markemorse

Tonight was rather cheese-centric: +++ --brown bread crostini with chevre, perenstroop, and hazelnuts. perenstroop is, well..."pear syrup": pears reduced until they're dark brown, very thick, and sticky. Think apple butter reduced until it's twice as concentrated. Chufi can probably explain this better. --bibb lettuce + red onions with 12-year balsamic + EVOO. --ravioli with ricotta, lemon zest, and white truffle in butter with parmigiano-reggiano. +++ we were craving some "wine-drinking" food. not as heavy as it sounds, portions were petite. in other news...someone's asked me to make something vegetarian, substantial, and Mexican for Thanksgiving. I was going to do an enchilada version of the black bean/squash/goat cheese concept used above (because i still have all of the ingredients including frozen cooked squash). but thought i'd ask here: does anyone have any great vegetarian enchilada ideas? thx mark

The employees were definitely always busy, it was a hive of activity. Making tons of food. I just always felt like they outnumbered the customers, or at least it would've been a fair fight. maybe it had to do with when i was there...definitely not rush hours or lunch now that i think about it...more like if an appointment in buckhead ended early and i missed everyone's lunch service. anyway, also, yes...too cheap as well for some of that food. mark

I always kinda got a doomed vibe from Eatzi's. It never seemed like there were enough customers there to justify all of the employees. I'm surprised it took so long for this to catch up with them.... Now Alon's on the other hand, is pleasantly understaffed...very European. mem

Thank you ma'am, a julep sounds mighty fine right about now. mark

Hooked! Through the nose. Perfect timing, as I've been feeling a little homesick for some Southern-style hospitality. Thanks for blogging.... mark

Am just the tiniest bit jealous of your American-style refrigerator this morning after trying to freeze a batch of mole this week and realizing that my two (2) European fridges combined have approximately the freezer storage capacity of, say...a briefcase. The upside is that it's pretty easy to have a "fully stocked freezer"...one bag of frozen catfish will do it. Good thing no one uses ice here...or maybe that's a chicken/egg situation....it certainly helps explain why cocktails are pretty rare in these parts.... Nice blog, thanks! mark

Ha...I can see how my forgetting English names for things might lead one to believe that I am European, but no, I'm American. I just haven't seen American groceries in awhile... And...I'm not really a strict vegetarian either, I just cook that way most of the time....primarily because many of our friends/dinner guests are vegetarians, and I got tired of feeling like I was cooking the "pale reflections" you mentioned above. Thus I decided to "get good" at cooking vegetarian. To answer your EuroMexican question (even though my enthusiasm for Mexican food is completetly non-European): "Real" Mexican food is making progress over here; I just saw my first fresh-frozen corn tortillas (frozen) in an "international grocery" last week. The downside of this building momentum is that the food marketing people have latched onto it as well...resulting in "Mexican" pizza; some McRib kind of thing called "The Mexican" at the local Turkish snackbar, etc. But this is also a subject I can (and do elsewhere on eG) talk about for days, so in the interest of remaining remotely on-topic I'll end there and maybe let an actual European answer your question... And the green plantain soup is actually a Cuban/Puerto Rican recipe...my result was closest to the recipe at the bottom of this page, which is a nice article about plantains (including tips on how to peel the green ones). I doubled or tripled the cumin and used a roasted garlic broth instead of the chicken broth.

Anchor Liberty always means xmas to me....

Great idea, Pontormo...while I completely agree about enjoying vegetarian dishes for their own goodness, it's true that I do often find myself trying to cook vegetarian versions of the meat-centric cuisines I enjoy cooking most (Mexican and Spanish), so hopefully there are others in this same boat... Wish I had pictures of this: I engineered a completely vegetarian DIY tamale/mole night for 6 this past weekend which I'll write up the recipes for eventually, until then feel free to ask questions about substitutions/approaches (or PM me). The full menu was: +++ chips/homemade salsas/guac Sopa de platanos (green plantain soup) Three tamales: fresh corn/smoked cheese/poblano; black bean/chipotle/calabaza/goat cheese; wild mushroom + herbs. Two moles: mole poblano + mancha manteles Maple syrup + pecan ice cream +++ The idea was that people would build their own tamales using whatever filling they wanted to and add some mole as well (or not). Tamales were served with salsas, optional extra mole, and a simple young leaf (I've forgoten what this is called in English) green salad. Anyway, pretty great stuff...the mole is still getting better every day (yes that's 5 days straight of eating mole)... ETA: brief word on the substitutions: butter for lard in the masa; a mix of walnut oil and light (not Asian) sesame oil in the mole itself to replace the lard; chipotles and a dash of pimenton for smoke/pork emulation; roasted vegetable broth to replace chicken broth.

I should probably mention that Chufi and I (along with, among others, eGulleter etalianan and her mate) finally made our way to Greetje...I should mention it if for no other reason than to talk about a restaurant on our wishlists that we finally actually made it to.... While I would still pretty heartily recommend it to someone who was unfamiliar with Dutch food, I'm not sure that I feel a magnetic desire to eat there again. If someone invited me I would certainly be happy to go and I would look forward to the meal: it's a cozy dining room, the service was pleasant if inexperienced, and their menu was creative, refined, and emphasized regional, traditional Dutch dishes that for the most part I had never tasted. And actually I've been putting off this post b/c I felt bad being negative about the place b/c I do think their heart is in the right place and I did have a very nice evening. But...(and you knew there was one coming)... Without being nitpicky, I think that what the restaurant is trying to do is elevate this kind of food beyond the homecooked meal or the eetcafe. Unfortunately, my first response to the meal was "I've eaten more satisfying versions of this in people's homes and in eetcafes". There was a bit too much restraint somewhere in the kitchen. Still, you should go there if you are interested in Dutch cooking. Although there may well be somewhere comparable, I can't think of anywhere else where you could sample such a range of (updated) traditional Dutch dishes, prepared with and presented with (maybe a little too much) care. mark

Fantastic! How many more days of reportage can we look forward to? mark

Hi IlCuoco....just in case, at least three good Amsterdam fishmongers are listed upthread (with more detail)...Nino's 2: plus my post about Volendammer Vishandel 't Centrum, Haarlemmerdijk 4... for all of these places, the earlier in the day you get there (especially on a friday or saturday) the more likely you are to get a specific fish if that's what you're looking for.... holler back if you need more detail.... mark

I have a really really hard time imagining JvD at Reibach...for a number of reasons. where could he have sat? maybe they just put him out on the back terras on some pillows or something... Sorry, hoor! I gots to call 'em like I sees 'em... OK, back to the cassoulet discussion...we'll start a separate JvD topic mark

Thanks Bill and DG...do you guys do this toasting as part of the tamale assembly line, or can it be done a bit ahead of time? I guess I'm asking if they need to be warm to be pliable or if something about having warmed them once renders them permanently pliable...you know? Just trying to work out the timetable... thanks a bunch, mark

Thanks Abra, good to have a word from an experienced tamalinha, -ster, etc. Ms. Trilling's leaves are apparently tougher than yours, she parboils them to make them pliable. As for cheez: I'm going to cruise the Turkish places tomorrow looking for a fresh mild feta variant... Chufi's also given me hope about finding corn husks in town, so I'm feeling better about Sunday...but it sure does suck when you're absolutely sure something's in the cupboard, you'd bet money, it's been there forever, and then....well, it's not? thanks for the help, mark

Well, I had a great resource right under my nose: Susana Trilling's Seasons of My Heart, which I've cooked out of quite a bit but never looked at the tamale recipe details b/c...well, I don't really know! ...anyway, she has two rather detailed banana leaf tamale recipes. Good deets like: parboiling the leaves for 30 minutes beforehand (unless you're using frozen, then defrost normally and parboil for 10), etc. I'd still love to hear about personal tips tho....and cheese recs. mem

Um...yes. Serious bummer about the timing...hope it works out. mark

Hiya! I'm supposed to be hosting a mini-tamalada this weekend and I just realized that my big bag of dried corn husks is AWOL. Corn husks are not something you can buy in Amsterdam AFAIK, but banana leaves are all over the place and I know that tamales are frequently done this way as you near the coasts in Mexico... My question is: has anyone done this? I've seen some recipes (and our eG blogs covering cornhusk tamales), but I'm looking to hear about any experience/tips/nonos when working with banana leaves instead...It looks like they're usually wrapped square (unfortch the miraculous world of the internets turned up about 7 photos...they might as well have been taken from across the street there's so little detail). Any suggestions welcomed. And....I just found out that there are vegetarians involved, so naturally I turn to cheese. I'd love to do a black bean/cotija tamale but I have no access to mexican cheeses, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experiences with more internationally available similar cheeses and can recommend something with a similar melt/taste profile. If pressed I'll probably use a harder Dutch goat cheese...or a very mild feta if I can find one....anyway... OK thanks, mark

As for pickles and ice cream, let's see....we know pickles and mayo go together. Has anyone done a mayo ice cream before? Of course they have.. Pickle and mayo ice cream? Or brownbread ice cream with pickles? Served in a caramel-prosciutto cone? With bacon bit sprinkles?

I will add this to the general fray, for what it's worth: the quality of French wines that I've researched and purchased myself does not remotely approach the quality of French wines that French dinner guests have brought to home-cooked meals that I've been part of. Whether that says more about my own proficiency in research or about the difficulty in researching this minefield of a subject due to its sheer size/complexity, I'll just say that I never really "got" French wines (with exceptions) until I started sharing meals with real French people...who just brought wines from "their neck of the woods". I've changed my tune. mem

Here is a bit of photo support for that theory.... leo i mean mark

I'm pretty sure it's an underripe passionfruit variety...

Well, back in America I used to eat at this Penang chain that other people have mentioned pretty regularly, the most memorable thing I had other than my first roti canai, nasi lemak, ikan bilis, etc, was a huge pile of kang kung? with lots of belacan: really just about the most concentrated shrimp experience I've had I think. And in Amsterdam (other than the Wau experiences listed upthread) I used to eat at Nyonya Malaysia Express (Kloveniersburgwal 38) about twice a month, until I moved across town. I'd be interested in what you think of their food. I almost always get the roti canai (I could swim in that curry!) and this ikan kerrie something with buah keras, can't remember the actual name. I'll check next time... And the only thing I don't like about Malaysian food is that it's so hard to find! mark

Well, Mei, thanks for a great week of blogging...it's always amazing to see someone else with a completely different perspective on the country you both live in! I hope things work out for you here.... mark

Japanese snack crackers -- the little ones often made from rice flour. Either they're popular in the Netherlands, or the Dutch make something similar! ← I think it's both: they are in fact very popular here...just about every grocery store/night shop has them...but I'm pretty sure they're made here as well. But very much in the original Japanese style.