Abigail's Food Adventures

Roast duck

Yesterday, we went to town, and went to the market. We managed to buy a whole duck (2 kg) for less than € 10. We also bought a bunch of veggies.

For todays dinner, I decided to stuff the duck and roast it, fry potatoes in the duck fat, puree aubergines, make a plum sauce and make cheese filled squash raviolis.

• For the stuffing: mix bread crumbs, minced onions, thyme, an orange (peeled, membrames removed), chopped pecan nuts, balsamico vinegar and honey.
• Rinse the duck, remove the wingtips, towel it dry and fill the duck with the stuffing. Use skewers to close off the cavities. Pierce the skin repeatedly. Dress the duck with some bacon.
• Transfer the duck into an oven. Place it on a wire rack, with a baking tin below it (to collect the fat). Roast the duck on a medium heat (160° about 30m/500g, turn over the duck halfway).
• When done, let the duck rest for about 15 minutes wrapped in tin foil.

For the aubergine puree:

• Peel and slice a aubergine.
• Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Be aware, the aubergine has the tendency to soak up some of the oil, and you need oil in the pan for the heat transfer.
• When the slices are almost soft, add some crushed garlic.
• When the aubergine is soft, puree in a blender.

For the ravioli:

• Slice butternut squash thinly. You may want to use a cookie cutter to get identical shaped slices.
• Bring water with lemon juice and sugar to a boil.
• When the liquid boils, turn the heat off, and add the squash. Leave for about 10 minutes, till the squash is soft.
• For the stuffing: mix cream cheese (Monchou) and goats cheese. Stir in chopped cashew nuts.
• Take a slice of squash, add a dollop of cheese, cover with another slice of squash.

For the fried potatoes:

• Peel and slice potatoes.
• Boil with water and salt till tender. Drain, and let it cool off.
• Sieve the duck fat, transfer to a frying pan, bring to a boil, add potatoes, and fry till the potatoes are golden.

For the plum sauce:

• Peel, destone and dice plums.
• In a sauce pan, add plums, water, some lemon juice and sugar.
• Bring to a boil and simmer till the plums fall apart.

Bunless Burger

Just a quick throw together on a Saturday night.

• Peel and slice potatoes. Put in a pan with water and salt, boil till the potatoes are done. Drain, and let the potatoes completely cool down.
• Slice onions. Simmer with some butter and chopped garlic on a low heat till the rings are tender and soft. They should be slightly sweet.
• Remove the stems from the portobello mushrooms. Put the caps in a warm oven (200°C) till they soften (but they still should give some resistance when squeezing them).
• Using a frying pan with butter and vegetable oil, fry the potatoes.
• Fry a steak tartare on a medium heat (5-7 minutes depending how well done you want them). Fry some bacon in the same pan as well.
• Chop up some bell peppers. Stir fry them. Use soy sauce, a dash of vinegar, and some sugar to make a sauce. Add the sauce to the wok when the peppers are done, and toss around till the sauce boils.

Serve the steak tartare in the mushroom cap, garnish with bacon and onions. Serve the potatoes and bell peppers on the side.

Saüc

Easter Sunday, we visited restaurant Saüc in Barcelona. Saüc has one Michelin star. We opted for their largest tasting menu.

We started off with some nibbles while going over the menu. Banana chips with guacamole; green olives and black olive jelly (the jelly lies on the forks, below the green olives); various chips (potato, yuca, something else).

Our first starter was calliflower cream, with barnacles.

The second started consisted of toased bread, sardines, olives and orange peel.

This was followed by another starter. A pork terrine with potatoes and mustard. We were disappointed by this one: the mustard was much, and hence, overwhelming, and even without the mustard, the layer of pork was too thin, its flavour lost by the potato.

On to the main courses!

The first main course consisted of tomatoes, with a sorbet made from herbs, and toasted almonds. While the sorbet looked nice, and the concept was a novelty to us, the cold temperature made that the flavour of the herbs got a bit lost.

No picture unfortunally of the second main course. Which was tuna belly with couscous. Quite enjoyable.

The third main were razor clams, peas, spinach and a foam of spinach.

Halfway the mains: chicken egg, cream of lentils, caviar, and dried tuna.

Fifth main was a scallop, broad beans and a saffron sauce.

The fish course: sea bass, sea urchin foam, and quinoa

The final main course: dry aged beef, aubergine puree, paprika puree, olive oil and onion. One of the tastiest pieces of beef I’ve ever eaten.

A selection of Catalan cheeses: from left to right, cheese made from sheep milk, cheese made from cows milk, and the latter two were made from goats milk. And some jam from oranges and strawberries. Served with nut bread.

On to the sweet desserts. First dessert consists of ginger bread, a sorbet made from bergamot, and a passion fruit sauce.

Then a cheesecake, a foam made from sheep milk, baked pear, pear sorbet and some pear jelly.

Finally, a chocolaty dessert. When served, this looked like a large chocolate ball. When a caramel sauce was poured over it, the content was revealed: brownies, Hennessy cognac, nuts, vanilla.

And with the coffee, some sweets: strawberry macarons, chocolate with honey, marshmallow from passion fruit and a raspberry cookie.

De Florijn

Tonight, to celebrate Jet’s birthday, we visited restaurant ‘De Florijn’, in Nieuwerbrug. We opted for the 5 course surprise menu.

We started off with scallops, wrapped in ham, served with couscous, mayonnaise with cumin, and mayonnaise with olives. Good way to start dinner.

Second course was parsnip soup, and a cream of pink peppercorns. Very nice and tasty; parsnips and pink peppercorns: an unexpected, and delightful combination.

The third course was ravioli with lamb, veal sweetbread and a lamb gravy. In my opinion, it would have been better if the sweetbread wasn’t breaded, this was masking the flavour of the sweetbread too much.

Main course was sea wolf, courgette, remoulade and carrot puree. We were unimpressed by the dish. It was uninspiring, and a tad boring.

Our dessert was a selection of small dishes: mousse from Granny Smith; a macaron with lime filling; mango with raspberry sauce; coconut ice-cream with white chocolate; chocolate mousse; and chocolate meringues with cardamon cream.

A selection of sweets with our coffee. You were supposed to select only one, but Jet claimed not be able to make a choice, so we were given one of of each.

Overall, we were pleased. We did wonder why the 5 course menu was described to have two starters, a main, and two dessert (one savory, and one sweet), but we were given three starters, a main and a dessert without explanation. The restaurant has recently earned a ‘Bin Gourmand’, and a ‘Gouden Pollepel’. They also won the ‘Best vegetarian dish of 2011’ award.

Ham, Potatoes, Apple Sauce, Chicory

A simple dinner tonight.

• Put the ham with some thyme in the oven; first 35 minutes on 160°C, then turn the heat down to 90°C and keep the ham in the oven for 10 minutes/100 g. With 15-20 minutes to go, rub honey on both sides for the ham.
• Slice mushrooms and fry them briefly in melted butter.
• Remove the mushrooms from the frying pan, and set aside. Add a sliced onion to the pan, and gently fry the rings till they are soft.
• Remove the onion from the pan, set aside with the mushrooms.
• Fry the potatoes in the pan. Add some more butter if necessary, and some olive oil. When the potatoes are done, add the onions and mushrooms back in, and toss till everything is warm enough.
• For the apple sauce, peel, core and dice three apples. Put in a small sauce pan, add a little water, some sugar and cinnamon.
• Bring to a boil and simmer till the apples have reached the right consistency.
• For the salad: remove the outer leaves of the chicory. Cut off the ends, remove the core, and slice finely. Add a peeled, cored and diced apple.

Stuffed Mushrooms

For the stuffed mushrooms:

• Remove the stems of 12 middle sized mushrooms. Chop up the stems, and hollow out the mushroom caps.
• In a small sauce pan, sauté 2 handfuls of diced cranberries for a few minutes. Add an equal amount of the chopped up stems.
• Remove the cranberry/mushroom mixture, and set aside.
• Sauté finely diced chorizo (same amount than the cranberries) with 2 pressed cloves of garlic.
• Add goats cheese (again, about the same amount as the cranberries), 1 tsp. of dried sage, and a dash of maple syrup.
• Stir until the goats cheese melts; season with salt and pepper.
• Stuff the mushroom caps with the mixture.
• Put the stuffed mushrooms on a baking sheet, and put it in an oven (about 15m on 170°C)
• Take it out of the oven, sprinkle some grated parmezan cheese over the mushrooms and pop back in the oven till the cheese has melted.

For the Hasselback potatoes:

• Cut across potatoes, a few millimeters apart. Don’t cut all the way through!
• Put a few thin slices of garlic and ginger in each potato.
• Put the potatoes in a baking tray, pour oil and/or butter generously over the potatoes.
• Roast the potatoes on 200°C for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.
• Before serving, remove the garlic and ginger.
• Sprinkle chopped spring onions over the potatoes.

For the salad:

• Take some ice berg lettuce, match sized carrot, a few dried cranberries and some diced pear (lots of variation is possible here).
• Add some slices of dry, cured sausage (tonight, it was wild boar sausage).
• Use apple syrup as dressing.

Meat and two veggies, with fruit for pudding

Chicken, potatoes and eggplant.

For the chicken legs:

• Put chicken legs in a baking tray. For each leg, put a slice of ginger under the skin. Coat each leg with olive oil.
• Season the legs with lots of ground coriander seeds and a little salt.
• Put in an oven (200°C) for 45 minutes.

For the potatoes:

• Grind 2 tsp. of coriander seeds and 2 tsp. of cumin seeds using a mortar and pestle.
• Fry the seeds with 4 cardamon pods in hot oil, till it starts releasing its smells.
• Add 1 tbsp. of grated ginger, a finely chopped onion, 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, and a red chili pepper (seeds removed, sliced in tiny stips), and fry for about 1 minute.
• Add 1 tin of tomato paste, mix well, fry for another minute.
• Add about 700 g of small potatoes and 400 ml of chicken stock.
• Bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes, or till the potatoes are cooked.
• Add more liquid if necessary.

For the eggplant:

• Peel 1 eggplant and cut into slices (somewhat thinner than 1 cm).
• Brush each slice lightly with oil (both sides).
• On a hot griddle pan, fry each side so the eggplant gets nice grid lines.
• In a wide pan, fry 1 tbsp. of finely diced ginger, 1 red chili pepper (seeds removed, and sliced) and 1 tbsp. of cumin seeds for 2 minutes.
• Add water, a couple of tbsp. of honey and lemon juice. Add the eggplant.
• Bring to a boil, and cook till the eggplant is soft and tender. Use the cooking liquid as a serving sauce.

• Peel pears, half them, and remove the cores.
• Poach the pears with water, honey, lemon juice, a cinnamon stick, cardamon pods, a star anise and 2 cloves.
• Remove the pears from the poaching liquid when they’re soft, but still firm enough so they can be handled.
• Reduce the poaching liquid till most of it has evaporated, leaving a sweet syrup. Strain the liquid.
• Meanwhile, toast a handful of hazelnuts in a dry frying pan. Grind the nuts.
• Use a vegetable peeler to make dark and white chocolate shavings.
• To serve: place two pear halves on a plate. Pour some of the syrup over the pears. Sprinkle hazelnut crumbs over the pears. Top off with the chocolate shavings.

Chicken Nuggets

One of Jet’s favourites.

• Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces.
• Put slices of white bread (crusts removed) in a warm oven for a few minutes, to dry it out a little. Don’t let them brown.
• Using a food processor, turn the bread into crumbles.
• Take an equal amount of chili flavoured tortilla chips, and crumble them in a food processor as well.
• Mix bread and tortilla chips well.
• Dust the chicken with flour.
• Dip the dusted chicken into beaten egg then roll through the crumbs mixture so they are covered all over.
• In small batches, deep fry the nuggets till golden.
• Serve with a sweet chili dipping sauce.

This is the first time I made them with tortilla chips. In the past, I’ve used macadamia nuts, cashew nuts and hazelnuts. They all seem to work well.

Beef, Ginger, Carrot, Chili, Pineapple

• Cut a cucumber in pieces several centimeters long; hollow the out, but don’t pierce the bottom.
• Cut beef, ginger, carrot, green chili and pineapple into match sized pieces.
• Stir fry the beef. Remove the beef from the wok and set aside.
• Stir fry the ginger and chili, till it starts to smell. Add the carrots, and stir fry for a minute or two.
• Add the pineapple, stir fry for a minute, add the beef again.
• Mix soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar. Add to the wok, bring to a boil.
• Optional: add cornflour mixed with a little water to thicken the sauce.
• Serve by putting the mixture in the cucumber containers.
• Sprinkle with chopped spring onions and sesame seeds.
• Serve with white rice.

Stuffed Squash, Duck, Cranberry Sauce & Dessert

Something new tonight.

• Make 12 slices of butternut squash, and use a cookie cutter to make equal sized disks. Use the rest of the squash to make soup.
• Bring 2dl water, 2dl white wine vinegar and 4 tsp of sugar to a boil. Cook the squash in the liquid for 10 minutes, or until tender.
• Toast 100g of almonds and chop them into tiny pieces afterwards.
• Mix the almonds with 100g of cream cheese (at room temperature).
• Divide the cheese-almond mixture into 6 equal parts.
• Remove the squash from the liquid, and pat them dry using paper towels.
• Take 6 slices, put cheese on each part, add a touch of pepper and top off with the other 6 slices.
• Meanwhile, make the duck breast: fry each side of the breast (skin side first) in a medium hot frying pan (no fat or oil added). Let the duck rest for 5 minutes in some tin foil before slicing.
• For the sauce: bring water, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, and star anise to a boil. Simmer till the cranberries have popped. Sieve, and use a wooden spoon to press all the liquid out of the berries.

Inspired by a recipe from Jean Beddington, published in De Volkskrant on Feb 24, 2012.

• Peel 2 pears. Half them, remove their cores, and stringy part running from the core to the top.
• Poach the pears in water, with lemon juice, honey, a cinnamon stick, star anise and some cardamom pods.
• Remove the pears when soft.
• Reduce the poaching liquid till it has the consistency of a syrup.
• Serve with good chocolate ice-cream (for instance, Ben and Jerry’s), and pour the syrup over the pears.