Flaky cod, salsa verde

Yes, it doesn't look great, but boy the flavours are soo wonderful I have to give you the recipe

Start with the salsa: blend 40 ml olive oil, 15g flat parsley, 5g oregano, 1 tbsp drained capers, 1 clove of garlic, the juice of 1/4 lemon, 1 tsp honey, a knifepoint chili flakes, salt and pepper

Cut a tomato in small pieces, tear the leaves of a romaine salad and take the bitter roots from 50g taugé (bean sprouts)

Defrost and dry 250g cod loin. Rub with  1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander and 1/2 tsp paprika, then with corn flour

Slice a red onion into half rings, panfry in olive oil till nicely brown and crispy, at the end add 1/2 sliced red chili

Take out and reserve, add some extra olive oil and panfry the fish in 6 mins, turn halfway. It now falls apart in flakes if you push it. Mix the flakes with the fried onion

Start plating with the salad, put the fish on top, finish with the salsa and taco chips

Serve with some créme fraîche on the side

(Recipe by Tallina van den Hoed in De Volkskrant)

Scallop, orzo, XO sauce

Orzo tossed in umami XO sauce and topped with a scallop. A Chinese-Italian fusion pasta dish. XO Sauce is an iconic Chinese condiment traditionally made from dried seafood such as scallops and meats such as cured ham. It is known for its intensely rich, umami flavors. 

Prepare 70g orzo according to the directions on its packet. When the pasta is 2 minutes from being done, heat up 1 tbsp XO sauce from a jar (mine is Lee Kum Kee) in another pan.

Add the cooked orzo, a tablespoon of pasta water, and toss to emulsify. 

In another pan, heat up a tbsp vegetable oil on high heat. Sear 4 scallops. Flip when one side is crispy and golden

Once you flipped the scallops, baste them with chili oil. When both sides are golden-brown, they are ready. Take off the heat and set aside.

Start plating with the orzo, then the scallops and top everything with thinly sliced spring onion and shredded nori.

Créme of raw cashews , green peas and grapes

Pre heat the oven to 190°C

Boil 150g raw cashews in water for 20 mins.

Drain and put in the blender with 2 cloves of garlic and salt and pepper

Slowly add 120 ml water to create a smooth cream

Roast another 50g cashew nuts 5 mins in the hot oven till  golden brown

Warm 120g frozen peas in boiling water, drain and mix with 1 shallot, sliced into thin rings, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Halve 100g white grapes and mix with the peas

Boil 1 egg, 6 mins

Start plating with the cashew cream, spoon the pea salat on top and finish with 1/2 egg, some dill and the roasted cashews

(Recipe by Sake Slootweg)

Roasted avocado, brown shrimps and sea lettuce

Rinse 50g sea lettuce to remove salt and sand, dab dry with kitchen paper and slice into 3 cm pieces

Mix 50g brown shrimps with 1 tbsp crème fraîche, 1/2 tbsp mayo, 1/2 tsp grated horseradish, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice. season with salt and pepper

Toast 1 tsp mustard seeds in a dry pan, briefly, otherwise they become bitter

Halve an avocados, brush with olive oil and fry in a hot grillpan

Fill with the sea lettuce, cover with shrimps.  Finish with the mustard seeds and edible flowers and/or cress

(Here Njam's original recipe in Flemish)

Grilled flat iron steak with peperonata and salsa verde

For the peperonata, heat 40 ml olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook 1 thinly sliced red onion and 2 thinly sliced cloves of garlic, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until garlic just begins to colour.

Add 1 red en 1 yellow paprika, sliced in strips, and 2 hacked anchovies, if using, and toss to coat in oil. Add a peeled and hacked tomato. Stir continuously for 5 minutes or until starting to simmer.

Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or until the paprikas are very tender but the skin is still intact. Add 1 tsp capers and check seasoning.

For the salsa verde, finely chop the leaves of 2 sprigs of basil, 2 sprigs of mint, 2 sprigs of parsley, 2 sprigs of oregano and combine with 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 tbsp Dyon mustard, 3 finely chopped anchovies, 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar and 40 ml robust extra virgine olive oil

Season with salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat a chargrill pan over medium-high heat. Brush two 250g flat iron steaks with oil and season with salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Grill steak for 4 minutes each side for rare, or until cooked to your liking.

Rest, loosely covered, for 5 minutes. Carve steak across the grain. Spoon peperonata into a serving dish, top with steak and drizzle with salsa verde. 

Serve with chargrilled sourdough and remaining salsa verde alongside. Delizioso for 2.

(Here Glenn Lauries original recipe in Delicious Magazine)

Oven roasted vegetables gazpacho, laurel oil

Pre heat the oven to 65°C

First make some laurel oil: blanche 4g fresh laurel leaves for 50 sec in boiling water, then scoop them into ice water. Dab dry and put in a jam jar with 40 ml grape seed oil. Put in the oven for 1 hour.

Put in the blender for 1 min, then drain through cheesecloth and reserve

Put the oven on 220°

Hack 200g red paprika, halve 350g San Marzano tomatoes and 175g apricots, peel and hack  125g carrots. Mix in a bowl with 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp salt and some black pepper.

Spoon on an oven tray covered with baking paper, keeping well apart because too close together they will be steamed instead of roasted and caramelised

Roast for 30 mins

In the meantime peel and slice a small red onion and marinade the rings in 2 tbsp red wine vinegar and 3 tbsp water

Cool the veggies, then blend them with the onion, the marinade , 10 basil leaves, 3 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp ground cumin. Add water the reach the desired consistency 

Taste and season with salt if necessary, then keep in the fridge

Serve at room temperature, with raspberries, cubed green paprika and croutons

Finish with drops of the laurel oil

Recipe by Giorgia Eugenia Goggi in Delicious Magazine

Scallops with sage and pink pepper butter

Take the leaves from a sprig of sage and hack them finely.

Ground 1 tsp pink peppercorns in a mortar

Melt 25 butter in a sauce pan with another sprig of sage. Take off the heat and infuse for 20 mins.

Place a bowl on another bowl filled with ice water

Use a mixer and whisk till the butter turns white and airy, then add almost all the pepper plus the sage. Season with salt

Panfry 4 scallops in butter, 2 mins per side

Serve a shown, use 2 teaspoons to make nice quenelles of the butter.

Finish with the rest of the pepper and lime zest

(Recipe by Liselore Bus in Delicious Magazine)

Cole slaw and chicken meatballs

Mix 1 tbsp Greek yoghurt, 1 tbsp crème fraîche, 1 tsp Dyon mustard and the zest and juice of 1 lime.

Thinly slice 200 g white cabbage, cut 100g carrot in julienne, cut an orange in segments (en vife, without the membrane) and quarter 7 cherry tomatoes

Mix the slaw with the yoghurt dressing and marinate for at least an hour

Soak 25g Panko in 5 tbsp milk. 

Beat an egg and mix with 1 tbsp oyster sauce, a knifepoint of nutmeg, 7 hacked cherry tomatoes, the hacked leaves of 3 sprigs of parsley, then add the soaked breadcrumbs

Add 300g minced chicken meat, season with salt and pepper and mix well to firm up.

Pre heat the oven to 200°C

Line an oven dish with baking paper, use and ice cream scoop to make 6 balls from the meat, cover with some more Panko and bake in the hot oven for at least 30 min

(Here Sake Slootweg's original recipe in Dutch)

Asparagus, steak tartare, pancetta and parsley oil

Use the blender to mix 20g parsley, 1 clove of garlic and 50ml olive oil. Put trough a small sieve, season with salt and pepper and reserve

Peel 4 asparagus

Cut 150g bavette in thin slices, then the slices into strips and the strips into small cubes. Season with salt and pepper

Mince a small shallot, mix with the meat with 2 tbsp olive oil,  a few drops of Worcester and Tabasco, 1/2 tsp Dyon mustard and 1 tsp tomato ketchup

Bring water to the boil with salt and a pinch of sugar, put in the asparagus and boil 5 mins, turn of the heat and keep (under a lid) for another 7 mins.

In the meantime hack 20g hazelnuts and 20g pumpkin seeds and toast them. Season with sea salt

Drain the asparagus, cool under running water and dry with kitchen paper. Use a kitchen burner to color the asparagus

Serve a shown, with slices of smoked pancetta, apple capers and the parsley oil

(Here Kris Herrijgers' original recipe in Flemish)

 

Whole roasted carrots with pangrattato and chilli honey dressing

True, it doesn't look spectacular, but what a nice mix of flavours to eat, believe me.

Preheat oven to 220°C

Place 10 fat carrots on a large baking tray and drizzle with 2 tbs oil. Season to taste and toss to combine. Arrange in a single layer and roast for 35-40 minutes, until carrots are tender and skin is golden and lightly charred.

Meanwhile, to make pangrattato, add remaining 2 tbs oil to a small frypan over medium heat. Add 20g Panko and 1 crushed clove of garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 4-6 minutes, until golden and crisp. Season, transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool completely.

For the dressing, place 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tbsp runny honey and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar in a small bowl, season and whisk to combine. Season with salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp chili flakes

To serve, halve carrots lengthways. Spread 200g labneh over the base of 2 plates, top with carrots and drizzle with dressing. 

Scatter with breadcrumb mixture and dill sprigs. 

(Here Dannielle Alvarez' original recipe)

Scallops, asparagus, beurre Café de Paris

Mix 45g butter (room temperature), 20g finely cut anchovies, 1/2 finely cut shallot, 4 pressed cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp hacked parsley, the hacked leaves of a sprig of estragon, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/2 tsp Dyon mustard, 1/2 tsp Worcester sauce, 1/4 tsp paprika powder, 1/2 tsp ketchup, 1/2 tsp sea salt

Spoon mixture onto a 20cm-long piece of plastic wrap. Roll up to enclose and form a 12cm log. Twist ends to seal. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Peel 6 fat asparagus, cut off the tips, use the rest to make a nice soup.

Boil them 4 mins in boiling salted water, kill the heat and leave them under a lid for another 5 mins

Season 6 scallops with salt and pepper and panfry in a lightly oiled pan, crumble half of the Beurre Cafe de Paris, once it's melted kill the heat, turn the scallops and leave them 2-3 mins to absorb the heat.

Serve as shown, with some sea banana (and crusty bread to soak up the delicieus butter)

Freeze the rest of the butter

(Inspired by Alex Prichards recipe in Delicious Magazine)

Brioche, dulce de leche, passionfruits

Making dulce de leche is simple: put an unopened tin of condensed milk in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and keep boiling for 3 hrs. Make sure the tin is under water all the time

Do not open till completely cooled down after the 3 hrs! 

Gently spoon 40g Greek yoghurt through 70ml whipped double cream

Halve 2 or 3 passions fruits

Brush 2 thick slices of brioche with butter and toast them in a 180°C oven for about 10 mins.

Spread dulche de leche on  the toasted brioche, then a big spoonful cream and finally the pulp and juice of the passions fruits

(Recipe by Noni Kooiman for Delicious Magazine)

Kläpphagen's skrei, beurre noisette and horseradish

Start 2 days in advance making pickled red onion and cucumber.

Peel and quarter 3 small red onions. Halve 1/2 cucumber lengthwise, deseed and cut into small cubes. 

Bring 50ml white wine vinager and 150 ml water to the boil with 100g caster sugar.

Put the onions and cucumber in a mason jar and cover with the sweet and sour liquid.

Cool and keep in the fridge for 2 days.

Then cover two 160g filets of skrei (skin on) with sea salt. Rinse and dry after 20 mins

Put them, skin side down in and oiled and hot grill pan and grill for 2 mins. Take out and reserve

Clean 8 bimi and 10 green beans and blanche 2 mins in boiling salted water, cool in ice water and reserve

Put 200g cauliflower florets in a pan with 200ml milk and 200 ml double cream, boil 15-18 mins.

Transfer the florets to the blender, with a couple of tbsp of the liquid and some smoked Maldon salt and make a smooth, almost liquid mash

Melt 40g butter in a saucepan till it smokes and is lightly burned. Take off the fire.

Panfry the fish, skin side down in 20g butter with 1,5 tbsp capers and some sprigs of thyme till the fish is no longer transparent 

In the meantime cover the beans and bimi with a bit of olive oil and grill 2 mins in the grill pan

Start plating with a circle of cauliflower mash, then add pickled onions and cucumber.

Proceed with the bimi and beans and put the fish on top

Finish with grated fresh horseradish and the beurre noisette.

(Recipe by Johan Sköld and Martin Nilsson in Delicious Magazine)

Sardines paté

Carefully open a (120g) can of sardines. Drain the sardines well and remove the bones.

Put the meat in the chopper attachment of your stickblender with 73g butter and 1tbsp Madera (or port) and make a smooth paté.

Mix with some hacked parsley. Season with Tabasco and salt

Spoon the paté back in the tin.

Serve with toasted bread 

(Recipe found in Delicious Magazine)

Pasta alla Norcina

Yes, it is not an award winning picture of an amazing looking dish. The kitchen from Umbria is called cucina povera (poor kitchen) but the simple dishes like this one taste great. The best reason to give you the recipe:

Cover 15g dried porcini with boiling water and soak 20min

Remove the skin of 250g pork sausages and stir-fry the minced meat 10 min till nicely browned 

Drain the porcini (keep the water), hack them finely and add to the meat with 2 finely hacked cloves of garlic. Fry for 4 mins, then add 5g flour and mix well

After 10 min add 200 ml double cream and 100 ml of the porcini water,

Simmer 10 mins 

In the meantime boil 120g penne

Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper

Serve as shown with grated Parmesan.

(Here the original recipe in Delicious Magazine) 

Squid in tomato and paprika coulis

Pre-heat the oven at 200°C. 

Peel 2 ripe tomatoes and 1/2 red paprika.

Halve the tomatoes and put them in a roasting tin with the paprika, 1/3 onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1/8 red chili. Sprinkle some olive oil over it and put in the hot oven for 15 mins

Cool a bit and blend with the inside of a white bun (pistolet), 1/2 tbsp tomato paste, a glug of olive oil, a glug of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Blend into a smooth sauce

Clean 10 baby squid, brush with olive oil en season with salt and pepper.

Panfry them in 15 sec per side

Serve a shown, finish with hacked coriander and some drops of olive oil

(Recipe by Flemish chef Bart Desmidt)

Lemon curd and merengue tart

Melt 75g butter, crush 220g Bastogne biscuits and mix the crumbles with the butter. 

Cover the bottom of a 17x 27 cm baking tin with baking paper and brush the sides with butter, before putting the biscuit mix in. Press well ,then keep in the fridge for an hour to firm up

Split 3 eggs, use the yolks for something else and whip the whites till firm, then carefully spoon in 50g icing sugar

Bring 150g caster sugar to the boil in 50 ml water and use a thermometer to see it reaches exactly 121°C

Ask somebody else to pour the sugar mix slowly, slowly onto the beaten egg whites, while you keep whisking into a merengue

Take the bottom from the fridge and cover with 1,5 jar Chives lemon curd

Then spoon the Merengue on top

Keep chilled till serving.

Use a kitchen burner to make nice brown edges on the merengue and finish with strawberries

(A Janneke Muileboom recipe)

Pasta alla Norma

Slice 1 big aubergine in 2 cm cubes, sprinkle with salt and rest voor 10 mins.

Rinse and dry, then panfry in 3 tbsp olive oil for about 10 mins, till soft and nicely browned.

Take out and reserve

Add another tbsp oil to panfry 1/2 minced onion, 1 tsp caraway seeds and 1 tsp fennel seeds.

After 5 mins add 1 minced cove of garlic and fry another minute before adding 35g tomato paste

After 1 min add 400g tomato cubes from a tin, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and the reserved aubergine

Softly boil for 15 mins to thicken the sauce

In the meantime boil 150g orecchiette pasta, 

Mix the pasta into the sauce, with some of the cooking liquid.

After plating sprinkle 40g grated goat's cheese over the pasta and some rucola

Feeds 2

(Here Julie Teekens original recipe in Dutch)

Asparagus, black tiger gamba's, light red curry sauce

Peel 2 thick asparagus, boil them 5 mins in salted water, shut off the heat and leave them, under a lid, another 6 mins

Mix 1/2 tbsp Thai red curry with 75mk creamed coconut and the juice of 1/4 lime and warm

Pan fry 6 black tiger gamba's in olive oil

Start plating with 3 tbsp curry, put the asparagus on it and then fold the gamba's over the asparagus

Finish with lime zest (Feeds 2)

(Here Onno Kleyn's original recipe in Dutch)

Langoustine tail, spinach and girolles

Hack 1/2 green chili and finely slice 1/2 shallot. Softly boil them in 125 ml langoustine stock, then add 75g cold butter and use the stick blender to make beurre monté, mounted butter.

Cool to 60°C, add 2 pre-boiled langoustine tails and warm them during 10 mins

Clean 50g girolles and pan fry them in some oil with a sprig of thyme and a clove of garlic

Stir fry 50g spinach in olive oil, with 1/2 tsp grated ginger and a pinch of salt

Start plating with the spinach, put a langoustine on top and surround with the mushrooms and the beurre monté

(Recipe by Bart Desmidt)