29 May 2022

Serano, raspberry, burrata


Put a slice of Serano ham on a baking sheet, on a plate and then in de microwave, 1000W,  for 2x 30 sec to make it crispy.

Drain a burrata and slice horizontal in halves, put on 2 plates, cut side up.

Drizzle with smoked olive oil and season with pepper and sea salt.

Roll up 4 slices of the ham, put on the cheese, with 50g raspberries.

Again drizzle with smoked olive oil and 2 tsp balsamic cream.

Finish with shards of crispy ham and edible flowers





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24 May 2022

Pretty in purple


Boil 4
purple potatoes without peeling, otherwise they'll loose their colour. After 19 mins drain them and let them cool.

Cut the end from 6 purple asparagus spears. There is no need to peel them and can be eaten raw. 

Thinly slice a red onion and slice a spring onion.

Whisk a dressing from 1 tsp Dyon mustard, the juice of 1/2 lime and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

There is no need to peel the potatoes, but it looks nicer if you do.

Crumble 100g feta cheese and shred 10 leaves of mint.

Mix everything in a big bowl. I added some leftover broad beans and lime zest.

(Based on a House&Garden recipe)






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20 May 2022

White asparagus, burrata and dukkah


Peel 4 w
hite asparagus, put in a pan, cover them with just enough water and bring to the boil. Lid on. Boil for 2 mins, then turn off the heat but keep them in for another 9 mins.

Boil 120g frozen peas for 3 mins in vegetable stock, drain and blend with 1tbsp crême fraiche. season with salt and pepper.

Make a dukkah (pronounced doo-kah, is a traditional Egyptian blend of nuts, seeds, and warm spices) in the blender from 30g toasted almonds and the leaves from 3 sprigs of tarragon.

Start plating with a spoonful of the pureed peas.

Cover with 3 asparagus spears with 1/2 burrata on top.

Finish with the dukkah and some tarragon.

(Recipe by Culy Homemade) 





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10 May 2022

9 May 2022

Scallop, asparagus, caviar on Parmesan wafer



Pre heat the oven at 180°C

Put 2 heaps of 10g grated Parmesan on a paper covered baking tray, flatten them and bake for 10 mins. Cool on kitchen paper to stay crisp.

Peel 4 white asparagus, put in a pan, cover them with just enough water and bring to the boil. Lid on. Boil for 2 mins, then kill the heat but keep them for another 9 mins.

Toast a1 tbsp almond slivers in a dry pan, the pulverise them in the blender.

Pan fry a scallop for 1 min per side, Then halve, season with sea salt and pepper.

Slice the asparagus in 3 parts. Whisk 1 tbsp butter and 1 tsp white wine vinegar,  stir in the asparagus.

Start plating with the Parmesan wafers on each plate with 4 pieces of asparagus stacked two by two. Dust them with almond powder. Follow with the halved scallop, a tsp of caviar and finally some leek cress. 

(Recipe from Catherine Nicolas' Amuse glaasjes)





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8 May 2022

Scorched salmon, feta and black tiger gamba's


Make a dressing from olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, pepper and salt. 

Panfry 2 black tiger gamba's. Cool and cut.

Peel and de-seed a ripe tomato. Cut 1/3 into a brunoise (small cubes). Do the same with 1/3 Granny Smith.

Mix with the dressing. 

Toast 10g pine nuts in a dry pan and add to the mix

Do the same with 1 tsp hacked coriander, 1 tsp hacked chives, the pieces of gamba's and 20g cubed feta cheese.

Thinly slice 200g salmon and season with olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Drape the slices against and around 2 serving rings, then use a kitchen burner to scorch the fish.


Spoon the salad in the serving rings and compact with a spoon.

Peel 4 more gamba's, season with salt, pepper and curry powder and panfry in olive oil.

Serve as shown, with rucola, dill and dill oil



(Recipe by René de Baets, found on Hap&Tap)





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25 April 2022

Asparagus Japanese style


Peel 4 asparagus spears and cut them in 4 cm pieces. Cover them with just enough water, bring to the boil. Boil for 2 mins, then turn of the heat and keep for seven minutes.

Finely slice 2 shallots.

Wok the shallots during 2 mins in 1 tsp sesame oil with 1 tbsp grated ginger

Add 1/2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce.

After 2 mins add the asparagus.

Serve with 1/2 tbsp black sesame seeds

(Here Karola's original recipe in Flemish)




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  • 23 April 2022

    Asparagus and potato salad


    Boil 2 tbsp
    mustard seeds during 20 mins. Rinse under cold water and put in a jam jar.

    Bring 150ml water to the boil with 50ml vinegar and 100g caster sugar. Pour over the mustard seeds and cool.

    Boil 300g peeled Nicola potatoes in water with some sprigs of thyme, 3 halved cloves of garlic and salt. In a separate pan boil 2 unpeeled truffle potatoes.

    Peel 5 asparagus spears and boil them in 10 mins in unsalted water and 1 tbsp butter

    Break an egg in a mixing beaker with 1 tbsp estragon vinegar and 1/2 tbsp Dyon mustard.

    Add 150 ml grape seed oil.

    Start your stick blender at the bottom and slowly go up and up. After 10 seconds your homemade mayonaise will be ready.

    Season with salt and pepper.

    Mix 50g mayo with 10g mustard, scrape the seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod and add to the mayo.

    Cut the asparagus in 4 parts, mix with the Nicola potatoes and the vanilla mayo.

    Plate as shown, then add slices of truffle potato and small spoonfuls of mustard seeds

    (Based on a Blendbrothers recipe)




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  • 20 April 2022

    Scallop, samphire, clams, truffle potato and Reblonchon sauce

    I made this dish to use some leftover Reblonchon sauce (warm 150g chicken stock with 50g cubed Reblochon cheese and a splash of double cream. Use the stick blender to create a foamy sauce) 

    With a panfried scallop, some samphire, a few steamed clams and a crispy deep-fried slice of truffle potato.




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    19 April 2022

    Pear and ginger on smoked salmon bites


    Bring 20ml
    water to the boil, add 40g caster sugar, take from the heat and stir well. Cool.

    Peel a pear and a thumb of fresh ginger and cut in a very small brunoise, sprinkle with 1 tbsp lemon juice to avoid turning brown. Add 1 tsp sugar water to create a nice balance between sweet and sour. 

    Mix with 1 tbsp finely sliced chives

    Slice a thick fillet of smoked salmon into cubes, spoon over the pear&ginger mix and serve.

    (Here a video of Bart Desmidt making this recipe)







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    18 April 2022

    Lobstertail, broad beans, reblochon sauce


    Defrost 2 lobster tails. 

    Bring 1 liter water to the boil with some lovage,  a few sprigs of tarragon, a halved onion, some slices of carrot and a clove of garlic. Simmer for 15 mins.

    Warm 150g chicken stock with 50g cubed Reblochon cheese and a splash of double cream. Use the stick blender to create a foamy sauce

    Cook the lobster tails in the broth, 1 min per 30g lobster.

    Serve as shown with broad beans and truffle potato

    (Based on a Blendbrothers recipe)






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    17 April 2022

    Mackerel, cucumber, apple, dill oil


    Dissolve 60g salt completely in a liter of boiling water, cool for at least 2 hrs.

    Then pickle 200g mackerel filets for 10 mins, wipe them dry

    Blitz 40g dill, 20g spinach and 150g grapeseed oil during 2 mins.

    Warm the dill oil in a 90°C oven during 2 hrs, sieve through a muslin cloth.

    Peel and de-seed 1/4 cucumber. Blend 20g cucumber with 20g apple juice. Mix this with 20g sour cream, 8g chardonnay vinegar, 15g sushi vinegar, 3g mirin and a pinch of salt

    Add 3 tbsp of the clean dill oil to the vinaigrette and whisk a bit

    Serve as shown, with dill tops, matchsticks of apple and cucumber

    (Recipe by Blendbrothers)





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    Savoury meringue, yellowtail sashimi


    Pre-heat the oven to 85°C

    Whip 40g egg whites into peaks, then slowly add 50g caster sugar. Carefully add 12g soy sauce.

    Use a piping bag to make bite size meringues on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and dry them in the oven during 2 and 1/2 hrs

    Thinly slice 40g raw yellowtail

    Serve as shown, with wakamé, sea aster, pumpkin, sesame seeds and soy sauce









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    7 April 2022

    Asparagus on ham, sauce Hollandaise


    Ask the butcher to slice the ham 3 mm thick

    Peel 2 asparagus, remove the last 4 cm. Cover with just enough salted water, bring to the boil, boil for 2 mins, then turn off the heat and leave for 9 mins.

    In the meantime make the Hollandaise:

    Step 1: melt 125g butter in a saucepan and skim any white solids from the surface. Or use store-bought clarified butter. Keep the butter warm. 

    Step 2: put 3 egg yolks, 1½ tbsp white wine, 1 tbsp tarragon vinegar, a pinch of salt and in a metal or glass bowl that will fit over a small pan with barely simmering hot water.
    Whisk for a few mins,  whisk continuously until pale and thick, about 3-5 mins.


    Step 3: kill  the heat and slowly whisk in the melted butter, bit by bit until it’s all incorporated and you have a creamy hollandaise. 


    (If it gets too thick, add a splash of warm water.)


    Step 4: season with a squeeze of lemon juice and a little cayenne pepper. Keep warm until needed.
    Hardboil an egg, crumble the yolk.
    Serve as shown, with chives
    Tip from John Ash: No matter how skilled you are in the kitchen, emulsion sauces like hollandaise sometimes “break,” or separate. If this happens, you can try to correct it by whisking in a teaspoon or two of boiling water, a drop at a time. If that doesn’t work, put another egg yolk in a bowl and very slowly whisk in the broken sauce. Usually, the sauce will come back together with one of these methods.




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    3 April 2022

    Red mullet, sea aster, orange butter


    Pre-heat the oven at 160°C

    Mix 200 ml orange juice with 80 ml chicken stock and a pinch of  saffron and reduce to 50%

    Then add 30g salted butter and mix with the stick blender.

    Use the kitchen burner to blacken 4 fillets of mullet, then bake them during 5 mins in the hot oven.

    Stir fry 50g sea aster in butter.

    Start plating with the sauce, with the sea aster on top of the fish. Finish with droplets of hazelnut oil and green wasabi sesame seeds

    (Recipe by the Blendbrothers)






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    Plaice, blueberries, Riesling sauce


    Boil 60g salt in 1 l water, till the salt has completely dissolved. Then cool for at least 2 hrs.

    Pickle 2 fillets of plaice (schol) during 10 mins. Take out, rinse and dry.

    Finely slice an onion and sweat in 1 tbsp butter with some tops of thyme sprigs, deglaze with 250 ml Riesling and reduce till 1/3 is left.

    Add 80 ml fish stock and 80 ml double cream and simmer another 10 mins.

    Whisk 40g butter in the sauce and season with salt, pepper, and the zest of a lemon.

    Deep fry 3 tbsp capers crispy during 5 mins in 300 ml arachide oil

    Steam the fish during a few minutes and season with salt and pepper

    Serve as shown with thinly sliced fennel and blueberries

    (Recipe by the Blendbrothers)






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    Crayfish on prawn cracker


    Make a cocktail sauce from 1 tbsp mayo, 1 tsp ketchup, 1 tsp ginger syrup, 1 tsp whisky and a few drops of Worcester sauce. Mix with 125g crayfish and sliced tarragon

    Fill prawn crackers with crayfish, finish with wakamé and dill






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    Smoked mackerel, marrow, horseradish on sourdough toast


    Preheat the oven at 180°C

    Mix 100g smoked mackerel with 20g sour cream, 1/2 tbsp sambal and a pinch of salt

    Bake a marrowbone in the oven during 20 mins, then use a spoon to get the marrow out

    Brush some olive oil on 2 slices of sourdough bread, season with sea salt and pepper and toast 10 mins in the hot oven

    Spoon the fish over the toast, then the (warm!) marrow, followed by 1/2 tsp grated horseradish and some cress.

    (Recipe by the Blendbrothers)






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    28 March 2022

    Ukrainean cauliflower fritters


    Cut or break1/2 cauliflower into small florets, keeping any small leaves, too. Blanch the cauliflower and its leaves in a pan of boiling, salted water: take out the leaves after about two minutes and the florets after four. Refresh both in cold water, then drain well and pat dry with kitchen paper.

    Put four tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat – it should cover the base of the pan, so add a little more, if need be.

    Meanwhile, make the batter. In a bowl, whisk 1 egg with 100ml milk, then add 60g buckwheat (or normal) flour, whisk until smooth and season well; if you’re using buckwheat flour, make the batter only just before you are ready to fry, because it turns gloopier by the minute.

    Drop four pieces of cauliflower into the batter at a time, making sure they are all thickly coated. When the oil is really hot, bring the bowl over to the pan (otherwise everything will get messy) and carefully drop the batter-coated cauliflower into the pan – depending on the size of your pan, you should be able to fry between four and eight fritters at a time. After a couple of minutes, turn them over and fry on the other side until the fritters are golden all over, then lift out with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in a medium oven while you repeat with the remaining cauliflower and batter. (In between batches, you might need to drain and wipe out the pan with kitchen paper and add more oil.)

    For the dip: mix 100g mayonnaise in a small bowl with 1 peeled and grated clove of garlic and a handful of finely chopped dill and serve with the hot cauliflower. 

    (Recipe by Olia Hercules)








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    27 March 2022

    Gurnard Hongkong


    Dissolve 60g salt in 1 l boiling water. Cool for at least 2 hrs, then add 2 small skinned gunnards (rode poon) and pickle for 20 mins.

    In the meantime mix 5g grated ginger, 1/2 tbsp fish sauce, 4 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp sugar, 4 tbsp water. Bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar.

    Then steam the fish for 7 mins.

    Serve as shown with spring onion and coriander leaves

    (A recipe by Blendbrothers)







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