Cevicheria

Today is my 35^th birthday. Five years after the birthday I unsuccessfully tried to skip. I didn’t see it coming, me hating turning 30 as much as I did, but it hit me in the face a week before the big day and progressively got worse from there. On the day itself I started telling people I was turning 29. Most of them reacting with “oooo, one year left till the big 3-0” made me feel even more depressed, so I just went on joking around that it’s inappropriate to ask a lady her age. 

It luckily only took me a week to get over it and accepting my new age. I decided to join the trend and make myself a bucket list, so I won’t be as grumpy when I turn forty. My bucket list only contains 2 items:

1. Finding myself the perfect hairdo that will make me look more nature in a sophisticated ladylike kind of way
2. Writing my own cookbook

I still have five years to accomplice both, so today is just about celebrating my birthday by spending a day with my husband doing one of the things I love the most: strolling around and eating. We went to have lunch at one of the places on my wish list: the Cevicheria in Kreuzberg.

Ever since I ate the Peruvian fish dish for the first time at Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street Kitchen in London it is one of my favorite things to eat. Curing the fish in citrus fruits optimizes taste and structure, making the fish briny and tender with a sour twist. I’ve made ceviche several times back in Amsterdam, mostly with salmon or scallops. Since Berlin is not really that close to the sea I’ve never prepared it here, for I don’t know if the available fish is fresh enough to eat it raw. Today I will finally have a plate of ceviche again, and the Cevicheria far from disappointed me!

If only for the entourage it would be worth visiting this place. The light blue interior, the friendly people and last but not least the South American music make you feel you’re in another country, leaving the busy city behind for a moment.

As for the food we ordered a pulpo salad and the white fish ceviche with prawns. The salad was a very well balanced combination of oil and herbs, freshened up with chopped tomatoes and cucumber. I could’ve easily eaten a whole plate of it. The ceviche was perfect as well, classically accompanied by sweet potato, corn, red onion and coriander. We enjoyed every bite of it.

Please go here if you have the opportunity! Even if you don’t like raw fish (they have grilled and baked dishes) or you don’t like fish at all (as befits a Berlin restaurant: the have vegetarian dishes)

For the both of us eating here felt like a mini vacation.

Easy Does it

Wednesday evening is German language course evening, which means I do not have a lot of time to cook. Mostly on Wednesdays we eat something I can prepare in advance, like this quiche we are eating tonight. I got the recipe from the Season to Season cookbook by Sophie Dahl and, as I always do when I'm trying a recipe for the first time, I followed the recipe to the letter.

The thing I normally love about quiches is that you can put in heaps of vegetables for the kids without having to pay special attention to them eating it. Unfortunately for me this quiche is all about bacon, eggs and a bit of onion. We cover the veg part by eating a green salad with oven baked tomatoes. 

The reason I nonetheless wanted to share this recipe is that it one of the best flan bases I have ever made before. And as long as the base is perfect, the rest will work out just fine and you can throw in as much veg as you’d like. 

For Sophie is sharing the full recipe on her own website, I won’t bother you be writing is down again myself. You can find it right HERE

Flammkuchen

Flammkuchen is a special German snack, which I must say until today I never had before. It actually is some kind of pizza, but than with a very thins and crispy crust. One of my favorite blogs about food and Berlin (and a lot of other stuff, but those of course have my main interest) kitchentablefood.com wrote about the flammkuchen and I immediately decided that this would be a perfect Sunday dinner for us because it would allow the girls to help me in the kitchen decorating the kuchen. 

Neurotic as I can be I of course had to make an exact copy of the one Kitchentablefood described with the mackerel and the zucchini, but besides this one we made three others topped with just about everything we were able to find in the fridge and cabinets. This is what makes it the perfect Sunday evening supper and we have made it a millions Sundays since this day.

For this super easy  recipe and lots of other good stuff please visit www.kitchentablefood.com

Risotto with Asparagus

Our favorite asparagus stand is still going strong on the Kollwitzstrasse. As long as they are there, we’ll be eating asparagus. Second time this week. Tonight we had green asparagus with a saffron risotto. 

Here is the (very simple) recipe for about three persons. Put 750 ml vegetable stock on, so it’s hot when you’re going to use it. Bake 1 chopped shallot and 1 chopped green pepper (deseeded) a minute in a tablespoon of butter. When the shallots look glassy, add a wisp of saffron. Add about 200 grams risotto rice and cook for a few until the rice looks a little glassy. Deglaze with 1 dl water with ½ squeezed lemon. If the water is absorbed, add the stock a ladle at a time and stir till the rice has absorbed it before adding another one. Test after about 2/3 of the broth if the risotto is done. I myself add stock until the rice is soft because it really is easier for the little ones to eat - one of the ladies only has six teeth- but I can imagine that you'd rather have it a little more al dente.

When the rice is done, remove it from the heat and add a tablespoon of butter, a teaspoon of honey and 50 grams of grated parmesan cheese. Add pepper and salt if needed: done!

Meanwhile, I cooked a bunch green asparagus in a pan of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Again, I cook them a little longer than I would do for myself; softer is easier for the girls. A few pieces of asparagus on top of the risotto and the rest with olive oil and coarse sea salt on a separate plate.

I must admit that I’ve cheated a little with the girls. They are not as fond as their mum of asparagus. They like it a little more each time, but I added green peas to their risotto so they will both try to learn to like asparagus and had enough veg tonight.

Wochenmarkt

After hearing much about it we finally went there today: Wochenmarkt at Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg. It really was worth the sunny bike ride to these beautiful old market halls if only to have a cup of coffee in café Neun at the entrance and for the wonderfulness of the old halls the market is in. We also had some lovely pies, let the girls play at the mini playground in the middle, bough flowers, Easter branches and this week’s groceries.  

If in Berlin I would definitely recommend a visit to Markthalle Neun and enjoy what they have to offer. We will definitely come back on Thursday night for street food Thursday. 

Bilder & de Clercq

On the corner of the Bilderdijk and De Clercqstraat there is, since a couple of months, a store called Bilder & de Clercq with an amazing new concept. They have recipes for 1 meal and you can buy all the ingredients you need to cook the meal with them. All the ingredients for a specific recipe are displayed on a table and you can pick whatever you need, from a box of herbs to a clove of garlic. So in the end you don’t need to get a lot of groceries to make a meal for one evening, just need some basics like vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper.

Besides meals they also have a selection food and drinks (among which some of the best brands in Amsterdam) to have a complete dinner party: from sausage, nut and cheese to wines and sodas, from soups to deserts and from coffee and tea to pies and chocolate.

When we still lived in Amsterdam we didn’t really go there, mainly we then still had a weekly organic vegetable box delivered which mostly provided us with enough veg to feed us for a whole week. Nowadays when we are only in the city for a couple of days, it is a perfect store for us and when we are in Amsterdam I really go there almost every day. Of course to get dinner for that day but also to quickly get pieces of their lemon polenta cake when somebody comes over for a cup of coffee, to get a bottle of wine and one of their rosemary goat cheeses when on my way to have dinner with a friend or to get a bag with tea and cookies, wine and Brand&Levie sausage, Ginger Ale and smoked almond by Gotje to thank my aunt and uncle for organizing my grandma’s 80^th birthday dinner.

Favorite Dish no. 1 – Spaghetti with Oven tomatoes

This really is one of my favorite dishes and I believe I really do make this at least once a week. This has everything to do with the fact that it takes very little time in the kitchen but is very, very tasty. It actually is a recipe my friend Marie made for me about ten years ago and I’ve been making it ever since.  It’s all about the tomatoes, since this is a product Germans are better in producing than the Dutch I especially make it a lot since we’re here.

I’m not a recipe writer and don’t know anything about the proportions, but I’ll try my best to explain. Just take a lot of tomatoes, about twice as much as you would normally use and the smaller ones are really better (about one size up from cherry tomatoes are the best). Cut them up and put them in a baking dish with a lot of olive oil, garlic from the press, balsamic vinegar and fresh thyme. Now the key is that you actually can make any time during the day because it can be in the oven for three hours, for just an hour or even a half. The shorter it stays in the oven the higher you should put the temperature, I always try and put it in the oven at least two hours before I want to eat and then put the temperature around 120C. (when late and I just have half an hour in the oven I put it up to 200C) Just stir it every now and then and adjust the temperature to make it go faster or slow it down. I always taste the juice half an hour before dinner to sometimes add a little honey to sweeten thing up because a lot in this dish depends on the quality of tomatoes. The nice thing in this dish is that it actually dries the tomatoes a bit which makes them sweeter and concentrates the taste of the tomatoes very much. After taking it out of the oven and seasoning with salt and pepper I add a few hand fresh basil leaves.

Serving is done with pasta, my favorite is spaghetti, and cheeses. I always use parmesan and when I have it in the fridge or am well prepared with fresh soft goat cheese on top. Please do try, it really is a very, very good dish. Especially with small children, in my family everybody loves it when I make it.

Lamb chops on the BBQ

After a huge Easter brunch we hardly need to eat anything the rest of the day, but there are some lovely lamb chops (from De Krat) in the fridge. So the BBQ is lit again for a simple Easter dinner.

I marinated the lamb chops in some olive oil and fresh thyme with sea salt and black pepper for half an hour. Grill them for about 8 minutes, while putting some left over baguette next to it.

Dress some lettuce with red wine vinegar and olive oil. Other left over ingredients on top, in our case halved cherry tomatoes, roasted pine nuts, sliced spring onions and some fresh cut mint.

One of the things I really love about having a (tiny) garden in Amsterdam: Being able to BBQ!

Easter Eve BBQ

Although the weather wasn't very helpful these last couple of days we decided to have an Easter Eve BBQ, if only because our weekly organic box 'De Krat' was so full off lovely ingredient screaming to invite some guests. Only ingredients we had to add for a 6 person BBQ with salads and bread were some steaks, 1 avocado, pinenuts and some fresh basil and thyme. Alright, and some merquez sausages.

Salad 1: Grilled Veg Salad
Slice 1 Courgette and 1 yellow Pepper, brush the slices with olive oil and grill for a couple of minutes on each side. Mix it up with a chopped peace of Garlic, chopped Basil, a squeeze of Lime juice and some salt and pepper. Put aside. Fry some Pine nuts, cut some Cherry Tomatoes in half. Mix up 1 tbsp Red WineVinegar with 3 tbsp Olive Oil for the vinaigrette. Dress 3 hands full of fresh Spinach with the vinaigrette and put all the other ingredients on top. Finish of with some salt, pepper  and fresh Basil

Salad 2: Sunny Salad
This salad was solely based on the fact De Krat brought me pansies to use in the kitchen, so we had to make them into salad that added a little sunshine to our Easter Eve BBQ. All you need to do for this salad is slice and mix and its ready.
Cut and wash (a) Green Lettuce, slice an Avocado, cut Cherry Tomatoes in half, slice up half a Yellow Pepper. Slice a Leek  into thin rings, put in a bowl and pour some boiling water over, put aside. Make a dressing of 1 tbsp (Fennel) Vinegar, 3 tbsp Olive oil, 1 tsp (Spring) Mustard, 1 tsp  Honey and s+p. Dress the lettuce and put on a plate. Drain the leek and put on top, together with the other ingredients. Finish of with the Pansies, some Fresh Herbs (I used fresh Mint and Perilla) and maybe some Pine Nuts.

For the rest we needed some meat and bread. Where else to get your steaks than from butchery Louman who truly sell the best steaks you can get in Amsterdam. Their Merquez Merquez sausages are also not to sneeze at by the way. Bread of course from De Krat, who brought us some nice Walnut bread from Menno this week. And also got some brown Baguette at the Vlaams Broodhuys.

 

Despite the low temperature it was a very successful Easter Eve BBQ with thanks to De Krat en butchery Louman! 

Hotchpotch with Chinese cabbage

And Hotchpotch time it is! Two times in a row on the menu and again one outside my hotchpotch comfort zone: Chinese cabbage and mushrooms. It actually is made almost the same as yesterday, with 500 gr of potatoes, 15 gr of butter, 50 ml of vegetable stock and a big dash of olive oil. 

Fry ½ chopped shallot in 1 tbsp. of olive oil, add 1 chopped clove of garlic after a minute or 2. Also add 1 tsp. of dried coriander, a pinch of nutmeg and ½ tsp. of cumin, fry for another 2 minutes before adding 1 small Chinese cabbage cut into small strips. Fry for five minutes and put aside.

Fry the other ½ shallot in 10 gr butter, add 250 gr of sliced mushrooms as soon as they soften. Fry for about 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

Stir the cabbage through the mash; put the mushrooms on top and maybe some fresh herbs like basil or parsley.

Hotchpotch with Brussels Sprouts and Lime

Since the stormy weather has started and the holidays are over, the craving for real winter food has begun. I tend to stick to the regular, mainstream Dutch hotchpotches (Kale, Sauerkraut, Endive or Carrots and Onions), but today there’s a whole lot of Brussels sprouts lying in the backyard. 

Although I do not hate eating them as much as I did when I was a child they still are my least favorite vegetable. Up until now I didn’t have a recipe that made me want to take a second bite. This really is the best recipe for them I ever found. The mash tempers the bitter taste they have and the lime even makes them taste kind of fresh.

Cook 250 gr of Brussels sprouts for about 10 minutes and cut them into quarters. Cook 500 gr of potatoes, drain them but save the boiling water. Mash the potatoes with 15 gr of butter, 50 ml of vegetable stock and a big dash of olive oil. When it is to dry you can moist it a bit more by adding a bit of the left over boiling water. Stir in the zest and juice of ½ a lime and add the Brussels sprouts. Season with salt and pepper. Add a couple of sausages and you’re good to go.

Salad with figs and Parma

What you need for the salad: 

Bunch of Mint

Bunch of Watercress

2 spoons of Hazelnuts

6 dried figs

150 gr of Parma Ham

1 apple into cubes

Dressing: 100 yoghurt, juice + zest of 1 lime, 1 bag of vanilla sugar, peper&salt, mix everything then slowly stir 3 spoons of hazelnut oil through

How to make it:

Mix all the ingredients together and poor over the dressing: bon apetit

Mackerel with Mustard Sauce

I've eaten a lot of smoked mackerels, but never had a fresh piece in my hands. Until De Krat brought me one, or actually two fillets. Including a recipe, which I tried immediately as fish should be eaten as fresh as possible. What I particularly like about the dish is the crispy skin and the nice solid texture of the fish.

Preheat the oven at 250ْ  C, season 2 mackerel fillets, with skin, with some salt and black pepper. Create, in the middle of a baking dish, a mound of 1 chopped red onion, 1 bay leaf and a handful of fresh parsley (keep a bit aside for the garnish). Put the fillets on top with the skin side up, pour 100 ml of white wine over it and put in the oven. Cook for 7-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Put the fillets aside on a warm serving dish as soon as they're done, cover with some aluminum foil to keep warm.

Strain the cooking liquid from the baking dish in a small saucepan and boil for a couple of minutes to concentrate. Add 2 tbsp. of mustard and stir, whisk 30 gr of chopped cold butter through and let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Pour the sauce over the fish and garnish with some parsley.

Very nice with some skin cooked potatoes and a green salad. Very light, the fish is oily enough by itself.

Plaice Fillet with Spinach

My weekly organic box "De Krat" has been delivered today, a whole bunch of fresh ingredients to cook with!

Thinly slice 1/2 a Granny Smith apple. Saute 1 clove of chopped garlic and 1 chopped shallot in some olive oil until they're soft (about 5 min.) Than put 500 gr of spinach in hand by hand, it will shrink very much. Heat a knob of butter in another frying pan until the foam is gone. Put salt and pepper on 2 plaice fillets and, at the last moment, put a tbsp. of flour on them. Fry them on both sides for 2-3 minutes.

In the mean time the spinach should be done, sprinkle the juice of half a lime on and season with some salt and pepper. 

Spinach on the plate, apple on the side and fish on top. Finish with a bit of pepper and a slice of lime on top

 

Stew with Parsnip and Jerusalem Artichoke

Again a night of Cooking from De Krat. Tonight I'm using some ingredients for the very first time, one of the reasons why I have De Krat in the first place. Tonight I'm using: Venison, Parsnip, Jerusalem Artichoke, Chicory, Mushrooms and Apples.

The Stew:

Fry 40 gramsbacon in 1 tsp. olive oil, add 1 chopped shallot, 1 chopped clove of garlic and a tbsp. of thyme leaves, bake for about 5 min until it's soft. Fry 400 grams of stewing steak in pieces of 5 cm until its brown in a Casserole in 25 grams butter, than add the onion mixture. Turn the heat high and add 50 ml red wine vinegar, let it boil for a couple of minutes. Add 350 ml red wine and let this boil for a while. Add 3/4 of 350 ml boiling stock to the pan, together with the 1 Bay Leaf and 2 Cloves of garlic. Let it softly boil for 1 hour, stir every now and then and add some stock if necessary. Than add 1 tbsp. Dessert Wine and 100 grams Mushrooms and cook for another 15 minutes. Season with some salt and pepper if necessary.

Side Dishes: 

Jerusalem Artichoke Puree - Peel 500 gr of Jerusalem artichokes, boil them for about 25 minutes (keep some of the water apart). Mash together with a tsp. of mustard and a tbsp. of creme fraiche, salt&pepper and some fresh thyme. If Necessary add some of the boiling water to make it smoother.

Parsnip - Peel 500 grams of parsnip, cut them in pieces of about 5 cm long and put them in water with lemon. Cook for about 15 minutes, drain, add a knob of butter, salt and pepper.

Chicory Salad - Peel and chop 1 apple. Mix it with 1 tbsp. mayonnaise, 1 tsp. of mustard, 1 tbsp. olive oil and some lime juice, salt&pepper. Put in a couple of sliced pickled onions and 2 stumps of chopped chicory.

Salad with Bloater and Red Cabbage

De Krat Brought me some nice Bloater this week and also contain some Red Cabbage, Nice apples and something I don't remember the very difficult name of, but it was Japanese and can be used in stead of lettuce.

 

Thinly slice 1/2 a red cabbage in. Peel 1 big apple and cut 1/2 into chunks and thinly slice the other half. Make a dressing by mixing up 1 tbsp. mayonnaise, 1 tsp. mustard, 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar, a drip of honey, salt & pepper, then wisk 3 tbsp. of olive oil in slowly

Mix the cabbage with 8 halved pickled onions, the apple chunks and dressing, then put aside. Clean 2 Bloaters. Put the 400 gr of the Japanese veg (or something like it, like raw spinach) on two plates, squeeze 1/4 of a lime and sprinkle 1 tbsp. of olive oil above. Put the Cabbage salad  on top. Than the Bloaters, sliced apple, 1 sliced avocado and 2 thinly sliced spring onions. 

Tagliatelle with Purslane

Cook 200 gr of Tagliatelle. Heat 100 ml of Cooking Cream slowly in a big pan. Add 50 gr of butter, zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon, keep stirring till the butter is completely melted and than turn of the fire. Add the Tagliatelle and 2 hands full of Purslane to the warm cream, stir.

Cover with 2 tbsp. of chopped Parsley and 2 hands full of grated Parmesan and ready! Serve with a small green salad on the side.

Note: The ancient Greeks used purslane for its medicinal effect. It is said to help against inflammations and heartburn.
 

Chicken from the oven

Preheat the oven at 180C. One of my favorite, very simple, chicken recipes. Just put 2 chicken legs in a pan with some potatoes (not peeled, just cut in pieces), cherry tomatoes (cut in half), cloves of garlic (about 8) and a whole lot of fresh basil. Salt, pepper and olive oil on top:

Shove it in the oven for 1.5 hours. Stir the tomatoes every half hour and voila!

Very nice with some green bean salad and fresh bread

Veal’s Neck stew

This week we have special meat in DeKrat, which I’ve never cooked with before: Veal’s Neck. As the milk drinking capital of the world there is a lot of veal production in the Netherlands. Strangely enough veal isn’t a kind of meat that is on the daily menu of the Dutchies and thus 95% of all veal is exported to our neighboring countries.

Veal’s Neck stew

Dinner for 2

400 gr veal’s neck, in pieces of 4x4 cm

1 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. sunflower oil

2 shallots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

250 ml white wine

250 ml broth

2 bay leafs

½ lemon

6 twigs thyme

Preheat the oven at 180 C. Season the veal with salt and pepper and roll in the flour. Fry them in the oil until browned and set aside. Fry the shallots and garlic until softened, add the veal’s neck together with the wine, stock, bay leafs, lemon zest and thyme.