with a roulade of chicken with pancetta, Parmesan Cheese and sage. A dish we enjoyed with a glass of Spätburgunder from the Pfalz area in Germany. In general, we suggest a medium bodied red wine with aromas of red fruit. Medium tannins and balanced acidity. Its taste dry, aromatic, fruity, juicy with a touch of strawberry.

You could also add some canned tuna and serve the Caponata with crusted bread as a starter, perhaps accompanied with charcuterie and a glass of Crémant or Prosecco.

What you Need (recipe for 4)

2 Aubergines
400 grams excellent ripe Tomatoes
10 Green Olives
Capers
30 grams Tomato Puree
4 gloves of Garlic
4 small Red Onions
3 stalks Celery
Tablespoon of Caster Sugar
Tablespoon of White Wine Vinegar
Black Pepper.

What You Do

Best to prepare Caponata one day ahead.
Wash the vegetables. Slice the eggplant lengthwise in 8 and then in chunks. Drizzle with salt and mix. Put the chunks in a sieve and let rest above a bowl for one or two hours. Coarsely chop the onion. Quarter the tomatoes. Remove the internal hard bits and the pits and put these aside. Slice the outer part of the tomato lengthwise in three. Roughly cut the remainder of the tomatoes, add to a sieve and use the back of a spoon to capture the juices. Coarsely chop the garlic. Halve the olives. Use a knife to peel the back of the celery stalks, or ribs. Slice. Combine the tomato puree, black pepper, the caster sugar, the vinegar and the tomato juice. Set your oven to 140 °C or 285 °F. Discard the liquid of the eggplants, wash of the salt, dry with kitchen paper and fry the chunks in a generous amount of olive oil until golden. Transfer to a baking tray in your oven. Fry the onions and the celery until somewhat translucent. Add these to the baking tray. Now add the olives, the capers, the garlic, the tomato mixture and the tomatoes. Mix. Perhaps add a splash of water. Cover the baking tray with aluminium foil. After 20 minutes it’s time to mix the vegetables. Check if you need to add extra water. After another 20 minutes, remove and discard the foil, mix and increase the temperature to 160 °C or320 °F. Now you need to keep an eye on the mixture. It may take 10 to 20 minutes for the liquid to somewhat evaporate, but you don’t want the dish to become dry. When ready, let cool and transfer to the refrigerator.

Ottolenghi’s SIMPLE

28 March 2024

In 2017 during the Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food, Yotam Ottolenghi was awarded the prestigious Johannes Van Dam prize, in recognition of his contribution to the culinary tradition. The prize is named after Dutch culinary author and critic Johannes van Dam who was not only known for his reviews of restaurants but also for his massive collection of books on food and drinks. The jury, chaired by Professor Louise O. Fresco, mentioned his passion for vegetables and his talent to bring colour and flavours to his food. She also mentioned his influence on what we eat in general and how he made bold, tasty Mediterranean ingredients and food popular and accessible through his books.
Yotam Ottolenghi is a well-known and very successful chef, patron, restaurateur and cookbook author. If someone says, “This is a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi”, the suggestion is that the food will be exciting, colourful, vegetable focused, delicious and absolutely modern.
During one of the breaks, we leaved through his books. Great pictures, nice design, well written recipes and the food delectable. Perhaps we should buy one of his books?
For some reason we didn’t.

When Bernadette suggested to review SIMPLE, as part of her excellent series of cookbook reviews, we borrowed a copy and decided to make two recipes: Tofu and French beans with chraimeh sauce and Quick okra with sweet and sour dressing. The Tofu-dish is labelled with S, meaning it’s Short on Time. The Okra one is labelled with S and I, meaning it has 10 or less Ingredients and is Short on Time.

Tofu

The tofu dish is a combination of French beans, flour, tofu, sunflower oil, dill, black pepper, salt and coriander. The chraimeh sauce is made with garlic cloves, sweet paprika, caraway seeds, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, green chilli, sunflower oil, tomato paste, caster sugar and lime juice. The result is tasty and flavourful, although, honestly, we think it would be better to leave out the tofu. Then you would have a very nice side dish. The chraimeh sauce will probably combine very well with fish. The recipe for this dish was published in the Guardian.

Okra

We love okra, so we were keen to make the salad. It’s a combination of okra, olive oil, garlic cloves, red chilli, sweet chilli sauce, maple syrup, lime juice, sesame oil, coriander leaf and salted roasted peanuts. We didn’t add peanuts. The salad was very nice and balanced with lots of flavours. One to remember. This recipe was also published in the Guardian.

The Book

We enjoyed both dishes, but we haven’t bought SIMPLE for a number of practical reasons. For instance, the vast majority of the recipes requires you to preheat your oven to 180 °C or 200 °C. Not something you’d like to do on a regular basis if you cook for 2 persons as we do most days. Another practical point is the size of his books: they simply don’t fit in our bookcase. Fortunately he has published many recipes on his website and there are 60 videos available via his YouTube channel.

Should SIMPLE be on your shelf? Probably yes if you’re looking for very tasty dishes, clear instructions, inspirational combinations and beautiful pictures. But we could also imagine that you’re happy reading his weekly recipes in the Guardian! SIMPLE is available via your local bookstore or via the well known channels for 20 US$ or 26 Euro.

Tofu and French beans with Chraimeh Sauce ©cadwu

Quick Okra with Sweet and Sour Dressing ©cadwu

Wild Garlic

21 March 2024

From February to June, you can find Wild Garlic (Ramson(s) Daslook, Bear Leek, Ail des Ours, Bärlauch). It’s a shade-loving plant with beautiful white flowers that you can forage for in the woods or grow in your garden or on your balcony. If you decide to pick wild garlic, be careful not to pick its lookalike: the poisonous Lily of the Valley. Check if it’s wild garlic by grinding your fingers on the leaf. If you smell garlic and onion, you should be fine. If in doubt, don’t use it.
Wild garlic is much loved in Germany, Austria, France and other parts of Europe. The leaves and the flowers are edible (and so are the bulbs, but we haven’t tried these yet). Some sources mention that you should only eat the leaves before the plant starts flowering. But then you can’t combine the leaves and the tasty flowers in your dish, so we suggest ignoring that idea. The flowers are a touch sweet because of the honey. We suggest tasting the leaves and the flowers well before using. Adjust the quantities accordingly.
The taste is a bit like a combination of onion and garlic, but much greener, longer lasting and with a touch of bitterness at the end. Works very well as a pesto, but equally nice with potatoes or gnocchi. You can also add the leaves and the flowers to a salad, but we feel the taste benefits from some warmth. Be very careful when cooking wild garlic because the flavour deteriorates quickly and at its best becomes unpleasant and onion-like. However, it’s possible to prepare a very tasty wild garlic soup.

We use wild garlic in four dishes. One is Farfalle with a wild garlic-based pesto, the second is a soup and the third is with white asparagus with morels and is published in the excellent book Mushrooms by Johnny Acton and Nick Sandler.

The cheese we use on our potato-wild-garlic-mash is Vacherin Fribourgeois. It originates from the region around the Swiss city Fribourg. It’s a semi-hard, creamy cheese made with raw cow milk. It matures for some 10 weeks in a damp cellar. Its taste is aromatic, floral, full-bodied and lasting, with a touch of sweetness, bitterness and umami. Ideal to combine with gnocchi or an omelette. Unfortunately, it’s not a widely available cheese. We bought it at one of our favourite cheese shops. You could replace it with Gruyère or perhaps Emmenthaler.

We combined out potato-wild-garlic-mash with a nice steak, but you could also serve it with an excellent organic sausage, perhaps one with sage?

Wine Pairing

The combination of the rich and flavourful mash and the red meat suggests a red wine with sufficient acidity, structure and tannins. We decided to enjoy a glass of Le Jardin de Queyron Pindefleurs 2018, Saint-Emilion, made from 78% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. It’s an elegant wine with aromas of dark fruit, liquorice and toast. The wine was a perfect balance with the various flavours in the dish.

What You Need

Floury (Starchy) Potatoes
Milk or Cream
Butter
Pinch of Salt
Cheese
Wild Garlic

What You Do

Bring a pan of water with a pinch of salt to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook until tender. Transfer to a colander and drain. Return to the pan (on low heat) and allow to dry. Mash the potatoes using a fork or a potato masher. Add hot milk, or cream and (melted) butter. A few minutes before you serve the mash, coarsely chop the leaves and grate the cheese. Quickly add the cheese, mix, taste, adjust, perhaps some more, perhaps some black pepper and then add the chopped leaves. A few seconds later the mash is ready.

PS

Watch this video (in English) about a communal garden in a park in Amsterdam, featuring Lynn and her beloved daslook.

Small Artichokes (Carciofo Violetto)

14 March 2024

The season of artichokes depends on the variety and where you are based. In Italy it’s from mid-winter until early spring, in other countries from March to June, or September and October.
An artichoke should feel heavy, look fresh and the leaves should be closed. If the leaves are wide open, the artichoke is older and it could be dry with lots of choke (the hairs) and dry inner leaves.
The artichokes we use in this recipe are special. Not only are they vibrant purple, they are also small with hardly any choke. In Italy they are called Carciofo Violetto. Tasty as you would expect from an artichoke and easy to eat because the texture of the leaves is not stringy.

Wine Pairing

It’s not straightforward to pair artichokes with wine. According to various researchers this is due to cynarin, a chemical especially found in the leaves of the artichoke. When the wine and the cynarin meet in your mouth, the natural sweetness of the wine is enhanced, making it taste too sweet. Pair artichokes with a bone-dry, crisp, unoaked white wine with clear, present acidity. For instance, Sauvignon Blanc, Grüner Veltliner or Albariño.
The Carciofo Violetto artichoke in combination with the olive oil, Parmesan cheese and browned garlic (bitter, nutty) is less demanding when it comes to wine. We enjoyed it with a nice glass of Côtes de Provence rosé.

What You Need

Small purple Artichokes
Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Garlic
Parmesan Cheese

What You Do

Preheat your oven to 180 °C or 355 °F. Cook the artichokes for 5 minutes in boiling water. Allow to cool and remove the outer leaves. Be generous, it’s better to remove too many! Halve the artichokes and place them in a shallow oven dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Transfer to the oven for 5 minutes. In the meantime, grate Parmesan cheese, chop the garlic and mix. Spread the mixture on top of the artichokes. Wait for the cheese and the garlic to colour, perhaps 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

PS

Other recipes with artichokes you may like:

Small Artichokes (Carciofo Violetto) ©cadwu

Small Artichokes (Carciofo Violetto) with Parmesan and Garlic ©cadwu

The Art of Flavours

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

What You Need

What You Do

What You Need (for 4)

What You Do

PS

Food and Wine Pairing

What you Need (recipe for 4)

What You Do

Tofu

Okra

The Book

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

PS

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

PS