pasta Archives - Pagina 2 van 2 - Amsterdam Flavours

Guest Chef Competition Bilder & De Clercq

Over the past few weeks Bilder & de Clercq has been running a Guest Chef competition. Via social media, advertisements in Het Parool newspaper and via their website, they were calling on the citizens of Amsterdam to send in their best recipes.

We, together with Rogier, one of the founders of Bilder & de Clercq, were appointed as judges for the competition.

After being inundated with entries, we set to work creating a shortlist of our top recipes. We did so with certain criteria in mind:
- would we as Bilder & de Clercq customers buy the dish
- does the dish have a minimal number of ingredients
- would it come in on budget in line with all our Bilder & de Clercq dishes
- do we think it could be a delicious dish

After bringing the list down to 5 potential dishes, we selected 3 who would battle it out to be champion.

Fidan Tekinerdogan: Via her blog Fidalicious, Fidan creates exciting healthy vegan dishes. We chose her dish as it had a interesting way of utilising an ingredient which is very much in fashion at the moment and one that we have also used in a few of the recipes we have created for B&DC.

Kevin Corcoran: Kevin has recently entered the food world by being one of the creators of Nieuw Mosterd (available at Bilder & de Clercq stores). Together with his friends they are making mustard sexy again, with brilliant flavours and hip packaging. Kevin brought us an Asian-inspired dish which was easy, satisfying and full of flavour.

Doree den Hollander: Doree is passionate about all things food and that certainly comes across when talking to her. Through her blog Cato Cheftt, she cooks, creates recipes as writes food stories. Her dish used ingredients that we know work and that are also popular with B&DC customers. Doree is looking to make a career out of food and we're sure that it will happen soon.

This past Sunday, the finalists arrived, ingredients in hand, at the store on the Ceintuurbaan to battle it out and recreate their dishes for us. We say battle, but in fact it was a relaxed and really fun evening. What was interesting to see was how all 3 finalists differed in their approach to cooking. Fidan brought glamour and charm to the kitchen - we're still impressed how she created her dish in such high heels!

Doree was focused and meticulous, taking care that all her mise-en-place (preparation) was done before she started cooking. Kevin was relaxed and chilled, with all his prep done in the blink of an eye and being ever the gentleman, allowing the ladies to cook first.

Once all the dishes were completed, we sat down to do our tasting. We were so impressed with the standard of cooking and the flavours, knowing then that we had made the right selection. For that reason, it was decided that all 3 dishes will feature in the stores along with a photo of their creator.

However, as with every competition, we had to pick one overall winner. And that was Doree. We found that all the elements to her dish were cooked well and the flavours and seasoning were spot on.

You may have realised that we haven't mentioned what the contestants cooked. That's because we want that to be a surprise. All will be revealed in the coming weeks when we recreate their dishes for the recipes cards and posters. Stay tuned......

by Bernadette Evers

Spaghetti Vongole

Serves 4

Ingredients
400 g spaghetti
1 kg vongole or clams
1 red chilli pepper
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch parsley
olive oil
120 ml white wine
salt and ground black pepper

Method
Place the vongole in a bowl of cold water to soak. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil for the pasta. Remove the seeds from the chilli and chop finely together with the garlic.

Place the pasta in the pot of boiling water and cook for about 10-12 minutes until al dente.

In the meantime, begin with the sauce. Drain the water from the vongole. Heat a pan with 4 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the chilli and garlic and fry for 1 minute, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the vongole and white wine. Mix well, bring to a boil and cover the pan with a lid. Cook the vongole for about 3-5 minutes until they have all opened, shaking the pan every so often.

Finely chop the parsley and stir through the vongole. Season with salt and pepper. Drain the spaghetti and combine with the vongole. Divide between 4 plates and finish with a good drizzle of olive oil.

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

by Bernadette Evers

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.

by Bernadette Evers

Cantinetta wine & pasta

Cantinetta, a relatively undiscovered Italian jewel, is situated on the de Clercqstraat in Amsterdam oud-west. American-born Deborah and the Dutch Claudia decided to bundle their passion for Italian food and opened the restaurant 2 years ago. Deborah’s love of Italian food comes from her great-grandmother and mother, with whom she spent many hours in kitchen. This is evident when you taste the freshly made dishes as they come out the kitchen. Locally sourced ingredients are used as much as possible and everything is made from scratch; from pasta, pizza bases and the delicious chocolate olive oil cake.

The restaurant has an industrial feel with a relaxed atmosphere, perfect for an evening of wining and dining with friends. The relatively small menu is inspired by Roman cuisine with quality dishes. The choice for antipasti also includes four homemade brick oven pizzas. The base is prepared from a yeast dough made from red berries which give the pizza’s an incredibly light and crispy texture and beautiful flavour. The toppings vary from basic – oil and sea salt (the sublime tasting base doesn’t really need anything else!), to a pomodori sauce with velvety soft mozzarella from Twente. The fresh salads served include our favourite, the Misticanza, made from an array of fresh herbs like mint, thyme, red berries and rocket. All pasta’s featured on the menu are prepared in house and fresh each day. If you love pasta Carbonara then you must order it here: the black pepper and clove-cured pork cheek in combination with the homemade pasta and farm-fresh eggs results in a perfect rendition of this classic dish. And there’s more than enough on offer for the sweet tooth among you – chocolate sea salt shortbread, lemon rhubarb cheesecake and Roman fried espresso doughnuts with Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate. All dishes can be paired with beautiful matching Italian wines.

All in all, Cantinetta is a wonderful place. Delicious dishes in combination with extremely attentive service and a relaxed atmosphere make this a place you want to come back to. The opening times are plus too - from Tuesday to Thursday till 23:00 and Friday and Saturday till 24:00.

For more information please visit Cantinetta.

by Bernadette Evers

Bilder & de Clercq's new recipes week 31

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:

by Mischa de Winter

Ravioli with ricotta, mint and peas

Ingredients
16 pea, mint and ricotta ravioli
125 g ricotta
1 lemon
200 g fresh or frozen peas
1 container pea cress or 50 g rocket
grated Parmesan, to finish

Method
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil.

Place the ricotta in a bowl. Grate the zest from half the lemon over the ricotta. Mix together along with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place the ravioli and peas in the pot of boiling water and cook gently for about 2-3 minutes. Drain off the ravioli and peas and return to the pot.

Mix the ravioli and peas gently together with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Divide between 2 plates. Spoon the lemon-ricotta on top. Finish with the pea cress or rocket, a drizzle of olive oil and a grating of Parmesan.

by Bernadette Evers

Asparagus and Turnip Greens Pasta

Ingredients
1 bunch green asparagus
2 bunches turnip greens
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons capers
500 g spaghetti
olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil for the spaghetti.

Remove the hard bases from the asparagus and discard them. Slice the asparagus diagonally into 3 pieces. Finely chop the garlic and rinse off the turnip greens, removing any hard stalks.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat with 3 tablespoons olive oil and fry the asparagus for about 5 minutes until golden and al dente. In the meantime, boil the spaghetti in the pot of boiling water for about 8-10 minutes.

Add the garlic and capers to the asparagus and fry for a further 2 minutes. Drain the pasta in a colander, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the pan with the asparagus and toss the ingredients well together. Add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water and season with salt and pepper. The pasta should be shiny, not dry and well amalgamated.

Stir the turnip greens through the pasta until they have just wilted and serve immediately.

by Mischa de Winter