By l.martin, on December 20th, 2011   Supper Club 
Here is a breakdown of the menu from last Saturdays Christmas supperclub:
Amuses - A selection of miniature fast food:
- Pork belly kroketten
- Duck confit spring rolls
- Truffled pizza
- Micro sliders with homemade burger cheese
Bread
- White sourdough
- Cep rolls
Starter – Meat fruit
- Chicken liver parfait balls incased in mandarin jelly
- Served with sourdough toast
Fish
- Lobster bisque
- Lobster tail and claw
- Served with brandy, cream and lobster bibs
Main course
- Truffled roast haunch and fillet of wild boar
- Seasonal vegetables and meat sauce
Cheese
- Remeker puur gerijpt
- Beemster brokkelkaas
- Meesterwerk graskaas 2010
- Served with rye sourdough
Dessert – individual gingerbread houses, made from:
- Vanilla and chocolate checkerboard biscuits
- Speculaas windmills
- Gingerbread
- Billionaires shortbread
- Crème Paris Brest
- Chocolate biscuit soil with popping candy
- Meringue Christmas trees
- Served with chocolate and brandy
. . . →Christmas Supperclub 17/12/11 Menu + Pictures
By l.martin, on November 30th, 2011 Cooking, Everyday 
Full credit for this recipe goes to seriouseats.com and specifically this recipe, but i had to modify it a bit based on what i can find in Holland, I also converted everything to metric to keep my OCD happy . The original recipe calls for evaporated milk which has high fat/low water content and a number of stabilisers which probably also stabilise the cheese once its melted. This seemed not to exist in Holland until i realised that the stuff Dutch people put in their coffee; “koffiemelk” is essentially a form of evaporated milk and worked well in this recipe.
I suppose you can use any hard unprocessed cheese. I wanted a strong cheesy taste on my burger so i went with an old Dutch cheese which i love; Old Amsterdam. This worked perfectly but left some small salt crystals in the finished cheese.
For two large sheets of cheese you will need:
5 sheets of gelatin 1 tablespoon warm . . . →Burger Cheese
By l.martin, on November 25th, 2011 Cooking, Everyday 
If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know I make quite a lot of bread and finding ways to use up one or two day old loaves is a bit of a nightmare; you can only eat so many schnitzels and goujons… Panzanella is a great use for old bread but the tomatoes needed to make it in its traditional form are obviously not available in winter.
This version uses lots of seasonal vegetables, served warm to make it more fitting for a winter night; I served this as a main course and was completely stuffed. Leaving the onions raw gives a satisfying fresh crunch.
For two people you will need:
- Half a loaf of day old bread cut into thick cubes (I used my own sourdough, but you can use any firm loaf)
- 1 small pumpkin
- A punnet of mushrooms, I like portabella or chestnut mushrooms
- 1 large white onion
- 200g spinach
- 120g . . . →Winter Panzanella
By l.martin, on November 22nd, 2011 Supper Club 
For once i have nothing to say, but you can read an excellent review of the dinner here. Below is the complete menu for the dinner:
Amuses – Merotto Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore – extra dry Beetroot cured salmon Potted shrimp Carpaccio of salt cod
Starter – Bergerac Sec Chateau Cluzeau 2009
Cauliflower ham hock veloute Boudin Noir Braised cabbage & home cured pancetta . . . →Tilburg Supperclub November 19th – Review
By l.martin, on November 13th, 2011 Baking, Biscuits 
I’ve been thinking about flavours and recipes to make a birthday cake for Archie (he’s one on the 25th) and at this time of year when clementines are in season it seems like an obvious choice.
Flicking through Dan Lepards new book Short & Sweet I came across clementine and oatmeal muffins with a clementine glaze which looked amazing. I made these yesterday and they were actually one of the nicest cakes I ever made. We had friends over in the afternoon and we ate all twelve of them in one sitting.
I’m not going to give you the recipe, you’ll have to buy the book, but here are some pictures:
I had a load of clementines left, and since I have another supperclub next week and still no decision on the petit fours, I decided to make some . . . →Baking with clementines
By l.martin, on November 13th, 2011 Cooking, Everyday 
The Wagyu cow is a breed of beef originating from Japan and is legendary for the amount of fat marbling in the meat; the fat is unsaturated and so basically health food (is what I tell my wife). I get my Wagyu from beefensteak.nl, but if you can’t get Wagyu, substitute another high grade cow for this recipe.
For two people you will need:
1 kilo beef short ribs, Wagyu or otherwise 2 onions Half a carrot 1 stick of celery Half a bulb of garlic 4 bay leaves A bottle of red wine 1 tbs Flour 1 tsp dried rosemary Salt and pepper 500g floury potatoes 150g butter 150ml milk/cream Handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix the flour, salt and pepper and rosemary in a large bowl. Cut the ribs into individual pieces and toss in the flour. Arrange the ribs in a roasting tray and roast for 20 – 30 minutes . . . →Braised Wagyu shortribs
By l.martin, on November 9th, 2011 Bread, Yeast bread 
Because of some controversy surrounding the recipe, Dan asked me to have a go at his soft slider buns that will appear in this Saturdays Guardian…
Not sure I want to spoil the surprise so I’ll just leave you with some advice; don’t let the initial mix cool completely before moving on to the next stage of in this cold weather the yeast may take an age to get going… Also, don’t be worried at the density of the dough, it will give a lovely firm bun perfect for fat, cheesy burgers…
By l.martin, on October 30th, 2011 Cooking 
I made this for my last supperclub, my own recipe but following the traditional method… It’s a stunning thing to serve with ravioli (which i did), a crystal clear broth with pasta dumplings floating in it. It’s not difficult to make so long as you keep a couple of things in mind:
Flavour: You need a strongly flavored stock to make it, the clarifying process removes all impurities and with them a lot of the taste of the stock. The choice of meat used in the “raft” is important since this will impart some flavor back into the finished dish. Color: If you don’t want the consommé to look like water, you need to make sure that your stock is well colored; roast the bones, let them burn a bit, get everything well browned. The raft: The raft is what you use to clarify the stock; it’s a blend of meat, vegetables and egg whites. You add it to the cold stock, stir well and let it come . . . →Game Consommé
By l.martin, on October 30th, 2011 Supper Club 
Last night we focused on the best that autumn has to offer. Plenty of game, foraged mushrooms and nuts, seasonal veg. It was a great evening with some really great guests.
Amuses – Merotto Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore – extra dry
Cep gnocchi Micro eggs benedict Pumpkin soup & crispy home cured chorizo
Bread
White & corn sourdough Rosemary rolls Rye celtic rolls
Starter – Ottella Gemei Rosso Veronese
Venison ravioli Game consommé
Main course – Vavasour Pinot Noir 2009
Wild pigeon stuffed with foie gras Roast mushroom puree Confit pigeon leg bitterball Mashed potatoes Sprouts roasted beechnuts Date sauce
Cheese – Niepoort Porto – Crusted port.
Chablis Papillion Roquefort – taste noir Cantal Vieux Served with home made rye crispbreads
Desert – Chateau Bouyot ‘95
Lemon Tart
Petit Fours – Coffee
Checkerboard biscuits Gingerbread Chocolate & hazelnut truffles . . . →Tilburg Supperclub 29/10
By l.martin, on October 7th, 2011 General Ramblings, Restaurants 
We got off to a shaky start at Restaurant Wollerich in Sint-Oedenrode. When entering the restaurant it’s almost impossible not to notice how dirty the carpet is; a once deep pink faded in patches, with dark stained areas and what appear to be cigarette burns. We were well seated by a friendly waiter but upon asking for champagne, were served Veuve Clicquot in chipped champagne glasses; Veuve Clicquot is my least favourite champagne and in my opinion a lazy choice for a house champagne, the chipped glasses were a sloppy mistake.
We were presented with a limited a la carte lunch menu, despite being promised on the phone that the full menu was available. After some discussion were given the full menu, but we’d now been in the restaurant for 35 minutes, drinking bad champagne from chipped glasses looking at a dirty carpet; in this respect the damage had already been done.
The carpet…
. . . →Restaurant Wollerich
|
About Me I love food; cooking it, eating it and having prentious and mildly competative conversations about it. I also play guitar and enjoy the occasional glass of wine or seven.
Based in Tilburg, NL, this blog follows my adventures in food and cooking, trying to eat well in a land where you can buy a horse paste sausage from a vending machine.
For quality suppliers in and around the Tilburg area, see my page on Suppliers.
CHICKEN AND RED WINE?
Click here for my post on roast chicken and red wine
|
|
