Posts Tagged ‘party food’

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

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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…)

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Canneloni redux: grilled pepper, eggplant and mascarpone filling

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December 31st, 2009

Hello Chompers!

Remember those hand-rolled canneloni I made a while ago? I liked them a lot, so I experimented with a different filling. This time, I used eggplant for the center filling and grilled red peppers and mascarpone for the outer filling. The canneloni were baked in a batch of D.I.Y. tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes and a few dried chili peppers for spice. (more…)

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Poll winner: Boeuf Bourguignon – my style!

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December 31st, 2009

While I promised you all this recipe a long time ago, I am only just now am getting around to posting the recipe. I actually have a massive backlog of recipes to post, but this poll winner gets top priority!

I’ve spent quite some time working on this recipe, and I really hope you like it! I’ve gotta say: while it involves a little work and a lot of time, boeuf bourguignon is the perfect comfort food for cold wintery nights. And it’s nearly impossible to have too many leftovers. Below the recipe I’ll explain how to turn boeuf bourguignon into little pies!

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Rolled cinnamon pastries

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November 26th, 2009

You know how you sometimes crave a pastry, but all the bakeries are closed, and all you have is some random bits and bobs in your freezer and pantry? That’s what happened to me today. So I invented these dainty little rolled cinnamon pastries. (more…)

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Pommes Duchesse with cheese and parsley

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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…)

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Gambas with aïoli

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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!

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Grilled eggplant with basil and mozzarella

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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…

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Roast chicken

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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…)

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Two quiches and a tart

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September 8th, 2009

Cupcakes are fun to make and fun to look at, but if you are in the midst of some serious birthday celebrating you need some Real Food. I know that some people (i.e. men) consider quiche to be a frou-frou girlyfood, but a good quiche is hearty, filling, and the perfect accompaniment to a glass or four of wine. So I made two quiches (one traditional quiche lorraine, and one with broccoli an blue cheese) and an upside down tomato tart.

I usually try to snap a pic of the food I make before it all gets eaten, but in this case the quiches went so fast that I only managed a few quick shots. The last piece of quiche lorraine got swiped by a hungry two-year-old. She seemed to enjoy it, so good for her.

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Rainbow Cupcakes

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September 8th, 2009

In celebration of Marbles birthday, I made a big batch of very proud (GET IT? GET IT?) cupcakes. It was pretty much the funnest project ever, and my very first time playing around with a piping bag. All I can say is: BIG SUCCESS!

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