Category: starter

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.

Mushrooms and Miso ©cadwu
Shiitake ©Sharon Mollerus

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

9 January 2025

It’s the time of year to enjoy simple, seasonal, rich and flavourful food, for instance spicy pumpkin soup. The trick in this case is in the coconut milk or cream. Coconut milk contains something like 15 grams of fat per 100ml. For this soup you need 25+ grams of fat per 100ml. The fat enhances the coconut flavour and it combines very well with the spicy and aromatic character of the soup (ginger, chili, djeroek poeroet).

What You Need (for 4)
  • Small Pumpkin
  • Large Shallot
  • 2 large Garlic Cloves
  • 4 cm Fresh Ginger
  • Chili Pepper
  • Olive Oil
  • 8 leaves of Djeroek Poeroet  
  • Coconut Cream
  • Cilantro
What You Do

Wash the pumpkin and chop. If the pumpkin is organic, then you don’t need to peel it. Peel and chop the shallot, garlic and the ginger. Ground dried chili pepper. Gently fry the shallot in olive oil. Add chilli pepper. Add ginger. Stir, mix and add pumpkin. Stir and add garlic. Now add the vegetable stock, the djeroek poeroet and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. If the pumpkin is soft, remove the djeroek poeroet and blender the mixture. Taste and adjust. Add 6 spoons of coconut cream, 1 by 1, mix and taste. When you’re happy with the flavours, leave the soup on low heat for 15 minutes. Serve with lots of chopped cilantro.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup ©cadwu
Spicy Pumpkin Soup ©cadwu

Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad

26 December 2024

The joy of preparing food together, the joy of eating tasty and simple food, the joy of sharing. It’s one of the themes of Together: Our Community Kitchen, our suggestion for this year’s Christmas cookery book. It was written by a group of residents, gathering in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. They began cooking food for their families, friends and neighbours. Food that helped restore hope and provided a sense of home.

The recipe for this tasty salad is simple, quick and fun to make. It is rich, with warm flavours, a bold structure and of course lots of salmon. The egg yolks are set, but only just, adding to the great mouthfeel. Take some crusted bread, put the salad on top of it, perhaps a bit extra?, and enjoy!

Wine Pairing

A glass of dry sparkling wine will be great. A glass of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay will also fine, as long as the wine is acidic enough to balance the fat from the fish and the egg. We enjoyed a glass of Sicilian white wine made by Baglio di Grìsi with the local grillo-grape. This full-bodied wine has the right level of acidity and minerality. Excellent with the salmon and the egg.

What you need
  • 2 Organic (or Demeter) Eggs
  • 100 grams organic Smoked Salmon
  • Chives
  • Mayonnaise
  • Crème Fraîche
  • Mustard
  • Lemon
  • Black pepper
What You Do

Boil the eggs until slightly set. Peel and let cool. Coarsely slice the salmon. Same with the eggs. Chop the chives. Combine one tablespoon of mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of crème fraîche, 1 teaspoon of mustard, chives, a few drops of lemon and black pepper. Add the salmon and combine. Add the egg and gently combine. Now it’s a matter of tasting. Perhaps you want to add more mayonnaise, crème fraîche or lemon. Let cool and serve with crusted bread.

We wish you a wonderful 2025 with lots of culinary adventures!
Mr. Cook and Mr. Drink

Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad ©cadwu
Together: Our Community Cookbook

Burdock

12 December 2024

Wintery weather in Amsterdam, cold and sunny. Time to enjoy some seasonal vegetables, such as beet root, fennel, leek, kale, turnips and Brussels sprouts. Our favourite vegetable and fruit stall on the market sells Burdock. We all know about forgotten vegetables (such as rutabaga, kohlrabi, parsnips and Jerusalem artichoke), but Burdock is not one of them. It’s an ignored vegetable.
According to chef Alan Bergo in his excellent book The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora, Burdock root is delicious with a mild and slightly nutty flavour. Native in Europe and Asia, and introduced worldwide. He offers six recipes with Burdock, using the flower stalks in summer and the root in winter. One of the recipes is for Kinpira Gobō, a common side dish in Japan in which Burdock is combined with carrots, lotus root, mirin and sesame seeds. All his Burdock-dishes look delicious. Which raises the question why we don’t eat Burdock more often. 
We prepare a Japanese dish called Ume Gobō (ごぼうの梅煮) which translates to Burdock with Plums, which is basically what it is.
We served our Ume Gobō with Tamagoyaki, which turned out to be a very tasty, uplifting combination.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of Crémant d’Alsace, produced by Arthur Metz. A very pleasant dry sparkling wine, with hints of apple, almonds and peach. Excellent combination with the Ume Gobō and the Tamagoyaki. In general, we suggest a not too complex unoaked white wine.

What You Need
  • 250 ml of Dashi
  • 1 Burdock Root
  • 3 salted Plums
  • 2 teaspoons of Mirin
  • 2 teaspoons of light, reduced sodium Soy Sauce
What You Do
  1. Wash the burdock to remove the dirt; if necessary use a knife
  2. Trim off the ends
  3. Warm the dashi
  4. Slice the root in 5 cm long chunks
  5. Quarter these lengthwise; if the root is thick, slice again
  6. Transfer the chunks immediately to the dashi to stop the root from discolouring
  7. Remove the pits of the plums and add one plum to the dashi
  8. Use a cartouche to cover the vegetables
  9. Leave to simmer for approximately one hour
  10. Keep an eye on the pan, you may have to add some extra dashi
  11. After one hour the liquid should be evaporated and the vegetables relatively soft
  12. You could cook it longer if you prefer them really soft
  13. Finely chop the remaining plums and add the paste-like substance to a bowl with mirin and soy sauce
  14. Combine until relatively smooth
  15. When the burdock is lukewarm, it’s time to add the chunks to the bowl and mix
Burdock with Salted Plums ©cadwu
Burdock with Salted Plums ©cadwu

Paillasson with Pied de Mouton

13 November 2024

Going through our list of mushroom recipes, we noticed we didn’t have one with Pied de Mouton. Very odd! The taste of this firm mushroom is a bit sweet, nutty and mild. The mushroom is slightly dry and tends to absorb flavours and juices of other ingredients.
The season of the Pied de Mouton begins in August and continues until January, sometimes even March. A very affordable and tasty wild mushroom that keeps very well in your refrigerator. Very nice in a creamy pasta dish, with a meat ragoût or in a casserole with vegetables and lentils.
We decided to add them to a Paillasson de Pommes de Terre, which is similar to the Galette de Pommes de Terre, the Reibekuche in Germany and the Rösti in Switzerland. Ingredients vary per country, per region. Inspired by the Potato paillasse with sage and young garlic by Alain Passard, we decided to keep things simple and tasty.

Wine Pairing

The Paillasson with Pied de Mouton is creamy, moist, rich and aromatic. We think it’s best with a fruity, non-oaked red wine, for instance a Pinot Noir or a Merlot. Not too complex!

What You Need
  • 250 grams of Potatoes (waxy)
  • 200 grams of Pied de Mouton
  • 15 grams of Pancetta (Bacon)
  • Butter
  • Olive Oil
  • Rosemary
  • 2 cloves of Garlic
  • Black Pepper
What You Do

Heat a small non-stick pan. Dice the pancetta and fry in olive oil. Remove and set aside. Use a brush to clean the mushrooms. Dice. Fry the mushrooms for 5 minutes. Add finely chopped garlic and finely chopped rosemary. Remove and set aside. Add some black pepper. Grate the potatoes, add black pepper and combine with the mushrooms and the pancetta. Add a generous amount of butter to the pan. Fry the paillasson for 10 minutes, flip, and fry for another 10 minutes, depending on the thickness. We decided to go for 15+10.

PS

The easiest way to flip the paillasson is to let it slide from the pan on a cutting board. Cover the paillasson with the pan, turn the board and the pan and you’re done.

Paillasson with Pied de Mouton © cadwu
Pied de Mouton ©cadwu

The Art of Sauces: Green Sauce with Quails and Snails

1 November 2024

Many years ago we were looking for a nice restaurant in Fréjus. It was our last evening in France before returning home and obviously we were looking for something special, something typical Provençal. The area of our hotel wasn’t very promising, so we were ready to settle for pizza until we saw a small restaurant with a very interesting menu. It offered Tisane de Romarin, Cailles et Escargots and many other exciting dishes we unfortunately forgot. We entered the restaurant and had a perfect evening.
Combining quails and snails isn’t the most obvious idea, but rest assured, it works beautifully, also thanks to the very intriguing green sauce. It took us some time to recreate it, but after a few attempts we think this is the right version.
The question remains why the two go together well. Is it about fat (quails leg) and no-fat (snail)? Because both are meaty and tender? Because both love the tarragon in the sauce?
Of course, we made a note of the name of the restaurant and of course, we lost it. A pity, although preparing this dish brings us back to a lovely evening in Fréjus.

Wine Pairing

Enjoy your Green Sauce with Quails and Snails with a glass of Chardonnay with a touch of oak. The wine must be dry, mineral and medium bodied. We enjoyed a glass of Bourgogne Couvent des Jacobins as produced by Louis Jadot. The wine partly matured in stainless steel tanks and partly in oak barrels. The result is a wine that has citrus and apple aromas in combination with oak and vanilla. Great with the freshness of the herbs and the richness of the sauce. It balances very well with both the quails and the snails.

What You Need
  • 6 Quail Legs
  • Butter
  • 12 Snails (click here when you want to know which snail to buy)
  • For the Green Sauce
    • 1 Bunch of Parsley
    • 1/4 Bunch of Tarragon
    • Chicken Stock
    • Cream
    • (optional) Beurre Manié or Potato Starch)
  • Black Pepper
What You Do
  1. Wash the snails with plenty of water and set aside
  2. Warm a heavy iron skillet
  3. Warm some chicken or quail stock in a pan and bring a pan with water to the boil
  4. Set your oven to 60 °C or 140 °F.
  5. Now it’s time to make the Green Sauce
    • Blanch parsley and tarragon in boiling water for 30 seconds and cool immediately in ice water
    • Dry
    • Blender the herbs with some cold stock until you have a very smooth green liquid
    • Set your blender to turbo!
    • Pass through a fine sieve and store the chlorophyll. It will remain stable for at least a day
  6. Quickly fry the legs in butter
  7. Warm the snails in some chicken stock
  8. When both are ready, transfer the legs and the snails to the warm oven
  9. Add chicken stock to the pan and deglaze
  10. Add cream to the pan
  11. Let reduce for 5-10 minutes or until you’re happy with the consistency
  12. Add chlorophyll until you have the right colour and flavour
  13. Be very careful, if you overheat the sauce it will lose its vibrant green colour
  14. Perhaps you need to thicken the sauce with Beurre Manié or Potato Starch
  15. Add black pepper and taste
  16. Serve the legs and the snails in the sauce
  17. Enjoy with crusted bread
Green Sauce ©cadwu
Green Sauce ©cadwu
PS

You could also use two quails. Remove the breasts and the legs. Use the remainder to make the stock you need for the sauce. To make the dish more refined, remove the main bone of the legs.

Girolle and Guineafowl

10 October 2024

The Girolle (or Chanterelle) season in Europe runs from late summer until late autumn. It’s a much-loved mushroom, especially the golden (common) girolle, but let’s not forget the chanterelle jaune, the chanterelle grise and the trompette de la mort. The common girolle remains tender and somewhat meaty when cooked, which makes it ideal when thinking of a rich sauce. You will taste delicate nutty, buttery and earthy flavours. Delicious when combined with the gentle flavours of guineafowl. The sauce we made is fairly simple: it’s all about enhancing the texture and the flavours of the mushroom. The parsley will bring a freshness and bitterness to the sauce.

Guineafowl meat is leaner, somewhat darker and more flavourful compared to chicken. It is not difficult to prepare, but due to the low-fat content you must be careful not to overcook. In this recipe we use guineafowl supreme (the breast fillet with the skin on plus the wing bone) which is perhaps the tastiest part of the guineafowl. 

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of Le Jardin de Fleur La Mothe made by Château Fleur la Mothe with merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes. An affordable wine from the French Médoc region. The wine has a beautiful deep red colour, the tannins are balanced and the fruit nicely present, both in the aroma and the flavour. In general, we suggest a smooth, medium bodied red wine with fruity aromas. 

What You Need
  • For the Guineafowl
    • 2 Guineafowl Supremes
    • Pancetta
    • Olive Oil
  • For the Sauce
    • 150 grams of Golden Girolle
    • One small Shallot
    • One small Garlic Clove
    • Double Cream
    • Crème Fraîche
    • Dijon Mustard
    • Vegetable Stock
    • Parsley
    • Butter
    • Black Pepper
What You Do
  1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 °C or 355 °F
  2. Thinly slice the pancetta
  3. Open the supreme, add pancetta and then close the supreme, using kitchen twine
  4. Fry the supreme in olive oil in a heavy iron skillet until golden
  5. Transfer the skillet to the oven. The internal temperature of the meat should be minimum 70°C or 160°F.
  6. Clean the mushrooms with kitchen paper.
  7. Halve or quarter the mushrooms, depending on the size
  8. Finely chop the shallot and the garlic.
  9. When the guineafowl is ready, transfer the pan to your kitchen top, cover the meat with aluminium foil and allow to rest. This way the meat will be moist and not over-cooked.
  10. Now it’s time to prepare the sauce. Add butter to a warm pan, add the shallot, gently fry for a few minutes, add the girolles, fry, reduce heat, add the garlic.
  11. After a few minutes add the vegetable stock. Stir.
  12. After a few minutes add double cream, crème fraîche and some Dijon mustard.
  13. Stir well and create a thick creamy sauce. Taste and add some black pepper.
  14. wo minutes before serving add the parsley.
  15. Slice the guineafowl and serve 3 or 4 slices on top of the sauce.
Girolle and Guineafowl ©cadwu
Girolle and Guineafowl ©cadwu
PS

More mushroom recipes on our mushroom page.

Cordyceps

3 October 2024

Bright orange mushrooms that look like spaetzle? Interesting. We pick one up and look carefully: a long stem but without a cap with spores. Odd. We ask if they are edible, and the obvious answer is “yes”. We buy 100 grams and decide to look for details and recipes in our mushroom cookery books when at home.
Hm. No mention of Cordyceps. We visit the Forager Chef (Alan Bergo) and read about the background of the Cordyceps (or better: Ophiocordyceps). Parasite mushroom, infects insects, controls them, takes over, kills and then sprouts a fruiting body from their head. The fruit we just bought…
Fortunately, the Cordyceps we bought are grown on substrates that are not made of insects, which make them less scary. Normally when we find a new mushroom on the market, we taste it raw, but not today.
We quickly wash our hands and watch this BBC video as suggested by Chef Bergo. Interesting, but we prefer the culinary aspects of mushrooms.

Use

In traditional Chinese medicine dried and powdered cordyceps are used. Today it is considered to be superfood, supposedly boosting your vitality and endurance. Fresh cordyceps are used in Chinese soups and hot pots. Chef Bergo uses them in a dish with linguini. He writes: “The cordyceps weren’t mind blowing, but they definitely weren’t bad”.
We decide to make an Asia-inspired salad, with stir fried cordyceps, obviously. The salad tasted great. It was nutty, mild, fresh and the texture of the mushrooms worked beautifully with the crunchy radishes. 

Wine Pairing

Best to drink a white wine with a touch of oak, perhaps a chardonnay. We tried something different, a wine made with a grape called Bouquet 1359. The wine is produced by French winery Abbotts & Delaunay. The grape was developed by Alain Bouquet. It is somewhat similar to the chardonnay grape but more resistant and easier to use in an ecologic environment. It comes with aromas of brioche and yellow fruit; the taste is fresh, long and slightly nutty. 

What You Need
  • 100 grams Cordyceps
  • 1 Scallion
  • Bok Choy
  • White Radishes or Daikon
  • Walnut Oil
  • Jerez Vinegar
  • Light Soy Sauce (we used Tsuyu)
  • French Mustard
  • Olive Oil
What You Do
  1. Clean the mushrooms if necessary
  2. Cook radishes or daikon for 4 minutes in boiling water
  3. Let cool quickly and slice or quarter
  4. Finely slice one or two bok choy stems, depending on the size
  5. Heat a skillet, add some olive oil and fry the mushrooms
  6. After 1 minute add the sliced bok choy and the pre-cooked radishes
  7. Toss, leave for 1 or 2 minutes and allow to cool
  8. Transfer to the refrigerator
  9. When ready to serve, make a dressing by combining walnut oil, soy sauce, Jerez vinegar and a touch of mustard. The mustard will emulsify the dressing
  10. Taste and adjust
  11. Happy?
  12. Then add the dressing to the salad, mix and serve as a side dish or small appetizer.
Inspiration

If you’re into video games you will have recognised cordyceps as inspiration of the action-adventure game The Last of Us, which was the inspiration for the American post-apocalyptic drama television series with the same tittle and produced by HBO.
The 2016 movie The Girl with All the Gifts was also inspired by cordyceps. Two Pokémon species are also based on Ophiocordyceps.

Nasty Details

A few days later we opened Merlin Sheldrake’s impressive book Entangled Life. He explains that the fungus doesn’t turn the insects into zombies but controls it like a puppeteer master. He describes how a specific species of Ophiocordyceps is focused on giant ants. The fungus infects the ant and from that moment on it controls the insect. In the end 40% of the body weight of the ant is mycelium (the network created by the fungus). Through the mycelium the fungus controls the ant. When the Ophiocordyceps is ready to propagate, it steers the ant to a height of approximately 25 cm, ideal for the fungus and its spores. The ant then bites into the main vein of a leaf and locks its jaws. The ant is now in an ideal position for the fungus. This is the moment the fungus kills the ant and the fruit begins to grow.
Very pleased our cordyceps were grown on a substrate of grains!

PS

More mushroom recipes on our mushroom page.

Salad of Cordyceps ©cadwu
Fresh Cordyceps ©cadwu
Cordyceps as a side dish ©cadwu

Girolle Omelette

26 September 2024

Friday morning, beginning of September, we go shopping at the organic street market in the beautiful city of Haarlem. We want to buy fruit and vegetables, cheese and obviously mushrooms. The season just started but already the stall offers lobster mushrooms, truffle, chicken of the wood, mai take, trompette de la mort, cèpes and girolles, also the grey (grise) and the yellow ones (jaune). They look perfect and we decide to buy 150 grams. Greyish cap, bright yellow stem, perfect with an omelette. We cross the street and buy extremely old goat cheese, one that matured for 2 to 3 years. Its taste is full of umami, a bit spicy and makes us think of Roquefort. It will be perfect with the aromas and flavours of the girolle jaune.

Wine pairing

The fried girolle comes with an aroma that will make you think of a forest in autumn. Its taste is complex and nutty. The rich egg in combination with the grated old cheese made us decide to drink a glass of Flor de la Mar, barrel aged Chardonnay, produced by Casa Ermelinda Freitas in Portugal. The wine aged for 4 months in barrels made of American oak. It is medium bodied, nicely oaked and comes with hints of citrus and caramel. In general, you’re looking for a lightly oaked chardonnay, balanced, fresh, not too complex.

What You Need
  • 150 grams of Girolle (Jaune)
  • 2 Organic Eggs (preferably Demeter)
  • Very Old Goat Cheese
  • Garlic Clove
  • Olive oil
  • Butter
  • Black Pepper
What You Do

Whisk the eggs together. Warm a small non-stick pan, add some butter and make sure the pan is warm through and through. Add the mixture and leave on low heat until the omelette is baveuse. In the meantime, clean the mushrooms. Perhaps you need to cut off some of the stem. Slice the mushrooms lengthwise in halve. The stem is hollow and may contain sand or other bits of the forest floor. Quickly fry the mushrooms in olive oil. Grate some garlic and add to the mushrooms. Time to plate up: the omelette, fresh black pepper, the mushrooms and some grated goat cheese, not too much, it can be overpowering.

PS

More mushroom recipes on our mushroom page.

Girolle Omelette ©cadwu
Girolle Jaune ©cadwu
Very Old Goat Cheese ©cadwu

Watercress Soup

15 August 2024

Watercress tastes fresh and somewhat peppery. In this soup we combine it with chervil and dill (hints of anise) making it an even more uplifting, delicious soup. Adding cream or olive oil is optional. Easy to make, quick and vegan!

What You Need
  • 50 grams Watercress
  • 10 grams Chervil
  • Some Dill
  • Small Shallot
  • 1 Clove of Garlic
  • 1 Small Potato
  • Butter
  • Black Pepper
  • Vegetable Stock
  • (Double) Cream (optional)
  • Excellent Olive Oil (optional)
What You Do

Chop the shallot and the garlic. Peel and chop the potato. In a heavy iron pan heat the butter, glaze the shallot and later add the potato and garlic. Allow to simmer for a few minutes. In the meantime, remove the coarse stems of the watercress and the chervil. When the potato is done, remove some of the stock and blender this with the watercress, the dill and the chervil until very smooth. Transfer back to the pan and leave on low heat for a few minutes. Press the mixture through a sieve and continue on low heat for a few minutes. You could add some excellent olive oil or some double cream. If you add cream, make sure you give the soup a few more minutes, otherwise your soup will have the typical milky taste of cream.

PS

Many recipes for watercress soup suggest smoothing the mixture (including the potatoes) with a blender. Please don’t be tempted to do so! It will give the soup a gluey texture, not nice at all. Our method is perhaps a bit more work, but the result is much, much tastier.

Watercress Soup ©cadwu
Watercress Soup ©cadwu