"Homemade" marinated olives
To make a great quick to go with wine or drinks, take some good quality olives and mix them together with extra virgin olive oil, a split chilli pepper, a sprig each of fresh thyme and rosemary, a smashed garlic clove, lemon and orange rind a bay leaf.
Leave to marinade in the fridge overnight and serve in a bowl.
These keep well in the fridge for a couple of weeks, but make sure that the olives and flavourings are all covered in olive oil.
Cold Roasted Beetroot and Fennel Soup
A refreshing summer soup made with ingredients usually associated with the colder months.
Serves 2
Ingredients
500 g pre-cooked beetroot
1 fennel
3 celery stalks
1 onion
2 vegetable stock cubes
1 bay leaf
1 small cucumber
1 small red onion
1 bunch radishes
1 orange
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
dark country bread to serve
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. Cut the beetroot into chunks. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and roast for 15 minutes. Cut the fennel in half, remove the hard core. Keep the green twigs separate. Cut the fennel and celery into small pieces. Peel and chop the onion.
2
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Add the fennel, celery, onion and bay leaf and sweat for 5 minutes over medium heat. Dissolve the bouillon cubes in 1 liter of hot water.
3
Pour the warm stock into the pan and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the beets to the pan, remove the bay leaf. Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth. Add a little extra water if the soup us too thick.
4
Cut the cucumber, red onion and radishes into small cubes. Chop the green fennel fronds and stir through the cubed vegetables. Grate the zest from orange and mix it through the finely chopped vegetables.
5
Season the soup with salt and pepper.
6
Divide the soup between 2 bowls and sprinkle the cucumber mixture. Drizzle with a little olive oil and serve with dark farmhouse bread.
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
Crepes Suzette
Today, February the 17th is International pancake day. While we love the traditional pancakes with a little cinnamon-sugar and lemon and American pancakes, we felt that we wanted to make it a little more indulgent. So here is an absolute classis which everyone should have in their repertoire.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
100g flour
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
about 300 ml milk
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon oil
butter for frying
Suzette Sauce
75 g butter
150g sugar
2 lemons
2 oranges
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or orange liqueur, or to taste
Method
Mix the egg and egg yolk with the flour, oil and a pinch of salt and add part of the milk. Whisk until you have a thick mixture and add as much of the remaining milk as needed. (This can also be done in the food processor.) The batter should be the consistency of cream.
Allow the batter to rest for ± 30 minutes. Cook the crepes in a crepe pan or frying pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Grate the zest of the 1 lemon and 1 orange and squeeze the juice from all. Place the sugar in a pan and caramelise over a medium heat until an amber colour. Carefully add the citrus juices and cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Mix in the butter, grated zests and Grand Marnier or orange liqueur. If you dare, flambé the liqueur before adding, but please be very careful!
To serve, fold the crepes into quarters and reheat briefly in the sauce. Serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
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
Kale Smoothie
If you're needing a boost for your immune system or just looking to keep healthy, the combination of theses fruits and vegetables will help you on your way.
Serves 2
Ingredients
100 g shredded kale
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 piece fresh ginger (about 5 cm), peeled and chopped
1 apple, peeled and cored
juice of 1 orange
apple juice, to thin the smoothie down
Method
Place all the ingredients in a (Magimix) blender and blend until smooth. Add enough apple juice to thin it down to the consistency you desire.
Pour into tall glasses and serve immediately.
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
Gelato Festival
A short impression of The Amsterdam Gelato Festival on the Museum Plein 8 to 10th of August 2014
Sorts of ice creams:
Bottargadi marcedi and candied celery, dark chocolate orange variegated, ricotta orange and pistaches, hazelnut varied with hazelnut praline
For more information please visit Gelato Festival.