Chufi

Klary, You're back. How was the pacific Northwest? ← It was fantastic. Lots of great desserts , and I even had the good fortune to taste one of Lorna's! I will have to be looking at desserts only for a time though, I'm afraid, instead of eating them, which makes this thread even more welcome.

Thanks Amoreena! Wow, you read the entire thread? About the main course versus sweet issue: I think the qualities of 'typical Dutch' cuisine are mostly found in it's sweets. The old fashioned sweets are really wonderful and unique, as I have tried to show on this thread, whereas the old fashioned savoury dishes (with the exception of the numerous stampotten and split pea soup) are pretty much lots of variations on the theme of beans, pork, and grains. The kind of stuff that fills you up, keeps you warm in the winter, but isn't necissarily tasty . I could write about some of these, just for curiosities sake, but remember my husband has to eat all of it so I'm not sure he would approve.. That said, I still have some winter dishes on my list that will appear on the thread some time over the next months!

this is going to be my new favorite topic. I can't wait to see what Lorna will come up with! Thanks Kerry for this exciting thread!

We're leaving tomorrow. I have so many recommendations in my travel book, I know we won't be able to visit all these places, but it has been so much fun preparing for this trip! I'll report back in a couple of weeks!

So, we're leaving tomorrow. I want to thank everybody who gave advice, it has really helped with the travelplanning. It now looks like we might sneak in a trip to Portland as well. Dennis really wants to go.. I wonder if it's because I told him about the breweries anyway he's doing the driving so I'll wait and see where I end up! I am armed with a huge pack of directions, tips, information and recommendations. If we manage to visit only a fraction of the places you guys have mentioned, it will be an awesome trip. I will report back in 3 weeks!

looks like that love grotto is designed for a threesome!

Lorna & Henry, this has been such a lovely week. And is has coincided so nicely with my trip to Seattle (we leave tomorrow!) and thus contributed in a wonderful way to my travel-excitement! I need to get to that place! Is it in Pike Place market? I'm gonna stuff my suitcase with "all things truffle"!

Hi Eileen! Happy anniversary! How wonderful that you are coming here. November can have all sorts of weather. But I always feel that when the weather is bad in Amsterdam, you just have a good excuse to get inside a warm cosy cafe and order a jenever Also, Amsterdam is small, so it's really easy to navigate and get to a number of places in one day. I am preparing for a trip to Seattle & Vancouver right now, but when I'm back (end of September) I hope I'll be able to help you with some more recommendations. And maybe we could plan an eGullet get-together (although we should not plan on this thread, but via PM's.) Just thinking out loud here. Anyway. Pastryshops! I think your hotel is near Utrechtsestraat, which is a good food-street. It has one of the most famous (and most expensive) butchers of the city, Fred en Yolanda de Leeuw. It also has the patisserie which was nominated best patisserie in 2005, Kuyt. And at the end, on the corner, is a very authentic Dutch cafe, which doubles as a liquor store. The kind where men of a certain age start drinking 'kopstoot' (a beer and a jenever, together) at 4 PM, with rugs on the tables and lots of smoke in the air. but, a friendly atmosphere and I like it. The name does escape me right now but it begins with an H.. The Albert Cuyp area is a must-visit in my opinion. I would love to show you around. There is one patisserie/bakery there that also serves coffee, it's on the Albert Cuypstraat so I'm not sure if that's the one mark was talking about. It sells what I believe is called 'artisinal bread' and while I have some issues with them (they can be a bit snotty, you know like "we have the best bread and pastries in the city"), I still have to admit their baked goods are fabulous! Definitely worth a visit for morning coffee and a piece of pie or pastry. It's called Bakken met passie, Albert Cuypstraat 52, closed Sundays and Mondays. I second the rec. for Puccini Bomboni. Their chocolate is really really good. Another really nice place for coffee, tea and some baked goods or good bread is de Bakkerswinkel, they are in 2 locations, one right in the center in Warmoesstraat, and 1 in Amsterdam Zuid (but that one is actually not far from Albert Cuyp market). And if you are here on a Saturday, you can visit the farmers market at Noordermarkt (there's a report about that in my fiirst eGullet blog). have fun with your preparations, and if yu have any more questions, just ask!

I haven't cooked much with it, but I sure love it! I love to have it with crunchy muesli for breakfast. I think it would be wonderful for ricepudding, or a savoury custard. btw mark have you ever been to the goatfarm in the Amsterdamse bos, whereeverything (from capuccino to icecream) is made with goatmilk?

Happy anniversary! here's to many more months, and years, of love & beautiful food. you know, that's the classic Dutch way to prepare steak: sear it in lots of butter. When the steak is done, the pan is deglazed with a tiny bit of water or wine, and the steak (or fillet) is served in a pool of butter gravy

Ah... I think my humble chocolate bar from Amsterdam must feel very proud to be in such great company!

Yeah, I als really enjoyed your post Lorna, I read it while I was drinking my morningcoffee before really addressing work-stuff ("okay let's check eGullet one last time and then I will really get to work but I need to see what happened to Henry and Lorna!" ) and I was jealous!

Hello Nino and welcome! Like markemorse, I would love to hear more about your culinary thoughts on Amsterdam. I haven't been eating/drinking out much lately, and pretty soon I'll be gone for a whole month! you guys hold down the fort here please!

My alltime favorite go-to dash & dine dinner: buy: 1 can of chickpeas 1 can of tomatoes 1 piece of chorizo sausage, dry or fresh both is good bunch of parsley (bag of salad leaves if I feel I need the vegetables) I have in the house: eggs onions Chop up the chorizo and fry slowly until most of the fat has rendered out and it's a bit crispy. Take out of pan and drain off some of the fat. Fry chopped onion in the fat until soft. Add tomatoes and simmer 10 minutes until nice & thick. Add chickpeas and chorizo and simmer 5 more minutes. Make 'holes' in the sauce (what would be the proper english word for this) and break eggs into them. 1 per person at least, 2 is better. Put lid on pan and cook until whites are set but yolk is still runny. This is crucial! Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. A piece of crusty old toasted bread on the side is nice but not necessary. Same for a leafy salad. (The dressed up version, which takes considerably more time, has cubes of fried potato and cubes of fried eggplant in the sauce as well.)

Thanks John!

These were posted on the Crepes Cook-off thread, and since then made an appearance in the Breakfast-thread, but I have neglected to put them right here in the Dutch thread, where they belong! Dutch Kaaspannenkoeken, cheese crepes. a layer of cheese (Dutch gouda, ofcourse ) between 2 thin layers of crepe batter. the recipe is here in Recipe Gullet click

I've put the recipe in RecipeGullet here!

oooooh, I know what I'm gonna do first thing as I arrive at the office tomorrow.. see how the competition went! that Red Velvet cake, to someone from Europe, looks spooky. But if Ling gives her stamp of approval I'm sure it's good!

Dutch cheesecrepes, kaaspannenkoeken Dutch kaaspannenkoeken (cheese crepes) are simply pancakes, made from a thin batter, with a lyer of cheese in the middle. The cheese will ooze out when you cut into the pancake. By all means make your own favorite crepe batter. I normally don't use a recipe for my crepe batter, but just mix eggs, milk and flour together until it looks right. The batter should be fairly thin and pourable. For the cheese, use any flavorful cheese that will melt well. I always use slices because that's what I always have in the fridge, but you could use grated cheese if that's what you have. This amount of batter will make about 4 small pancakes. I use a 9 inch frying pan. 2 large eggs 200 g flour 250 ml milk pinch of salt sliced cheese butter for frying Mix the eggs, milk, flour, and inch of salt together. Heat your pan. Add a little knob of butter. After ladling in a thin layer of batter, and swirling it around to coat your pan, quickly cover the uncooked top of the crepe with thin slices of cheese Now, quickly pour some more batter ontop of the cheese slices. The trick is to have this layer of batter as thin as possible, just a mere coating of the cheese. Cook until you can see that the cheese is melting and the top layer of batter is starting to set. Flip and cook for another minute. Some of the cheese will ooze out and start to fry and crisp in the pan, but that only makes it more delicious. These crepes are served 'wrong' way up, otherwise you would not be able to see the cheese. Keywords: Breakfast, Brunch, Snack, Easy ( RG1781 )

Thanks FG I really enjoyed it! especially the sunny beaches and all that fried food! You have a wonderful family. Thanks for sharing this 'normal' week with us.

you know, you have to eat them all, because they don't keep well! Good excuse right? Those initials are really cute. and what's that on top of the pancake? looks like some sort of preserve?

I vote for mushrooms, not that it matters, cause no-one else did. Ah well. It will be lots of fun anyway.

mrbigjas and Foodman, congratulations on the babies! I haven't done any Pugliese cooking this month.. and I'll be away most of September too.. but I hope October and crisp autumn days will find me in the kitchen cooking Italian food again.

I'm no Excel wizard, but yes I do something similar when I have large parties to plan. For instance when I helped organize and cater a friends wedding (120 guests), my spreadsheet-schedule was a neccessity! They asked for a print and pasted it into their photo-album

I don't remember where I've seen this recipe, but it's more of an idea, really. Roast tiny new potatoes (tossed in olive oil) in a hot oven until crispy and golden. Sprinkle with a bit of salt. Make a pungent aioli (garlic mayo, ofcourse I cheat sometimes and just mix crushed garlic into good storebought mayo). Mash up some anchovy fillets (rinse them first if you like) into the mayo, amount is to taste. Season with pepper. Serve the potatoes with cocktailsticks in them to dip in the mayo, as an appetizer, salty creamy goodness! btw I love Janssons temptation!