Indonesian Laksa with prawns and whitefish (003)

Good morning dudes,

Today I will go to the Albert Cuyp market and buy fresh fish and prawns for the next recipe. Albert Cuyp is a big street market in the south of Amsterdam. It is located in the district called "De Pijp". During the day it is pretty crowded, so it's a good idea to go there in the morning. You can buy there almost everything. Starting from fish, meat, vegetables and herbs, you can also buy bikes, clothes and kitchenware there. In the neighborhood you find many small shops and restaurants.

The market is open from Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm and is closed on Sunday. Here you can find the official website of the market: www.albertcuypmarkt.nl 

For the next recipe we need the following ingredients.

For 2 people:

Prawns / 250 g

Whitefish / 250 g 

Glass noodles / 80 g

Chicken or vegetable bouillon / 750 ml

Spring onions / 2 

Lemongrass / a stalk of 6 cm

Curry paste / 0,5 tbsp

Sambal oelek / 0,5 tbsp

Shrimp paste / 0,5 tbsp

Coconut milk / 150 ml

Soya sauce / 1 tbsp 

Lettuce / 100 g

Fresh mint leaves / 1 tbsp

If you want you can cook rice as a side dish, but in my opinion you don't need it.

Preparation 

You don't have to pre-heat any plates this time ;-)

- The glass noodles are doused in a bowl with hot water for 10 min. Take them out of the water and put them aside.

- Cut the spring onions and boil them together with the chicken bouillon, curry paste, sambal oelek, shrimp paste, soya sauce and lemon grass in a pot or pan. Let it boil for 3 min.

- Cut the fish in small pieces (3- 4 cm), peal and clean the prawns and add them to the pot. Boil for another 4 min. Add coconut milk at the end.

- Use soup plates and cover the bottom of the plate with the salad, that you have cut in stripes. Next layer are the noddles and finally the Laksa. Decorate with mint leaves.

Sounds weird, but tastes delicious!

Saltimbocca with green peas and mashed potatoes (002)

Hi dudes, I hope you had a great weekend and you spent your time to improve your cooking skills!

So how was dinner? Any comments or improvements? I am looking forward to your feedback.

Today "sun is shining, the weather is sweet" in Amsterdam and before I go outside for jogging I will post the ingredients for the next recipe. It's another Italian classic: Saltimbocca with green peas and mashed potatoes. 

For 2 you need

Veal / 4 thin slices each 60 - 80 g

Parma or San-Daniele ham /  4 thin slices

Sage / 8 leaves

Floury potatoes / 5 medium sized

Green peas / frozen 150 - 200 g

Muscat / a pinch

Milk / 100 ml

Butter / 2 tbsp

Lemon juice / 0,5 lemon

Lemon zest

Olive oil / 3 tbsp

Marsala / 60 ml

Vegetable stock / 50 ml

Flat-leaf parsley

Pepper

Sea salt

Preparation:

- Peel the potatoes and cook them for 20 min in salted water.

- Prepare the Saltimboccas: Season the slices of meat with pepper. Top each veal slice with a slice of ham, fold it and together with a sage leaf stick it together with a toothpick. 
5 min before the potatoes are cooked, start to fry the Saltimboccas on each side in a hot pan with olive oil. After 3 to 4 min remove them from the pan and keep them warm.

- Put the frozen peas in a small pan with melted butter. After 10 min add parsley and season with pepper and salt.  

- Prepare the sauce: Use the pan we used to fry the Saltimboccas and deglaze with marsala and vegetable stock. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and season with pepper and salt. Let it boil down. At the end put the Saltimboccas into the sauce. 

- Now mash the potatoes and add milk, butter and muscat. 

Arrange everything on a pre-heated plate. That's it.

Buon appetito!

Stay at home dude TIP of the day:
In my case the butcher has cut the veal slices too thick. Put the meat for 20 to 30 min into the freezer and you can cut it in thinner slices with a really sharp knife!

Tagliatelle with mushrooms and bush beans (001)

Hey dudes my first recipe is easy to prepare. It's a classic from Italy.

For 2 people you need

Tagliatelle / 250 g

Bush beans / 150 g

Ginger / 2 slices

Dried red chili peppers / small

Olive oil / 2 tbsp

Dried porcini mushrooms / 10 g

Mushrooms (porcini or champignons or chanterelles) / 200 g

Vegetable stock / 150 ml

Cream / 50 ml

Garlic / 2 slices

Cornflour / 0.5 tbsp

Chili flakes

Lemon zest / 0.5 teaspoon

Shallot (or onion) / 1

Butter / 1 tbsp

Salt

Pepper

Ground caraway

Flat leaf parsley / 1 tbsp

I recommend white wine (Verdejo) from the wine region Rueda.

Preparation:

- Bring 100 ml vegetable stock to a quick boil and soak the dried mushrooms in it for at least 30 min. Sieve the mushrooms and keep the liquid. It will be the basis for the sauce.

- Wash the beans with water and clean the fresh mushrooms with kitchen roll paper. Don't wash the mushrooms with water, otherwise they will lose their flavor.

- Cut the muhrooms in thick slices, finely chop the onions, prepare thin slices of ginger and garlic, make  the lemon zest and cut the parsley.

- Start boiling the beans in salted water for 10 min, so they are still "al dente"

- Meanwhile prepare the sauce. Boil the mushroom-flavored vegetable stock and add cream, chili flakes, garlic, salt and pepper, ginger and the lemon zest. Thicken the sauce with cornflower or any other sauce thickener.

- Put the tagliatelle in boiling salted water and add the red chilli peppers and a slice of ingwer. As well as the beans don't boil them to long, they still have to be "al dente". Sieve the pasta, remove the spices and mix it with olive oil.

- Fry the mushrooms together with onions and caraway in butter for 2 min. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and put them aside. Use the same pan and add the rest of the vegetable stock and the precooked pasta.

Now bring all together on 2 pre-heated plates. Start with the pasta, add some sauce and finally the beans and the mushrooms. Decorate with parsley.

Enjoy!!

This recipe is inspired by the book "Meine Küchengeheimnisse 2 " from Alfons Schuhbeck. 

Hello to all!

My name is Stefan, I was born in Germany and recently I made the major life decision to quit my job and to move into my girlfriends flat in Amsterdam. During the last few years, I was working as an engineer at a photovoltaic company in Germany as project manager for building integrated photovoltaic solutions. Due to the actual crisis in the solar industry I decided to change my life completely - I quit my job without having a new job prospect and started to live as a stay-at-home dude.

So while my girlfriend is working, I have the time to keep our apartment clean, to keep myself healthy with sports and exercise, and to cook for my girlfriend. I love cooking and photography and I am happy to have the time to improve these skills and excited to share my knowledge with you. On this blog I want to encourage every stay-at-home dude out there with easy recipes to impress your girls. I will post all the ingredients you need on my blog in advance so you have enough time to go to the supermarket, butcher, Asia store or anywhere else to buy everything. I want to motivate you to cook and, trust me, your girls will love it! Please send me feedback, pictures and your own recipes. I will try them out and post them on my site. Off we go!