A wonderful gourmet week !!!

This has been a very intense week. Lot of work plus a 3-day business trip to London and a birthday celebration ... well, in the end I was extremely fortunate to have three times dinner out and every single time it was excellent. Actually, once it has been memorable.

The first dinner was something fast, which means single dish with dessert, at a brasserie in Turnhout (BE) called De Weerld. We have come here quite often recently due to its extremely good price/quality. I mention it here, since in this occasion I was served something quite extraordinary: a Wellignton flavored with fois-gras and truffle. Fantastic!!! If you are even around Turnhout, this is the place to stop by for a simple and relatively cheap meal!

The second visit was memorable. We spend more than 5 hours for a lunch at Hostellerie St. Nicolas (BE), which has been recently awarded two Michelin stars. We have been there three years ago (before the second start). It was a good memory of a perfectly made traditional meal. Our memory did not prepared for what we were going to experience this time. The amuse was composed by one cocktail (watermelon and tomato) plus seven little dishes. Faboulous. I will never forget the fois-gras lollipop, probably the best of the 7. This was followed by three preparation of lobster ... my favorite was a tartar of lobster with cauliflower creme caramel served with a wonderful thin focaccia topped with scallops carpaccio with sardines' butter. Fabulous! After ... we probably got the start of the meal ... a potato gateau with smoked eel and truffles. I never had something with such an intense flavour and wonderful new combination. A dish of rare beauty and simplicity. It alone deserve two stars from Michelin. Next, a seared bas fillet with aubergine tapenade and tomato sorbet. As main dish, veal chops ... believe me, the main dish is fantastic even when simple! Cheese and dessert followed. We also took some coffee served wit tasty homemade pralines. The wine arrangement was abundant and two out of the four wines (and the champagne) were excellent, while two were ok. Unforgettable. I would come back here immediately if I could!!

It is difficult to think that I dared going out again after such a meal ... but I did. This time it is La Noisette (UK). A two-and-half months old restaurant belonging to the Gordon Ramsay’s Holding, located in Sloan Square street (London) and run ... by nobody else than the ex-chef of the Greenhouse: Bjorn van der Horst. I always wanted to they his cuisine and this time (even if alone) I just went for it. Despite bad critics I liked the decor of the place ... probably since I was never there before and could not complain that it looked like the previous bengali restaurant there located. I kept it light this time: only a glass of champagne with water and the basic 3-course menu. My choices ... Fois gras with coffee and amaretto foam: small but fantastic dish. Truffles milk poaches brill with a lemon sabayon ... when I forget the totally absent truffles flavor, the dish was really impressive. However, too small for a main dish. Dessert was probably the best isle flottant I was ever served. Amuse was little and nothing memorable, but the pre-dessert (sliced raspberries topped by raspberry sorbet in earl gray foam) was amazing! True genius! All in all, the food was very good and creative despite the totally missing truffle flavour int he main dish. The service ... needs some experience and they should avoiding faking the french accent when they do not even understand “isle flottant” but flating island!!! Next time I will go for the real menu. Well, done ... and let’s hope that prices stay as they are!

Difficult week ... but extremely tasty! I had wonderful food with lot of creativity which should inspire me for months to come. How will Oud Sluis (NL) compare to this when we go there in December ... I really do not know.

Tomatoes and basil tart

We found this recipe on an old magazine of my mum and it took us something like 2 or 3 years before we finally tried it, which is today. It seems to me a perfect party dish. Simple, tasty cold or warm, it can be done even the day before, light, colorful. Give it a try.

Serves: 4 as main course or 8+ as a starter
FlexiPoints: 8 or 4

Suggested wines: ... it was for a lunch in between shopping, so we had nothing. However, I would suggest a white with a very light lemon taste.

Ingredients:
- 450g tomatoes
- 230g puff pastry
- 20g of basil leaves
- 100ml of oil
- salt and pepper as needed

How-to:
1. Take a quiche ray, grease it or cover it with some baking paper. Lay on it the puff pastry removing the hanging bits.
2. Rinse the tomatoes under cold water. Slice then and gently drain them so to get rid of their water.
3. Rinse the basil leaves. Mix them with the oil in a kitchen robot or a mortar until a uniform paste is obtained. Something looking like pesto.
4. Season the pastry with the basil cream. Add the tomatoes slices and season with the remaining cream, some salt and pepper.
5. Bake at 180C for 30'. Serve warm or cold.

Baked white onions

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

I loved this dish since the first time my mum made it for us. It is simple ... but it requires some patience as it needs quite some time in the oven. You can use any kind of cheese here, but I would suggest either a slowly melting cheese (like Grouviere) or a grated mature cheese (like Parmesan).

Serves: 4 as side dish
FlexiPoints: 2.5

Suggested wines: ... depends on the what is served with it. Almost everything goes well.

Ingredients:
- 4 large white onions
- 2 tbsp oil
- 4 tbsp bread-crumbs
- 4 tbsp grated cheese (Parmesan or Grouviere)
- Salt as needed

How-to:
1. Clean and cut the onions is large slices.
2. Grease a baking tin with the oil. Place the onion slices on top. Season with salt.
3. Mix together the bread-crumbs and the cheese. Distribute the mix on top of the onion slices. Alternatively, you might want to make first a bread-crumb layer and than a cheese one. the latter approach works very well with grated Grouviere.
4. Bake at 200C for 30'/40' or until the onion is very soft. Try to use mostly a bottom slot in the oven and only the last 10' or so top slot.

Pasta au Chavignol

How many times a new recipe is made out of emergency? Sometimes. Well, this is one of those situations. We were planning to try aubergines stuffed with goat cheese ... but, unfortunately,
I placed the aubergine to near the back of the fridge where they got frozen! So, here it goes the dinner. What can be do with the cherry tomatoes and the crottin de Chavignol ... bah! A pasta maybe. Well, the pasta was simple, fast and amazingly delicious! We had it yesterday once again and it has convinced us to the point to add it to our recipe collection.

Serves: 2 as a main course
FlexiPoints: 8

Suggested wines: We had it with some typical "pump" wine ... the table wine people buy per liter as it were fuel. This one was a Negroamaro-based one and really fruity and delicious.

Ingredients:
- 200g caserecce or other medium long (and thick) pasta
- 2 crottin de Chavignol (120g)
- 300g cherry tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt as needed

How-to:
1. Half all the tomatoes and finely chop the garlic.
2. Sauté the garlic in the oil and add the tomatoes after 1'. Keep cooking on high heat for 8'-10' mashing lightly the tomatoes when soft. Season with salt and keep warm.
3. While cooking the pasta in abundant salted water, chop the crottin in medium pieces.
4. Add the pasta to the tomato sauce on medium heat, stir well for 1'. Add the cheeses and stir well until fully melted.
5. Serve warm ... It is important not to eat this dish straight after cooking to allow the cheese flavor to be at it peak.

Disgression .... my new D200 !!!

Long time ago I loved taking photos. I use to go around with my faithful Olimpus SLR, take lot of pictures and envy my dad for his Nikon FE. Today ... after years with simpler digital cameras I made the step back to SLR .... digital SLR actually. I got myself a Nikon D200.
I plugged in a new memory card, dad's old 50mm (manual focus ... almost 30 years old ...). And I took a few photos to try the new camera out. I am amazed. Like the photo above ... I am really amazed. I am looking forward to have time to spend on it. For now, back to my studies!

PS: It is a flower from our lemon tree.

Conchiglioni stuffed with rucola

Every time we pass by Italy (be for holidays or work) I always end up buying some cokking magazine. This time we came back with a couple of them ... one of these is Cucina Moderna (serie Oro). This issue is packed with some nice and simple ideas and we tries this one first as my fiancee was eagerly longing for it. The recipe is almost the same as the original (I changed only a couple of little details), and it is lovely despite its looking very white!

Serves: 4 as a main course
FlexiPoints: 7

Suggested wines: something white and light. Maybe a Pinot Grigio might work. We went for plain (San Pellegrino) water.

Ingredients:
- 200g conchiglioni
- 320g rucola
- 100g grated Parmesan cheese
- 8 tbsp oilive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 6 tbsp pinenuts
- 2 tbsp sweet paprika powder
- satl as needed

How-to:
1. Cook the pasta in salted water till al-dente. Rinse quickly in cold water and drain well.
2. Rinse the rucola and the garlic clove. Make a pesto with a mixer out of the rucola, the garlic clove, some salt and 6 tbsp of oil. Fold in the grated Parmesan cheese and some additional oil if it feels too dry.
3. Toast the pinenuts in a hot wok. Add them to the rucola cream.
4. Fill each (conchiglione) pasta shape with the rucola cream. Lay each of them in a oven tray. Distribute the remaining oil and the paprika on top.
5. Put under a hot grill for up to 5’ and serve immediately.

Linguine con fagiolini pinti

Typically summerly ... even if our summer has finished ... yet I felt like posting this recipe I got from my mother. The english name would be "Linguine with string beans", which sounds so boring that I prefer to use the italian name all the time. The original recipe calls for two hard-to-find ingredients: cacioricotta and the fagiolini pinti. The former is a kind of salty mature feta and the latter is a purplish thin string bean variety. Well ... if you find them, perfect. If you don't use the suggested replacement. Taste won't be as good, but still very good!

Serves: 4 as main course
FlexiPoints: 7

Suggested wines: Again ... I dare suggest a rose here!!

Ingredients:
- 400g linguine pasta
- 500g "pinti" or normal string beans
- 1.5g tomato juice (passata)
- 1 shallot
- 16 basil leaves
- 6 tbsp grated cacioricotta or Turkish feta cheese
- Salt and oilive oil as needed

How-to:
1. Clean the string beans and trim them.
2. Stir fry them with a bit oil in a hot deep pan for 3’.
3. Add the tomato juice, the shallot and 6 basil leaves. Season with salt. Let simmer for about 15’ stirring occasionally.
4. Boil the pasta separately. Put the sauce and the pasta in a big bowl. Add the cheese and the remaining basil. Mix well until the cheese is uniformly distributed and serve.