Rose Water and Pistachio Meringues
Ingredients
half a lemon
200 g egg white
400 g castor sugar
rose water, to taste
50 g chopped pistachio nuts
Method
Preheat an oven to 110 C and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
Rub the bowl of an electric mixer with half a lemon to ensure it is grease free.
Place the egg whites in the bowl and whisk on medium-high speed until the whites become thick and frothy. Add the sugar, a little at a time, until well incorporated and dissolved before adding the next batch. Once all the sugar has been mixed in and the egg whites are thick and glossy, add the rose water to taste.
Pipe or place spoonfuls of the meringue on the baking tray. Sprinkle over the chopped pistachios and place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Lower the temperature to 100 C and bake for a further 1 hour and 30 minutes. Once the meringues lift easily off the paper, they are done. Turn off the oven and leave to cool down.
Serve the meringues with whipped cream and a selection of summer fruits.
Croissant Bread Pudding
Serves 4
Ingredients
100 g golden raisins
sweet sherry, vin santo or marsala, for soaking the raisins
6 croissants
4 eggs
500 ml cream
100g sugar, plus extra for sprinkling over the pudding
1 vanilla pod
20 g butter
250 ml milk
pinch of salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 180° C. Place the raisins in a pot and add enough of your chosen alcohol to just cover the raisins. Bring to just below boiling point and set aside to allow the raisins to swell up. Slice the croissants and grease a roasting dish with the butter.
Scatter half the raisins over the roasting dish with some of some of the alcohol.
Place the croissants in the roasting dish and scatter over the remaining raisins. Place the eggs, 400 ml cream, the milk, sugar, the seeds from the vanilla pod and a pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk the ingredients well together. Pour the mixture over the croissants, sprinkle generously with more sugar and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
Bake the bread pudding in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the egg mixture has set. Remove the dish from the oven and serve with the remaining cream.
Tip: Also delicious served with vanilla ice cream. If there is any pudding left over, it can still be enjoyed the following day either served cold or reheated for 30 seconds in the microwave.
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
Upside Down Plum Cake
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
500g brown sugar
250 g soft, unsalted butter, chopped
12-15 plums, halved and stoned
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
160 ml cream
Method
Combine 300 g brown sugar with 120 g butter in a heavy-based saucepan and stir over low heat until well combined and smooth. Remove from the heat and pour into a well-greased, round, 26cm cake tin, spreading evenly. Place the plum halves on top, cut-side down.
Using an electric mixer, beat the remaining butter with remaining sugar in a bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, then stir in vanilla. Sift combined flour and baking powder into a bowl with a pinch of salt. Fold dry ingredients into butter mixture, add cream and mix well.
Spoon mixture over plums and bake at 175°C for about 45-60 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Stand in tin for 5 minutes before turning out on a plate.
Serve with creme fraiche.
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
Biancomangiare
This is the first recipe and piece of writing from one of our new contributors, Jorgina Catala. Jorgina hails from Barcelona and recently moved to The Netherlands. We hope you enjoy this piece and we look forward to more contributions from Jorgina in the near future.
Biancomangiare, a sweet treat from the Middle Ages.
With a presence in several European countries, known as blanc manger in France, or menjar blanc in Catalonia, biancomangiare is the Sicialian version of what we could consider one of the most celebrated and well known medieval recipes. It’s name litteraly means “white dish” and emphasizes the whiteness of this sweet pudding based on almonds and white sugar.
Have you ever thought about the meaning of colour in food?
During the Middle Ages, food banquets where often used to display the power of the high classes; being able to prepare recipes with rare and expensive ingredients would give a hint of the hosts power to all the banquet attendants.
Serving biancomangiare to your guests would mean that the powerful host had access to the extremely expensive and refined white sugar, very difficult to obtain in the XIV century and would also symbolize good values as purity and refinement. The name biancomangiare was a generic name given to different kinds of savory and sweet recipes, based in chicken breast, rice, milk almond milk and other ingredients that gave the dish its characteristic white color.
Today, we are sharing with you the most traditional Sicilian sweet version, a delicious almond pudding, with a delicate almond flavour, lemony fragrance and of course, with its elegant snowy white presence.
Ingredients
1 litre of almond milk (you can buy it or do it yourself using 300gr of peeled almonds and 1,5 litres of water)
Zest of 1 untreated/organic lemon (avoid the white, it will make it bitter)
200g refined sugar
120g of corn starch (Maizena)
a pinch of cinnamon
Method
Keep aside a glass of almond milk.
Pour the rest of the almond milk in a saucepan and heat over a low flame. Add the lemon zest, pinch of cinnamon and the refined sugar.
Meanwhile mix the corn starch with the almond milk you kept aside. Once the corn starch is dissolved, add the mixture to the saucepan through a sieve.
Keep stirring the mixture, preferably with a wooden spoon, till it starts boiling. When it will starts to thicken remove the saucepan from the fire.
Pour the mixture into moulds of your preference. You can choose single portion moulds or a large one. Let it cool down to room temperature and only then put it in the fridge until thick.
The pudding will be ready after around 4 hours. You can then unmould it and decorate as you please. Its delicious eaten on its own, but you can also add some of your favourite jam, some chocolate sauce or cherries and syrup. Just remember that the biancomangiare has a very subtle taste that shouldn’t be over-powered by a strong sauce.
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
Lemon Polenta Cake
We've decided to divulge the secret and publish the recipe of a cake that has become quite famous. It's sharp and tangy and it's gluten-free too!
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
400 g soft unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)
400 g caster sugar
400 g ground almonds
200 g fine polenta
16 g baking powder
6 large eggs, beaten
zest of 5 lemons (save juice for the syrup)
for the syrup
juice of 5 lemons
250 g icing sugar
Method
Line the base of a 26cm springform tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.
Preheat the oven to 150°C
Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, in a Magimix Patissier or freestanding mixer.
Mix together the almonds, polenta and baking powder and salt. With the machine running, add the eggs to the butter, a little at a time.
Add the almond and polenta mixture and blend the mixture well. Finally, beat in the lemon zest. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 60-70 minutes.
It may be slightly wobbly, but if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have started to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in the tin.
Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small saucepan. Once the icing sugar’s dissolved into the juice, it's done.
Prick the top of the cake gently all over with a cake tester (or toothpick), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of the tin. Serve in slices with whipped cream or creme fraiche.
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
Rhubarb and Strawberry Eton Mess
This is one of those desserts that's easy to make and always a guaranteed success.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
9 Meringues, crumbled
Rhubarb compote
1 kg rhubarb
sugar to taste
1 vanilla pod or 2 star anise
a splash of water to get it going
750 g strawberries, rinsed, hulled and halved
750 ml cream, whipped and sweetened with a touch of sugar
Method
Make the meringues according to the recipe. You'll find the recipe by clicking above.
Make the rhubarb compote by trimming the rhubarb if stringy. Chop roughly and place in a pan with sugar (start with about 200 g and add more according to your taste), the vanilla pod or star anise and a splash of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the rhubarb is soft, with some pieces still holding their shape. If your rhubarb isn't very pink, you can always add some Grenadine syrup to give it a blushing pink colour. Allow to cool completely.
To assemble the Eton Mess, take a large glass bowl. Crumble some meringues in the base and spoon in some rhubarb compote and scatter over some strawberries. Top with a third of the cream and repeat. You want to end with a layer of cream. Top a few strawberries and crumbled meringues and serve straight away.
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
Chocolate Mousse
There are certain recipes one needs to have in their repertoire and a good chocolate mousse is one of them. Here is our recipe that we have been making for years.
Serves 4
Ingredients
175 g dark chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa solids), chopped
60 ml strong black coffee
4 eggs, separated
15 g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 15 ml liqueur of your choice
45 g castor sugar
Method
Heat the chocolate in the coffee over a low heat, stirring until the chocolate has melted. Simmer until slightly thickened but still falling easily from the spoon. Remove from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, one by one, in to the hot mixture so that they thicken slightly. Beat in the butter and vanilla or liqueur. Let the mixture cool until just warm.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Add the sugar and continue whisking for 30 seconds to make a light meringue. Fold into the warm chocolate mixture. Pour into pots or glasses and chill in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours. Serve lightly dusted with cocoa powder of with whipped 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
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
Chocolate Guinness Cake
Nigella Lawson is famously known as The Domestic Goddess. Her cakes and dispelling baking myths have made her a household name. Recently someone told us we had to make her Chocolate Guinness cake. So we did. The combination of chocolate and Guinness makes a deep, dark cake, which is moist and delicious. And now we're sharing the recipe with you.
Ingredients
250 ml Guinness
250 g unsalted butter
75 g cocoa powder
400 g castor sugar
142 ml sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
275 g plain flour
2 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
for the topping
300 g cream cheese
150 g icing sugar
125 ml cream
Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 180°C and butter and line a 24cm springform tin with baking paper.
Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter and heat until the butter has melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the buttery Guinness pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
When the cake's cold, place it on a flat platter or cake stand and start with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. This can also be done in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency.
Ice the top of the cake and serve.
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