Michiel and Jeen

Asparagus with Chervil

6 June 2024

One of the classic ways of serving asparagus is à la Flamande (Op Vlaamse wijze) with melted butter, boiled eggs, parsley and nutmeg. The mixture of melted butter and egg is like a sauce, delicious with the asparagus. In this case we add lots of chopped chervil to the mixture of melted butter and eggs, making it a light combination of bitter, crunchy and sweet (the asparagus) and velvety, anise-flavoured and savory (the mixture).

Wine Pairing

Serve the asparagus with a dry, white wine, for instance a glass of Silvaner produced by the German Winery Thörle. The wine comes with freshness, some acidity, minerality and fruit (pear, green apples). Excellent with our asparagus. A dry muscat will also be perfect.
We decided to take a different approach and balance the lightness in the dish with a Portuguese white wine, made from chardonnay grapes and aged for 4 months in oak barrels. It is produced by Casa Ermelinda, a winery some 20 kilometers south of Lisbon in the Setúbal region with over 550 hectares of vineyards and 29 different grape varieties. The barrel aged chardonnay is Intense and comes with a complex bouquet of exotic fruits. The wine is balanced, fresh, elegant and long..

What You Need

4 Asparagus per person
2 Eggs
Chervil
Butter
White Pepper

What You Do

We use our Russel and Hobbs food steamer to prepare the asparagus. An essential kitchen aid for only 50 euro or US dollar.
Clean and peel the asparagus. Put butter in a cup. Steam them for 10+5+5 minutes. After 10 minutes add the eggs to the steamer basket. After 5 minutes, turn the eggs upside down and place the cup in the steamer basket. Another 5 minutes later everything is ready. Chop the chervil. Peel the egg and mash with a fork, creating a ‘mimosa’ of egg. Combine mimosa and chervil. Add some white pepper. Add the butter to the mixture and combine. Spoon the egg mixture on top of the asparagus.

Asparagus a la Flamande ©cadwu — Asparagus with Chervil ©cadwu

Thank You Betty’s!

1 June 2024

Last Friday Restaurant Betty’s in Amsterdam closed its doors after more than 35 years. Betty’s was the place to go if you wanted to enjoy delicious vegetarian food and excellent Vin Nature. The restaurant served a three course surprise meal. Each course was a culinary journey around the world and existed of five or more dishes, each one tasteful and interesting, eloquently introduced by Gido. In 1988 he and his mother Rifka started the restaurant. Rifka specialised in vegan cakes and Gido focused on savoury dishes. Later Gido and Lien transformed Betty’s into a petit bistro. A place where you could enjoy delicious food. The music and ambience were peaceful and relaxing. No rush, take your time, talk about the food and wine with Gido, have a chat with Lien about the spices from Olivier Roellinger, about their choice of organic, local ingredients, their self imported Greek olive oil.
We enjoyed so many delicious dishes, for instance:

guacamole made with yoghurt, lime juice and roasted bell pepper
date caramelised in salted butter with chili peppers
borek with spinach, potato and garam masala
slow cooked ratatouille
saffron milk caps with artichoke and reduced tomatoes
potatoes fried in mustard seed oil with chili peppers, fennel seed and dill, and of course their
warm sticky toffee pudding
chocolate-chocolate cake and the superb
raspberry and white chocolate cake.

Everything homemade and super fresh, always served with love and attention.
Thank you, Gido and Lien, for so many wonderful evenings!

Coq au Vin

29 May 2024

A classic French dish and one of our favorites. Warm, rich and full of flavors. Obviously the dish is about two ingredients: chicken and wine. Use (organic) chicken, preferably with the bone, so a whole chicken, legs or drumsticks. A classic Coq au Vin is made with Bourgogne (Burgundy), a relatively expensive red wine from France made from Pinot Noir grapes. According to some people the wine you use for the stew must also accompany the dish. Which would mean that some of your beautiful Bourgogne ends up in the stew. Not the best idea! We think that the background of this ‘rule’ is about the quality of the wine you use for the stew: in this case you’re looking for a nice, medium bodied red wine with aromas of dark fruit; one you would be perfectly happy to drink. So not some left over red wine, or a wine you didn’t like. A perfect stew requires quality ingredients, that’s all.
Earlier we thickened the sauce using mushrooms; in this version we use Beurre Manié, the combination of butter and flour, which gives the sauce a rich, velvety feel.

Wine Pairing

We decided to open a bottle of Merlot, produced by Le Fat Bastard. An easy to drink red wine with the right aromas and a hint of wood. Worked beautifully with the richness of the sauce, the depth of the mushrooms and obviously the chicken!

What You Need

4 Drumsticks
Slice of Pancetta or Bacon
10 Pearl Onions
100 grams Button Mushrooms
2 Garlic Gloves
1 Carrot
Chicken Stock
Red Wine
Bouquet Garni (Bay Leaf, Parsley, Thyme, Rosemary)
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Soft Butter
Flour

What You Do

Cube the strip of pancetta or bacon in, peel the onions, slice and quarter the carrot, peel and finely chop the garlic. Add olive oil to a warm heavy pan. Begin by frying the pancetta or bacon until crispy. Remove from the pan and let drain on kitchen paper. Add (whole) pearl onions and carrot to the pan and fry until golden. Remove from the pan and let drain on kitchen paper. Add chicken to the pan and fry until golden. When golden add the garlic and fry for 3 minutes on medium heat. Add pancetta, carrot and onions back to the pan. Add chicken stock and red wine. The chicken should be nearly covered. Add bouquet garni and leave to simmer on low heat for 45-60 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.
Clean the mushrooms with kitchen paper and fry them gently in a skillet. Remove chicken and bouquet garni from the pan. Transfer the chicken to an oven at 60 °C or 140 °F. Discard the bouquet. Reduce the liquid. Use a fork to combine 20 grams of butter with 20 grams of flour (or more of both, depending on the amount of liquid). Add the Beurre Manié to the liquid, stir and allow to simmer and thicken for some 15 minutes. Return the chicken to the sauce, add the fried mushrooms, black pepper and allow to integrate for 5 minutes. Serve with a fresh green salad (a vinaigrette of olive oil, white wine vinegar and Dijon mustard will be great) and crusted bread.

Sea Snails

23 May 2024

A Thursday afternoon, we were chatting to our fish monger when he pointed us at something new and would we like to try it? He pointed at Purple Dye Murex or Spiny Dye Murex. In Dutch these sea snails are called Brandhoren of Stekelhoren, in German Herkuleskeule or Brandhorn, in French Murex Épineux or Murex Tinctorial, in Spanish Cañaílla and in Catalan Corn Amb Pues.
The name is intriguing. The French ‘tinctorial’ and the English ‘purple dye’ clearly refer to the milky secretion of the snails. When exposed to air it turns into a powerful and lasting dye, which was used in ancient times to produce purple. You would need lots and lots of snails to get a decent amount of dye, hence the fact that purple is still associated with royalty, dignity and being expensive.
The German name Herkuleskeule refers to Hercules. One day our hero was walking his dog on the beach when the dog bit on a sea snail. The dog’s mouth turned purple and that’s how purple dye was discovered. We love stories like this!
A painting by Peter Paul Rubens shows this scene on the beach, although the snail in the painting looks more like an escargot.

Back to our culinary world. The sea snail is popular in Spain and Catalonia, so we think it’s best to combine a portion of snails with other food (for instance smoked almonds, chorizo, olives, manchego, pimientos de padrón) and serve as tapas.
Another option is to add the snails to a stew but then you wouldn’t see the impressive shells.
We decided to combine the sea snails with a vinaigrette. A tasty, simple combination.
Next time we will combine the Purple Dye Murex with aioli because we think the snails can do with a more velvety sauce.

Wine Pairing

A glass of Cava, a cold beer or a glass of Vinho Verde will be wonderful. The wine shouldn’t be too complex, and it should bring sufficient acidity to the dish.

What You Need

For the snails
- 200 grams of Purple Dye Murex
- Small shallot
- Thyme
- One Garlic Clove
- White wine
- One bay leaf
For the dressing
- Excellent Olive Oil
- White Wine Vinegar
- Lemon Juice
- French Mustard
- Red Onion

What You Do

Ask your fish monger if the snails are clean
If not, you will have to soak them a number of times for a few hours in salty water
Heat a pan with water and add chopped shallot, thyme, chopped garlic, bay leaf and wine
After 15 minutes add the snails
Allow to simmer for between 10 to 30 minutes. We cooked our snails for 20 minutes, but that was perhaps too long. Ask your fish monger for advice
In the meantime, finely chop the small red onion and make a vinaigrette
Allow the snails to cool until lukewarm or at room temperature
Serve with the vinaigrette and other tapas

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!
In general eating raw mushrooms is not a good idea. Some mushrooms contain mycotoxin that could be carcinogenic to humans. If you want to be 100% sure, it’s best to cook your mushrooms (and forget about this delicious salad!).
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 of egg 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
Alternatively 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.