Chufi

Thanks. Looks like I stumbled upon another of my favorite 'questions that with every answer, only will raise more questions'. If the major distinction is production output, I can understand the difference. With al other factors, it seems much more complicated.

Thanks guys. I'll probably use Abra's recipe, the cornmeal sounds good. This dinner is my pre-birthdaydinner with my (elderly) relatives, who all have very, and I mean very conservative tastes. I doubt they ever saw cornmeal in their life so that should make a nice conversation topic. Curry to flavor the chicken would be really stretching it though The dinner is Saturday, I'll be sure to report back!

I seem to remember there was a brief discussion here about artisinal versus factory pasta - Rustichella being artisinal, De Cecco from a factory. Can somebody explain the difference to me? Doesn't the Rustichella D'Abruzzo come from a factory too, what makes it artisinal? Moderators, let me know if this is not appropriate for this thread then I'll start a new thread about it.

The College Hotel, mentioned upthread, might qualify as Modern Dutch Cuisine - at least, just by looking at their menu it seems that way. Liquorice, asparagus, herring and Dutch eggnogg!

Tian (a Provencal gratin of courgette, tomato, eggplant, and chickpeas, with lots of basil) Buttermilk oatmeal rolls - I was so proud of these! They were perfect! Simple burgers on said rolls, with sweet & sour onion gravy

Ann and Bruce, always good to see other rhubarb-lovers! Wendy congratulations on your oven! Shaya, I love yellow beets but I can rarely buy them here. And very creative applesauce! I cooked from Abruzzoyesterday Pasta with lamb ragu

Kevin, congratulations!!! I hope you're all doing well and settling into the new life..You realize we'll need a baby pic soon... just put a box of dried pasta in the crib to keep it food related.. Shaya, you convinced me to buy a pack of this pasta today. It cost 3.75 Euro for 500 grams. When we were eating, I said to Dennis: "you know, this is really expensive pasta," and he said: why, did you use the whole pack? And I said, no, only a third, and he said, "so, we're only eating about 60 cents worth of pasta per person, you call that expensive??" Anyway. This is the ragu d'agnello alla Abruzzese from Marcella Cucina. A very simple ragu from chopped (not minced) lamb, pancetta, onion, rosemary. It was delicious! Topped with pecorino sardo. The only thing I changed about the recipe is that I simmered the sauce for 45 minutes instead of 15 as stated, because after 15 minutes the sauce really hadn't come together. This was so good, rich and flavorful yet simple, that I'm even contemplating making it for my birthdayparty in 2 weeks!

welcome to eGullet, erink! Dejah, I'm glad you had a good time in Amsterdam. Where else did you eat, besides New King? Have fun on the beach in Scheveningen (it's about 77 F / 25 C in the Netherlands right now, very unusual for mid-April!)

I want to make a savoury cobbler for a dinner party. I figure I can use a recipe for chicken pot pie (I have a favorite), but, instead of making a pastry to cover the top, I want to mix up a cobbler dough and just drop spoonfulls on top and then bake. Does anyone have a good recipe for this? I'd prefer the mix & spoon method just described (I found a couple of recipes online for savoury cobblers with a biscuit topping, but then the biscuit dough has to be rolled and cut, which is exactly the hassle I want to avoid for this particular dinner )

Thanks IC. I have a friend who has to dine in Utrecht often and he is always asking me for recommendations, but I never have any! So if you have more, keep them coming!

Ooh! DG, that crust ... what's the word for it? (My Asian Cuisine chef would smack me upside the toque for forgetting.) ← in the Philippines the yummy brown rice layer is called idtip (sp??) ← Just to make a note... I haven't heard of the brown rice crust called as "idtip" (and I know 3 Filipino dialects). Maybe it is another Filipino dialect. But in Tagalog/Filipino, the brown rice crust is called "tutong" (pronounced as tuh-TONG) ← ilocano ← the Indonesian word for it is intip. Wow, getting up at 3:45, you must really love your job! But seriously, was it hard to adjust to these hours?

Is there an article about Amsterdam in F&W? I'll need to check that out! I've had dinner at Balthasar's Keuken although to be honest, the last time was 2 years ago. It's a very friendly little place, tables are really close together, this is not the place for romantic dining - your neighbors will hear you They do a set menu every night, although they do ask about things you might not prefer to eat. Good value for money. The College Hotel is an interesting place. It's a beautifully restored old school building. It's a luxury hotel (rooms from 200-600 euro) and a restaurant that has had some pretty good reviews. They serve what they call New Dutch Cuisine, using traditional ingredients in a modern way. The interesting part about this place is that the whole business, hotel and restaurant, is owned by a Dutch Hotelschool and serves as the trainng ground for the students. There is always some 'real' staff present, but the majority of the people serving you etc. are students. I've only ever had drinks in their fabulous, very un-Dutch looking lounge (and ladies, if you are ever here, please pay a visit to what's undoubtedly the most beautiful ladiesroom in The Netherlands), but even there I have experienced some awkward, if well-meaning, service. Some other updates. Good news: patisserie Kuijt, Utrechtsestraat 109, one of the best in the city, has opened a little lunchroom/coffeplace next to the shop. So you can choose a pastry and enoy it with some coffee or tea! They also serve some very fancy looking sandwiches and otehr lunchdishes, but I haven't tried those yet. The wonderful bakery Vlaamsch Broodhuys (some say, the best sourdough bread in the city) opened a second shop in the center. You can now get their bread in the Haarlemmerstraat, 108, and Vijzelstraat 109.

the beauty of the foodblogs is that every single one is different and unique.. and yet they all share that one thing: people who love food. Your new kitchen is wonderful. I love the green!

Pille, those eggs are simply gorgeous! And what a beautiful way to photograph them. arriba, yes i refrigerated the thing but it sort of collapsed while it was refrigerated. I think it was the cream. Next time, I'll use soemthing else, clotted cream like Kouign Aman suggests, or mascarpone (which is more readily available here).

That's so funny. I braise in the oven because I get better control that way! The food looks and sounds lovely, Chufi. ← I find that when I use the smallest flame on my gas stive, and a heat diffuser, I can easily achieve that 'laziest of simmers' Marcella Hazan describes in her recipe for Ragu Bolognese. When I put the pot in the oven, every time I check it it simmers either too hard or it does not simmer at all! I should add that I am a compulsive checker. Much easier to do that with a pot on the stove than one in the oven. Can I get help for this

Pictures from my Easter Dinner are here on the Dinner!thread. I ended up making cream of turnip soup instead of cauliflower, and it was delicious with the Polonaise topping. Lots of fresh herbs all over the menu! Arriba, my mille crepes cake was just 18 crepes layered with lemon curd and cream. My filling was a bit too runny, this caused the whole 'cake'to collapse when we cut into it. I've made it before with just lemon curd, and that was was more solid and easier to cut.. But I liked the flavor of the lemon curd mixed with cream better. And, after 4 bottles of wine between the 4 of us, nobody really cared that the dessert plates looked a mess

Made the veal shanks with honey, rosemary and orange this weekend. I love veal shanks anyway, but this was a great recipe. Sweetness form the honey (balanced by wine and balsamic vinegar) and lovely fragrant and floral notes from the rosemary and orange. edited to add: I braised on top of the stove, as I usually do. I just find it too hard to control the heat when braising in the oven!

I made the salmon rillettes this weekend. Wonderful! Because of ludja's remarks upthread about overprocessing (and mostly because I was too lazy getting out the food processor - I hate cleaning that thing), I mixed everything by hand. Just chopped up the smoked salmon into very small dice, and this worked very well! I served it with a little herb salad (parsley, dill, coriander) with lemon vinaigrette.

Beautiful peas, Anna! I think they look pretty on the black plate! here's our Easter dinner. It was the best dinner I cooked in a while! Toast with fava bean/mint puree Cream of turnip soup Polonaise (with a parsley, hardboiled egg and buttered breadcrumb topping) This was really good, very delicate, no-one guessed it was turnip. Salmon rillettes from Paula Wolferts Cooking of Southwest France. Served with a parsley/dill herb salad and toast Veal shanks braised with honey, rosemary and orange from Molly Stevens All about Braising On the plate with polenta and sauteed spring onions Dessert: crepes layered with lemon curd cream. The filling was a bit too runny and consequently cutting and plating was difficult! But it tasted sooo good. Served with brandy-macerated strawberries.

I did something similar recently with some friends, we taste-tested 5 different Spanish hams Part of the fun was the shopping, running around the city getting to different shops!

caponata. the end-of-summer green beans from Molly Stevens' All about Braising (I make them year round - I have also made the recipe with runner beans, and this will be on my birthdaybuffet for sure!) lightly cooked fennel with a vinaigrette and some toasted pistachios sprinkled on top. slow roast tomatoes. grilled slices of aubergine, marinated with lemon and basil or mint.

Ludja, I also have fava beans on my mind, and wanted to do a little fava bean/mint spread on bread as an appetizer. And I'm also thinking of doing cauliflower soup, with a polonaise topping (butterfried breadcrumbs, parsley, hardboiled egg). and then the salmon rillettes from Cooking of Southwest France. Then braised vealshanks with honey, orange and rosemary from Molly Stevens' All about Braising. And I'm also thinking of fennel gratin as a side dish for the main course salad Mille crepes cake with lemon curd and raspberries

I don't no if it would be okay, but what about wasabi?

I'm not Busboy, but rachel, your post made me want to read that thread again so searched for it: In Praise of Doing the Dishes I have to say I'm puzzled by this whole topic, and it's another reminder that customs are, indeed, different around the globe. I always think of the people first, and then about the food I'm making. So we'll think: Oh, we haven't seen those friends for a while; let's call them and see if they are free this weekend. If it turns out they're not free, we might set a date somehwere in the near future. I only start menuplanning when I know who's coming - because different guests get different types of food, based on their likes and dislikes etc. I don't really think of this as entertaining (and, btw, there is no Dutch word for that ) but I think of this as "having friends over for dinner". And the shoe-discussion reminds me of that episode of SITC where Carrie visits an old friend and is asked to remove her shoes. She looks down her dress to the tips of her shoes and exclaims: "but you don't understand.. This is an OUTFIT!" As a rule, Dutch people don't ask their guests to take off their shoes. Some guests might take them off just to be more comfortable. I understand that if you have a really precious floor, or fussy neighbors, you might go for this policy. But the way I see it, going to a dinnerparty requires mutual effort. The hosts make sure their house is reasonably clean, they cook, they set the table, they make the food look appetizing. The guests arrive on time, they will have clean and somewhat nice clothes on, and shoes that match the clothes. Hey, I have shoes I can't walk in so I can only wear them to dinnerparties Please don't make me take them off! anyway, interesting topic!

I'm still thinking about dinner (for 4, on easter Sunday) but I know that dessert will be Mille Crepes cake with lemoncurd. For starter, probably shrimp with orange/shallot sauce and radicchio, from Paula Wolferts Slow Meditteranean, and the green herb jam with crackers from the same book. The main course better have no citrus