Easy Paella

Try bringing some of the sun home with this easy and delicious recipe for Paella.

Serves 2

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
120 ml White wine
salt
pepper
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
150g paella rice
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
100g chorizo
250g frozen mixed seafood
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 chicken stock cube
100g peas
1 lemon
1 small bunch  flat leaf parsley

Method
Finely chop the onion and garlic. Remove the skin from the chorizo, if necessary and cut into small cubes. Dissolve the chicken stock cube in 500 ml hot water.

Heat a frying pan or paella pan over medium heat with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onion and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and smoked paprika and fry for a further 1 minute.

Add the rice and fry for 1 minute. Add 120 ml white wine and cook until it has been absorbed into the rice. Add the tin chopped tomatoes and stock to the pan and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring every now and again.

Add the seafood and peas, cooking for a further 5 minutes. Finely chop the parsley and cut the lemon into wedges.

Season the paella with salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the chopped parsley and arrange the lemon wedges around the pan. Serve at once.

If you have saffron in your store cupboard, add a few strands to the hot stock and allow to infuse before adding to the paella.

 


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.


Sole and Scallop 'Roulades' with Samphire and Beurre Blanc

Serves 4 as a starter

Ingredients
4 sole fillets, skinned and cleaned (ask your fishmonger)
4 scallops, cleaned
200 g samphire, rinsed
small pot caviar (we use herring caviar)
salt and pepper
extra splash of white wine for cooking the roulades

Beurre Blanc
150 mlwhite wine or ½ white wine and ½ white wine vinegar
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 piece of mace
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons cream or crème fraiche
150-200 g butter

Method
Heat a frying pan over medium high heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season the scallops lightly with salt and pepper and fry for about 1 minute on each side until golden. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

Lay the sole fillets on a work surface and season lightly. Roll a cooled scallop in each and place in a roasting dish (This can be done ahead of time and placed in the fridge). Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Make the beurre blanc. Pour the wine into a thick-based pan. Add the shallot, mace, cloves and bay leaf and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer until reduced to about 2 tablespoons.

Add the cream and allow to cook for a moment, lower the heat slightly and “mount” the sauce by whisking in the cold butter in small pieces, moving the pan from the heat when necessary so that the butter thickens and emulsifies. Season with salt and pepper, strain the liquid through a fine sieve and return to the pan. Leave in a warm place till needed.

Pour a splash of white wine around the fish and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes until the sole fillets are just cooked and the scallop warmed through. In the meantime, stir fry the samphire in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil for about 3 minutes until it still has a little bite and is bright green.

To plate, place a 'nest' of samphire on each plate. Set a roulade in the middle of each, top with a small teaspoonful of caviar and spoon the beurre blanc around.

NOTE: It’s best to finish the sauce with the butter just before you need it.

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


Restaurant Visaandeschelde

Sometimes in life, things are worth waiting for.

We've heard for many years that VisaandeSchelde is one of the best fish and seafood restaurants in Amsterdam, however we've never had the chance to experience it for ourselves. Until now, that is.

Situated on the Scheldestraat opposite the RAI convention centre, the restaurant is well located within the city and easily accessible. The interior makes use of hand-crafted materials, herring-bone patterns and special lighting to complement the area and food being served. Old techniques, crafts and beautiful reused materials have been deployed in the interior design. The combination of materials, images and patterns have been used in such a way as to create several different spaces within the restaurant.

On arrival we were warmly welcomed by the friendly staff. Once seated, our glasses were immediately filled with a stunning Limoux sparkling Rose. A gorgeous aperitief with quite a robust bubble. However, it held it's own with the snack and amuse. The snack was a signature dish of the restaurant in bite-size: a crispy 'cup' filled with a bouillabaisse foam and shrimp tail - superb!

The amuse that followed was a story of two parts. The Patron cuisinier-owner, Michiel Deenik, who serves and engages his guests, suggested we start with the soup. The soup was a cold Dashi (a Japanese soup made from kombu [dried seaweed] and bonito [dried tuna]) which was flavoured with coriander and spring onions with a few ocean jewels, such as an oyster and mussel to embellish. The dashi was sublime, packed full of flavour yet so clean on the palate. The other half of the amuse was a puree of sweetcorn with fresh water crayfish and a buttermilk and lemongrass foam. It was quite a shock going from something so savoury to something quite sweet, but the more one ate, the better it got. We couldn't detect any lemongrass in the foam, which may have helped the balance of the dish.

The starter that followed was a beautiful sashimi of Big Eye tuna, glazed with teriyaki and served with a tom kai gai dressing. Beautiful deep red tuna, as fresh as one can get. The accompanying garnish brough the dish to life. It was palate of preparations of cucumber, smoked pineapple, caviar, sourdough crouton, avocado puree, lemongrass gel, ama ebi prawn and edible flowers. With so many ingredients, a skillful touch is needed to achieve balance and this is just what it was. The dish was paired with Branco Vinho Verde, which was lemony on the nose and floral on the palate. Paired with the dish, a lychee flavour came to the fore.

Our second course was pan roasted sea bream with a heavenly crispy skin, tartare of raw sea bream, mushroom and anchovy tapenade, red pepper ice cream and a squid ink and olive oil dressing. In one word this dish was WOW! Definitely one of our favourites. This was an explosion of flavours, textures and temperatures. We use sea bream often in our recipes but have never used it raw. We will do now. Red pepper can so easily over-power other ingredients, but here it was perfectly judged and added a beautiful sweetness to the dish. This was paired with a Parva Res from Sicily, with stone fruit aromas. We detected notes of papaya when accompanied with the dish.

Main course was an interpretation of surf and turf. We had Zander (snoekbaars in Dutch), braised in brown butter accompanied with a beef stew, chantarelles, roast beetroot, beetroot puree and long pepper. This was a very rich dish, with the meaty flavours dominating. The sweetness of the beetroot counteracted the richness of the braised beef. The dish was paired with 4 Meses Jumilla red from Spain. A perfect wine which was light enough for the fish but rich enough to stand up to the beefy flavours.

We had just enough room left to share dessert. The 2 varieties of kiwi with kiwi gel, custard and coconut marshmallow and sponge looked picture perfect but didn't live up to the quality of the other dishes. The wine, an Auslese Muskat Ottonel was lovely. Our espresso came with unexpected friandise; the creme brûlée and canelle (French pastry) were absolute stunners.

Michiel shared his personal story with us that he originally started the restaurant with his friend, who sadly passed away a few years ago. The story and the journey they made is reflected in the dishes. There is no better ode to someone special than to bring joy to others through good food and good wine.

For more information, please visit VisaandeSchelde.


Scallops with Garlic Butter and Spinach

For 2 as a starter

Ingredients
4 scallops
2 cloves garlic
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
1 lemon
300 g baby spinach
30 g butter
olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
Heat a wok with 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir fry the spinach for 2 minutes until wilted. Drain as much liquid from the spinach as you can. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Lightly season the scallops with salt and pepper. Heat a non-stick frying pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Fry the scallops for 1 minute on each side until golden brown and still slightly translucent in the middle. Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with aluminium foil.

Wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper and place on a medium heat. Finely chop the garlic and parsley.

Add the butter to the pan and as soon as it begins to foam, add the garlic and parsley. Swirl the pan to mix the ingredients.

Season with salt, pepper and ± 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Return the scallops to the pan with the butter.

Divide the spinach between 2 plates and place the scallops on top. Spoon over the garlic butter and serve with a wedge of lemon. Delicious with crusty bread to mop up the juices.

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