eG Foodblog: Chufi - Old Favorites and New Adventures

[Abra]

That Bols museum looks so fun! Did you two develop your own cocktails, or were those house specialties? They both sound unusual. As to vin de noix on ice? If it's good, it's good. You need to get rid of that sore throat.

[tejon]

this apricot brandy bottle was popular in the fifties, it has a little ballerina doll inside

I used to have one of those bottles when I was younger! I remember winding up the ballerina and shaking the bottle to watch the gold flakes drift down. Didn't even realize it was alcohol inside until I was a bit older .

[Pan]

Klary, I hope you wake up feeling well!

I'm really loving the photos of Amsterdam, especially the beautiful buildings!

I had forgotten what corenwijn was, so I did a Google search for information in English, and turned up this interesting page on jenever on the Thinking Bartender's website.

[markemorse]

Great jenever article, Pan...thanks. I now realize that I must try some corenwijn...I had no idea it was so different from jonge and oude jenevers.

mem

[Chufi]

I love your photos from the Bols museum.  I showed my hunny and he was really excited by it, particularly the sniffing and tasting rooms.  Watch out, he may show up unannounced on your doorstep one of these days just so he can tour the place!  We actually have those juniper berries growing locally.  I have a baggie of them in my spice drawer that my boys picked last fall while hiking.

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Shaya, tell him he's welcome!

That Bols museum looks so fun!  Did you two develop your own cocktails, or were those house specialties?  They both sound unusual.  As to vin de noix on ice?  If it's good, it's good.  You need to get rid of that sore throat.

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We did choose from the ones they had listed, but you could ask them to mix something up I think. They were very cooperative.

I had forgotten what corenwijn was, so I did a Google search for information in English, and turned up this interesting page on jenever on the Thinking Bartender's website.

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Thanks so much for that link, that's the best explanation in English I've seen so far.

Great jenever article, Pan...thanks. I now realize that I must try some corenwijn...I had no idea it was so different from jonge and oude jenevers.

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Oooh you're in for a treat! Beercafe In de Wildeman has a couple of different ones (at least they used to when we were regulars there, a couple of years ago), if you want to try it first instead of buying a bottle.

Edited May 12, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[markemorse]

Klary, when Dennis gave up coffee, did you give it up as well?

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Oh, no! I love coffee! I'm really bad at making it though. I usually have coffee elsewhere. My favorite way to start the day is get to a coffeehouse early, drink coffee, read the papers and think about all the little projects I have going on

Coffee at the office is so bad though, that I try not to drink it except the first cup I really need to get going.

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Sorry that this question is a bit late, but....what do you do when you have dinner guests, in terms of making them a decent cup of coffee (I ask because I have exactly the same problem)?

mem

P.S. Your sugar cookies are finally crisp again!

Edited May 12, 2007 by markemorse (log)

[Chufi]

Klary, when Dennis gave up coffee, did you give it up as well?

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Oh, no! I love coffee! I'm really bad at making it though. I usually have coffee elsewhere. My favorite way to start the day is get to a coffeehouse early, drink coffee, read the papers and think about all the little projects I have going on

Coffee at the office is so bad though, that I try not to drink it except the first cup I really need to get going.

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Sorry that this question is a bit late, but....what do you do when you have dinner guests, in terms of making them a decent cup of coffee (I ask because I have exactly the same problem)?

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well, I can make decent coffee (that's good enough for me anyway), but only one cup at a time like so:

So I tell guests I can't make coffee, but that they can have some pretty awesome tea instead (Lapsang tea, which is smoky and dark - or Buddha Amacha, which is also very dark and naturally sweet, both are good after dinner teas I think)

Some guests will then volunteer to make their own coffee. I say, let them! I also figure I feed them well enough that they won't hold the 'no coffee' against me.

Edited May 12, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[Chufi]

The morning's activities. Not that exciting, because, well, this story is getting old, but I still don't feel so good. So just a quick shopping trip and then back home for a quiet afternoon.. sorry about that.

Noordermarkt, where they hold the organic farmer's market every Saturday

first we had some tea and coffee in cafe Winkel on the corner. This place is famous for it's apple pie. People line up on Saturday for it.. Some say it's the best in the city. We only had coffee and tea today...

Market. Vegetables

Bread

cheesecakes and other baked goods

Butcher, the dark sausages are dried goatsausages

After that, a visit to Dennis' latest discovery, a little Chinese teashop near the Haarlemmerstraat. It's actually a teashop annex hairdresser! You can see her at the washstand in the back.

They have Chinese teas that you can't get anyhwere else in Amsterdam (says Dennis, and I trust him on this!)

You probably thought we already had enough tea, but my husband disagrees! Here's what we brought home

Random images from the bikeride home:

Second hand recordshop that also sells apples and pears

Bakery (a very good one, Arnold Cornelissen) with pretty facade

The Westertoren, next to the Anne Frank House - these are the churchbells that Anne heard and that she writes about in her diary. The tower has been recently renovated and looks so beautiful, all shiny and colorfull especially when the sun's out. The picture does not really do it justice.

Edited May 12, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[Chufi]

Lunch: bread, cheeses, goat sausage and apples, all from the farmer's market.

The goat sausage is really good! Extremely goaty. Dry, dark and sweet. Goat-candy

As you may have noticed before, this is the quintessential Dutch lunch: bread with cheeses and cold cuts. I have to say that when the different components are good it's a lunch I never ever tire of. That said, when I forget to bring lunch to work and I have to go to the cafetaria and buy some floppy beige slices of bread and plastic wrapped sliced cheese that taste of nothing but plastic, it's a sad lunch indeed.

Edited May 12, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[Chufi]

Now I'm off to relax.. and gather up the courage for cooking tonight's dinner.. I'm making something I have never been able to make right.. and I've tried!! I have a personal tutorial from an eGulleter who is extremely good at making these things.. and I finally got a tool that hopefully will make the process easier.. we'll see.. fingers crossed!

[markemorse]

Glad you took the goat sausage plunge! Those weren't even the ones I was talking about (they were a coarser grind, more like the stereotypical chorizo we see everywhere here)...but those look really good!

mem

[Abra]

I want that lunch! For some reason, those hearty, seedy, grainy Dutch and German breads are my absolute favorites. And the cheese and sausage look so right.

Hey, I just remembered that I have a book I've never cooked from yet - Cooking With Tea. It has appetizers, mains, and desserts, stuff like Jade Shrimp in Lung Ching Tea, Tea Poached Plums, Cold Tea Noodles, and Assam Lemon Tart. Feel up to trying something new?

[Chufi]

I've been wanting to make gnocchi for a long time. I love the word gnicchi, I could say it all day long! Anything ith such a cute name MUST taste good. I've never tasted real gnocchi, anywhere. They are an ideal of gnocchi, firmly lodged in my food-brain. Potatoes, I love potatoes. Little clouds of potatoes, what's not to love?

Oh, I made some. I tried, about 6 times. But they never came out right - they eitehr dissolved in the cooking water or were stodgy and gluey. And then I gave up. A couple of months ago Shaya, the Queen of Gnocchi, sent me a detailed description of her method. I tried again. No success. I was about to give up forever, when I realized that I had been doing everything right except the way I mashed my potatoes!

Then, luckily, I got a potatoricer as a birthdaypresent. So today I attempted gnocchi, again.

Potatoes, riced!

One of Shaya's instructions is to rice the potatoes directly onto a cloth, and knead the dough inside the cloth.

gnocchi, shaped..

... and boiled, and tossed with melted butter and parmesan:

The rest of dinner: a sausage sampler from the organic butcher: cumin-lamb, garlic and pork

salad: mache, raw baby turnips, a bit of belgian endive and a tomato. Dressing: garlic, walnut oil, mustard

All together on the plate (Italian foodpurists avert you eyes )

Wine:

So, onto the gnocchi verdict.. I think I had success! Dennis loved them and said he could not think of anything that should be different about them. But I thought they were maybe a touch too fragile.. but maybe I was just being overly critical.. they were actually pretty good, not glue-y at all, very smooth-textured and light yet quite firm.

I made GNOCCHI!

[Chufi]

We're having the last bit of the cheesecake for dessert.

Oh and I did some prep for tomorrow's dinner: chicken before

and after poaching

Toasted flour

Whatever will this be?

[Chufi]

Hey, I just remembered that I have a book I've never cooked from yet - Cooking With Tea.  It has appetizers, mains, and desserts, stuff like Jade Shrimp in Lung Ching Tea, Tea Poached Plums, Cold Tea Noodles, and Assam Lemon Tart.  Feel up to trying something new?

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That sounds very interesting! We sure have enough tea in the house to use some for cooking

Edited May 12, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[markemorse]

That said, when I forget to bring lunch to work...

Um...I have a hard time believing that you ever forget to bring lunch to work!

The rest of dinner: a sausage sampler from the organic butcher: cumin-lamb, garlic and pork

And which organic butcher is this: the one at the market, or your usual?

Edited May 12, 2007 by markemorse (log)

[Eden]

well, I can make decent coffee (that's good enough for me anyway), but only one cup at a time like so:

This is exactly how we make coffee! Neither Bill nor I drink coffee, but of course we have friends who can't go too long without "a fix" so we keep a little one cup doohicky like yours and some decent coffee on hand. Of course when more than one guest wants coffee they have to queu up but it mostly works...

those fresh sausages look divine! and the "goat candy" sounds fascinating.

[Chufi]

That said, when I forget to bring lunch to work...

Um...I have a hard time believing that you ever forget to bring lunch to work!

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And which organic butcher is this: the one at the market, or your usual?

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well sometimes I make my nice little lunchpacket and then leave it on the kitchencounter! But it does not happen often.

The sausages came from Rijks, the butcher at the Noordermarkt.

I'm going to bed early! Tomorrow is Mother's day, so we're doing a little tour of the mothers. Both our parents live close by.. so it's coffee with one mum and lunch with the other

Edited May 12, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[little ms foodie]

gnocchi look very good Klary, congrats!

[Pontormo]

Wendy beat me to it. The nnnnyyyaukkee look fantastic, really, and who cares if the things on your plate touch ?! What a lovely ricer, too! And sausages, fresh and dried.

Klary, I am really sorry you have been under the weather this week. Thank you for good-spirited blogging while fighting a cold. I admire bravery surpassing my own when it comes to sweetbreads--they actually looked good in your picture.* I wonder what you'll try next.

Though you might have felt we know your Amsterdam by now, the shot of your market street at the end of the day was a revelation. I don't know how standard daily, long open-air markets are in the Netherlands. Perhaps it is a privilege that comes with living in your city. Here, the scarcity, small scale and limited hours of farmers markets makes them special and greatly anticipated. I hope some time in the future they're be so much a part of the fabric of daily life that there are dedicated urban spaces just for vendors.

The poached chicken suggests a pastry-covered dish, though I haven't a clue as to why you toasted the flour. Something Middle-eastern or Eastern Mediterranean vs. the birthday cobbler?

*What is it about women and offal--I know, I know plenty like and love innards to eat. Are there men out there who feel equally squeamish?

Final note: I vaguely recall you bake your rhubarb compote. Or thought you do. At any rate, I had forgotten about the method I tried again this week. The texture's superior to results when compote is prepared on top of the stove.

[MarketStEl]

Lunch: bread, cheeses, goat sausage and apples, all from the farmer's market.

The goat sausage is really good! Extremely goaty. Dry, dark and sweet. Goat-candy 

As you may have noticed before, this is the quintessential Dutch lunch: bread with cheeses and cold cuts. I have to say that when the different components are good it's a lunch I never ever tire of. That said, when I forget to bring lunch to work and I have to go to the cafetaria and buy some floppy beige slices of bread and plastic wrapped sliced cheese that taste of nothing but plastic, it's a sad lunch indeed.

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I think I could be very happy indeed if I ate nothing but this, or variations on it, for lunch every day. Aren't the French similarly inclined at lunchtime?

Can I throw in a side question here? What's your opinion of Rem Koolhaas? I was able to tour his stunning Seattle Public Library on my recent visit there (chronicled on the Pacific Northwest board).

Edited to add: Forgot to ask: What varieties of cheese are those? One appears to be a blue cheese.

Edited May 12, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[SeaGal]

What a fascinating blog! I've really enjoyed reading through and catching up. Unfortunately I missed out on the potluck at Abra's when you were here last year, but I always enjoy reading your blogs and posts on the Dinner thread.

It's very inspiring that you've chosen to make so many things you've never tried before. Those sweetbreads, which I love but have never made, looked awesome! And the gnocchi look beautiful...and delicious.

As far as what you're prepping for dinner, it looks like there's saffron in your poaching broth, which leads me to think Middle Eastern, Moroccan or Spanish. (really narrowed down, huh?) But the toasted flour is throwing me off. Some sort of dry roux? There's a Filipino desert called polovoron that calls for toasted flour. I'm stumped.

[Shaya]

Bravo, Chufi, your gnocchi look beautiful . I'm so happy it worked at last! We have had the same comment about them being too delicate, too airy, too light - which is ironically the ideal quality of the little guys. I think we spent too many years becoming accustomed to those mass produced ones that are much more gummy and dense.

Your purchases at the farmer's market look just like ours. My hubbie went this morning and came back with 5 kinds of sausage and 5 kinds of cheese - 4 goudas and one blue.

[Abra]

I like that kneading in a towel thing! Can you post the rest of Shaya's recipe? I usually stick to ricotta gnocchi to keep them light, but I'd love to master the potato ones.

What sort of tea recipe would you like to have? Milk Chocolate Torte with Assam Tea Ganache? Something savory?

[Shaya]

I like that kneading in a towel thing!  Can you post the rest of Shaya's recipe?  I usually stick to ricotta gnocchi to keep them light, but I'd love to master the potato ones.

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Abra - I just sent you a pm with the details. Hope it works for you!