Pappardelle with Italian meatballs

Serves 4

Ingredients
750 g beef mince
2 slices white bread or enough panko to bind
100 ml milk
1 sprig fresh rosemary
small bunch flat leaf parsley
100 g grated Parmesan, or more if required
2 egg yolks
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 banana shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 bottle tomato passata (750 ml)
1 red chilli pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
400 g pappardelle
20 g basil

Method

Place the mince in bowl and season with salt and pepper. Place the bread or panko in another bowl and pour over the milk and allow to soften for a few minutes. Finely chop the rosemary and parsley and add to the mince along with the 2 egg yolks and 40 g of the Parmesan. Squeeze the milk out of the bread, break into little pieces and add to the meat. Using your hands, knead the beef mince well. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Fry a little piece of the mince to taste if you have the seasoning correct. Add more salt and pepper, and perhaps some more Parmesan, if needed. Roll the beef mince into walnut-sized ball. Fry them, in batches, until golden on all sides. Set them aside.

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil for the pasta. Finely chop the shallot, red chilli and garlic.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sweat the chopped shallot for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, chilli to taste and the ground cumin to the pan and fry for a further 1 minute.

Add the tomato passata and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Add the meat balls to the tomato sauce and keep warm.

Cook the pappardelle for about 6-7 minutes until al dente, drain off the water and divide between 4 deep bowls.

Divide the meatballs and tomato sauce over the pasta. Scatter the basil leaves and Parmesan over and serve.

Delicious served with a green salad.

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


Slow Braised Lamb Shanks

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 lamb shanks
4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, roughly sliced
2 red onions, unpeeled, roughly chopped
1 garlic bulb, unpeeled and halved
1 tin tomato paste
1 fresh bay leaf
5 sprigs thyme leaves
2 sprigs
300ml red wine
200ml port
500ml veal or chicken stock, or enough to cover the lamb shanks

Method
Preheat the oven to 150° C.

Heat the olive oil in a casserole and fry the lamb shanks for a few minutes, turning regularly, until browned all over. Remove from the casserole and set aside.

Add the vegetables and herbs to the casserole and fry for 5- 10 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and fry for a couple minutes to cook it out. Add the wine and port to the pot, bring to the boil and allow to reduce dor 5 minutes. Add the stock and return the lamb shanks to the casserole.

Cover the casserole with a lid and cook in the oven for 2½-3 hours, or until the lamb shanks are very tender.

To serve, remove the lamb shanks from the casserole and place onto serving plates. If the sauce is too thin, place it back on the heat and reduce until it has cooked down, intensified in flavour and has thickened slightly. Serve the lamb shanks with the sauce and vegetables poured over.

Delicious served with creamy mashed potato or soft polenta with loads of 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


Parsley Soup

Ingredients
olive oil
30 g butter
2 leeks
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 large floury potato
1 large bunch flat leaf parsley
about 1 liter vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
splash of cream

Method
Finely slice the leeks and onion and finely chop the garlic. Peel the potato and cut into 1 cm dice.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons olive oil and the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add the leeks, onion, garlic and half the parsley and sweat gently for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, bring a small pot of water to the boil. Remove the stalks from the remaining parsley and blanche the leaves for 20 seconds in the boiling water. Remove and plunge immediately into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

Add the potatoes, stock, salt and pepper to the vegetables and bring to the boil. Cook for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Roughly chop the blanched parsley and add to the soup. Blend until smooth. Adjust the seasoning if needed and should it be too thick, thin down with a little extra stock.

Reheat the soup gently. Divide between 4 bowls and serve with a swirl of 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


Limoncello Almond Cake

Ingredients
250 g blanched almonds or 250 g ground almonds
5 eggs
190 g castor sugar
100 g butter, softened
40 g potato flour (gluten free) or flour
75 ml limoncello
grated zest of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
6 g baking powder
icing sugar to decorate (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 160° C.

If using whole blanched almonds, grind them finely in a food processor, otherwise add the already ground almonds to the bowl. Add the eggs to the food processor and blend for 2 minutes until the eggs are well mixed with the almonds.

Add the remaining ingredients, except for the baking powder and blend to a smooth batter. Add the baking powder and blend briefly until just mixed.

Dampen a piece of baking paper with water from a tap. Squeeze out the excess and use to line a 26 cm round  cake tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool and decorate with icing sugar and flaked almonds.

As we announced last week, not only is Di Zabbia a delicious degistif, it is also wonderful ingredient in cooking and baking. Try this delicious limoncello almond cake, it's quick and easy to prepare.

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


Pizza Bianca

Ingredients
1 1/2 mugs self raising flour
about 1/2 mug luke warm water
8 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic
3 sprigs rosemary
75 g grated Parmesan
75 g grated Provolone
2 medium roseval potato
50 g rocket
6 anchovy fillets
salt and pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to  220 °C. Place the flour, water, a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor and plus to a smooth dough. This can also be done by hand if you don't have a machine. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough out on a work surface, sprinkling with a little extra flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan. Roll the dough over a rolling pin and lay it carefully into the pan. Place the pan over medium heat and cook until the dough is cooked through, turning once during the cooking.

Strip the leaves from the rosemary stalks. Rinse the roseval potato and slice as thinly as possible. Peel and finely chop the garlic clove and place in a bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil, about a third of the rosemary and a pinch of salt. Brush the pizza base with half the garlic oil.

If the frying pan you're using doesn't fit in the oven, transfer the pizza base to an oven tray. Spinkle over the Parmesan, Provolone and remaining rosemary, leaving a 1 cm border.

Divide the finely sliced potato evenly over the pizza and drizzle with the remaining garlic oil. Season with a touch of salt. Place in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the pizza id golden brown and the potatoes are cooked through.

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle over the anchovies.

Dress the rocket with olive oil. Top the pizza with the salad, drizzle all with a little extra olive oil 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


Red onion soup

Ingredients
15 g butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 large red onions
1,2 litres  vegetable stock
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 slices French baguette
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
50 g grated Gruyere cheese
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

Method
Halve the onions and slice thinly. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan and add the onions. Sweat them gently until soft, about 30 minutes.

Add the balsamic vinegar, thyme and bay leaf to the pan.

Add the stock to the pan and increase the heat. When the soup boils, turn down to a simmer and cook gently for a further 10 minutes.

Preheat the grill. Spread the mustard on the slices bread and top with the grated cheese. Transfer to an oven tray.

Place the tray under the grill for 2 minutes until the cheese is melted. Season the soup with salt and pepper.

Divide the soup between 2 bowls and place the grilled cheesy bread on top.

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


Mozzarella with Anchovies

Ingredients
2 balls buffalo mozzarella
100 g rocket leaves
about 7 anchovies per person
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
Toss the rocket leaves lightly in a bowl with about 2 tablespoons olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper.

Divide the rocket salad between 2 plates. Drain the liquid from the mozzarella balls and set them on top of the rocket.

Grind a little black pepper over each mozzarella and lay the anchovies on top. Finish with drizzle of olive oil and serve with some crispy 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


Fried cod with lemon and capers

Ingredients
2 cod fillets of 175 g with skin
1 shalllot
100 g butter
1 lemon
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
olive oil
salt and pepper
wilted spinach, to serve

Method
Finely slice the shallot and parsley. Thinly slice the lemon, removing any seeds.

Dry the cod fillets with kitchen paper, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat and fry the cod for about 1 minute on each side. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the shallot to the pan and sweat gently for about 2 minutes. Add the butter. When it begins to foam and is lightly browned add the capers, lemon slices and chopped parsley.

Return the cod to the pan to heat through and finish cooking, this should only take a couple of minutes.

Serve the cod with wilted spinach and the butter sauce spooned over.

 

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

 


Challah French Toast

Challah is an enriched braided bread eaten by many cultures, most significantly associated with the Jewish Sabbath.

Ingredients
4 thick slices challah, crusts removed
2 eggs
200 ml milk
small splash vanilla extract
castor sugar, to taste
knob of butter
selection of red fruits and berries
maple syrup and icing sugar, to serve

Method
In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla extract and sugar (about 1 tablespoon), to taste.

Heat a non-stick frying pan with a knob of butter. While the pan and butter are heating up, soak the challah slices briefly in the eggy mixture. Fry them over a medium heat until golden on both sides.

Transfer to serving plates. Drizzle the french toast with maple syrup. Spoon over a selection of berries and red fruits and finish with a light dusting of 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


White chocolate panna cotta with apricots

For about 6 servings

Ingredients
600ml cream
150ml milk
60g sugar
7g  gelatine leaves
200g white chocolate
9 apricots
3 tablespoons honey
Marsala or Vin Santo (optional)

Method
Put the cream, milk and sugar into a saucepan and melt the sugar, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes.

When the cream begins to bubble up the sides of the pan, take the pan off the heat. Stir in the white chocolate until melted. Squeeze excess water from the gelatine and add them to the mixture, stirring to dissolve. Pour into 6-8 dariole moulds or cups. Stand the moulds on a tray and refrigerate for 5-6 hours or overnight until set.

Preheat the oven to 200° C. Halve the apricots, remove the stones and lay them, flat side down, in a roasting dish. Spoon over the honey and roast in the oven for 8-10 minutes. An optional extra is to add 2 tablespoons Marsala or vin santo to the apricots before roasting.

Dip the base of the cups or moulds in hot water for 10-15 seconds to loosen the panna cotta. Turn each panna cotta out onto a plate and serve with the roasted apricots. Spoon the juices from the apricots over (thinned out if necessary with a little extra Marsala or vin santo).

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