age of aquarius.

spinach and ricotta ravioli with brown butter, walnuts and gorgonzola.

enough ravioli for 3 people, in our case it was 16 or so
3/4 cup butter, preferably unsalted but it  don't really matter if you careful
1/2 cup good fresh walnuts, coarsely chopped
2-3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, under no circumstances curly, chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream, go on, it's a special occasion
1 tsp fresh lemon juice, or "a squeeze of one half lemon into your seedcatching cupped palm held over the skillet"
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, or slightly less, I mention this in case you're the kind of person who always says "we always run out of Parmesan so I better grate a little extra": this is so you don't run out, you don't need much
1/4 cup crumbled or very thinly sliced Gorgonzola, to taste, I went light, this is the light amount
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a medium-sized sauté pan over medium or possibly medium-low heat, cook butter without stirring until it starts to darken to a golden color. This should take 5-10 minutes. Watch it, do not take your eye off of it. You are going for the point where you notice it is browning, and then like maybe 30 seconds beyond that. It should not be smoking or smell burned.

When your butter has been noticeably brown for 30 seconds, add the nuts and cook until the butter is definitely golden brown and the nuts are fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the parsley, cream, and lemon juice, and stir to combine. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring to integrate. Add Gorgonzola. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can let this sit for 10 minutes or so while you do the next part if you're cooking by yourself, otherwise have someone else do this part:

Bring 3 or 4 liters of salted water (considerably less than "ocean salty", like half) to a full boil, reduce heat and then add ravioli. (if you add ravioli when the water is at a roiling boil, you risk having the ravioli pop open, nobody wants that). Have an occasional gentle stir to make sure the ravioli ain't sticking nowhere. Once water returns to a gentle boil, cook about 5-10 minutes, there's no way to be more precise b/c I didn't make your ravioli. Keep tasting for doneness. Drain carefully, or simply use a slotted spoon to remove the ravioli individually from the pot.

Spoon sauce over ravioli. If you likey, sprinkly more freshly grated Parmesany on toppy of ravioli.

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for posterity.

Because, you know, the future needs vegan lemon ricotta too. Goddamn when is someone going to come up with the lexical equivalent of "cheese" to describe all of these creamy processed nut concoctions that hundreds of thousands of people are making at home to substitute for cheese.

I made this ricotta substitute to put into a noodle-less zucchini Parmesan, which also doesn't have any Parmesan, so goddamnit we're going to need another name for this as well. Cashew in Italian is "anacardio"....and I basically made this.

By the way, some airbnb guests left three pieces of real cheese last week, it was really good.

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zucchini al forno con anacardio e pomodoro. 

3 zucchini/courgettes, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch planks
1 cup of lemon cashew ricotta (below)

2 cans tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves
2 splashes red wine
2 glugs olive oil
pinch smoked paprika
2 tsp sugar
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 cup cooked green/brown lentils

1 good handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

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lemon cashew ricotta. 

1 cup unroasted cashews.
2 cups water

3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp miso
zest of one lemon
juice of one half lemon

So, put the cashews and water in a pan and boil for 10 minutes. Drain the cashews, reserving the water you've drained off. Then combine 1/2 cup of that water and the cashews themselves in a food processor and process til it looks like ricotta. Then add your salt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and miso, and process some more. If it's too thick, add a little more of the cashew water. If it's not, well don't do anything. Just chill.

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newniss.

That's one of the nicest things about cooking, wouldn't you say. That you can completely ignore or forget about a concept or ingredient for years and years and then one day, holy shit, something fresh and exciting and thoroughly repeatable. The first is a "chopped salad", the second is the too-fucking-trendy spelt "risotto", both made out of a semi-desperate attempt to use up things in the kitchen.

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nancy's chopped salad with oregano dressing.

4 cloves garlic

1 tbsp dried oregano 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 and 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or white beans, drained
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced into paper-thin rings

100g hard italian cheese (well, I used Parmesan, the original recipe calls for Provolone)
100-200g salami, peeled, sliced thin/small, or this could be tuna, or possibly a hard-boiled egg
4 small pickled pepperoncini, sliced into rings

200-300g cherry tomatoes, halved

Sea salt

1 head iceberg lettuce (see Note about size), halved, cored, and cut in 1/2-inch ribbons

1 head radicchio, halved, cored and cut in 1/4-inch ribbons

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recently.

 Flàmmeküeche and pumpkin soup at Troost. Sleep Gunner and Moore/Buis heading to the Belgian border.

Where I had one of the least edible restaurant dishes I've had in a long while, "homemade ravioli of the day". I think you can tell by the ravioli in the foreground that these are pretty "al dente", but what you can't tell is that they also tasted pretty "awful", like only the wrong things about dried mushroom taste.

Luckily Nelson was able to redress the lingering bad pasta juju by busting out her birthday present for the first time and making homemade lasagne noodles...

Which were then applied to this spinach and eggplant lasagna bianca with rosemary, really good, recipe from Caroline.

Italian suckses continued at home with Dennis's new pizza recipe, to be posted here soon.



Then quite a mixed bag of recipes from Veggiestan, this eggplant/tomato/yogurt/mint concept was really good...

...but an unpictured pumpkin soup with rice and za'atar croutons was, mmm, not such a great idea, and these kibbeh:

Despite appearances, were just depressingly bland and useless.

Then this week I encountered a need for vegetables and pickled things, so we get Mark Bittman's beet carpaccio and some perrrrrfect pickled beet eggs.

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lasagnioli.

Prepare for an extreme lack of thrilling content, but this needs to be written down for repeatability's sake.

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ravioli dough and/or lasagna filling.

dough
2 cups flour
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
water if necessary to combine

Combine flour and salt. Add eggs, work them in with a fork or dough hook of a mixer. Add water if necessary to make this a dough. Form into a ball and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic and let rest for at least 30 minutes, in the fridge is fine. Then roll it out and run through a pasta machine.

filling
250g ricotta
a healthy pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup parmigiano-reggiano
1/2 egg, beaten

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at last.

The Mara has only been looking for a European power supply pizzelle maker for the last 10 or 15 years. Yesterday: bingo, right across the street at the Blokker, just in time for her damn berfday. Here's the family recipe.

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pizzelles.

3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 and 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1 to 3 tsp anise seeds (depending on your anise love, yes i know)

In a medium bowl combine eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla. In a separate small bowl, mix flour and baking powder until combined. Stir into the egg mixture and add anise seed. Drop by rounded spoonful onto center of preheated grid in the pizzelle maker. Close lid, allow to cook until steaming stops, anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds, experimentation will be necessary, and you will burn some. Cool the successes on a wire rack and then store in airtight container. Makes two to three dozen, depending on how good you get at it.

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ragu.

Hey I know what would be fun, let's have a post where the photos match the text. Last night Dr. Moop decided that she would finally act on her simmering craving for pappardelle, which is really just a super bonus for those of us who weren't even aware that our pappardelle cravings were simmering.

She also made a very fast version of Mark Bittman and Jim Lahey's no-knead bread, which she's been playing with for a month or two now, but this is my first time tasting it, and yes it's as great as the entire internet says.

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comfortafel.

Traditional Day One nutrition regimen in progress, but first a brief moment of ugly yet soothing rainy day windstorm food. It's so boring I don't even know what to call it.

Last night's epic dreams: I found an exhausted, fat clone of me in a closet and had to kill it (pretty straightforward); then we acquired two zebra colts but then also Amsterdam flooded and my poor brain spent hours imagining what every conceivable lifeform looked and sounded like drowning. No cats though, thanks for that.

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chicken + spinach casserole.

20 kalamata olives
1 rosemary branch
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 courgette
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
6 cans peeled tomatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
(these quantities make twice as much red sauce as you need)

125g mozzarella
125g ricotta

2 free-range chicken breasts
400g fresh spinach
salt
pepper
Parmesan for grating

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balancing act.

The rain relented long enough for everyone to learn how to ride a bike this morning, it literally took about 20 minutes, the advantage of waiting until you're 8 to learn how. Nobody fell once.

Below, jalapeños waiting for pickling.

Further below, a rare successful recreation of a simple Italian salad. This is something I had in Milan a couple of years ago, and though I made to be served as a contorno for the pasta, it was really much better suited to the next morning's breakfast of chicken, smoked mozzarella and artichoke sausage, kind of surprisingly classic.

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celery and mushroom salad with parmesan.

2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly with a mandoline
5 celery hearts, shaved crosswise with a mandoline
2 tbsp Italian flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp scallions, chopped fine
coarse salt
freshly cracked pepper
juice of 2 lemons, zest of one lemon
1/8 cup to 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

a good chunk of Parmesan for shaving/grating/etc

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the real thing.

 

This is not the real thing, this is our first ever gluten-free pasta (corn meal, store-bought). Not bad at all, it's a Romanian brand called Sam Mills (The Corn Master), I think it was €1.89/500g at the Dirk (interestingly, beating AH to the gluten-free punch). The texture was extremely pasta-like, the taste was a tiny bit on the sweet side but in an OK way. This is their penne with more home-dried tomatoes (2.5 hours @ 100C), arugula, gorgonzola, butter, and a little pecorino, an idea worth doing again I thought.

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penne with oven-dried cherry tomatoes, arugula, and gorgonzola. 

250g dried gluten-free penne
2 tbsp butter
two big handfuls arugula, chopped roughly
16 oven-dried cherry tomatoes
3 tbsp gorgonzola
salt
pepper
grated pecorino for serving

Serves 2.

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hot summer night.

 

It was a hot summer night indeed and no this isn't another Meat Loaf post. By the time Le Men left last night I'd figured out one definite way to do at least one variation on a great two-ply lavash "pizza" (two-ply meaning that it's a lavash that could be carefully opened and stuffed if you so desired, but we do not so desire). I'm documenting the technique here a bit more obsessively than usual because I didn't get it right until pizzas number four and five last night and I know that in a week or two I'll never remember what I did.

Here it is: for the marinara version, use a preheated broiler, a rack in the middle of the oven; all the toppings on at the beginning, the toppings in this case being a very light drizzle of olive oil focusing on the edges not the center, one ball of 49-cent mozzarella torn and distributed evenly, really no more than 6 tbsp of good thick homemade marinara sauce distributed evenly, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a dusting of pul biber. Possibly a sprinkletje of parmesan or pecorino or grana padano if you're a cheap bastard like me.

Put your lavash on a pizza pan. Broil for 4 minutes; observe; broil for another 2-4 minutes or until your edges reach maximum tolerable blacknuss and your mozzarella has some color. This version can't be finished with another drizzle of olive oil or everything gets too wet, but non-marinara versions certainly can and should be. Throw a quick pinch of salt at it and start biting.

Or, the new and improved method I think: a preheated broiler, rack in the middle of the oven. Brush your lavash everywhere with good olive oil. Put your hard grated cheeses on there and some black pepper. Throw it in the oven for 2 minutes. Take it out, put your soft cheeses and other toppings on there (unless they're herbs then save them for last), and put it in for another 4 minutes. Have a peek at it, it could be ok here, or maybe it can go another minute from here, 2 at most. Take it out, throw on the herbs. So 6-8 minutes total. OK, back to the original post. 

With the broil method, things happen fast: I literally assembled and cooked 3 pizzas in 30 minutes (I mean yes, my more complicated toppings were prepared beforehand but cheeses were grated and torn "to order"). Oh and your toppings need to be at least room temperature if not warmer b/c everything's only in the oven for 6-8 minutes.

The versions I did last night:

1) The above, what I would call pizza marinara instead of margherita because the tomato sauce is slow-cooked and garlicky, I always thought a pizza margherita used pretty fresh tomatoes. I think it's an American thing. Not motivated to research atm.

2) Pizza ai funghi with garlic, rosemary, taleggio, grana padano. Might be helpful to freeze the taleggio first for easier grating. This was maybe my favorite of the night, though the taleggio could be too strong for some tastes. Tonight since we didn't have any more taleggio we did a version with gruyere, mozzarella and pecorino that was totally super.

3) That kale + artichoke + lemon + pesto + mozzarella thing. I liked it, but yeah somehow it's not quite right, it distractingly doesn't taste like pizza, too tart maybe.

4) Caramelized onion, caramelized endive, roasted figs in balsamic with shallots, gorgonzola, mozzarella. This was the most luxe idea of the night, almost a dessert pizza and really good. Not totally sure it needs the mozzarella.

5) I didn't really do more than taste the other pizzas last night due to time constraints, so I made myself another #1 while I cleaned the kitchen.

A note on cheapness: this was a pretty inexpensive way to feed a small group at a leisurely pace, but only because the Dirk has a decent mozzarella for 49 cents apiece, 1 ball per pizza. I was prepared to make like 8 with mozz, so I spent 4 bucks. Tomatoes, 4 cans: 1.60. Onions: 2 bucks. Figs: on sale for 6 for a euro. Endive also on sale 8 for a euro. The "gorgonzola" was actually Danish blue, shhh don't tell, 1 euro. Grana padano: 2 euro. Taleggio: 2.50. Aritchokes, 1 can: 1.79. Lavash: 50 cents for 6 of them. So less than 20 euroskis in totale for something like 12 "pizzas", I'd figure on two per person if that's all you're eating.

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romescoredux.

Above: me roasting macerated fresh clearance figs at 7am. Not because I have to! Because I want to. Well I do kind of have to if I want to cook with them, because they don't really taste like much in their natural state. But it's not like I woke up early to roast figs is what I'm saying.

Maybe it's just me, but just about every fresh fig I've ever tasted has been somewhere between disappointing (the better ones) and tasteless (the rest), of course except for these, but yes I can figure out why those were so good.

The attempted solution for today's figs: roasting them in an as-low-as-possible oven for 2 hours. Then I think I'm going to dice them (I know it's a shame cause they're pretty, but it's pizza, ingredients need to be a chompable size/shape) and let them sit in some balsamic vinegar for a while. Possibly a shallot or two. Maybe even reduce that whole business if I feel ambitious.

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And oh yeah this post was supposed to be about rescuing this romesco recipe from the vaults.

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sauce boy, part xviii.

Trying this lavash "pizza" idea from way back again tomorrow, toppings as yet undecided.

Well shit, all of my lavash suppliers are on vacation all of the sudden. Wtf people.

OK, we cool, that little corner Turk near Van Hallstraat sorted a brother out. Now what we gone do? Wellllll, I'm thinking like this:

1) Pizza marinara. I'm making the sauce now.
2) Something with parmigiano, artichokes, kale, lemon, and almonds (and mozzarella). I've been fixated on this since I made that rice the other day.
3) Maybe this, mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, taleggio, etc.
4) I bought an assload of endive (witlof) at the Avondmarkt because it was on sale. I should do something with that. I also bought some fresh figs b/c I'm stupid and they were like 20 cents each. Maybe roasted fig, a little gorgonzola, sauteed endive, mascarpone?

5) I really want to make this and put it on a pizza. And then eat it. And then nap for a long time.

Here are the baking times for the lavash. 

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I've got a new ingredient crush: pul biber.

It's not really "sambal poeder", although I can see what they're trying to say: it's dried red chile, fire-roasted and actually not ground into powder, but kind of coarsely crushed into flakes. There aren't many seeds at all, so the chile flavor is really pronounced instead of the heat. Sambal-ish poeder.

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cherry bomb.

This Saveur article is what restarted my thinking about escabeches, well that and the temperature. It's finally hot here, so the idea of eating something vinegary out of the fridge sounds even better than usual. Maybe I'll eventually write down this turkey escabeche I made Friday night (oregano, habanero, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, vinegar, garlic, onion), but yes it may have to wait.

While I was poking about on the Saveur website I started looking at their picnic recipes, since etc what I said before about the temperature, and found this interesting-looking rice salad, also timely b/c Mara came into a bunch of cherries (that's what I said) and I've got kale and basil and spinach sitting around wilting and so I am making it right now. I'm unsure about the artichoke and cherry combo, that part sounds drug-induced, but will give it a try. Preliminary tasting results very positive (everything except cherries, almonds, and artichokes). Other items on the menu: Ottolenghi's smashed garlic cucumbers and that ol' beet carpaccio with feta. And maybe something with shrimp. We gwine be stinkee in our damn mouf.

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And later: cherries provided a beauteeful visual contrast but as suspected were unnecessary and/or distracting in terms of taste. They are now off macerating somewhere instead of participating in this recipe. Artichokes on the other hand were a great addition and almonds would probably also work nicely, but it was also great without them, this ended up being really one of my favorite things I've made recently.

kale and brown rice salad with basil and cherries.

1 cup loosely packed basil leaves
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 and 1/2 tbsp raw/turbinado sugar

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup frozen chopped kale, drained
1 cup loosely packed fresh spinach leaves, chiffonaded or roughly chopped.
4 to 8 artichoke hearts, rinsed well, drained and quartered
1/2 cup toasted almonds, slivered or roughly crushed
1 cup or maybe even 2 cups cherries, pitted and halved, or quartered if you have time and patience

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corpuconia.

Above: cheap Belgian strawberries, now macerating.

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Yesterday's bargain cauliflower got turned into deconstructed risotto al cavolfiore: in one pan, roasted cauliflower, onions and celery; in another pan, your basic risotto with parmesan. On the table for serving: more parmesan, freshly-chopped parsley and an almond-rosemary "pangrattato". Assemble and chomp.

This pangrattato thingie makes everything it comes in contact with better. I realize that my instructions below are not what you might call "useful", but basically I just started with a (biggish) handful of almonds and some rosemary leaves and an anchovy and three chiles, and then just kept adding anchovies and chiles until it was salty enough and spicy enough. Use your tongue is what I'm saying.

Here's what the pil-pil peppers look like:

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almond "pangrattato". 

1/2 or 3/4 cup toasted almonds
1 or 2 anchovy filets packed in oil
1 mangy branch of kinda dried-out rosemary that's been sitting around, or maybe 1/2 tsp actual professionally-dried rosemary
4 tiny dried red chiles, the "pil-pil" kind

Pulse a couple times in a processor (I used our wonderful HandiChop or whatever it's called), taste for seasoning, use more anchovy to increase your saltiness.

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seriously grrr.

It's time to finally admit that we have become rice eaters. Brown rice, specifically. It snuck into our diet as a gluten-free replacement for the bulgur we'd started eating a few years ago instead of white rice (long story), and lately we've been eating a lot of it, but we've almost been preparing it like it's something to be ashamed of, barely acknowledging its presence, hoping no one will notice it there. "Oh, that? That's just the rice."

No more, I say! I'm actually going to make "a rice dish" this evening to go along with a roasted garlic-rosemary chicken an attempt at the Italian-American mystery that is shrimp scampi. I'll still be using Saveur's cooking technique for the rice but with ingredients lifted from Cook's Illustrated.

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brown rice with parmesan, lemon and herbs.

2 tbsp butter
1 small onion
1 cup brown rice
1.5 liters chicken broth
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup grated parmigiano
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp lemon juice

possibly: pine nuts, currants

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ode.

Those who know me will not be too too surprised by this, but I found myself thinking it as I was walking up the stairs today with two laden Dirk bags and yes obviously felt compelled to affirm it here in these pages: I love grocery shopping. It may be my current favorite regularly-occurring non-destructive activity, which I'm sure says as much about how I'm spending my time these days as it does about my household chore preferences.

This love of mine is of course the blessing and the curse, but I'm doing a pretty good job with the current grocery budget. A critical success factor here is that I'm the only household member who grocery shops now, this is on purpose, and it's just way better in terms of knowing what's in the fridge and disposing of leftovers and etc etc etc.

So tonight is a end-of-week fridgecleaner, the "baked Italian vegetable casserole". It's also the night I've decided to start referring to zucchini the way that non-Italian Europeans do and thus we are now calling it courgette, mostly because zucchini never ever looks like it's spelled right.

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baked courgette, mozzarella, red sauce. 

2 courgettes
2 balls mozzarella
can o' mushrooms, drained, chopped, browned
1 onion

nutmeg
smoked salt
black pepper

1 cup ricotta
16 good black olives, pitted, torn
3 cups red sauce I made earlier this week
20 fresh basil leaves

parmigiano for grating/dusting

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Other cooking instructions not so interesting, but I used Mara's suggested ingredient stratification and it was nice, it went like this, top to bottom:

mozzarella/parmigiano/sauce
courgette
sauce
ricotta/basil/olives
courgette
sauce
mushrooms/onions
mozzarella
courgette
sauce

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croccante di nocciole.

I'm making this very soon. I've got a big-ass bag of hazelnuts sitting around not getting any younger and a sugar tooth the size of the moon, also not getting any younger, etc.

I made this, and I have to say either my recipe or my technique's not perfect, or both. I don't know if the problem was my raw sugar (vs. white refined) or the 4 tbsp water I added or my impatience to be finished, but the caramel came out a little grainy and the end result isn't as toothshatteringly brittle as I would like.

I definitely should've read David Lebovitz's caramel primer first, but I'm not saying we're not going to eat our end results.

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the long way home.

A recipe I've been trying to try for years, finally done, and yes it's a good healthy chocolate ice cream substitute. Apparently it and/or its variants are taking the internet by stormmmm. Below that, a documentation of our attempt to duplicate the family recipe for marinated artichoke hearts.

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frozen black bananas and cocoa powder.

1 large extremely ripe banana, frozen and peeled
1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 dates, pitted
date syrup

Process everything in a food processor. Serve drizzled with date syrup, maple syrup, and/or cold coconut milk.

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marinated artichoke hearts.

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and hearts quartered
juice of a lemon
1 tbsp neutral oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste

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tjappings.

Above: socca experiments continue, this one sports smoked paprika and lots of black pepper in the batter, and on top it's caramelized tomatoes and red onions, plus harissa-and olive-marinated mozzarella. And sriracha, and fresh basil. I know it looks a little blackened in the northwest sector but the blacker parts are good. The whole thing was good. Both of them were good (I made two for us to share b/c they were only like six inches across).

Totally unrelatedly, it's been a long while since I've been so pleased to discover an Amsterdam food blog, but Tjappings is just great.

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