Posts Tagged ‘gluten free’

« Older Entries

I don’t really DO dessert, but…Almond-Peach Tiramisu

381
January 1st, 2010

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I mean…pump me full of hormones, and I’ll scream murder for a Milka bar. But you can make me much happier with something in the cheese category. In addition to that, I’m not a big eater. Three courses is always too much for me. Given those two facts, you can probably imagine that I don’t eat a whole lotta dessert. And even if I do, it’s pretty much always a cheese plate.

But sometimes you gotta placate the dessert lovers around you. Especially when they are your girlfriend’s family, and you want to, no, you MUST, impress them with your kitchen-fu.

Ergo: tiramisu. With a difference.   (more…)

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments

Cream of celeriac soup and salad of grilled radicchio, pear and blue cheese

371
December 31st, 2009

Soup and salad is my go-to simple meal for nights when I don’t feel like cooking anything but still want to eat something relatively healthy. But I love it so much that I sometimes fancy it up a bit. While today’s version totally defeats the purpose of the original concept (since it’s neither “easy” nor particularly “cheap”), it’s totally worth the effort.

This soup is a hearty, seasonal soup. It’s pretty simple to make, and freezes well. It’s a bit sweet, a little creamy, with a slightly nutty flavor from the celeriac. The salad, on the other hand, is a bit on the fancy side. The bitter radicchio is grilled on a griddle pan, and is topped with slices of pear, crumbled blue cheese, and caramelized pecans. While they don’t need to be served together per se, they compliment each other very nicely. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments

Spiced carrot-lentil soup

319
November 26th, 2009

It’s soup season, so of course I’ve been making SOUP! This recipe resulted from a previous cooking endeavor that only used one carrot out of a whole bunch, and a half packet of red lentils that had been glaring at me sadly from the cupboard. As the carrots wilted and the lentils moped, I said “ENOUGH ALREADY!” And then I blitzed them all into a quick, hearty soup.

I am really proud of my soup, as I’ve always hated the bland, overly sweet flavor of many carrot soups. This one, instead, is zingy, zippy, zesty and all kinds of good things that start with z. It is also nutrient dense, without becoming something you eat only because it’s supposed to be healthy. It’s a filling soup without being to heavy, with light flavors that can be spiced up or mellowed down to your own taste.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments

Roasted spiced carrots

289
October 31st, 2009

I know lots of people who don’t like cooked carrots. And I understand why. There’s nothing more blah and boring than squishy, sweet carrot mush. For years I only ate them raw or lightly steamed, or chopped finely as a base for soups and sauces. But ever since I’ve discovered that you can roast carrots, I can’t get enough of the cheerful little buggers. Today I experimented a bit, and came  with this recipe. The carrots are roasted for quite long, which makes them pleasantly soft but also gives them a nice hearty flavor. The spices, lemon juice and honey add some interest. If you’re one of those people who claims to not like carrots, I encourage you to try these. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments

Lentil salad with goat’s cheese and parsley

282
October 31st, 2009

Today’s dinner is one I am particularly proud of. We had my favorite lentil salad, roasted carrots, some fantastic pita bread I bought a while ago from the jewish district, a spiced garlicky lemon-dill-yoghurt sauce I made, and some harissa for spice. It was a lovely, flavorful vegetarian meal, somewhat middle-eastern inspired, and very nutritious. I’ll post the lentil salad recipe first and tackle the carrots in the next post, because I think they both deserve to shine on their own.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments

Pommes Duchesse with cheese and parsley

274
October 26th, 2009

I guess it’s tie to admit that I have very little experience with preparing Dutch food. Not that there’s anything wrong with it…per se. Or, you know, maybe there is!  Its main flavor components are “salt” and “fat,” textures range from “gooey” to “gluey” and its main themes are “meat” and “potatoes.”

But even Dutch cuisine has its highlights, and a good “gehaktbal” (meatball) is one of them. Every grandma has her own top-secret recipe, and some of those recipes are fucking brilliant! Sadly, I don’t own one. Marbles’ mom, however, is widely renowned for her meatballs. And today I found out why! Marbles brought home some of her mom’s balls this weekend, and they were really damn delicious. But I can’t give you a recipe, it being Top Secret and all.

Instead, I’ll live you the recipe for my cheese-and-parsley pommes duchesse. They are the pretty little potato rosettes sitting next to that delicious looking meatball. And they’re surprisingly easy to make. (more…)

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments

Spinach and ricotta risotto

209
October 16th, 2009

I just realized that it must seem like I only cook Italian-style food, which isn’t the case. I guess I’ve just been on a bit of an Italian food kick lately. Also, I’ve gotta say that Italian-style cooking is really adaptable, which is great for using up leftover vegetables and such.

This risotto was the result of a huge bag of spinach left in the fridge, some leftover ricotta, something I read somewhere in some magazine, and the fact that I’m not totally crazy about pasta. It’s a simple risotto, much lighter than the usual kinds, and full of zing from the chili peppers and lemon zest. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments

Gambas with aïoli

248
October 12th, 2009

One of the (many) reasons I will never regret moving to Amsterdam is the markets. My favorite Saturday activity is to wander around the Noorder-, Nieuw- or Albert Cuijp market, and decide my culinary weekend around what I find there. Last Saturday the prawns were looking exceptionally tempting, and the price was right.

I don’t eat prawns that often, because I can never be satisfied with 4 or 5 measly prawns. If I’m going to eat prawns, I want to be able to eat the HELL out of them. That’s why the portions on this recipe are rather generous. I’m also a prawn purist, so I don’t add too many ingredients. I do love some nice aïoli with prawns, so I added a recipe for that as well.

And of course I suck the head. It’s the best part!

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes, Techniques | No Comments

Grilled eggplant with basil and mozzarella

230
October 10th, 2009

This is one of my favorite quick meals. It takes no more than half an hour (depending on how you tackle the tomato sauce issue), but is still fresh and, not unimportantly, beautiful! It also works well as an hors d’oeuvre, if you cut the eggplant slices in half and offer toothpicks on the side, or as a pretty starter for a small crowd. But I usually want to just scoop it all into my maul as soon as it comes out of the oven…

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments

Roast chicken

177
October 6th, 2009

As you may have noticed, I’m a big fan of simple, rustic foods. I really believe that the best food doesn’t result from mixing lots of complicated flavors or using complicated techniques. That is not to say that it isn’t warranted sometimes to go all out. I enjoy being surprised by the culinary artistry of great chefs. I have been thoroughly tickled by little dainty towers of beetroot crisps and home-smoked trout, by the molecular magic of fried ice cream with melon caviar, and I love a complex sauce as much as the next person.

But let’s face it: I’m a home cook. A competent one, no doubt, but I’m no chef and I won’t pretend that I am. So what do I do when I want to impress with a dinner? I turn to a chef for a really good, unpretentious recipe. And this is one of those recipes. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipe reviews | 2 Comments

« Older Entries