Friday, March 22, 2013

La Vallade

La Vallade is a cozy restaurant café in Amsterdam East. I was once introduced to this free spirited establishment by a friend and immediately loved it. When my mum and I were in the neighborhood for some mother-daughter-time I knew we had to go there!

Their philosophy is “Tu manges ou tu manges pas." So they serve a 5-course set menu which changes daily. It's always a surprise to find out what yummie goodies will be served, but to this day they have never disappointed me.

We were there on a Tuesday, which usually isn't to busy. But before we knew it the place was so crowded they had to send people away! We were so happy to be one of the lucky ones who secured a table.
La Vallade Pretty flowers Simple French inspired decor
First we were served some delicious fresh bread. We later found out they get their bread from Vlaamsch Broodhuysch which only proved our taste buds right :)
Menu of the day Yummie bread The chef rocking her skills
Our first course consisted of a potato salad with thinly sliced veal and an anchovies mayo dressing.
This was followed by a fresh green salad with beets and a pesto like vinaigrette (i know I'm contradicting myself but it's the best way to describe the dressing).
As our main we had a beautiful piece of perfectly cooked cod served on a mash of celeriac and purslane with a white wine velouté sauce.
Veal and Potato salad Fresh green salad Cod with celeriac mash
Our first desert was a lovely cheese plateau with grapes and date-cake. Then came our "real" desert a rich and moist chocolate cake with roasted rhubarb and a generous spoon of whipped cream. Hmmmmmm!
Cheese plateau Chocolate rhubarb cake
Oh, how I love this place! In fact I love it so much I almost didn't want to share it with you. Just to keep it to myself.... hihihi. But since they've been a round for quite a while and are still going strong, I guess I'm not the only one that knows they're there :)

Do check out their vegetarian menu on Monday's or their special Sunday family menu. I promise you'll love it!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Cranberry Marzipan Cookies

Cranberry Marzipan Cookies
So on to the cookies. I did indeed use this recipe but I swapped the poppy seeds with chocolate shavings. I also reduced the amount of sugar since the marzipan and chocolate are sweet as well.

They came out ok. Not as delicious as the ones I picked up in Düsseldorf but tasty nonetheless.
I just need to figure out how to make them crumbly and chewy at the same time...

Ingredients:
  • 200 gr flour (sieved)
  • 100 gr butter (cold)
  • 50 gr sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 30 gr chocolate shavings
  • 150 gr marzipan
  • 40 gr cranberry marmalade

Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven at 180 C.
  2. Combine flour, butter, sugar, salt and egg  in a bowl and mix on low speed using your dough hook. 
  3. When the egg is incorporated, continue kneading by hand in the bowl. 
  4. When dough starts to come together pull it onto a floured surface and continue kneading by hand for a minute or so.
  5. Add bits of marzipan and continue kneading until well blended.
  6. Combine flour, butter, sugar, salt and egg Combined dough Continue kneading by hand Add marzipan
  7. Add the chocolate shavings and knead through until well blended. 
  8. Pull dough onto a floured surface and continue kneading Well blended dough Add chocolate Chocolate dough
  9. Make small balls of around 2cm in diameter and place them on a sheet of wax paper. 
  10. Pat the balls down and make an indentation in the center with your thumb. 
  11. Spoon in your marmalade. 
  12. Make small balls Pat the balls down Make an indentation Spoon in your marmalade
  13. Bake cookies for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Homemade Cranberry Marmalade


Remember those yummie cookies  I picked up in Dusseldorf a while ago? Well, I was contemplating making them myself but I couldn't decide what type of marmalade to use. They had cranberry marmalade in them, but I didn't think I would find any marmalade here that would do. I considered using raspberry jam, because I really really like raspberries and it's always a good combo with chocolate and sweets. However faith had other plans for me, my favorite fruit and veggie stall on the market had an awesome deal on cranberries. Just €1 for a whole bag! So of course I bought them and tried my hand at making my own marmalade.

Now, please don't try to be smart and preach to me about the difference between jam and marmalade. I'm aware there's a difference (no citrus rinds vs. citrus rinds) but it's not really significant and I just prefer saying marmalade. I think it sounds a bit fancier or at leased less ordinary :)

Niws making marmalade is easy breezy. You just put all your ingredients in a pan and heat it up. Yes, that's all there is to it! However there are some things to consider:
  • firm or liquid texture?
  • apple cider vinegar or water?
  • pectin or citrus rind/juice?
  • regular sugar or jam sugar?
Choices, choices, choices. Here's a helpful article to read through  before you make any major decisions... hahaha. I'ts not rocket science people. Just have some fun with it!

Ok so why I chose what: I chose to make a little firmer type of marmalade cause I'me going to use it in cookies and I don't want it adding extra moisture to my dough. Cranberries don't have a lot of juice to them, so I used a combo of hot water and some unpasteurized biological apple cider vinegar to help it cook. The apple cider vinegar also has some pectin in it, so there's no need to add more pectin to my mix. This also meant I didn't need to use jam sugar which actually is sugar with pectin added to it.
FYI, apparently pectin is this substance in plant cells that works as a gelling agent. What else... Oh yes, the citrus rind. I don't like it, so I didn't use it hahaha.

Now about the sterilizing of your jars. There are many ways to go about doing this. Some easy, some hard. As you might have noticed, I like nice and easy recipes. So here's what I did: I washed my jar very very thoroughly. Then while it was still a bit wet I poured some vodka in and turned and swooshed it so the vodka had covered every corner. I then poured out the excess vodka and put the jar in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. The lid I used is metal, so not exactly microwave proof. I washed it thoroughly and just left it to dry. Then just before using, I poured piping hot water on it, then some vodka. I simply threw out the excess and popped it on my jar.

All and all I think I was finished in 10-15 minutes. It's really not hard at all. The trickiest part is taking notice of all the things that might give you bad marmalade. Like fruit that isn't cooked through properly, mold or rotten fruit etc. The rest just comes down to using common sense and following your taste buds.
One last tip: If you might have spilled some marmalade on the neck of your jar, just use a vodka infused cotton ball to wipe it clean. Wiping it wit anything else will just increase your chances of getting molded or putrid marmalade.
Now on to the cookies!

Ingredients:
  • 200 gr fresh cranberries (that is after sorting the bad berries out)
  • 100 gr sugar
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar (unpasteurized)
  • 5 tbsp hot water
  • lemon juice (I didn't use any)

Directions:
  1. Wash the cranberries thoroughly. Pick out any bad ones and leave to drain a little.
  2. wash cranberries pick out bad ones
  3. Place cranberries in a sauce pan and mush them a bit. Add sugar and apple cider and cook on medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir frequently. 
  4. Press down on the berries with your spoon to make them cook faster. Continue cooking until all your fruits are cooked completely. Continue to stir frequently.
  5. add to pan cook through
  6. Check how it tastes and add more sugar or some lemon juice if necessary.
  7. Now increase the heat and bring to a boil. Stir frequently.
  8. Once your marmalade has reached the desired consistency turn of the heat.
  9. cranberry marmalade jar it up
  10. Heat up your sterilized jar in the microwave for 1 minute and pour marmalade in (DO NOT ADD HOT FOOD TO COLD JARS!). Place the lid on immediately and turn jar upside down. Supposedly this turning upside down helps preserve the jam better. I don't know whether it's true, but it at leased takes care of any unwanted condensation forming on top :) 
  11. Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes and then return it to normal upright position. Leave it to cool completely before storing it in your refrigerator.
  12. upside down right side up

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Restaurant An

Last week I had a very pleasurable diner at Japanese restaurant An on the Weteringschans in Amsterdam.
It's a very plain but charming restaurant, decorated with beautiful Japanese tea pots and china pieces.
Tea pots China pieces Sushi bar
I was very hungry and also a little greedy so I ordered quite a lot. I had the Omakase Menu and my friend, who always orders some kind of crispy chicken, had the Chicken Katsu. We also had their Shojin Age (tempura veggies), spicy tuna maki and their seasonal dish Nasu Dengaku (grilled aubergine with sweet miso). Everything was super fresh and extremely tasty!

Omakase means "I leave it to you", so I had no idea what what I would be getting. The Omakase set consisted of miso soup, rice, teriyaki salmon, stewed hijiki with yuba, courgette in sesame sauce, pickled cucumber, simmered daikon with sweet miso and chicken karaage.
Green tea Miso soup Teriyaki salmon
I loved everything! The karaage was super crispy and juicy, the daikon just melted away in your mouth and the salmon was full of flavor and cooked perfectly. A true party in my mouth :)
Stewed hijiki Gomae courgette Pickled cucumber
I didn't try the chicken katsu, having far to much on my plate already, but it looked delicious! Nice and crispy on the outside, super juicy on the inside. I didn't hear any complains coming from the opposite side of the table, so I'm pretty sure it tasted as good as it looked.
Simmered daikon Chicken karaage Chicken katsu
The tempura vegetables were delicious as well. I just love that moment when you bite in to your tempura and all those lovely flavors and textures come together. The sweetness of the veggies mixed with the salty dipping sauce and that crispy outside... Hmmmmm!
The spicy tuna maki really surprised me. Usually I don't like spicy tuna sushi, because they serve you some kind of spicy tuna salad full of mayo. Ugh! But this one actually had fresh tuna in it and a drop of spicy sauce on top. It was the first time I actually liked a spicy tuna maki!
I had once tried to make nasu dengaku myself, but wasn't 100% pleased with the outcome. So I was really curious to find out what I did wrong. Theirs was super soft and tender. The miso was very sweet but hearty at the same time. I enjoyed every last bit of it. Next time I try making it myself I'll be sure to keep theirs in mind.
Shojin aage Spicy tuna maki Nasu dengaku

Do have a look at their diner menu or lunch menu and be sure to visit them soon!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Stay-cation

This past week I had a stay-cation. I took some time of from work to relax, unwind and do some of the things I never seem to have time for. Of course there was a lot of stuff I didn't get to, but overall I had a great week! I did a little reading, hung out with friends and family, went out for diner, saw a few movies, cooked some good and just enjoyed myself. I really feel revived again. My "joie de vivre" has totally been replenished! Here's a little peek of all the stuff that went down on my stay-cation :)

Hot chocolate hmmm Arbitrage Diner at Restaurant An Food for the mind
Amsterdam by night Tamagoyaki lunch My sweetie on the roll Late night latté
Sweets from Japan Jason Moran & The bandwagon Kiwi fruit juice Tempura lunch
 Minimalistic Music Festival Healthy avocado sandwich After party Chocolate chiffon cake