Amsterdam Foodie

I realise I moan and whinge every February, but it really is a b*tch of a month. As if being broke wasn’t depressing enough (Stadsdeel Westerpark is currently enjoying about a third of this month’s pay cheque), there’s the awfulness that is Valentine’s Day. It’s conventional and cliché, not to mention expensive. And, it makes [...]

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 [...]

It’s December: you’ve blown your non-existent-due-to-credit-crisis Christmas bonus on presents and parties. You face the week between Christmas and New Year eating endless leftover turkey, potatoes and Brussels sprouts. So I thought that this month I’d kill two birds with one stone and make good old bubble ‘n squeak.
If you’re Dutch (or, indeed, if you’re [...]

These days, in posh restaurants, they like to do things three ways. They also like serving ‘heritage’ vegetables – the so-called forgotten fruits of our ancestors’ labours. You know what I mean: ‘Black salsify: three ways’.
It’s all a bit trendy and pretentious, but then again maybe they have a point: it’s interesting to make the [...]

Ok, this is a little lazy of me, but I’m up to my oesophagus in preparation for autumn Hidden Kitchen and getting the Amsterdam Foodie’s new mini-enterprise off the ground… So I’m stealing Hidden kitchen’s dessert for this month’s seasonal recipe.
This is another Hampton family classic, so I’m told, and it uses juicy this-season pears. [...]

It’s been a year since I introduced my monthly seasonal dish to the website, and what better way to mark its anniversary than by cooking with the Amsterdam Foodie’s symbol? The artichoke!
Actually, the idea was suggested to me by Pavla, a member of my food group on Facebook – so Pavla, this one’s for you!

Artichokes [...]

August has been a Pyrrhic victory of a month. I’ve achieved a lot on the small battles front, but I have the feeling that the greater war has yet to be won. Or – more accurately – the small achievements are compensation for the lost war. But something I’ve noticed in all of this is [...]

I’m so glad all this racquet and ball nonsense is over. Tennis and I have a chequered history: I was so bad at it at school that forcing me to do it bordered on child abuse. But every cloud has a silver lining ‘n all that, and in this case it’s strawberries. Sweet and sexy [...]

Ricotta, peas, mint… made for each other.
This month’s seasonal recipe was adapted from Simon Rimmer’s pea and pancetta lasagne. While traditional lasagne is time consuming and a bit of a hassle, an open lasagne looks lovely and takes half the work. This one involved deliciously summery, sweet, fresh podded peas paired with lardons, ricotta, mint [...]

I realise it’s barely May anymore, let alone barely still asparagus season, but I’ve been busy and travelling and a bit ill. So sorry about that!
‘Asperges op Vlaamse wijze’ (asparagus Flemish-style) is made with hard-boiled eggs, parsley and melted butter. It’s great – and very Dutch, despite being Belgian – but it’s lacking a little [...]