A Look Back at Opening Week and Rens Kroes' Book Launch
Wowzers!! What a week we've just had. Last Wednesday 10th June was an historic day for Amsterdam Flavours. It was our first official day open and a race against the clock to get our new place at the Westergasfabriek ready on time. The long days, moments of stress and worry have paid off and we now have a magnificent space to show for it.
We opened straight away with the book launch and pop-up restaurant for Rens Kroes. We cooked and served a menu comprising recipes from her new book Powerfood 2 - van Friesland naar New York. We met the most amazing people in the last few days and the buzz and hype around our new place was phenomenal. We still need to come down to earth!
Here's a look back in pictures of everything that's happened over the past week. And what does the future hold we hear you ask? Many more exciting things!
P.S. please all feel free to visit us at our new place at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam.
Bilder & de Clercq's New Recipes Week 23 - 2015
As you may know by now, we are the chefs behind Amsterdam hotspot, Bilder & de Clercq. Every week we develop 3 new recipes for the stores and we'll be keeping you updated with the week's newest recipes. This weeks new recipes are:
Bilder & de Clercq's New Recipes Week 22 - 2015
As you may know by now, we are the chefs behind Amsterdam hotspot, Bilder & de Clercq. Every week we develop 3 new recipes for the stores and we'll be keeping you updated with the week's newest recipes. This weeks new recipes are:
Juice Brothers
On a recent trip to London, we were amazed at the number of juice bars and stores around the city. It's a hype at the moment and growing at an incredible rate.
Amsterdam has not been left behind. We discovered Juice Brothers, which opened about a month and a half ago. Situated on the van Woustraat in the Pijp district, they're all about vegan, organic, raw and cold-pressed.
Cold-pressed juices are said to be better because fruits and vegetables are shredded and hydraulically pressed, with minimal generation of heat and thus minimum oxidation. Heat kills many of the vitamins, minerals and live enzymes you think you’re getting when consuming other “healthy” juices. The cold-press method allows enzymes to stay alive, resulting in juice with maximum nutrients.
Besides offering juices made up of interesting and delicious combinations, they also offer smoothies to order, breakfasts, salads and raw food.
It's fresh, clean and minimalist interior works well, allowing their juices and smoothies to take centre stage.
We're sure that there will be more of their stores popping up soon.
Pistachio-Olive Oil Cake
A delicious and unusual cake with a flavour of the middle east. The cake gets it's beautiful green colour from the pistachios and the olive oil keeps it moist. It's quite a rich cake, so a small piece will suffice. We usually serve it as part of a dessert with a parfait or some marinated pineapple. Yum!
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
50 g fine polenta
200 g ground pistachio nuts
50 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
125 ml olive oil
100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 eggs
200 g caster sugar
juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 orange
icing sugar for dusting
Method
Preheat the oven to 160 C. Mix the polenta, ground pistachios, flour and baking powder together.
Add the olive oil to the melted butter. Whisk the eggs and caster sugar until pale and fluffy, then slowly whisk in the olive oil and butter. Whisk in the pistachio mixture, then add the lemon juice and zest and orange juice.
Pour into a greased and lined 24 cm springform tin and bake for about 40 minutes. The cake should be slightly underdone in the middle, so that if you insert a skewer it will come out with a little of the mixture sticking to it. While cooling down, the cake will finish off cooking through. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin.
Once completely cooled, cut into slices and dust with icing sugar.
We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours
DutchDeluxes
Founded in 2013, Dutchdeluxes is a design label based in the creative heart of the Dutch design city Eindhoven.
Driven by passion and fun, it brings extraordinary crafted ‘handmade in Holland’ food platters, bread boards and amazing aprons to the market. Classical elements are combined with sleek shapes in an innovative way.
The use of primary colours is fundamental for its design. Next to the range ‘Fashionable kitchen stuff & tableware’ the company is known for its collection ‘Incredible Interior Stuff’, 'Le Chique Bath furniture’ and ‘Just Good Side tables’.
We love the sleek simplicity and eye-catching design of our DutchDeluxes bread boards. Not only are they a novel wat for serving bread, but canapés work just as well for a cocktail party. Their size ensures that they look impressive and you don't constantly have to refill them, you'll always get enough canapés on.
For more information visit www.dutchdeluxes.com.
If you would like to spoil yourself with DutchDeluxe items, they're available at Baden Baden Interior in Amsterdam.
Het Weekend van de Rollende Keukens
This year, as in previous years, sees a new edition of Het Weekend van de Rollende Keukens - a 5 day festival of food trucks, music and fun.
Taking place at The Westergasfabriek, this festival brings together a myriad of food trucks serving an eclectic mix of different styles of food from around the world. There has been an worldwide explosion in the popularity of food trucks and street food and Holland has been no exception.
The festival has however been a victim of it's own success, drawing huge crowds and making it at times difficult to see what's happening and get some food. But, that shouldn't put you off. As long as the weather's good, there's no better way to spend a day or evening out with friends.
The festival runs from Wednesday 13th May until Sunday 17th May 2015. We hope to see you there!
Cooking Workshop at Groot Kruivestein
Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to be the first people to make use of the beautiful new kitchen and dining space at Groot Kruivenstein, in Langbroek near Utrecht.
This location is perfect for dining and meetings, set over beautiful lush grounds away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The interior and furnishings have been tastefully planned and thought out, with a unique eye for detail. Jan Steengracht and his wife Maud have created something really special.
Jan, by trade, is a designer working with metal. Pieces of his work complement the spaces, from door handles in the kitchen to lighting. Maud has used her interior design skills to created a homely ambience with beautiful fabrics and pieces of furniture.
We were hosting a cooking workshop and lunch for a group of ladies who had come to celebrate a special birthday. We enjoyed an afternoon cooking delicious food with seasonal ingredients. Dishes included bruschetta with buratta and grilled courgette, bruschetta topped with veal sweetbreads fried in buerre noisette with capers, lemon and parsley. Main was a pan-fried sea bream anchovy dressing and roasted asparagus. Dessert was a rhubarb and strawberry Eton mess and caramelised lemon tart.
Pea and Mint Soup
Make the most of seasonal fresh peas in this bright and vibrant soup. If you can't find fresh peas. frozen work just as well.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
olive oil
850ml vegetable or chicken stock
400 g fresh or frozen podded peas
4 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper
50 g fresh ricotta, thinned with a little milk, to garnish
pea shoots, to garnish
Method
Heat a pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil an fry the onion for about 5 minutes. Pour in the stock and add half the mint and bring to the boil. Add the peas and bring to the boil again.
Stir in the remaining mint and season with salt and pepper. Blend the soup in a liquidiser until smooth as you like. Taste and check the seasoning, adjusting with salt and pepper if necessary. Return to the pan and reheat.
Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with the ricotta and pea shoots.
We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours
Tomato Shallot Sauce
This is a super delicious sauce to serve with roasted beef. We usually serve it with a roasted Simmenthaler beef fillet. It requires a little care and time to make, but the results are so worth it.
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
35 g unsalted butter
8 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
sprig of tarragon
sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
250 ml red wine
200 ml dry Madeira
100 ml Port
300 ml veal or chicken stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Gently cook the shallots and garlic in 20g of the butter until very soft. Purée in a blender and place in a clean pan with the tomatoes, tarragon, thyme and bay leaf. Cook gently for five minutes or until the tomatoes start to break down.
Add the red wine, bring to the boil and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Pour in the Madeira and Port, boil and reduce again by half. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Skim and simmer for 30 minutes.
Pass the sauce through a fine sieve and pour into a clean pan, bring to the boil and cook for about two minutes or until the desired consistency is achieved. Whisk in the remaining butter and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and keep warm until ready to use.
We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours