Parsnip and celeriac crème brulée
I love the combination of savory and sweet. And I really like to surprise guests with a combination that they absolutely do not expect. And this crème brulée ‘ticks all those boxes’. It was a big hit at the restaurant’s Christmas dinner. And it might as well be at your home.
Jerusalem artichoke puree with fried spring onion, pine nuts and hazelnuts
Jerusalem artichoke, it’s not an everyday vegetable. But it’s worth playing with in the kitchen. Its nutty taste, delicious structure and ability to easily adapt to its environment make it a fantastic vegetable. The vegetable garden we work with had a good harvest this year and we took advantage of it. Served here with delicious spring onion with star anise. And some crunchy hazelnuts and pine nuts fried in spicy pul biber. Talk about layers of flavor.
Zucchini from the oven with tahina sauce, za’atar and fried sage
Zucchini becomes this hit of the night in one fell swoop when you serve it this way. Full of flavor, delicious tahina sauce on top, the spicy za’atar and then the crispy and clearly present sage on top. How delicious.
Celeriac skewers with quince chutney
Celeriac served in a special way. And really nice, of course. The combination with the chutney is fatally tasty. It’s a small job, but you immediately put something festive on the table that is also delicious. So great.
Sweet potato pear soup
I used to make sweet potato pear salad… and suddenly thought … That could also be a great soup. But it shouldn’t stay and be too sweet either. And so I added some fenugreek. And that was a great find, if I do say so myself. And then add a few caramelized walnuts and it was complete.
Pea-almond puree with sweet onions
Green peas, what to do with them? Boring, dry, mwa. But somehow they keep pulling at me to make something delicious with it. And that worked out very well with this dish, if I do say so myself. It is a great combination in which the pea rises to great heights. And in addition to being tasty, the pea is also mega healthy, even though you might not say so at first glance. So let’s make it…
Crispy fried leeks with creamy caper sauce
Leeks usually play a minor role in dishes. But not in this one. Here, leeks have a real leading role and he can wear them with verve. Leeks like you never eat them. It’s a bit of a chore, but it’s not so tasty. A big hit. Also on your table, for sure.
Jerusalem artichoke puree with cavolo nero fried in lemon butter
This is a divinely delicious snack to start your dinner with. Jerusalem artichoke puree, nice and nutty, a delicious independent tasting taste. And then the soft, fresh and creamy cavolo nero baked in lemon butter on top.
Arabic pumpkin allspice bread/appetizer
Virry – actually Virginie – walked into the restaurant one day. A farmer at her back – with us in Gameren – had a lot of pumpkins left. Could I do something with that? Naturally. And so we made soup, salad, main courses, mashed potatoes and more of those whoppers of pumpkins for weeks. And this bread. As one of the two starters of a four-course menu. Almost wanting to eat them with your hands.
Lentil-eggplant stew
It’s such a cold day outside, you come home and you need comfort food. Then this is your best option. If you’re lucky, it’s already on the table, otherwise you’ll have to work for another 45 minutes. But then you also have something… By the way, it’s delicious all year round.
Cavolo nero (palm cabbage), chickpeas with fennel seeds and sumac yogurt
In the two vegetable gardens we work with, the palm cabbage continues to grow. That means that we have this delicious, versatile and mega healthy vegetable at our disposal for months. And every time we can conjure up something new and surprising and delicious on the table. Also this time.
Fennel soup with pickled lemon and black olives
It’s yellow, it’s in your plate and it’s incredibly tasty. This fennel soup will delight your tongue and more. It’s soft, it’s surprising, and it looks beautiful too. The pickled lemon makes it fresh, the olives give it a good foundation and the fennel is wonderfully soft.
Parsnip with tahina sauce and pomegranate seeds
So parsnips are great. Really, what a top vegetable that is. In this dish too, of course. It’s just fatally delicious. Just give it a try.
Mizuna, pear and chickpea salad with rose harissa
Colorful, tasteful, surprising. Sweet and spicy. Crunchy and soft. What more could you want? You can replace the mizuna with lamb’s lettuce or arugula, for example. Also very tasty.
Deliciously soft Kibbeh of pumpkin and seven spice powder
Yes, and there’s another kibbeh. When autumn comes – and also in winter – kibbeh is to me what stew is here. Deliciously warming, delicious comfort food, always different. And this one is with pumpkin, also such a real autumn vegetable of course. And nice and soft and quite creamy for a kibbeh, because the pumpkin is incorporated in it. And that is also very comfort food.
Walnut soup
A soup I always wanted to make, walnut soup. And our guests were extremely enthusiastic. It is creamy, it is soft and yet very interesting in taste. Purely positive, of course.
Salad with pear, lentils, sourberries and balsamic syrup
The picture says it all. You just look at that in a licking way, don’t you? The mizuna (Japanese turnip stalk, also to be replaced by arugula), the sourberries, the homemade balsamic syrup… the delicious lentils and the sweet pear. A salad of ‘I got you there’.
roumaniya fetteh
I was brought up with two dishes that are very similar. Mudardra (we called it pjadra) and Roumaniya (see also elsewhere on the site). This is a variation on the Roumaniya theme. Super tasty and ultimate comfort food. Crispy due to the pomegranate seeds and the crispy bread.
Pumpkin soup with ginger (syrup) and coconut milk
Pumpkin soup doesn’t look so good, I notice when I listen to our guests. It is not often possible to make a pumpkin soup really tasty. Fortunately, this soup is an exception to the rule, the guests said. And I couldn’t agree more. By the way, it applies to all pumpkin soups here on the site. You can make really tasty pumpkin soup, folks.
Date cardamom cookies
Date cardamom cookies are of course available on every street corner throughout the Middle East. From Lebanon to Morocco (that’s North Africa idd) and back. And in any form, they are delightful. These ones too. We also use them as a starter in the menu. With a dip. Divinely delicious and surprising at the same time.
Fennel in spinach-cashew sauce and fresh coriander
Fennel, not many people immediately are taken by it. Unless you let the fennel stew for so long that it loses everything that doesn’t make it tasty and magnifies everything that makes it very tasty. The spinach sauce is the star in the firmament.
Pointed cabbage with dried fig and hummus
Frying pointed cabbage is of course a very good idea anyway. Along with pieces of dried fig, a mixture of coriander powder/coriander seed/sumac does the rest. It turns pointed cabbage into the attention-grabber of your menu. The hummus is a nice extra that brings everything together.
Firm kibbeh with leek and potato and the classic kibbeh spice mixture
Kibbeh is to the Middle East what stampot is to the Netherlands. It is a dish with which you make a kind of ‘cake’ of bulgur with (sweet) potato or pumpkin for example and an intermediate layer of fried vegetables, nuts, herbs, spices. Here is a delicious hearty version with leeks and potato. Very surprising in taste. You could almost eat it as a pancake.
Braised red bell pepper with dates, lots of coriander seeds and pine nuts
Red peppers become so deliciously sweet if you simmer and braise them for a long time. It makes a tagine dish so delicious. Here the peppers still get help from medjouldadels, the kings of dates. In recent months, since our last visit to Morocco, I have started to use even more dried fruit in dishes. With potatoes, in kibbehs and also here with the bell pepper. Truly a find of Moroccan and Middle Eastern cuisine. The pine nuts give the earthy character and the coriander seed in abundance gives it its own signature. It was ‘the favourite’ of many guests when we had this in the menu at the beginning of September. Now at your home.
Salad of beetroot, pistachio, pomegranate molasses and sourberries
The sweetness of the beet, the sour/sour of the pomegranate molasses and the sourberries, the nutty, earthy and crunchy of the pistachios… And the fresh bed of yogurt make this an ultimate salad that everyone really likes. Even those who are not so fond of beets. We ate this earlier this year in a restaurant in Marrakech and remembered it because it was so tasty.
Onions from the oven with orange syrup and thyme
I had been looking forward to including this dish in the menu for a long time. But each time I felt that it did not fit into the composition of the main courses, until last week. It was the perfect moment. And they were also terribly tasty, according to all the guests. Success assured.
Artichokes and potatoes from the oven with basil cream
It took a while before I dared to put artichoke on the menu. I thought not many people would appreciate artichokes, but nothing could be further from the truth. You love artichoke en masse. Just too much fun. And in this dish they make a great combination with all the other ingredients.
Tomato salad on eggplant puree with tamarind and pistachio
It’s the discovery of the month. Eggplant puree with garlic and tamarind. Man, what a fatally delicious combination. And then the fresh crispy flavorful tomatoes on top, red onion and pistachio to top it off. You want to eat this every day.
Seasoned purple carrot with dates and hazelnuts
Carrot like you’ve never eaten carrot before. So special, so surprising, so delicious. It’s a hit in the menu when it’s in there. Carrot just becomes your favorite and that is very clever for carrots, I think.
Pumpkin-carrot orange soup à la Astrid
We ate this soup at our friend Astrid’s. And it was so incredibly delicious that I immediately decided to include it in the next menu. And the guests were just as excited about it. Success assured.