Coconut Lime Chicken with Rice

An easy and healthy dish which is light and full of zingy flavours. A satisfying weekday recipe.

Serves 2

Ingredients
150g  jasmine rice
400 g chicken thighs, boned
2 baby gem lettuce
1 small tin coconut milk
2 limes
15 g mint
1 red chilli pepper
olive oil (3 tablespoons)
salt
pepper
fish sauce

Method
1
Preheat the oven to 200° C. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the rice and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the rice off through a sieve; add a small amount of water to the pan. Set the sieve over the pan, cover with a lid and allow the rice to steam over a low heat.
2
Finely chop the red chilli. Place the chicken in a bowl, drizzle over 2 tablespoons olive oil, season with salt and pepper, squeeze over the juice from the lime and add half he chopped chilli. Heat a grill pan over high heat and grill the chicken thighs on both sides. Place the chicken in a roasting dish and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
3
Finely chop the mint. In a bowl, mix together 120 ml coconut milk, the juice of half the second lime, fish sauce to taste, the chopped mint and remaining chopped chilli. Click the leaves off the baby gem lettuce.
4
Lay the baby gem leaves in a serving bowl. Spoon the rice on top. Slice the chicken diagonally into pieces and place on top of the rice. Spoon over the coconut dressing and serve.


Caramelized Onion and Cardamom Chicken with Rice

This recipe is inspired by one of favourite authors and chefs, Yotam Ottolenghi.

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 onions, thinly sliced
6 Tablespoons olive oil
8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
salt and pepper
10 cardamom pods
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
300 g basmati rice
600 ml boiling water
small bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
small bunch dill, chopped
small bunch coriander leaves, chopped
50 g raisins
100 g Greek yoghurt seasoned with 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper, to serve

Method
Heat a (Le Creuset) casserole pan over medium heat with 2 Tablespoons olive oil and sauté the onion for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onion has caramelised and turned a deep golden brown. Transfer the onion to a small bowl and wipe the pan clean.

Meanwhile, place the chicken thighs in a bowl with a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. Mix everything well together. Heat the casserole pan with the remaining 2 Tablespoons olive oil and brown the chicken (with the spices) for 5 minutes on each side until a lovely golden colour. Remove the chicken from the pan, leaving the oil and the loose spices in the pan. Add the rice and toast off for 1-2 minutes. Add the caramelised onions, salt and pepper to taste and the raisins. Stir well and then add the chicken thighs, pushing them well into the rice.

Pour over the boiling water, cover the pan and cook over a very low heat for about 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Take the pan off the heat, cover with a clean tea towel, replace the lid and allow to to steam for 10 minutes. Scatter the herbs over the disk and loosen the rice with a fork. Taste if more salt and pepper is needed. Serve with the yoghurt.

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


Chicken Tikka Masala

This is one of our favourite 'Indian' dishes. It's easy to make with readily available ingredients and it's always a crowd pleaser. We say Indian in inverted commas, as it's origins are not quite known. It's thought that it originated in Glasgow in the 1970's. The story goes: "On a typical dark, wet Glasgow night a bus driver coming off shift came in to the Shish Mahal restaurant and ordered a chicken curry. He sent it back to the waiter saying it was dry. At the time the owner had an ulcer and was enjoying a plate of tomato soup. So he said to the chefs why not put some tomato soup into the curry with some spices. It was sent back to the table and the bus driver absolutely loved it. He and his friends came back again and again and since then it was put on the menu."

Serves 4

Ingredients
sunflower oil
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
1 red or green chilli
5 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 small tin tomato puree
2 tins peeled tomatoes
1 kg boned and skinned chicken thighs, cut into cubes
10 curry leaves (optional)
4-6 tablespoons natural yoghurt
bunch fresh coriander, chopped
steamed rice, naan bread and poppadums, to serve

Method
Finely slice the onion. Heat 2 tablespoons sunflower oil in a pan. Add the onions and fry on a medium-low heat for a good 15-20 minutes until they become soft and caramelised. In the meantime, deseed and chop the chilli, ginger and garlic. Add to the pan with the onions and fry for a further 2 minutes.

Add the chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala and sugar to the onions and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the the tomato puree and fry for a further 1-2 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Place the sauce in a bowl or a jug and blend with a Bamix (stick blender) until smooth.

Add 1 tablespoon sunflower oil to the same pan you cooked the sauce in and fry the chicken pieces until lightly coloured, about 5 minutes. Pour in the blended sauce and curry leaves, if using, and some salt and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes until the chicken in cooked through and tender.

Stir the yoghurt and half the coriander through the tikka masala. Garnish with the remaining coriander and serve with steamed rice, naan breads and/or poppadums.

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


Chicken and Aubergine Curry

Ingredients
2 onions, peeled and cut into chunks
5 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
6 tablespoons sunflower oil
500 g boned and skinned chicken thighs, cut into 4 cm cubes
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 tin chopped tomatoes
200 ml coconut milk
2 aubergines, cut into cubes
small bunch fresh coriander

Method
Place the onions, ginger and garlic in a Magimix (food processor) and blend until finely chopped.

Heat a heavy based casserole over medium heat with 3 tablespoons sunflower oil and sweat the onion mixture for about 10 minutes until it turns a light golden colour.

Add the chicken and fry for a few more minutes until lightly coloured. Add salt, to taste, the ground cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper and garam masala. Fry for 1-2 minutes to cook the spices out.

Add the tinned tomatoes and coconut milk and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the chicken has cooked through.

Heat a frying pan over high heat with the remaining 3 tablespoons sunflower oil and fry the aubergines until golden brown and tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add half the aubergine to the curry about 10 minutes into the cooking time.

To serve, scatter the remaining aubergine and coriander over the chicken curry. Serve with steamed basmati rice, cucumber and mint raita, papadums or naan bread.

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


Club Sandwich - Amsterdam Flavours Style

All too often, we are served sandwiches consisting of limp bread and flavourless, uninspiring fillings. So, we've taken it upon ourselves to change all that and show you with just a little care and attention, that a sandwich and be exciting and leave you wanting more.

Serves 3

Ingredients
9 slices white spelt bread
2 free range or organic chicken breasts
100 g smokey bacon rashers
2 avocados
1 small red onion
50 g rocket
mayonnaise, for spreading
salt and pepper
olive oil

Method
Heat a grill pan over high heat and grill the bread on both sides. Halve the avocados, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Mash roughly using a fork and season with a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Finely slice the onion and halve the chicken breasts horizontally, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil and fry the bacon until crispy. Remove on to a plate. Fry the chicken in the same pan with the bacon fat for about 3 minutes on each side.

Lay out the slices of grilled bread. Spread the mashed avocado on the first layer and top with the crispy bacon. On the second slice of bread, spread generously with mayonnaise. Top with a handful of rocket leaves and some red onion. Slice the chicken breasts and lay them on top.

Place the chicken layer on top of the avocado layer, topping the sandwich off with the remaining grilled bread and securing it with a skewer.

Serve on wooden board or plates and dig in!

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


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


Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients
Salad
2 chicken breasts
1 ciabatta roll
3 baby gem lettuces
1 tin anchovies, use as many as you like in the salad
50-75 g Parmesan, grated
olive oil

Dressing
150 ml sunflower oil
25 ml olive oil
10 ml fresh lemon juice
2 ml salt
5 ml sugar
few drops tobasco sauce
25-50 ml red wine or rice vinegar
2 ml Dijon mustard
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 egg yolks
salt freshly ground black pepper

Method
Begin with the dressing. Put all ingredients, except oils in a blender and mix. Slowly add the oils until emulsified. If too thick, thin with a little water.

Preheat the oven to 180° C. Cut the ciabatta into 3 cm cubes and place in a roasting tray. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Mix the ingredients together and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and crunchy.

Slice the chicken breasts lengthways in half. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Slice off the bottom end of the baby gem and discard. Separate the leaves, rinse them gently under cold running water and dry off in a clean tea towel or in a salad spinner.

Place a grill pan over a high heat. Grill the chicken breasts for 3-4 minutes on each side until they are golden and cooked through.

Using a large bowl, mix together the salad leaves, dressing, anchovies, croutons and ¾ of the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide the salad between 2 plates. Lay 2 chicken breast halves on each salad and finish by scattering with the remaining Parmesan.

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


Guest Chef Competition Bilder & De Clercq

Over the past few weeks Bilder & de Clercq has been running a Guest Chef competition. Via social media, advertisements in Het Parool newspaper and via their website, they were calling on the citizens of Amsterdam to send in their best recipes.

We, together with Rogier, one of the founders of Bilder & de Clercq, were appointed as judges for the competition.

After being inundated with entries, we set to work creating a shortlist of our top recipes. We did so with certain criteria in mind:
- would we as Bilder & de Clercq customers buy the dish
- does the dish have a minimal number of ingredients
- would it come in on budget in line with all our Bilder & de Clercq dishes
- do we think it could be a delicious dish

After bringing the list down to 5 potential dishes, we selected 3 who would battle it out to be champion.

Fidan Tekinerdogan: Via her blog Fidalicious, Fidan creates exciting healthy vegan dishes. We chose her dish as it had a interesting way of utilising an ingredient which is very much in fashion at the moment and one that we have also used in a few of the recipes we have created for B&DC.

Kevin Corcoran: Kevin has recently entered the food world by being one of the creators of Nieuw Mosterd (available at Bilder & de Clercq stores). Together with his friends they are making mustard sexy again, with brilliant flavours and hip packaging. Kevin brought us an Asian-inspired dish which was easy, satisfying and full of flavour.

Doree den Hollander: Doree is passionate about all things food and that certainly comes across when talking to her. Through her blog Cato Cheftt, she cooks, creates recipes as writes food stories. Her dish used ingredients that we know work and that are also popular with B&DC customers. Doree is looking to make a career out of food and we're sure that it will happen soon.

This past Sunday, the finalists arrived, ingredients in hand, at the store on the Ceintuurbaan to battle it out and recreate their dishes for us. We say battle, but in fact it was a relaxed and really fun evening. What was interesting to see was how all 3 finalists differed in their approach to cooking. Fidan brought glamour and charm to the kitchen - we're still impressed how she created her dish in such high heels!

Doree was focused and meticulous, taking care that all her mise-en-place (preparation) was done before she started cooking. Kevin was relaxed and chilled, with all his prep done in the blink of an eye and being ever the gentleman, allowing the ladies to cook first.

Once all the dishes were completed, we sat down to do our tasting. We were so impressed with the standard of cooking and the flavours, knowing then that we had made the right selection. For that reason, it was decided that all 3 dishes will feature in the stores along with a photo of their creator.

However, as with every competition, we had to pick one overall winner. And that was Doree. We found that all the elements to her dish were cooked well and the flavours and seasoning were spot on.

You may have realised that we haven't mentioned what the contestants cooked. That's because we want that to be a surprise. All will be revealed in the coming weeks when we recreate their dishes for the recipes cards and posters. Stay tuned......

 


Roasted Chicken with Heritage Carrots and Fennel

Serves 4

Ingredients
1,8 kg whole free range or organic chicken
1 lemon
1 small bunch thyme
5 cloves garlic
olive oil
50 g butter
salt and pepper
2 bunches heritage carrots (12-16 carrots)
2 fennel bulbs

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C - 200 C. Cut the lemon into quarters.  Fill the cavity with the lemon segments, thyme and garlic cloves. Rub the butter all over the chicken and drizzle with some olive oil.

Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper making sure you don't forget to season in the cavity as well. Place in a roasting dish, breast side down and roast for 45 minutes.

In the meantime, peel the carrots and slice diagonally. Trim the hard outer layer away from the fennel and roughly slice. After the 45 minutes, take the chicken from the oven, turn over and baste with the juices in the pan. Add the carrots and fennel around the chicken, mixing them well with the juices. Add a little salt and pepper. Return to the oven for a further 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and rest for 5-10 minutes before carving and serving with the roasted carrots and fennel.

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

 


Bilder & de Clercq's new recipes week 32

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:

Sundried tomato ravioliMeatballs w:purslane mashChicken w:swiss chard