Lamb Racks with Chimichurri
Serves 6
Ingredients
50 ml soy sauce
50 ml sunflower oil
3 tablespoons sherry
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 racks lamb chops, french trimmed
4 tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons Szechuan peppercorns, toasted
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
Coriander Chimichurri
1 cup coriander leaves
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 lime, juiced
2 tablespoons fresh jalapeño or green chilli, chopped
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
80 ml olive oil
Method
Begin with the coriander chimichurri. Blend all ingredients without the oil. Then drizzle in oil with the machine running. Season to taste with salt.
Mix soy sauce, oil, sherry, and garlic together. Cut lamb into 6 equal pieces and marinate for 6 to 8 hours. Grind cumin seeds, peppercorns, and coriander seeds. Mix with salt and chili and sprinkle liberally over lamb. Heat a grill pan over medium heat and grill until rose inside. Let rest about 5 minutes, then slice each piece in half. Serve with the coriander chimichurri.
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
Sausages Rolls
Ingredients
500 g sausage mince
1 egg
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs or panko
40 ml Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
sea salt and cracked black pepper
250g puff pastry
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
sesame seeds to sprinkle
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Combine the mince, eggs, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Roll out the pastry to 3 mm thick and cut into 12cm x 24 cm pieces or cut each ready-rolled pastry sheet in half.
Divide the sausage mixture into six equal portions, roll into sausage shapes and place down the centre of each piece of pastry. Roll to enclose, placing the pastry seam underneath.Cut the sausage rolls into thirds and place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Brush with the egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake for 20–25 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
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
Asparagus
Asparagus season has officially started for this year! And we're so pleased, as asparagus are one of our favourite vegetables. They're incredibly versatile as they can be blanched, grilled, roasted and when thinly shaved, even served raw.
How do you best store and clean asparagus?
In the refrigerator asparagus have a shelf life of about 7 days, in a damp tea towel (to prevent drying out) it's 1 to 3 days. Asparagus can also be frozen. Before freezing, the asparagus should be washed and peeled (there is no need to blanche them). When you want to use the asparagus, place them straight from the freezer into a pan of boiling water.
To give you some inspiration, here are 2 of our recipes using asparagus. Go out and get some now!
Asparagus and Turnip Greens Pasta
Bilder & de Clercq's New Recipes Week 13 - 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:
De Weldaad
De Weldaad has two shops in the historic centre of Amsterdam, one in the Reestraat (opposite Hotel Pulitzer on the corner of Keizersgracht, very close to the Anne Frank Museum) and one at de Noordermarkt (the Northern Market) near the Westerstraat in an area called the Jordaan. If you are looking for vintage, art nouveau, industrial design, antiques or brocante, you will most probably find it at De Weldaad.
The charming Reestraat shop has an original interior from the 19th century and is located in the heart of the capital, in a shopping area known as the Nine Streets (negenstraatjes). You will find special and unique shops around here selling items such as paper, candles, gourmet gifts. There is even a real doll doctor! In short, a really fun shopping paradise.
The second store is situated at the Noordermarkt (Northern Market) in the heart of the Jordaan in Amsterdam. It's a former garage covering 200 m2. Three historic buildings are interconnected with plenty of room to explore the furniture, lifestyle products and unique accessories for the home from all over Europe.
We both have furniture and accessories from De Weldaad in our own homes. It's a style that suits us both and is easily combined with more modern items to create the look and feel you want.
For more information, please visit De Weldaad.
Banana Cake
This cake is the perfect think to make when you have some bananas from the past week which are bit over-ripe. Not only will you be using them up and not wasting anything, but your friends and family will love you for doing so.
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
125 g butter, softened
45 g brown sugar
220 gr castor sugar
3 eggs
300 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
180 g sour cream
1 cup roughly mashed ripe banana
caramel sauce
Method
Preheat the oven to 180° C. Place the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.
Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture. Add the cinnamon, sour cream and banana and stir to combine.
Spoon the mixture into a greased loaf tin. Bake for about 40 - 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool on a wire rack.
Make the caramel sauce, according to the recipe given. Serve warm drizzled over the cake.
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 12 - 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:
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
Baden Baden Interior & Mud Australia
It is with great pride that we welcome a new partner to Amsterdam Flavours. Baden Baden Interior is an interior design store in Amsterdam offering an eclectic mix of furniture, design, art, objects and accessories.
Baden Baden Interior is the main importer and supplier of Mud Australia porcelain. When searching for a new range of plates for our food photography and styling, we came across and instantly fell in love with the Mud Australia range because of their natural, unique shapes and beautiful colours. After doing some research, we found our way to Baden Baden Interior.
Mud Australia was founded in 1994. The porcelain range, designed by Shelley Simpson, combines hand made processes, clean lines, colour palette and functionality. The end result is a product that neatly intersects a minimalist aesthetic with an artisan finish. Their porcelain fits in any interior, providing a timeless alternative to mass produced ceramic design.
All Mud Australia porcelain is handmade in their Sydney factory by a staff of professional and in-house ceramicists. Each piece is designed to last and manufactured using the best materials available.
Made from Limoges porcelain, sourced directly from France, the pigment is tinted through the porcelain body to provide colour-depth. Clear glaze is then hand brushed to the interior of each piece leaving the exterior with a vitrified stone-like surface that becomes smooth with handling.
The range evolves seasonally with the addition of new shapes and colours.
For more information, please visit Baden Baden Interior and Mud Australia.
Bilder & de Clercq's New Recipes Week 11 - 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:
