BIlder & de Clercq's New Recipes Week 52
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:
Balsamic Roasted Beetroot, Quinoa and Kale
Serves 4
Ingredients
750 g cooked beetroot
20 g tarragon
150 g quinoa
150 g pancetta
300 g finely sliced kale
4 cloves garlic
150 g piece pecorino
Method
Preheat the oven to 200° C. Cut each beetroot into 6 or 8 wedges. Place 150 ml balsamic vinegar, 40 g brown sugar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper in to a roasting tray. Add the beetroot, mixing the ingredients well, and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Pick the tarragon leaves; add them to the beetroot once they have been roasted. Set aside.
Place the quinoa in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and cook gently for about 15 minutes until tender. Drain off through a sieve and set aside.
Cut the pancetta into lardons and finely chop the garlic. Heat a frying pan with 2 tablespoon olive oil on medium heat. Add the pancetta to the pan and fry for about 5 minutes until golden. Remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside. Lower the heat; add the garlic and kale and fry for about 3 minutes until the kale has wilted.
Mix the kale, pancetta and quinoa together and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture onto a serving platter and top with the beetroot. Scatter with shaved pecorino and spoon over the beetroot juices.
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
Bakken met Passie
Bakken met Passie (Baking with Passion) is a specialty pastry shop and bakery, a stone's throw away from the Albert Cuyp market.
They are one of our favourite places to visit because of their focus on quality in both the ingredients they use and the pastries they bake. They offer a beautiful range of tarts, cakes and other sweet delicacies.
At this time of year, when the festive season is in full swing, they offer beautiful stollen and other Christmas goodies. Go and visit them now to stock up for the coming festive days.
Visit Bakken met Passie
Hofstede De Nieuwe Donck
Last Friday, we catered a dinner at Hofstede De Nieuwe Donck. This is a beautiful estate in Langbroek, not far from Utrecht.
It can be used for hosting meetings, workshops and dinners. There is also accommodation for up to 20 people.
We had serious kitchen envy, for the large open, country kitchen. It was a pleasure to cook in and we hope to use it more in the future for cooking workshops and dinners.
We made a delicious 4 course dinner of salmon marinated in ginger and lapsang suchong tea, sole and scallop roulade, venison fillet with parsnip puree and deep fried kale and lastly, poached and caramelised pears with rum and muscavado jelly, milk puree and croissant ice cream.
A little interesting fact: the Christmas Special of Heel Holland Bakt (the Dutch version of The Great British Bake Off) was filmed in this kitchen a few weeks ago and will be broadcast on Saturday 20 December 2014 at 16:50 on NPO 1.
Plenty More - Yotam Ottolenghi
As most of you know by now, we are HUGE Ottolenghi fans. We love his creative use of simple ingredients, especially vegetables and is combinations of Middle Eastern spices.
Plenty More has been out for a while now. It's the sequel to Ottolenghi's immensely popular Plenty. The book has been categorised into cooking methods, again with the most tantalising and beautifully photographed recipes.
The best way to review a book, in our opinion, is to cook out of it. And that's just what we did! We made the Fig Salad for lunch and it was just delicious. Here is the recipe:
Yotam Ottolenghi's Fig Salad
Ingredients
2 small red onions (200g in total)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
50g hazelnuts, skin on
60g radicchio leaves, roughly torn
40g basil
6 large ripe figs (300g in total)
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 220 C.
Peel and halve the onions, lengthways and cut each half into 3cm-wide wedges. Mix together with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt and some black pepper and spread out on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking, until the onions are soft and golden and turning crispy in parts. Remove and set aside to cool before pulling the onions apart with your hands into bite-sized chunks.
Reduce the oven temperature to 160 C. Scatter the hazelnuts on a small roasting tray and toast for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and, when cool enough to handle, roughly crush with the flat side of a large knife.
Assemble the salad on four individual plates. Mix the three leaves together and place a few on the bottom of each plate. Cut the figs lengthways into four or six pieces. Place a dew fig pieces and some roasted onion on the leaves. Top with more leaves and continue with the remaining fig and onion. You want to build up the salad into a small pyramid.
In a small cup, whisk together the remaining olive oil, vinegar and cinnamon with a pinch of salt and some black pepper. Drizzle this over the salad, finish with the hazelnuts and serve.
Chefs Notes
We loved the salad, fresh, sweet and full of flavour. We think it can do with a little mor roasted onion, but that's a personal preference.
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers
Author: Yotam Ottolenghi
Price: 29,95 euro
Gravy
This is a recipe we've adapted from Jamie Oliver for making your gravy ahead of time. It's really brilliant!
Makes 1 litre
Ingredients
2 celery sticks, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly sliced
2 onions, peeled and quartered
5 fresh bay leaves
5 fresh sage leaves
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 star anise
2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
8 chicken wings
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons plain flour
60 ml port
2 heaped dessert spoons cranberry sauce, for finishing
Method
Preheat the oven to 200º C. Put the vegetables, herbs and star anise into a roasting tray. Scatter the bacon on top. Cut the chicken wings in half to help release more of their flavour. Put them in the pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle over a few pinches of salt and pepper then toss everything together and put the tray in the oven to cook for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.
Take the pan out of the oven, and put it on a hob over a low heat and use a potato masher break everything up. Keep mashing, moving and scraping all the goodness from the bottom of the pan as you go. Gradually mix in the flour to thicken the mixture. The longer you let everything fry, the darker your gravy will be. When the flour is combined add the port and cook until it has almost all but disappeared. Pour in 2 litres of hot water, turn the heat up and bring to the boil for 10 minutes, till thickened, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When it's reached the consistency you're looking for, check the seasoning then push it through a sieve into a large bowl. Really push and mash everything through so you get as much flavour as possible. Discard anything left behind. Once it has cooled down to room temperature put it into containers or freezer bags and pop it in your freezer. You'll finish it off on Christmas Day.
Finishing the gravy
To finish the gravy, take your it out of the freezer when you're ready to cook your turkey. That way, it will defrost as your turkey cooks. When the turkey is perfectly cooked, put a carving fork inside the cavity and use that to pick the bird up and tilt it over the pan so all of the juices inside run out.
Spoon away as much of the fat as possible, then pour your pre-made gravy into the pan with the rest of the turkey juices. Bring it to the boil over the hob and scrape all those flavourful bits and pieces from the bottom of the pan. Have a taste then add the cranberry sauce. It won't taste sweet but it will add a wicked background flavour.
Once your gravy is piping hot, strain it through a sieve and into a pan. Leave that on the lowest heat to keep warm until you're ready to serve. Skim away any fat that rises to the top and add any extra resting juices from the turkey before serving.
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
Bloempie
On a recent visit to the Zuidermarket, we discovered a new product called Bloempie.
As we approach the festive season, where parties are being hosted, you need look no further for something which is easy to serve but also looks and tates good.
Bloempie is a small sourdough bread 'pot' which can be served as a canapé or used, in it's larger form, as a starter.
The small versions are available already filled or unfilled, to which you can add your personal touch.
The filled versions are available in the following:
- Grilled pepper, ricotta, anchovy and basil
- Salt cod with garlic, tomato and celery
- Provolone cheese fondue with chives
- Porcini ragout with parsley
- Lamb with peas, cream and tarragon
You'll also find an array of dried sausages and salami's at their Zuidermarket stall.
For more information, please visit Bloempie or visit the Zuidermarket.
Cotes du Rhone blanc Les Travers - White Wine
Origin
Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne Blanc – AOC
Flavour profile
Soft, elegant, aromatic. A real winter wine.
Grape variety
30% Clairette, 20% Roussanne, 30% Grenache Blanche, Marsanne and Viognier (may vary per vintage year)
Vineyard
Les Travers includes several lots on the hills of Cairanne and on the flat Plan de Dieu. For this white Les Travers the grapes are harvested in vineyards with a bottom of clay and limestone on the flanks of the 'coteaux' and alluvial sand in the Valley. The average age of the vines is more than 30 years.
Vinification
The grapes are 100% hand-picked and carefully selected in the vineyard. Upon arrival in the wine cellars, they are immediately pressed and pneumatically cooled for the must to settle. 80% of the fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks at 18 ° C and 20% in new oak barrels, with regular bâtonnage. To maintain the necessary freshness in the wine is typically a malolactic fermentation not desired.
Taste/nose
Very bright and sparkling colour, yellow with a green tang. In the nose, floral aromas dominate, complemented by nuances of exotic fruits, pear, melon and tangerine with a hint of vanilla. Notes of almond paste and honey are not far away. Spicy, fruity and round in the beginning, dry and smooth on the tongue, beefy and greasy in the beautiful long finish.
Serve with
In the Rhône Valley this organic wine is often served with oysters and other shellfish. Classically combined with sea fish, poultry or white meat. Particularly good with poultry paté or terrine.
Serving Temperature
8-12 °C
Culinary Advice
Delicious served with our Sole and Scallop Roulade.
Buy or taste this wine? For more information visit Wijnkoperij De Gouden Ton
Leica T
Good photos are an extremely important part of our website. They should be sharp, clear, naturally-coloured and be inviting enough that you, our reader, would want to cook our recipes or visit the places we do.
When we were searching for a camera, we had only one brand in mind. Leica, is known for their superb quality, beautiful design and practicality. We were overjoyed when they joined us as a partner. All our photos for Amsterdam Flavours are taken using a Leica T camera.
It's made of a light but robust sleek aluminium body which is small enough to carry around with you and fit into any bag. Despite it's small size, it's big on functionality. It's packed with capabilities like wifi and a built in 16 GB memory. It's 16,5 megapixel ensures sharp and clear results, which are easily viewed on the large touch screen.
For us, it's the lenses that make all the difference. We believe Leica's lenses to be the best and they always help us achieve the shot we want.
As we continue to grow Amsterdam Flavours, we look forward to seeing what else we can achieve with our Leica T.
For more information, please visit Leica.
China Town
Every city around the world has it's own China Town and Amsterdam is no different.
On a street called Zeedijk, a stones-throw away from the Red Light District, you'll find a cluster of Chinese restaurants and supermarkets. There are Peking ducks hanging in the windows, Chinese families doing their groceries, paying their respects at the beautiful Chinese Temple or grabbing a bite to eat.
We needed some specialty Asian ingredients so we made our way to Dun Yong supermarket. You'll find an incredible array of Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Asian ingredients. Ranging from frozen tom yum soup packs, fresh coriander with the root attached to a range of woks and steamers. This is the one-stop shop for your Asian store cupboard and ingredients you won't find any where else.
It was getting late and we hadn't eaten lunch yet, so Mischa suggested we go and eat dim sum at Hoi Tin. He's been eating there for years and has always wanted to take Bernadette to try it out, so this was the perfect opportunity.
We sat down to a pot of fragrant, steaming jasmine tea before tucking in to steamed dumplings with prawns and scallops. Aubergine slices, filled with pounded shrimp, deep fried in a light batter and served on a soy based sauce. To end, sesame balls, fried and filled with a sweet peanut paste. Reasonably priced food which does wonders for your soul and belly! We'll be going back soon to have dinner there.