Mussel and Fennel Soup
A beautiful combination, this is somewhere between a soup and a 'stew' of mussels.
They say mussels should only be eaten in months with an 'r' in the name, but that's untrue. Mussels are available year round.
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 kg pack mussels
2 fennel bulbs
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
1 large onion
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 sourdough roll
olive oil
splash of white wine
salt and pepper
Method
Thinly slice the fennel. Finely chop the garlic, parsley stalks and onion. Open the pack of mussels and place in a bowl of cold water. After a few minutes, check to see if there are any open mussels. If so, discard them.
Slice the sourdough roll and fry in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil until a light golden brown.
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot and add all the chopped vegetables and sweat for 5-7 minutes. Add a splash of white wine and the tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the mussels to the pot and place on the lid. Cook for 5 minutes until the mussels have opened, shaking the pan after about 2 minutes.
Add salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons olive oil to the soup. Divide between 2 bowls. Scatter with finely chopped parsley and serve with the fried 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
Klik hier voor het recept in Nederlands.
Confit Duck Leg with Caramelized Apple and Horseradish Mash
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 confit duck legs
2 kg floury potatoes
3-4 tablespoons horseradish (from a jar)
100-130 g butter
3 granny smith apples
10 juniper berries
2 tablespoons honey
milk, enough for a creamy mash
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Peel the potatoes and cut into 2 cm cubes. Place in a pan of salted water, bring to the boil and cook until the potatoes are soft.
Preheat the grill in the oven. Peel the apples and cut into wedges; lightly crush the juniper berries. In a frying pan over medium-high heat, melt 30g butter; add the apples, 2 tablespoons honey and the juniper berries. Cook the apples until lightly caramelized and just tender.
Place the confit duck legs in a roasting dish under the grill until golden and warmed through, about 10-12 minutes. Drain the potatoes, return to the pan and mash until smooth. Add 70-100 g butter, the horseradish and enough milk to make a smooth, silky mash. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
Spoon the mash on to serving plates. Lay the duck on top, spoon the apples and their juices around 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
Klik hier voor het recept in Nederlands
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
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
Pappardelle with Chorizo Ragu
One of our favourite cookery writers and stylists, Donna Hay, has inspired this recipe.
Serves 4
Ingredients
400 gr dried chorizo
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs rosemary
1 red chilli
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
good glug of red wine (about 100 ml)
1 x 400 g can peeled tomatoes
2 tablespoons brown sugar
400 g pappradelle
250 g buffalo mozzarella
green salad, to serve
Method
Remove the cases from the chorizo and roughly chop. Place into a Magimix (foodprocessor) and process until finely chopped, resembling minced meat. Set aside.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil for the pasta. Finely chop the garlic, deseed the chilli and finely chop half of it (or more depending on how spicy you like it). Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Strip trip the leaves from the rosemary stalks and chop them roughly. Add the rosemary to the pan and cook for 30 seconds until crisp. Remove and set aside. Add the chorizo, garlic, chilli, salt and pepper to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden and crispy, stirring often.
Add the wine and cooked cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and brown sugar and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook for 5-7 minutes. ( If you find that too much oil has come from the chorizo, you can also spoon a little off). While the chorizo is cooking, cook the pasta in the boiling water according to the package instructions. Drain and reserve 100 ml of the cooking liquid.
Add a little of the reserved cooking liquid to the chorizo mixture to start with, making sure ragu has a nice consistency. Divide the pasta between 4 bowls. Top with the chorizo ragu and tear the mozzarella over. Sprinkle over the crispy rosemary, drizzle with some of the chorizo oil in the pan and serve with a green salad simply dressed with olive oil.
All Butter Croissants
There is nothing better than warm, butter, flakey croissants straight from the oven. Making them yourself takes a little practice, but the results are SO worth it. Serve with farmhouse butter, good jam and a cup of coffee. Heaven!
Ingredients
625g strong white flour, plus extra for rolling out
12 g salt
75 g sugar
40 g fresh yeast
500g butter, chilled
1 egg, beaten
Method
The day before you want to bake the croissants, place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook, or a large mixing bowl. Pour in 350-400ml cold water and mix until it comes together as a soft dough.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for a good 8-10 minutes, or until the dough feels smooth, stretchy and elastic. Return to the bowl and set aside to rest.
Sandwich the chilled butter between two sheets of greaseproof paper and roll out to a 30x20cm rectangle, about 1cm thick. Chill in the fridge until needed.
Turn the dough out again onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll it into a rectangle 60x30cm. Peel the greaseproof paper from the butter and place the butter centrally on top of the pastry rectangle. Fold one edge of the pastry over the butter to half-cover it, then do the same with the other edge of the pastry so that the butter is covered. Fold the rectangle in half lengthways, then give it a quarter-turn and roll out again to a rectangle measuring 60x30cm.
Repeat the folding, turning and rolling process, as before, three more times (do not roll out the pastry the final time you fold and turn it). Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill in the fridge overnight.
When the pastry has rested, roll it out to a thickness of 0.5cm. Cut the pastry into two 50x20cm strips, then cut each strip into triangles about 10cm wide at the base.
With the narrow point of one of the pastry triangles facing away from you, use your fingertips to stretch the two points of the triangle nearest to you out sideways so that they bow a little. Roll the pastry over itself, curling it into a traditional crescent shape, so that the furthest point of the triangle ends up curled over the top of the croissant. Repeat the process with the remaining pastry triangles to create about 20 croissants.
Place the croissants onto baking trays lined with silicone paper or baking parchment. Brush them all over with the beaten egg, then set aside to prove for 30-45 minutes. (The croissants can be frozen at this point, if desired.)
Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan. Bake the croissants for 20-25 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown. Serve warm with jam and butter.
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
Partners Dinner
Amsterdam Flavours would not be what or where it is today without the support of our esteemed partners. ArcLinea, Smeg, Wusthof, Le Creuset, Magimix, Baden Baden Interior, Sonos, Leica and Quooker have teamed up with us to create an all-round culinary experience. And it shows at what we have managed to a put together at our new home at the Westergasfabriek.
As a thank you for their ongoing support, we hosted a dinner in their honour last week. A small way we can show our appreciation and how much they mean to us. It was a lovely informal evening with good food, good wine and good conversation. We have decided to make this a yearly event - isn't that what family's do?
A special thank you must go out to Cichi Dining Experience for the beautiful table settings.
A Look Back at Opening Week and Rens Kroes' Book Launch
Wowzers!! What a week we've just had. Last Wednesday 10th June was an historic day for Amsterdam Flavours. It was our first official day open and a race against the clock to get our new place at the Westergasfabriek ready on time. The long days, moments of stress and worry have paid off and we now have a magnificent space to show for it.
We opened straight away with the book launch and pop-up restaurant for Rens Kroes. We cooked and served a menu comprising recipes from her new book Powerfood 2 - van Friesland naar New York. We met the most amazing people in the last few days and the buzz and hype around our new place was phenomenal. We still need to come down to earth!
Here's a look back in pictures of everything that's happened over the past week. And what does the future hold we hear you ask? Many more exciting things!
P.S. please all feel free to visit us at our new place at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam.