Category: starter

The Art of Sauces: Gribiche

10 June 2020

This is a classic French sauce, made with boiled egg yolks, oil, various herbs (chives, chervil, parsley, tarragon), cornichons and capers. Sauce Gribiche is ideal with cold meat and fish. It’s a great combination of flavours and textures, also thanks to the chopped egg white.
As with mayonnaise the oil you use is an important ingredient. The range of flavours in Sauce Gribiche allows you to use a combination of oils, depending on the dish it should accompany. For instance olive oil when you’re looking for a more powerful sauce or arachis (peanut) oil when the sauce should be more delicate.
In this case we use chives only because especially tarragon would be too much for the asparagus. Chives give it a touch of onion, which is exactly what the sauce needs.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our Asparagus with sauce Gribiche with a glass of Macon (Louis Jadot Mâcon Villages Grange Magnien). The wine (100% chardonnay) comes with some gentle acidity and minerality, which is great with the acidity of the Sauce Gribiche. It’s fruity with a floral scent.

What You Need
  • Sauce Gribiche
    • Two Eggs
    • Dijon Mustard (1 teaspoon)
    • Olive Oil (100 ml)
    • (White Wine) Vinegar (1 tablespoon)
    • Black Pepper
    • Chives
    • Cornichon
    • Capers (in brine)
  • Asparagus
What You Do
  1. Boiling the eggs, making sure the yolk is completely set. Depending on the size add them to boiling water and leave them in simmering water for 12 minutes. We steamed them for 15 minutes
  2. Cool quickly, peel and separate the white from the yolk.
  3. Cut the white in very small bits and store
  4. Push the egg yolk through a sieve. It should be a powder-like substance
  5. Add the mustard and stir well until it’s a smooth paste
  6. Continue stirring and very slowly add the olive oil, as if making a mayonnaise. Which is basically what you’re doing anyway! Main difference is that cooked yolk is less powerful when it comes to emulsifying. So the amount of olive oil you can add is limited and the process is more challenging
  7. Once you’ve added the olive oil, add white wine vinegar, whisk, taste and decide if more mustard, vinegar or pepper is needed.
  8. Add the chopped egg white, the finely chopped chives, the drained and chopped capers and the thinly sliced cornichon
  9. The sauce should be ‘stable’ so feel free to store in the refrigerator.
  10. Steam or cook the white asparagus and enjoy!
PS

It’s actually a very tricky sauce, one that splits easily. If it does, no worries, just add a tea spoon of (home made) mayonnaise and the problem is solved.

Ingredients of Asparagus with Sauce Gribiche © cadwu
Sauce Gribiche with White Asparagus © cadwu

Halibut Marinated in White Miso

27 May 2020

Saikyo Yaki

Grilling is an art in its own right in Japan. A simple way is Shioyaki: the fish is salted, left to chill overnight and grilled the next day. An essential element of a Japanese breakfast, together with pickled plums (Umeboshi),  sweet yet savoury omelet (Tamagoyaki), rice, a bowl of miso soup and green tea. As you can imagine a traditional Japanese breakfast is rather nutritious and packed with flavours.

A well known grilling method is Teriyaki: the fish is marinated in a combination of soy sauce, mirin and sake for a few hours and then grilled, with the fish dipped in the sauce several times during the grilling process.

Another way is Saikyo Yaki: the fish is marinated in Saikyo miso for 5 days and then grilled. Saikyo miso is a white, slightly sweet, low sodium miso from Kyoto. The marinated and grilled fish is served with pickled ginger. Originally a way to preserve the fish, it’s now much liked because of the umami and the intriguing combination of flavours and aromas.

Sake Pairing

Best served with dry sake. We prefer Junmai Taru Sake as produced by Kiku-Masamune. The sake is matured in barrels made of the finest Yoshino cedar. The aroma has indeed clear hints of cedar. The sake will clear your palate and allow for a more intense taste of the marinated halibut.

What You Need

  • Two slices of fresh halibut (thin is best)
  • White Miso (preferable with less salt)
  • Pickled Ginger or Cucumber
  • Karashi (Japanese mustard)

What You Do

Start four or five days in advance. Coat the halibut with miso making sure the halibut is fully coated. Cover with foil and transfer to the fridge. Check on a daily basis if the fish is still covered.
Using a small spoon carefully remove most of the miso. Rinse the halibut with water and dry with kitchen paper. The white flesh should now be slightly orange. Heat a non sticky pan until warm, but not hot, through and through. If too hot, the fish will burn. We set our induction hob to 6 (where 9 is the maximum). Add a bit of olive oil and then fry the fish for 2*2 minutes. Serve on a warm plate with pickles and karashi.

 

Fried Halibut Marinated in White Miso © cadwu
Halibut Marinated in White Miso © cadwu
White Miso © cadwu

Tisane of Rosemary

20 May 2020

Pruning is perhaps not the easiest thing to do, but with thyme, lavender and rosemary it’s not too difficult. They only downside is that after having pruned the plants you have a huge bundle of (in our case) rosemary. What to do? You could dry the rosemary and make flavoured oil or vinegar. But how to make use of lots of fresh rosemary?
This tisane of rosemary is a very delicate and powerful yet light and vibrant infusion. The tisane combines the aromatic flavours of the fresh rosemary with the stock. It’s all about rosemary, but in a surprisingly complex way. The edible flowers add an extra dimension to the tisane.
It’s best served in a small cup, size double espresso. It goes well between two more substantial dishes because it works as a palate cleaner. You could also serve it between two very different dishes.

The fun in preparing is that you need to find the right balance between the strength of the stock and the rosemary. Timing is also important. It simply requires some trial-and-error.

What You Need
  • Strong chicken or vegetable stock, preferably home made
  • Fresh Rosemary
What You Do

Heat the stock to 80° Celsius or 175° Fahrenheit. Warmer will make the tisane bitter. Now use the leaves (needles) of the rosemary and find out how many you need for let’s say 100 millilitre. Take 4 gram and set your alarm to 2 minutes. Remove the rosemary and taste. Too bitter: try again and set the alarm to 80 seconds. Not strong enough: increase the number of needles. Not intense enough: try 140 seconds. Keep testing until you have the perfect result!
Decorate with one or two rosemary flowers; their sweetness and colour adds value.

Rosemary © cadwu
Tisane of Rosemary (strong) © cadwu
Tisane of Rosemary (light) © cadwu

 

Risotto with Beetroot and Gorgonzola

13 May 2020

Contemporary Classic

Enrico Bartolini (Castelmartini, Italy, 1979) is an extremely talented chef with restaurants in Italy, Hong Kong and Dubai. He is the only chef to have been awarded four Michelin stars at the same time. In his restaurant Mudec in Milan he showcases his motto Contemporary Classic by exploring new worlds and new flavours, without forgetting origins and traditions. One of his many signature dishes is Risotto with Beetroot and Gorgonzola (Risotto alle rape rosse e salsa al gorgonzola). An intriguing combination because beetroot can be very sweet which could easily ruin the taste of the risotto. Which is exactly what happened the first time we prepared this dish. We did more research only to read recipes we didn’t like because the beetroot was added at the beginning of the preparation process (giving the risotto a gluey texture) or honey, mint, balsamic vinegar, oranges or salty goat cheese (to balance the sweetness of the risotto!) was added.

We decided to take a different approach and see this as a combination of two dishes with the gorgonzola as connection. Now we could focus on preparing a savoury beetroot puree that would be tasty in its own right and create a brilliant combination with the risotto.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our risotto with a glass of Bianco di Custoza 2018, made by Monte del Frà from Italy. It is a well-balanced, dry white wine, with a fruity nose. Its colour is straw yellow, with pale green highlights. In general you’re looking for a light, aromatic dry white wine.
You could also serve a glass of Chardonnay; one that has a touch of oak and vanilla plus a lightly buttery finish. Our choice would be the Chardonnay of La Cour des Dames

What You Need

  • For the Risotto
    • 70 gram Carnaroli Rice (for instance from Acquerello)
    • (Vegetable) Stock
    • 1 Bigger Shallot
    • Parmesan Cheese
    • Butter
  • For the Beetroot Puree
    • 1 Fresh Beetroot
    • 2 Tablespoons of White (Cider) Vinegar
    • 1 Tablespoon of White Wine
    • 3 Freshly Grated Cloves
    • Black Pepper
  • For the Sauce
    • Gorgonzola Dolce
    • Milk

What You Do

The day before wash the beetroot and wrap in aluminium foil. Leave in the oven on 180° Celsius (or 355° Fahrenheit) for 60+ minutes. Cool and store in the refrigerator.
Thinly chop the shallot and glaze in butter. In parallel peel the beetroot and chop. Combine a third of the shallots with the beetroot, the white wine, the vinegar and finely grated clove. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust. In the mean time prepare the risotto. With a fork combine the soft Gorgonzola Dolce with the milk until it’s smooth and has the consistency of custard. Depending on the ‘blue’ in the cheese you may want to use a blender. Warm both the beetroot puree and the Gorgonzola sauce in the microwave or Au Bain Marie.
Time to start assembling the dish. Add butter and Parmesan to the risotto. Add more Parmesan than usual to create the right balance. Now start adding the beetroot puree, spoon for spoon. You’re looking for a balanced taste and a bright red colour. Perhaps add a drop of lemon and some black pepper. Transfer to the plate and using a spoon or a small sauce bottle add the sauce (drop-wise).

Risotto with Beetroot and Gorgonzola © cadwu
Risotto with Beetroot and Gorgonzola © cadwu

Haddock Marinated in Miso

6 May 2020

The original recipe is from Kyoto and combines fresh fish with Saikyo miso. This is a white, slightly sweet, low sodium miso. The fish is marinated in miso and then grilled and served with pickled ginger. Lots of umami of course and the intriguing combination of miso and fish. Nowadays salmon is often used when preparing this popular dish.

Our approach is slightly different. We use white fish (haddock preferred, but rouget, halibut or cod are also fine) and marinate it in red miso for four or five days. The flesh will become beautiful deep red and the miso will gently flavour the fish, without overwhelming it. It’s not a subtle starter but the taste is great especially when combined with pickled cucumber and karashi (Japanese mustard). 

Sake Pairing

Best served with a dry sake. We prefer Junmai Taru Sake as produced by Kiku-Masamune. This fine sake is matured in barrels made of the finest Yoshino cedar. The aroma has indeed clear hints of cedar. The sake will clear your palate and allow for a more intense taste of the marinated haddock.

What You Need
  • Two slices of Haddock (thin is best)
  • Red Miso (preferable with less salt)
  • Cucumber Pickles
  • Karashi
What You Do
  1. Start four or five days in advance
  2. (optional) Combine miso with some sake
  3. Fully coat the haddock with the mixture
  4. Cover the dish with foil and transfer to the fridge
  5. Check on a daily basis if the fish is still fully coated
  6. Use a small spoon to carefully remove most of the miso
  7. Rinse the haddock with water and dry it with kitchen paper
  8. The white flesh should now be red
  9. Heat a non sticky pan until warm, but not hot, through and through. If too hot, the fish will burn. We set our induction hob to 6 (where 9 is the maximum)
  10. Add a bit of olive oil and then fry the fish for 2*2 minutes
  11. Serve on a warm plate with pickles and karashi.
Fried Haddock Marinated in Miso © cadwu
Marinated Haddock © cadwu
Haddock in Miso © cadwu

Baba Ghanoush

23 April 2020

Eggplant

Baba Ghanoush is tasteful and easy to make. Combine it with olives, pickles and flat bread (naan) to create a delicious starter to share. Don’t be tempted to buy Baba Ganoush at the supermarket. Most of these products lack the typical taste as a result of charring the eggplant.
Sumac is an ingredient from the Levantine cuisine. Basically sumac powder is the result of crunching dried berries of the sumac plant. The taste vaguely resembles cranberries with a touch of lemon. In this case it adds fruitiness to the dish. The sweetness of the berries combines well with the garlic.

Wine Pairing

Enjoy Baba Ganoush with a glass of white Lebanese wine, but since that’s hard to find a nice glass of Cava is also a good choice.

What You Need

  • 1 Eggplant
  • 1 Garlic glove
  • 1 Tablespoon of Tahini
  • Olive Oil
  • Greek or Turkish yoghurt
  • Lemon Juice
  • Sumac
  • Pomegranate

What You Do

Start by grilling the eggplant (in the oven in our case) to the point of charring. Ideal would be a char coal grill, but an oven grill also does the trick. Then leave the eggplant in the hot oven until very soft; maybe 30-45 minutes in total, depending on the seize of the eggplant. Some suggest rubbing the eggplant with olive before grilling it that’s not necessary.
Transfer the eggplant to a plate and let cool. Now cut in half and use a spoon to separate the flesh from the skin. Use a kitchen knife to cut the flesh very thinly. Put the mixture in a sieve and reduce the amount of liquid in the mixture. Add the garlic and mix well.  Add tahini and while stirring slowly add olive oil to create a thick mixture. Add yoghurt and some lemon juice. Taste well and adjust by adding more tahini, yoghurt or lemon juice. Allow to integrate for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Spread the baba ghanoush on a small plate, add a splash of excellent olive oil and sprinkle some pomegranate seeds and sumac to finish.

Ingredients of Baba Ganoush © cadwu
Baba Ganoush with Naan © cadwu

 

Farfalle with Wild Garlic (or Ramson) and Parmesan Cheese

8 April 2020

In a number of countries ramson is a protected plant, so we don’t suggest you run out of the door and start picking it. But if it’s not protected, feel free to start running!
Ramson is much-loved in Germany, Austria (Bärlauch) and other parts of Europe. Its taste is like a combination of onion and garlic, but much greener, more intense, longer lasting and with a touch of bitterness at the end. Works very well as a pesto, but equally nice with potatoes or gnocchi. Once we made ramson soup, but that was not the best idea ever.
The flowers may have (if you’re lucky) a touch of sweetness because of the nectar in the flower. Always taste the leaves and the flowers before using and feel free to adjust quantities.

Wine Pairing

We would suggest a Soave to go with the dish. The Garganega grape combines very well with the specific taste of the ramson, given the wine is fresh with a subtle bitterness.

What You Need

  • 20 or so leaves of Ramson
  • Olive Oil
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Farfalle
  • Lemon Juice

What You Do

Cut the leaves in smaller bits and blitz the leaves with grated Parmesan cheese. If you want to soften the taste, now is the moment to add some toasted almonds or pine nuts. Slowly add the olive oil until blended and smooth. Maybe you want to add a bit of lemon juice.
Cook the farfalle and serve with the pesto and some grated Parmesan cheese.
You can store the pesto for a week or so in the refrigerator if you add some extra olive oil to the jar, covering the pesto.

Farfalla with Pesto of Ramson © cadwu
Ramson (or Wild Garlic)
Pesto of Ramson (or Wild Garlic)

Haddock with White Beech Mushrooms

1 April 2020

Popular Fish

When you mention Haddock, Cod is never far away. Two of the world’s most popular fish. Many recipes and foodies describe the two as being very similar in terms of taste and preparation. We humbly disagree. We think Haddock is more flavourful and present compared to the mild taste of Cod. The structures differ as well, although both require your constant attention; they easily overcook.

Beech Mushrooms are more and more widely available, which is great. The slightly nutty  taste in combination with their texture makes them ideal for this dish. And the golden colour of the fried white beech mushrooms is perfect with the golden colour of the fried haddock.

Wine Pairing

Our choice was a bottle of Pinot Grigio made by MezzaCorona. This is a dry and crispy white wine with a beautiful deep yellow colour. It’s an elegant wine with just the right acidity to relate to both the fish and the mushrooms.

What You Need

  • 200 grams of Haddock (without the skin)
  • 100 gram of Beech Mushrooms
  • Butter
  • White Pepper

What You Do

Clean the beech mushroom with kitchen paper and half. Check the fish for bits you don’t want to eat. Fry the fish in butter. Both sides should be beautiful golden brown. In parallel gently fry the beech mushrooms in butter.
Serve the beech mushrooms on top of fish. Perhaps a touch of white pepper.

Haddock with white Beech Mushrooms © cadwu
Haddock with white Beech Mushrooms © cadwu

Oysters à la Antonio Carluccio

11 March 2020

When It’s Spring

Combining ingredients and creating something new and tasty is difficult. On the one hand we have known combinations (tomatoes and basil, duck and thyme, macaroni with ham and cheese), on the other hand we want to be surprised by new combinations. Unfortunately many chefs don’t really have the required creative talent but they serve their unlikely combinations (gnocchi with kale, piccalilli, smoked oyster and black pudding) anyway.

Antonio Carluccio‘s combination of fresh oysters with a white wine sabayon and white truffle is spectacular. The combination of the distinct aroma of the white truffle with the oyster is intriguing. The sabayon brings everything together in terms of taste, consistency and structure. And just to show you how clever Carluccio’s combination is: the sabayon in itself is not pleasant.

Carluccio uses white truffles in his recipe, but given the costs we decided to go for the more affordable bianchetto. This truffle is available from mid January to the end of April, that’s why it is also called March truffle (marzuolo). Maybe less subtle, but the result is nevertheless wonderful.

The recipe (Ostriche con zabaglione e tartufo bianco) can be found in his Complete Mushroom Book. Best to use oysters with a mineral flavour and a mild brininess. Definitely not creamy oysters, given the richness of the sabayon.

Wine Pairing

With such a great dish you many want to drink a glass of Chablis or Champagne. We enjoyed a glass of Crémant de Bourgogne, produced by Vitteaut-Alberti. A refined wine, soft and with delicate fruit. The bubbles are small and pleasant.

Oysters a la Carluccio © cadwu
Oysters à la Carluccio © cadwu

Salade Niçoise

27 February 2020

Pan Bagnat

The origin of the Salade Niçoise goes back to the days that life on the French Côte d’Azur was harsh. It was a remote and poor region and people tried making a living trough fishing, harvesting flowers for the perfume manufacturers and growing olives. Not a tourist in sight and no fancy lunches. Bread would be baked once every fortnight and people would soak the stale, day-old bread with water, olive oil or ripe tomatoes. Over the years this developed into what is known today as Pan Bagnat: bathed bread. Interestingly enough the stuffing became a dish in its own right: the Salade Niçoise.

Today’s Salade Niçoise is of course much more than water, olive oil and tomatoes. According to the founders of the label Nissarde Cuisine the Salade Niçoise is a combination of tomatoes, boiled eggs, salted anchovy, tuna in oil, spring onion, small black Niçoise olives, basil and olive oil. Optional ingredients are artichoke, broad beans, green pepper, garlic and radish.
And now I can hear you think: but how about the haricots verts and the potatoes? And haven’t you forgotten the vinegar?

Let’s start with the vinegar: a few drops are allowed but the idea goes back to the Pan Bagnat. So little or no vinegar and certainly no balsamic vinegar, mustard or mayonnaise. 

It was Auguste Escoffier who introduced the haricots verts and the potatoes as ingredients of the Salade Niçoise. For the guardians of the Nissarde Cuisine this is clearly a ‘no go’ (also because Escoffier was not from Nice). We were brave and did a small experiment by preparing both variations.

We expected the Escoffier version to be the winner of our small competition, but the stars clearly go to the Nissarde version: elegant, light, full of flavours and a tribute to the ingredients. Forget about haricots verts, potatoes, vinegar and grilled fresh tuna!

What You Need

  • Tomatoes
  • Salted Anchovy
  • Tuna in Oil
  • Spring Onion
  • 2 Boiled Eggs
  • Small Black (Niçoise) Olives
  • Basil
  • Olive oil
  • Optional
    • Artichoke
    • Broad Beans
    • Green Pepper
    • Garlic
    • Radish
  • Version Escoffier
    • Haricots Verts
    • Potatoes
    • Mesclun
    • Vinegar
    • Black Pepper

What You Do

For the Nissarde Cuisine version: cook the eggs until nearly set, clean the vegetables, wash and slice the anchovy. Then combine quartered tomatoes, sliced spring onion, tuna, anchovy, olives and basil. Drizzle with excellent olive oil and garnish with eggs. Toss briefly to make sure all ingredients are coated with oil.
For the Escoffier version: briefly cook the haricots verts and cool in cold water. Cook the potatoes until done. Cook the eggs until nearly set. Wash and slice the anchovy. Clean the vegetables. Combine quartered tomatoes, sliced spring onion, tuna, anchovy, olives, cubed potatoes, haricots verts and basil. Mix olive oil and vinegar. Drizzle with the dressing and garnish with eggs. Toss briefly to make sure all ingredients are coated with the dressing.
For a more luxurious version replace the canned tuna with grilled tuna.

Salade Nicoise © cadwu
Salade Nicoise Escoffier style © cadwu