Amsterdam Foodie

That sort of rhymes, right? Or it assonates, or something… This month it’s cranberries: partly because I happened to see the fresh ones in the shop, which is something you don’t find too often, and partly because I was musing on the fact that cranberries are underused outside of cranberry sauce with Christmas dinner. I’d never tried a fresh cranberry – just neat, as it were – so before making these recipes, I thought I’d give it a go. Bleurgh. Don’t do it. Bitter, dry, sour and revolting. So remember that – and then pair those unforgiving little red berries with something sweet…

Sweet onion, cranberry, ricotta and sage cheesecake

First up, I followed this recipe for a savoury cheesecake. I can’t say it was a huge success, to be honest. If I were to re-write the recipe, I would recommend some serious caramelisation of the onions (i.e. with actual sugar, and probably more onions) as well as the addition of some bacon lardons for saltiness.

Cranberry and white chocolate muffins

Yesterday, I decided to play it safe and pair the cranberries with white chocolate (a match made in Albert Heijn biscuits, which are an office favourite). I roughly followed Ottolenghi’s recipe for blueberry muffins, but then substituted the blueberries for cranberries (obviously) and the apple for white chocolate. When I tasted the mixture, it seemed too sweet, but with the sour bursts of berry running through the muffins once cooked, the white chocolate met its match. Add cup of tea for maximum Sunday-afternoon pleasure.

I just liked the over-exposure on this one...