Spring is here!
Posted in kitchen April 8th, 2009 by piablog

HI everyone again!

I was so busy cooking, that it took me some time to fix the next recipes for you! But here they are: shot with the help of our stylish hostess: Pia! her very own self.

It was for MARIA magazine, a story about spring, tasting the new Rosé and some good food to go with that.

It’s slowly turning into spring here in Holland, but at the time of the shoot it was still freezing cold. We shot these pictures in my mothers garden, she has a very green one, which we could really use for this story. Pia added some plants and flowers to reach that real springy feeling. It turned out great!
I love little bites and nibbles, slowly sipping wine and chatting with good friends all at the same time. These recipes help you on you way for these occasions. Just add some good olives, some nice charcuterie and cheese and your off!

Have a good one!

Yvette

PS: the blue and white dishes in the picture with the little tarts are my Great Grandmother’s toys!
PPS: the pictures were shot by Jeroen van der Spek

Savoury tarts with smoked chicken, dill and goat cheese…

Preparation in advance: 20 minutes plus 30 minutes for resting and 20 minutes baking time
For about 8 tarts (or 1 large cake)

For the dough:
300 grams flour
150 grams butter + some extra for greasing
Salt to taste
A few drops of ice cold water

For the filling:
1 double smoked chicken breast
150 g goat cheese
3 eggs
200 ml cream
4 el chopped dill
Pepper and salt to taste

You will need 8 individual cake tins

Knead the ingredients for the dough quickly to form a smooth ball. Add some drops of water if it’s a little too dry. Leave in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to rest.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Cut the chicken into small cubes, cut the cheese into 8 slices. Beat the eggs with the cream and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Grease 8 cake tins with some butter and roll the dough balls out onto a floured worktop. Push the pastry in the tins and cut the rims neatly with a sharp knife. Divide the chicken dices and goat cheese over them, pour the cream mixture on it and sprinkle with the dill.
Bake them in ± 20 minutes till golden. Serve hot or cold with a crisp glass of Rosé.

{Pia’s note: French Boy and I had these gorgeous little tarts for dinner after the shoot and they were DELICIOUS! Yvette, I still have two of your tart tins! I must get them back to you.}

Grilled Haloumi crackers with broad bean & mint dip…

preparation in advance: 10 minutes, preparation: 15 minutes

for the crackers:

250 grams Haloumi (This is a hard Cyprian cheese, you can replace it by old Dutch goat cheese, if you can’t find easily)
300 grams self raising flour
±6 el chopped green herbs
±200 ml boiling water

Extra olive oil and a few ‘not chopped’ herb-leaves for the garnish

for the broad bean & mint dip:

500 grams of broad beans
2 garlic
3 tb spoons chopped fresh mint leaves
4 tb spoons ground Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
±100 ml olive oil
Pepper and salt to taste

Rasp the Haloumi. Mix in your food processor or by hand with the flour and herbs. Whilst kneading, pour in as much boiling water as needed to get to a soft beautiful, non sticky dough. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

Clean the beans. Boil them for 5 minutes in salted water and pour them into a sieve. Rinse under cold water and peel the grey skin off, so they look lovely and bright green. Chop them in a food processor with the other ingredients to a coarse pesto.
Heat the grill to the highest position possible. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll between your hands to balls. Roll them one by one into very thin elongated forms on a floured surface. Sprinkle with olive oil, garnish with the herbs and lay them carefully down on greased baking tins. Grill in 2-3 minutes till golden brown, turn them over and grill them 2 minutes on the other side. Serve hot with the broad bean-dip!

Yvette van Boven’s scrumptious pork belly roast…
Posted in kitchen March 26th, 2009 by piablog

Note from Yvette:

“This next recipe is one I drew for House of Orange Magazine*. It’s roasted pork belly. We serve it at Aan de Amstel**, with freshly made horseradish sauce its the best thing to eat after a night out.

I had it photographed for Margriet magazine as a part of a Chinese story.

Erik van Lokven took the picture and Juith Beahner was the stylist.

Eet smakelijk! (enjoy!)”

………………………………………………………………

*Pia’s note: House of Orange is also the agency that represents me here in Holland and they put out a magazine of their own some months ago. I loved Yvette’s drawing in there! px

**Pia’s note again:Aan de Amstel is Yvette’s restaurant and catering company.

………………………………………………………………

Extra note from Pia:

As you can see above, Yvette drew(yes,drew!! she’s so clever!!) this recipe and it is absolutely gorgeous, I think you will want to print it out and include it in your recipe diary! I know I will be doing exactly that. Just click on the drawing for the bigger version. Thank you so much Yvette!!

Yvette van Boven’s Quick Bouillabaisse…
Posted in kitchen March 20th, 2009 by piablog

Hi there! How about starting off with one of my favorite soups? This one is particularly good because you can fix it in about 20 mins, so no hard work. I wrote it for elle eten last year for a story about all time favorites and the quick version of the traditional recipe.

It was shot by Saskia van Osnabrugge . And the styling was done by Annemieke Paarlberg.

I love this picture, I actually get hungry looking at it.

Enjoy!

Quick Bouillabaisse
Preparation time : ±20 minutes
Serves 4

For the soup:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 small can of tomato purée
1 pinch of saffron
100 ml Pernod or brandy
1 litre fish broth
1 kg fish: whitebait, red snapper, red mullet or goatfish, salmon, dorade, for example, all filleted
a big hand of fresh mussels, vongole and shrimps: ask your fishmonger for a mix!
> Some chopped flatleaf parsley to garnish

For the Rouille / croutons:
1 big piece of stale bread
2 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp mayonnaise (preferably homemade)
2 teaspoons harissa or else 1 tbsp ketchup and a sniff chilli powder

150 grams of Gruyere cheese
and some extra oil for greasing

Fry the onion briefly with the garlic and the fennel in the olive oil until the onion turns transparent. Stir in the tomato purée and saffron. Keep stir-ring until the tomato starts to smell sweet. Pour in the Pernod or brandy and stir well, pour the fish broth in after that and let it cook softly for about 20 minutes. 5 minutes before the end add the fish, roughly cut into pieces of about the same size. Let them cook gently for another few minutes.

Make meanwhile make the rouille and the croutons. Preheat the oven at 180 de-grees.

Cut the stale bread into slices and spread them onto a greased baking sheet. Bake the croutons in 5-6 minutes golden brown. Turn them halfway through.

After that, grind in your food processor: about 6 croutons, the garlic, the mayonnaise and the harissa into a creamy sauce.

First scoop the fish from the soup and divide them over in 4 deep plates and then pour the soup over it. Serve with the rouille, croutons and the grated Gruyere cheese. Bon appétit!

Cannelle et Vanille’s Aran Goyoaga…
Posted in kitchen March 20th, 2009 by piablog

Welcome to the (blog)house kitchen, Aran!

All recipes, photography and styling by pastry chef + recipe writer Aran Goyoaga

I am very much inspired by seasonal fruits and herbs. I like the idea of having to wait for nature to do its work. It reminds me that sometimes, we should let life run its course and there is nothing we can do about it but wait anxiously for next year’s fruits. I wanted to showcase four different recipes using summer herbs and fruits. So colorful and rich, almost like poetry…

aran_figandberrysheeptart.jpg

fig-berry-sheep-tart-pia.jpg

…………………………………………………

aran_choccherryalmondcake.jpg

chocolate-cherry-almond-cakes-pia.jpg

…………………………………………………

aran_cremebrulee.jpg

lemon-verbena-and-chamomile-creme-brulee-with-chamomile-shortbread.jpg

…………………………………………………

aran_roasted-plums.jpg

roasted-plums-with-tarragon-ice-cream.jpg

…………………………………………………

Poetry indeed! What an incredible selection of sweetness. Thank you Aran, I am going to enjoy making these delicious treats and I hope you will all try these at home too.

Click here to find out more about Aran, and here to view her wonderful blog. To see the original recipe posts, click here, here, here, and here. Enjoy and…bon appétit!