all year – Page 3 – Cook and Drink

Orange Parfait

26 April 2025

Today April 26th, we celebrate the birthday of the King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. Well actually, his birthday is tomorrow, but you can’t have a party on a Sunday, can you?
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. There is no real 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, Canard à l’Orange and Baba au Mandarine Napoléon on this day.

Today we finally have nice weather in the Netherlands, so let’s prepare something very special: a parfait of orange. The recipe we followed was published by Jeroen Meus, a well-known Belgian chef. He was inspired by Bernard Pacaud, a French chef who owns restaurant l’Ambroisie in Paris, awarded with three Michelin Stars.

Perfect

A (French) parfait is an ice cream made without churning, so no need for an ice cream maker. In this case the mixture is poured into an empty orange and frozen.
One of the components of a parfait is the combination of egg yolks and sugar, beaten until ruban. This means that the mixture has become pale yellow and soft. It should resemble Greek yoghurt.
The beaten egg whites will add lightness, as they do in mousse au chocolate.
Then it’s a matter of richness (cream), flavour (coffee, orange, mango, passion fruit et cetera) and sugar.
Making a parfait requires a number of parallel actions, but with the right mise-en-place it’s not difficult (although, to be fair, our kitchen was a bit of a mess).

Orange Parfait

The orange parfait as prepared by Jeroen Meus is a combination of:

Whipped Cream
Cooked Cream flavoured with Orange Peel
Whipped Egg White
Orange Juice
Mandarine Napoléon
Egg yolks and Sugar (beaten until ruban)
Gelatine
A salad of Oranges and Blood Grapefruit

Details can be found on the website of Jeroen Meus, including a helpful video (in Dutch).

Herb Roasted Chicken

24 April 2025

The first time we had chicken prepared this way was in a lovely restaurant in Vence, France. The restaurant was called Auberge des Seigneurs and offered a wide range of beautiful dishes from the days of King François I, such as blue trout, tian, chicken and lamb cooked on a spit before an open fire in the dining room. Ah, Madame Rodi, those culinary evenings, the wines from the Domaine de Rimauresq, and your infinite hospitality, dear memories.
The chicken was a special treat. It was juicy, tasty and rich. The chicken was rubbed on the inside with a very intense paste. A wonderful idea because the powerful rub flavoured the whole chicken, not just the outside. The result was aromatic, flavourful and light.
Since we don’t have a spit with an open fire at home, we had to find another way of roasting our chicken to perfection. An oven dish? A chicken sitter?
We think the best way to roast your chicken is using a baking rack over a roasting pan filled with water. The rack will guarantee an evenly cooked and golden chicken, the water helps keeping the meat juicy and the skin crispy.
We served our chicken with slow cooked fennel.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of red wine made with cabernet sauvignon grapes from the Pays D’Oc In France, produced by Abbotts & Delaunay. The wine is ruby red, it has aromas of dark fruit and the taste is long and velvety. Its fruitiness combines beautifully with the aromatic chicken.
In general we suggest an intense, fruity, easy to drink red wine.

What You Need

For the Rub
- 2 twigs of Rosemary
- 5 twigs of Thyme
- 3 leaves of Sage
- Salt
- Oil
Organic Chicken
Black Pepper
For the Fennel
- 1 Fennel
- Olive Oil
- Pastis (optional)

What You Do

Finely chop rosemary, thyme and sage
Transfer to a mortar, add a teaspoon of salt and make into a paste. It must be very aromatic and salty
Add some oil, just to make it a bit smoother
Rub the inside of the chicken
Tie the legs together with kitchen twine
Transfer the chicken to the refrigerator and allow to rest for a few hours (at least two)
Preheat your oven to 350 °F or 180 °C (with fan)
Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper
Add a layer of water to the roasting pan
Cook until golden and done. The internal temperature should be 165 °F or 75 °C. In general, a chicken needs 30 minutes per 500 grams
Allow to rest for 5 – 10 minutes
Serve on a warm plate with black pepper (and slow cooked fennel)

PS

Slice the fennel, add olive oil to a pan, add the fennel, put the lid on the pan and leave on low heat for an hour or so. Stir and check every 15 minutes. Add a splash of pastis to enhance the taste.
Normally we use the leftovers to make chicken stock. Due to the intensity of the rub this stock will be okay if you want to make Mediterranean flavoured soups, for instance one with zucchini.

Cod with Miso

3 April 2025

Marinating is such an interesting way of preparing food. It can be used to make food (meat) softer, to add flavour or colour, it can be acidic, it can be enzymatic, sometimes it requires only a few minutes, sometimes it takes days.

One of our favourite recipes by Antonio Carlucci is a salad made with maitake, fresh scallops, crab and shrimps. It’s an amazing result, with lots of pleasant flavours, also thanks to the cilantro, dill and parsley. Part of the fun is that the scallops are not seared but prepared with a marinade of lemon, a process that takes a few minutes only.

In this case we want to add flavour (and a bit of colour) to already very tasty cod. The duration depends on the shape of the fillet, in our case it was 30 minutes. You will taste delicious cod with a touch of umami and sweetness and you will smell the aromas of the marinade. The pickles will give the dish a crunchy and briny touch.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of our favourite sake: Junmai Taru Sake as produced by Kiku-Masamune. The sake is matured in barrels made of the finest Yoshino cedar, which is reflected in its aroma and flavor. The sake will clear your palate and allow for the more intense taste of the marinated cod.

If you decide to pair the dish with a white wine, then we suggest an aromatic, fresh and fruity wine, with aromas of citrus and apple. The wine should be uplifting and juicy with a light character.

What You Need

Fillet of Cod
1 tablespoon of Miso
1 tablespoon of Mirin
¼ tablespoon Soy Sauce (preferably with less salt)
½ tablespoon of Rice Vinegar
1 teaspoon of Mustard
1 teaspoon of Sesame Oil
Pickled Cucumber

What You Do

Combine miso, mirin, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and mustard. Be careful with the soy sauce, you’re looking for a balanced mixture.
Dry the cod and leave to marinate in the mixture for 30 minutes.
Transfer the cod without excess marinade and fry in a warm pan until done.
- The fish should be opaque and flaky. Its internal temperature 60 – 63 °C or 140 – 145 °F
- The sugars in the marinade burn easily, so the pan shouldn’t be too warm.
Serve on a warm plate with the pickles.

Variations

You can also prepare this dish with haddock (although it’s perhaps too delicate), ling or pollack.
If you want a spicier marinade, then add grated fresh ginger. Crushed cilantro seeds will add more depth to the taste.

Simple Apple Pie

27 March 2025

There is so much fun and creativity in baking! Just think about the aromas in your kitchen when you bake an apple pie, the positive vibes when you transfer it to a plate, the joy when sharing and eating it.
Baking can also be challenging, just think about techniques as tempering chocolate, but this apple pie is really simple. No spectacular ingredients and no complex skills required. Serve it with a cup of tea or coffee or as a dessert, perhaps with vanilla ice cream.

What You Need

The quantities depend on the size of your baking tin.

(tart) Apples
Cinnamon
Butter
Sugar
Puff Pastry

What You Do

Place butter in a pan and melt
Peel, core and chop apples.
Add apples, cinnamon and sugar to the pan
Cook for 20 – 30 minutes, stirring from time to time
The compote should not be runny, perhaps you need to reduce
Allow for the compote to cool (room temperature is fine)
Preheat oven to 200 °C or 390 °F
Line a baking tin with puff pastry.
Use a fork to poke holes in the pastry
Peel, core and slice apples
Add compote to the baking tin, covering the bottom
Add the sliced apples
Bake until golden

PS

Best is to use apples such as gala, granny smith, jonagold or braeburn. It may take a bit longer to make a compote with these apples, but they remain nice and firm when baking the pie.
Don’t use vanilla as ingredient of the compote. We feel it deteriorates the flavour of the apple. Cinnamon and sugar will be perfect.
If buying readymade (frozen) puff pastry, make sure it’s made with flour, butter, water and salt only.

Panna Cotta with Yuzu

13 March 2025

When you shop at an Asian supermarket, you will see many products with yuzu: ponzu, yuzu dressing, jelly with yuzu flavour, yuzu marmalade, yuzu soy sauce, yuzu tea and even yuzu skincare. Probably the shop will also sell fresh yuzu juice. And if you’re lucky, they will have the real thing: yuzu!

Yuzu (Citrus Junos) is a citrus fruit and it looks like a small lemon or clementine, with an uneven skin. It is of Chinese origin and it was introduced in Japan during the Nara period (710-794). It’s expensive (we saw them on the market for 5 euro a piece), they have lots of seeds and very little juice. The flavour is tart but gentle, very aromatic and will make you think of mandarin, only different. The peel is as delicious as the juice. The combination of flavors and fragrancy makes it a unique citrus. Not a fruit to eat on its own. Use it to add freshness and aroma to a dish or sauce.

Yuzu juice costs between 30 and 100 euro per liter (because of the small amount of juice per yuzu) and therefore products with yuzu tend to be expensive. If not, check the label and make sure it contains yuzu. Especially ponzu shoyu (made with mirin, rice vinegar, katsuobushi, kombu, yuzu and soy sauce) is often made with lemon.

We also noticed the term ‘yuzu style’ which is a clear indication no yuzu is used. We spotted a bottle of Yuzu Style Dressing. It contains mandarin, lemon, apple, vinegar and lots of other ingredients, but no yuzu.

We bought our yuzu at a farmers’ market and on our way back home we thought about things to make with it. Perhaps our own yuzu kosho (a paste made with chili, yuzu and salt)? Or combine it with miso and cod? Or yuzu syllabub (with cream and sugar)?

Why not panna cotta?

What You Need

500 ml Cream
30 ml Yuzu Juice
10 ml Lemon Juice
Yuzu Zest
25 grams of Sugar
3,5 leaves of Gelatine (5,25 grams)

What You Do (for 4)

Slowly bring the cream to the boil.
Keep close to boiling for 15 minutes. Stir when necessary.
Add the juice and some of the zest.
Remove from the heat and while stirring add sugar until totally dissolved.
Follow the instruction of the gelatine and add the leaves.
Stir well until homogeneous.
Cool the liquid somewhat before filling the forms. We used a silicone mold. Nice and easy! The only thing you need to do is to make the mold a bit moist with water.
Let the panna cotta cool and then store in the refrigerator until set.
Don’t forget to seal with cling foil, otherwise your panna cotta will absorb aromas from other food in the refrigerator.
Decorate with yuzu zest.

PS

If you can’t find yuzu or find them too expensive, then use 30 ml Lemon Juice and 10 ml Mandarin (or Clementine) Juice.
The amount of gelatine you need is a bit tricky. The acidity of the yuzu will thicken the cream and it will reduce the gelling effect of the gelatine. We decided to use the normal quantity.

Mushroom Balls

6 March 2025

We were asked to prepare a vegetarian main dish for a buffet style dinner. We immediately knew what we wanted to cook: mushroom balls and oven baked vegetables. Tasty and colourful. Could we make it gluten free? Which in this case means not adding breadcrumbs to the mushroom mixture, so we needed to think about an alternative. We tried well cooked rice, but that didn’t do the trick. Next idea was to blender the rice and make a very sticky paste. It did what we hoped it would do: the mushrooms balls are firm, but not dense. Great! Plus, they go very well with the vegetables!

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of French Malbec with the Mushroom Balls. In general you’re looking for a long, full bodied red wine, smooth, with hints of berries and ripe dark fruit.

What You Need

25 grams of dried Porcini
150 grams of fresh Mushrooms (Button Mushrooms, Shiitake)
1 Shallot
2 cloves of Garlic
1 sprig of fresh Oregano
2 sprigs of Thyme
1 sprig of Rosemary
1 sprig of Sage
40 grams of Rice
½ beaten Egg
Parmesan Cheese
Black Pepper

What You Do

Boil the rice in water (with a pinch of salt) or in vegetable stock for 40 minutes. The rice should be thoroughly cooked.
Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and check for sand.
Chop the shallot and fry in oil until translucent.
Clean the fresh mushrooms, chop, add to the pan and fry on a higher heat.
When the mushrooms are somewhat fried, add the chopped garlic for five minutes. Be careful not to colour the garlic.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow to cool.
Chop the soaked mushrooms. Add to the mixture.
Use a kitchen knife to chop all herbs and then add these to the mixture.
Blender half of the rice until it’s a sticky paste.
Add remaining rice, paste and a relatively large amount of pepper to the mixture.
Beat ½ egg and grate a generous amount of Parmesan Cheese.
Add cheese and egg to the mixture.
Pulse with a blender. The mixture should have granularity.
Taste and add pepper and/or Parmesan if necessary.
Allow the mixture to cool and transfer to the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C or 355 °F.
Use your hands to make balls, line a rack with baking paper and place the balls on the paper.
Bake for 15-25 minutes until the balls are slightly coloured and firm.
Allow to cool and leave for a few hours at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 160 °C or 320 °F.
Bake mixed, chopped vegetables (beetroot, parsnips, sweet potato, potato, butternut squash, parsley root, kohlrabi) by placing them in a large oven dish with plenty of olive oil and sprigs of rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram in the oven for 20 minutes under aluminium foil at 160 °C or 320 °F and then 15-20 minutes at 180 °C or 355 °F without foil.
Warm the mushroom balls in the oven in a separate oven dish.
Combine just before serving.
If gluten are okay, use half the rice (no need to make the sticky paste) and add breadcrumbs. The mixture will firmer and drier, so perhaps use 1 egg.

PS

This recipe is for two. The picture shows the result of the recipe times 2.

King Oyster Mushrooms

27 February 2025

The King Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus Eryngii, also known as Eryngi, King Trumpet Mushroom, Pleurote de Panicaut and Seta de Cardo) is a very tasty, large oyster mushroom with a great meaty texture.
One of its Dutch names is intriguing: Kruisdisteloesterzwam. The name consists of two parts: the second half is obvious, but why the reference to a plant called Kruisdistel? The King Oyster Mushroom is a parasite on the roots of plants, in general on herbaceous plants and especially on the roots of the Kruisdistel (Eryngium campestre) which brings us nicely back to the name Eryngi.
We often buy Eryngi at our local Asian Supermarket, so we assumed the mushroom is native to China or Japan. Much to our surprise it turns out to be a native to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and North Africa. Its Italian name is Cardoncello and it’s common in regions such as Calabria and Puglia. Cardoncello is combined with tomatoes and served with orecchiette. Sounds like a delicious dish to us!
But it does raise the question why they’re often sold in Asian supermarkets and why so many recipes combine it with Asian ingredients. Anyone?
We decided to combine Eryngi with very different ingredients, including fried polenta and grilled pancetta. The result is a delicious combination with lots of textures and flavours.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed the combination with a glass of Rosé, produced by Lionel Osmin, from the Fronton area just north of the French city of Toulouse. The grape used to make this wine was the négrette, a grape that has been used to produce red and rosé wines in the Fronton region since perhaps the 12^th century. The wine was low in acidity and had aromas such as violet and strawberry. It was a supple, fruity, balanced wine. In general we would suggest a relatively easy wine, but the wine must have sufficient character, thinking of the different flavours in the dish.

What You Need

For the Mash
- Green Peas
- Parsley
- Olive Oil
- White Pepper
- Pinch of Salt
For the Fried Polenta
- Polenta
- (optional) Parmesan Cheese
- (optional) Vegetable Stock
For the Mushrooms
- King Oyster Mushrooms
- Olive Oil
- Black Pepper
Pancetta or Speck

What You Do

Cook the polenta (in vegetable stock) according to the package until ready. You could add Parmesan Cheese.
Pour the polenta onto a plate and smooth it into an even layer (1,5 centimetres) with a spatula.
Cool to room temperature.
Cover with plastic foil and transfer to the refrigerator for use the next day.
Cook the peas for one or two minutes in water or vegetable stock (preferred). They should have a bite.
Chop the parsley and combine drained peas with parsley, white pepper and a pinch of salt.
Blender. Add olive oil and mix. Taste and adjust. The mash can be prepared in advance.
Turn out the polenta onto a cutting board.
Cut it into a shape you like (strips, triangles, circles).
Fry in a generous amount of relatively hot olive oil in a non-stick pan until golden, probably 2*3 minutes.
In parallel clean the mushroom and slice (not too thin). Some suggest slicing the mushroom horizontally, but then you lose its impressive shape.
Fry in olive oil until golden brown, probably 2*5 minutes.
Add just a hint of black pepper before serving.
Warm the mash.
Also in parallel: grill speck or pancetta for 3 minutes until crispy.
Assemble and serve on a warm plate.

Tourtes de Blettes Sucrée

20 February 2025

A sweet pie with vegetables, Parmesan cheese and black pepper? It does sound a bit odd but actually the pie is very tasty and the savoury ingredients support the sweet character of the pie.
The pie is made with Blette, also known as Swiss Chard, Leaf Beet, Silver Beet, Spinach Beet, Bietola (Italy), Bléa (France), Acelga (Spain), Krautsteil (Germany, Switzerland) and Snijbiet (the Netherlands). Once a popular vegetable, it can be hard to find or expensive. When preparing a savoury Tourte de Blettes we used Water Spinach (also known as Kang Koen or Ong Choy) which is a very popular vegetable in Asia. The leaves have lots of structure and the (hollow) stems are tasty and crunchy.

As you would expect with a classic pie like this, recipes vary, Very often the tourte is made with sweet shortcrust pastry (butter, eggs, sugar and sometimes orange blossom water). The filling contains chard, Parmesan cheese, sugar, eau de vie, raisins, eggs, apples and pine nuts. We’re not keen on using pine nuts, so we didn’t add these to our filling. We thought it would be nice to add the orange blossom aroma to the filling, not to the pastry.

What You Need (Pastry)

50 grams of White Caster Sugar
100 grams of soft Unsalted Butter
½ Egg (beaten)
1 gram of Salt
150 grams of All Purpose Flour
Cold Water (if the pastry is dry)

What You Do

Adding egg to the dough makes its flavour richer and easier to handle when lining the baking tin. Start by combining the sugar and the butter. Use a hand mixer with kneading hooks. When mixed, add halve of the beaten egg. Combine salt and flour. Pass through a sieve and add to the mixture. Use the kneading hooks to mix. When done, remove from the bowl and wrap in foil. Store in the refrigerator for at least two hours. The dough freezes well, so it’s a great idea to make a bit extra.

What You Need (Filling)

500 grams of Chard
Handful of Raisins
25 grams of Parmesan Cheese
50 grams of Sugar
1 or 2 teaspoons of Orange Blossom Water
Black Pepper
1 Egg
Olive Oil
½ Sour Apple (Bramley, Goudrenet)

What You Do

Wash the chard, remove and discard the stems.
Coarsely slice the leaves.
Whisk the egg.
Soak the raisins for 15 minutes in water (or rum). Pat dry.
Peel and slice the apple into small cubes.
Combine chard, raisins, grated cheese, sugar, orange blossom water, black pepper and a splash of olive oil. Be generous with the black pepper and the cheese. Mix.
Add the beaten egg and mix.
Divide the pastry in two.
Line a baking tin with the pastry, prick holes in the pastry using a fork (docking).
Add the filling, sprinkle with apple cubes, top with the remaining pastry and close.
Prick holes in the pastry. Or apply the method of Cornish pasty, as we did.
Bake in the oven at 180 °C or 355 °F for 30 minutes.
Allow to rest on an oven rack.
Best to be enjoyed the next day, so you must be a little patient.
Dust with icing sugar.

PS

We must admit we took a short cut by using readymade Pâte Brisée. This is shortcrust pastry, without sugar. Perhaps it’s a good idea to reduce the amount of sugar in the pastry or skip it all together!

Slice of Tourte de Blettes Sucrée ©cadwu

Mushrooms and Miso

23 January 2025

Shiitake is becoming more and more available. It has a unique flavour, savoury, meaty, earthy and it is rich in umami. The name is a combination of shii (a tree native to Japan and Korea, also known as the Japanese Chinquapin) and take (meaning mushroom, as in matsutake and maitake). The mushroom grows on decaying wood, not only on shii but also on other trees such as oaks and chestnuts. It’s fun to buy a shiitake log and grow your own mushrooms.
In this dish we combine shiitake and oyster mushrooms. These two have very different structures, which adds value to the dish.

Wine Pairing

Enjoy your Mushrooms with Miso with a lightly oaked chardonnay. The oakiness of the wine will match well with the umami and miso flavours. The richness of the chardonnay will be very nice with the mushrooms.

What You Need

100 grams Shiitake
100 grams Oyster Mushrooms
Fresh Ginger
One Garlic Clove
One Scallion
Miso
Mirin
Soy Sauce (light)
Olive Oil
Black pepper

What You Do

Remove the stem of the shiitake, slice the caps and tear the oyster mushrooms. Fry in olive oil. Add thinly sliced white of the scallion. Add chopped garlic. Combine a teaspoon of miso with one tablespoon of mirin and one tablespoon of light soy sauce. If using thicker soy sauce, add some water. Mix and taste. It should be both salty and umami. Add some of the mixture to the mushroom. Coat the mushrooms with the miso mixture. Add more mixture if required. Be careful, you don’t want a sauce. When ready to serve add some black pepper, freshly grated ginger, the thinly sliced green of the scallion. Combine and serve.

PS

Don’t throw the stems away! Simply add them to a pan with water, bring to a boil and leave to simmer for 30-60 minutes. Strain and store the broth. It freezes well.

Your Favourites in 2024

2 January 2025

Happy New Year!
Let’s begin the new year with the 2024 highlights. For the past two years your favorite post was No-Knead Bread, This year’s most popular post was an all time favorite: Kimizu. This classic, golden sauce from Japan, is made with Egg Yolks, Rice Vinegar, Water and Mirin. We also have a version with Tarragon, let’s say the Béarnaise version of Kimizu. Although it is a classic sauce, we use a microwave to prepare Kimizu and Kimizu with Tarragon. An easy and very effective way of controlling temperature and consistency.

This year’s runner up is Scallops with Roe, a recipe we published in January 2023. We were inspired by the great quality of the scallops on the market in Nice and we were not disappointed. The combination of scallops, roe and mashed potatoes is simple and delicious.

On August 19th 2024 Michel Guérard passed away. He was a French chef, author, one of the founders of the Nouvelle Cuisine and the inventor of La Cuisine Minceur. We wrote about his version of sauce vierge and combined it with sea bass and with skate. Very happy to see so many people interested in this post.

You’ve probably noticed we love mushrooms. Cultivated ones, like Shiitake, Oyster Mushrooms, Enoki and Champignons de Paris and seasonal ones, such as Morels, St. George’s mushroom and Caesar’s Mushroom. One of the most popular posts is Cèpes à la Bordelaise. Also very tasty when prepared with button mushrooms. Always a pleasure to serve, for instance with eggs, with meat, with more present fish. Last year we created a special page with an overview of our mushroom recipes.

We were very impressed by the exhibition Food For Thought by Kadir van Loohuizen in the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. Let’s summarize it by quoting Ralph Dahlhaus, Chef of the National Maritime Museum: “Your choice of food does not need to be perfect, but it must be responsible.”

We continued our series of Sauces. One of your favorites is another classic sauce: Ravigote. We served the sauce with Pâté de Tête Persillé and crusted bread. The recipe we posted goes back to the more or less original version: the Ravigote is light, uplifting and flavorful.

This year we are looking forward to the Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food on June 5^th and 6^th. This year’s topic is Food and the City. The symposium takes place in the 750th anniversary year of the city of Amsterdam. The symposium will be organized during an exhibition on the history of food culture in Amsterdam, from April 11^th until September 7^th 2025 in the Allard Pierson.