summer Archives - Pagina 2 van 3

Preserved Tomatoes

A great way of preserving tomatoes when they are at their best during the summer months. Use them during the winter in pasta sauces, on cheese sandwiches or in a tomato salsa.

Ingredients
2 litres water
60 gr caster sugar
30 gr salt
4 bay leaves
5 cloves
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
130 ml white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 kg firm ripe tomatoes, cut into pieces
10 sprigs dill, roughly chopped
100 g celery, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 onions, finely sliced

Method

Bring a large pan with the water, sugar, salt, bay leaves, cloves and mustard seeds to the boil. Once the water has boiled, turn off the heat and allow the water to cool so that all the flavours are released.

Once it's completely cooled, add the vinegar and mix well. Pour the sunflower oil into a 2 liter preserving jar. Place the tomato, dill, celery and garlic in the jar. Add the onions last, so that they are on top. Pour over the cooled liquid, close the lid and place the jar in a warm place (25 C) for 10 days.

The tomatoes, if well sealed, can keep for up to 6 months.

by Bernadette Evers

Rhubarb Lemonade

For 8 glasses

For the Rhubarb Syrup

1,2 kg rhubarb, peeled and diced
480 g castor sugar
450 ml water

For the Rhubarb Lemonade

sparkling water
lemon slices
mint leaves

Method

To prepare the rhubarb lemonade first combine the rhubarb, sugar, and water in a large saucepan.

Cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently for 20-25 minutes until the rhubarb is soft and the syrup has slightly thickened.

Strain the syrup through a fine sieve lined with muslin or cheesecloth, sat over a bowl.

Press the rhubarb against the side of the sieve with the back of a spoon to extract as much syrup as possible.

Pour the rhubarb syrup into a jar, seal well, and chill until ready to serve.

To Serve

Pour 50 ml of rhubarb syrup into serving glasses.

Top up with chilled sparkling water, stir briefly, and garnish the rhubarb lemonade with lemon slices and mint leaves before serving.

by Mischa de Winter

Summer Drinks

With the weather heating up, we're getting more interested in light and refreshing drinks.

What we like is to start with a cordial or syrup. This is an intense flavoured base from which to begin building your drinks. Think different seasonal fruits that bring colour and flavour; rhubarb, lemons and plums for example.

Once you have a cordial base, this should keep well in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Now get creative. Mix the cordial with water (still or sparkling), ice cubes and then an array of fruit and herbs to garnish. Think of a garnish the complements the main ingredient. Let your imagination run wild.

by Bernadette Evers

Filled Focaccia

We're all thinking of ways to enjoy summer eating, whether that be in our outdoors. Here is a great recipe/idea for summer eating. You can practice your bread making skills and use your favourite vegetables or whatever is season.

Make a batch of focaccia.

Use an array of your favourite vegetables. We like a combination of peppers, courgettes, aubergine and red onion. Cut each into bite-sized pieces. Toss in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill in a grill pan until the vegetables have bar marks and are tender and cooked through. You can also finish them off in the oven to get them more tender.

Once they and the bread have cooled down, slice the bread in half. Spread with pesto (either homemade or shop bought). Top with the grilled vegetables and then tear some buffalo mozzarella over. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Dot a few fresh basil leaves over and a handful of rocket leaves. Close the bread to form a giant sandwich. Cut into pieces and serve.

by Bernadette Evers

Ice Tea

Quench your thirst on warm summer days with this easy and delicious ice tea recipe.

Ingredients
4 organic Rooibos tea bags
1,2 liters boiling water
about 3 Tbsp castor sugar
slices of lemon or orange, mint leaves and ice cubes, to serve

Also delicious mixed with a little mango, pineapple or orange juice.

Method
Allow the tea to infuse in the water for about 5-10 minutes. Remove the tea bags and stir in the sugar until dissolved. The amount of sugar you add is up to you. You can either add more or less or leave it out completely.

Allow the tea to cool and refrigerate until chilled.

To serve, fill long glasses with ice, lemon slices and mint leaves. Pour over the chilled tea and enjoy.

by Bernadette Evers

Lemon Cordial

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
zest from one lemon
cold or sparkling water
lemon slices, optional
mint leaves for garnish

Method
Measure the sugar and water into a saucepan. Stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar, bring the mixture to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Let cool slightly.

Add fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest to the sugar syrup. Cool completely. Pour the lemonade syrup into a jar or bottle. Cover tightly with the lid. The syrup can be kept in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 weeks.

When you’re ready to make into lemonade, put some ice cubes in the bottom of a glass. Pour ¼ cup of the lemon syrup over the ice cubes. Add ¾ cup cold water or sparkling water and stir. Float a thin slice of lemon and, if you like, a fresh mint leaf on top of each glass. The recipe makes enough syrup for 14 glasses of lemonade.

To make pink lemonade: add 1/2 cup grenadine syrup to the jar of lemonade syrup and stir. Strawberry lemonade: add 2 tablespoons of puree of fresh strawberries into each glass. Limeade: Replace lemon with lime juice and lime zest.

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

Fattoush

Ingredients
2 pita pocket breads, cut into strips about 2 cm wide, then toasted and crumbled
2 heads Romaine lettuce, chopped
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
4 tomatoes, diced (let them drain a minute or two if extra juicy)
1/2 cucumber, diced (same size as tomatoes)
small bunch coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
small bunch coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley (leaves only, no stems)

Dressing
2-4 cloves garlic, chopped (depending on how garlic you like it)
1 teapoon salt
lemon juice, to taste
1 teaspoon Sumac, plus more for sprinkling at the end if desired)
125 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C. While the oven heats, mash together the chopped garlic and salt using a mortar and pestle, or the side of a knife. Put the garlic paste in a small bowl, then the add lemon juice and 1 teaspoon Sumac. Whisk in the olive oil and set dressing aside. (You can also make the dressing in a glass jar and shake to combine.)

Cut the pita into strips about 2 cm wide and arrange on baking sheet. Bake until the pita strips are crisp but only just starting to brown, less than 10 minutes. Watch carefully as they can go from crisp to overly brown rather quickly.

Remove the outer leaves from the Romaine, trim the stem end and then wash and dry with paper towels. Cut the Romaine into quarters lengthwise, then turn and chop crosswise into small pieces. (If you have a salad spinner, you can chop the Romaine first, then wash it.) Put chopped lettuce into salad bowl large enough toss all ingredients.

Chop tomatoes, spring onions, cucumbers, mint, and parsley and add to the lettuce. Add about half of the dressing and toss, then add the crumbled pita chips and toss again with more dressing. (You may not want to use all the dressing, but this salad should be quite wet.) At this point the salad should sit for a few minutes (or longer) to let flavours blend and so the pita chips absorb some of the dressing. To serve, arrange the salad on a platter and sprinkle with a bit more Sumac.

by Bernadette Evers

The perfect green salad

The perfect green salad relies on the freshness of it's ingredients, the variety of lettuces and herbs you add and of course the perfect balance between a good olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice.

Start with a selection of leaves and herbs, preferably from the market. Examples are butter lettuce, cos, frisse, chicory, rocket and watercress. Bring in some freshness with herbs - mint, flat leaf parsley, onion cress, chives and basil.

You can add some texture if you like in the form of green asparagus (lightly blanched or grilled) or croutons.

Place all the ingredients for your salad in a large bowl. It's important to have room to lightly toss your salad with the dressing so that each leaf is evenly coated and not bruised by being over-worked.

The next important step is the dressing. The dressing should never overwhelm a salad, but compliment it's ingredients. The simplest and best form is a vinaigrette made from good olive oil, good vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Basic vinaigrette dressing
2 tablespoons vinegar or 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (optional)
90 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method
In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar or lemon juice with the salt, pepper and mustard if using.
Gradually whisk in the oil in a steady stream until the vinaigrette is blended and thickened. Taste for seasoning. If the dressing separates, bring it back together by whisking rapidly.

Once you have your dressing made, pour it over the salad at the very last moment just before serving. Remember the word 'dressing' says it all - it should just be a light coating around the leaves and not flood the salad. Remember too that if the dressing is added too long in advance, the vinegar or lemon juice will begin cooking the leaves and they will turn limp and soggy.

Your salad can be put together with whatever you have or is in season. Feel free to add other ingredients to turn it in to a more substantial meal. Think too about adding different flavours to your vinaigrette in the form of chopped garlic, shallot, herbs or flavoured vinegars.

by Bernadette Evers

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.

by Bernadette Evers

Herring Tartare

Ingredients
2 Dutch new herrings
1 shallot
small bunch chives
125 g tub creme fraiche
1 lemon
50 g mesclun salad
1 pack mustard cress

Method
Finely chop the chives. Cut the herring into 1/2cm cubes and place all the ingredients is a bowl.

Cut the lemon in half and add a few drops to taste to the chopped herring. Add 1 tablespoon creme fraiche and season with salt and pepper.

Finely slice the shallot into thin rings. Snip the mustard cress and mix together in a bowl with the mesclun salad.

Line 2 cups or ramekins with cling wrap, divide the the herring tartare between the moulds. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the salad and season with salt and pepper.

Unmould the herring tartare and top each with a teaspoonful of creme fraiche.

Arrange the salad around the tartare and serve with a wedge of lemon.

by Bernadette Evers