roe – Cook and Drink

Your Favourites in 2025

8 January 2026

In 2025 the most popular recipe was Scallops with Roe. 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.

This year’s runner up is an all time favorite: Kimizu. This classic, golden sauce from Japan, is made with egg yolks, rice vinegar, water and mirin. We also made 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.

Number three was another classic sauce: Ravigote. We served it 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.

You’ve probably noticed we love mushrooms. Cultivated ones, like shiitake and oyster mushrooms and seasonal ones, such as morels and Caesar’s mushroom. This year we introduced a page with mushroom recipes in Dutch. It turned our to be a great success!

A few years ago we started exploring forgotten vegetables such as mashua and oca. We’re very pleased to see the popularity of this page. Clearly you’re as interested in these vegetables and their flavours as we are!

This year we will continue our series of sauces and of mushroom recipes, we will prepare dishes from illustrious Parisien restaurants and discuss wine pairing. We also plan to review cookbooks, with the help of our much loved tasting panel. In the meantime we look forward to your feedback, suggestions, likes and comments.

Let’s start cooking!

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.

Let’s start cooking!

Rib Eye with Kimizu and Tarragon © cadwu

Scallops with Roe

13 February 2023

Where you are in the world influences how you enjoy your scallops: with or without the roe? That’s probably why we are used to discarding the roe, even if we buy our scallops in the shell.
We were talking to our fish monger, and he completely disagreed with us. He feels the roe is a tasty bonus, perhaps a bit more intense than the white of the scallop (the muscle). The texture of the roe gives a very pleasant mouthfeel, he told us.
We bought six scallops and promised him to eat both the muscle and the roe.
The flavours are very similar and the combination is a real treat. As our fish monger mentioned, it is a tasty bonus. We served the scallops with a potato purée. It creates a nice balance in the dish and it allows you to taste the scallops even better.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our Scallops with a glass of Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie produced by Château de la Noë. This is an aromatic wine with fruity aromas, minerality and a long finish, which goes very well with the taste of the scallops and the purée.
The term ‘sur lie’ indicates that during a few months the wine stays in contact with the dead yeast cells left over after fermentation. This technique makes the wine more complex.
In general you’re looking for an elegant, fresh, light wine with clear acidity.

What You Need

For the Seared Scallops
- 6 fresh Scallops (best if in their shell)
- Olive Oil
- Black Pepper
For the Potato Purée
- One Potato
- Butter
- Cream
- Nutmeg
- Black Pepper

What You Do

Clean and steam (or cook) the potato until done.
Use a fork to mash the potato (we love a bit chunky purée in this combination; therefore we suggest using a potato that’s also suitable for making fries)
Add butter, mash some more, add cream
Taste and add more butter and/or cream
Just before serving add freshy grated nutmeg and black pepper
Clean the scallops
Heat a non-stick pan, add some olive oil to the pan and fry the muscle and the roe quickly
When on the plate, add some black pepper.

Cook and Drink

The Art of Flavours

Tag: roe