Green bean salad with chermoula
It’s a bit of out-of-the-box thinking, green beans cooked in chermoula and with currants. Served at room temperature. Delicious. So delicious that after the first day in the menu, I was inundated with questions for the recipe. So the next morning I immediately took a photo and wrote the recipe. So go make this salad, ladies and gentlemen. And then enjoy.
Moroccan stuffed bread with cauliflower
In the restaurant we always start with two starters, one of which is usually a sandwich. But one that is made interesting. Not just any bread. And this is one of those. Delicious, surprising and beautiful to see. That’s nice as well.
Moroccan squash puree with pistachio
In November we were in Morocco and had squash puree for lunch. It inspired me to make this dish. In the restaurant I serve it as a starter with some bread, but it can go with anything really. Also delicious with a mezze for example. Or with some fried rice. Or with a salad. Or with some broccoli. Or… well you get an idea right?
Broad bean salad on a bed of tomato coulis
Broad beans are widely used in the Middle East. And I think that’s a very good plan. Broad beans are delicious in taste, in texture, in color. Hero’s. Also in this surprising salad on a bed of tomato coulis.
Creamy aubergine-tomato soup
Soup the way soup should be. Very full of flavour, creamy, with a bite, filled but not too filled, tastes like more, but one cup is also enough. A soup you crave for once you’ve eaten it.
Pastilla à la Fati
We ate this pastilla in Morocco when we were visiting our Moroccan friends in Tamraght. Fati had made this pastilla and I immediately asked her for the recipe. So delicious. It is a typical Moroccan dish that is served in many guises. But this one stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Turkish spicy paprika puree
As tasty as it looks on this spoon, it is. Sweet from the paprika, spicy from the red pepper, fresh from the mint. Delicious with a sandwich as a dip.
Brussels sprouts on a bed of cashew tahina sauce
Brussels sprouts actually need very little to be delicious. But still, it’s nice to give a beautiful stage to this vegetable. And they get that in this dish. Truly so. Almost wanting to eat them with your hands.
Pumpkin bread with cashew nuts and sesame
A deliciously creamy bread, tasty, crunchy, with a good bite. What else do you want. Delicious to eat as is, or with a savory or sweet dip. It’s just what you feel like. With your breakfast, with coffee, as an apetizer… this bread is super versatile. And very easy to make.
Baba ganoush salad
Baba ganoush is of course a welcome guest on our table anyway. And this time it’s the star in a salad, a salad with a delicious variety of flavors and textures. And a beautiful picture. A bit of a job, but the result counts.
Date tahina paste
This is one of those pasta that you instantly become addicted to. Delicious with some bread. Slightly sweet, but also savory because of the tahina and salt. Delicious with a drink, delicious with a mezze, delicious with some bread. And made in a jiffy. Also nice sometimes.
Airy rolled bread with date molasses and tahina filling
Brood and I are slowly but surely becoming close friends. Bread with that little bit extra. Bread with an attitude. And this bread is clearl exactly that. Delicious savory filling, surprising and a fantastic structure.
Keftedes of vegetables
This is a delicious, original and versatile way to make a potato dish. Keftedes are a household name in the levant and Mediterranean area, and this is a nice variation on that theme. Delicious with ‘toum’, the garlic dip that I explain in a recipe elsewhere on the site.
The creamiest and tastiest tomato soup with tahina
Tomato soup is one of the most popular soups for a reason. And if you think: ‘I make the best’, then I challenge you to try this one. Because, I thought the same thing until I made this one. In the restaurant I have to make double quantities, because people prefer to eat liters of it. That kind of soup. Almost too good to be true. Recently I had a little left over. I had it as my breakfast.
Green tabbouleh
Tabbouleh has become a dish that many people have heard of. The classic variant can be found elsewhere on the website. This is a variation on it. With green olives, with avocado, with spring onion. Deliciously fresh. And that bulgur, of course, it brings everything back together wonderfully.
Olives, mint, coriander rolls
These savory rolls are delicious on their own, but even more so with a sweet dip. A feast for the eyes, a feast for the senses of taste.
Date cardamom butter
A sandwich and a nice ‘spread’ on the side. Something that opens your senses. Something you are not used to. That’s this date cardamom “butter.” Festive, all the way. On your plate. In your mouth. Delicious together with the aniseed rolls or the olive rolls on this site.
Moroccan rolls with aniseed and fennel
Bread, it can be so delicious. I don’t like just bread. Always try to give it something extra, something that makes it more interesting, more surprising. Something special. Well, this bread is more than okay. It really is an incredibly tasty Moroccan sandwich. To dip in ‘something’ or just eat ‘like this’.
Mushrooms in a Lebanese spice mixture
Oyster mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, chestnut mushrooms. Man, they add a lot of bite and flavor to a menu. And especially if you season them as fantastically as in this dish. As many as ten spices work together here to bring the mushrooms to great heights. And that works effortlessly.
Parsnips in orange harissa syrup
Parsnip was out of the picture for a while, but is back again. It is a great vegetable. Original taste, velvety soft in a soup. Just that little bit extra taste in mashed potato. And in this dish very independently delicious. Just in the oven, the syrup over it and your table companions are quiet. Delicious as an appetizer, side dish or snack.
Beet salad with caraway and walnuts
I absolutely love red beets. In a salad quickly a feast. But, let’s be honest, the ingredients around it determine the success of the dish more than the beets themselves. In this case the caraway and the crunchy and sweet baked walnuts. And that little mustard and the flat parsley. But together really delicious.
Creamy spicy rice in white cabbage leaf
I always find it a challenge to serve rice in a more festive way and to add interesting flavors without it becoming too overpowering. Because, of course, it is often served alongside other dishes. At least in the restaurant. It works very well with this dish. And don’t be put off by the chore of the cabbage leaves. That’s going to be all right.
Lukewarm bulgur salad
Bulgur, oh well, it’s delicious with everything right? This is a lukewarm salad with a kick, with taste and with a delicious structure. Delicious bite and at the same time a comfort food feeling. Great for seasons when it’s not so hot but you still feel like a salad.
Warm yogurt broad bean soup with lemon
Warm yogurt. That takes some getting used to the idea. And then broad beans. Not everyone’s favorite either. If I put it on the menu in the restaurant, few people would choose it, I suspect. In the four course menu it was a big hit. Everyone got it, and the reactions were very positive. Very nice for this soup. It is also really very tasty. So good that many guests asked for an extra serving.
Break bread dipped in agave / lemon syrup and poppy seed
A crispy bread roll with a pleasant surprise as an extra taste sensation. The syrup of agave and lemon juice and delicious and makes this sandwich a delicious surprise. To eat alone or of course together with something else.
Mushrooms in fennel seed and arak
Oyster mushrooms, shitake, portobello mushrooms, chestnut mushrooms. Eat your heart out. Here you can choose all the mushrooms you want. And then enjoy it like you’ve never done before. The fennel seed, the chervil and the Arak bath do wonders.
Caramelized fennel in saffron sauce
My son doesn’t like fennel. He hates it. In the past, every child was allowed to have three things that s/he really didn’t like and wouldn’t eat. For Laszlo, fennel was one of them. When I made this fennel, I was able to persuade him to taste it anyway. And? He found it delightful. So this recipe is even suitable for fennel haters. It is buttery soft, sweet, incredibly full of flavor and tastes like more.
Baked potato with coriander seed and black olives
So I’m not a potato eater at all. Not interesting. Needless filling of the stomach. That kind of thoughts. But prepared this way, I keep relishing it. One baked potato left on a dish on the counter. And it’s gone soon. In my mouth. Make this recipe with good firm jacket potatoes, they are the best.
Heartwarming hummus soup
I heard about hummus soup and thought only one thing: I need to make it. And fast. And I prepared it. My heart was beating with anticipation. Actually, my expectations were so high that it could only be disappointing. But, you guessed it: it was overwhelmingly delicious. Almost too good to be true. Much tastier than expected. And I didn’t think that alone. The structure. The taste. The mouthfeel. The image. Everything is right, but really everything.
Turnips in the oven
Turnips, I’d never seen, held, let alone tasted one. But I got some from the market garden where we get a lot of our vegetables. “See if you can do something with it,” she said. They lay in the refrigerator for days. Everytime I saw them, but left them there. “Ga je nog wat met me doen?” And then I decided it had to be done. I thought of mustard. I thought of the oven. I thought of fresh basil. And boy, it was so good. I decided to serve it in the restaurant the week after. Everyone just has to taste this.