Italian fishsoup, mussels, crab, scallops, cod

Melon & ham. Same old, new presentation

Green asparagus, poached yolk, parmesan

Goats cheese and appel salad

Chocolat and merengue semifreddo, raspberries

A fabulous recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. He added a recipe for merengues, but our French baker makes them so good, why bother

150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 large eggs
75g caster sugar
225ml double cream
Line a 1kg loaf tin (ie, around 11cm x 22cm internal dimensions) with clingfilm. Put the chocolate in a basin over a pan of simmering water until melted, then leave to cool until tepid.
Put the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk (or mixer) until quadrupled in volume, thick, pale and creamy. The mix should hold a trail when you lift the beaters. Fold in the chocolate. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks and fold into the mixture, too.
Roughly crush the meringues – you want some nice big bits in there – and fold into the chocolate mix. Spread into the tin and freeze for about eight hours. You should be able to slice it straight from the freezer. Serve in small slices (it's very rich), with some raspberries alongside.

Instead of freezeng the lot, we poured some in nice glasses and kept them in the fridge, to serve this combination of mousse and icecream 

Lackered king prawns, guacamole, tomatoes

Peel 3 gamba's but leave the tails on. Use a stick blender to puree the flesh of 1 ripe avocado with a tblsp of lemon juice and some good olive oil till smooth. Take the skin of a ripe tomato and take out the seeds. Cut the tomato into small dices. Mix with finely chopped spring onion. Fry the gamba's, the pour a good glug of soy sauce in the pan, stir the gamba's till fully covered. Serve as shown

Best hummus ever, Ajo Blanco and Spicy Aubergines

 Best hummus ever

 Ajo Blanco, cold soup from almonds and garlic

Aubergine, Japanese style

 

 Cucumber Raita
 

As we didnot change anything (it tasted so delicious), here are Simon Hopkinson's recipes. We made the tomato curry as well (surprisingly good) but by then it was too dark for a picture.

http://www.simonhopkinson.tv/recipe/12/ouzo.aspx

 

 

 

Sole, baby spinach

Slow cooked short rib, mash, shallots

Recipe follows

Cote de boeuf Stroganoff

The other nigt we were talking about a friend who used to make Beef Stroganoff very well, but years and years ago. The next morning we saw some beautiful paprikas on the market, fresh from Spain. The butcher had some thick juicy cote de boeuf on offer, for an incredible € 9,90 per kilo (no it was not from a horse). Coincidence? Anyway we decided on a preparation with a garlicky Stroganoff sauce.

Deseed the peppers, halve them and put them under a hot grill for about 10 mins till backened.

Rest them to cool. In the meantime slice 250 gr mushrooms and an onion.

Dorade, babyleeks, parmesan

Boil the young leeks for just 2 minutes. The put on a hot griddle pan.

Pollock 2 ways (or rather 3)

Our fishmonger offered some beautiful thick lieu noir. Or pollock in English, koolvis in Dutch.
As it is not well known and so not very popular it mostly ends up in factories to make.... fishfingers.
Cheap too, I only paid € 4,50 for 700 grs. Rick Stein offered the recipe.
I boiled 3 potatoes. In the meantime started the sauce: 100 cl homemade chickenstock and 3 tbsp soysauce.
Cut the fish into 6 portions of 2 cm thick, 4 for now, 2 for later. The first two went under the grill for 8 mins, with just some salt, pepper and butter on top.
Two others were covered in flour, then egg and finally in breadcrumbs and fried for 4 mins in archaide oil, at 170 C.
In the meantime the potatoes were mixed with some butter, cream and a sliced spring onion to make a lovely mash.
The sauce was finished by whisking 25 gr icecold butter into it. Then I added some tomato and coriander. Very nice and... only €2 pp

PS You are right. I had 150 gr left. Ideal for some nice fishcakes the next day:

So I boiled another potato. When that  was done I added some parsley stems to 
the potato water and a bayleaf. Brought it back to a simmer and added the rest of
the fish. Which was cooked after 5 mins. Mashed the potato and shredded the fish.
Mixed the lot with half a finely cut red onion, tomato and coriander that 
were also left over and half an egg.The mix went into the fridge The next day I made 2 patties, lightly covered  with flour and fried in some oil. By cutting
3 small gurkins very finely and adding them to Hellmans mayo, with a tbsp of
capers a sauce for a perfect starter was made.

Lemon sole, fennel/potato salad, fennel mayo

Cut a fennel bulb in thin wedges, keep the green. Fry in a griddle pan. Cut 2 potatoes in 3 mm slices, boil in salted water for 5 mins till just done. The potatoes should still have a 'bite'.
Cut the fennel green finely and mix with 6 tbsp mayonaise. Add some lemon juice. Use 1 tbsp of the mayo to cover the potatoes lightly. Use a scissor to remove the bony sides of the soles and cut off the heads. Dust the fish with flour. Fry the soles in lots and lots of butter, 3 mins per side.
Serve as shown 

Scallops

Start with the sauce: sweat a finely sliced shallot in a some butter. Add 200 ml Noilly Prat and reduce. Then add 150 ml dessert wine and reduce. When all but a few spoonfuls are left remove the shallot and add 150 ml cream and some safran. reduce again till a nice sauce is the result.
Now use a sharp knife to cut half a leek into matchsize pieces. Sweat them in some butter.
In a dry pan fry a slice of Spanish ham till crisp. Dry on kitchempaper and crumble.
Then boil some balsamico in a small saucepan, add some runny honey, reduce.
Finally fry the scallops, a minute per side/

                                      Use a brush to make a balsamic/honey                           
                                      smear on  
                                      each plate
                                      Then arrange the leeks and scallops.                 
                                      Some sauce                         
                                      over it and finally the bacon crumbs

Asparagus, pear, sorrel

This Alain Passard recipe asked for white asparagus and red sorrel, which I didnot have.
So I blanched green asparagus for just under 3 mins and rinsed them under cold water to stop the cooking. Heated 30 grs salterd butter. Dried the asparagus and put them in the butter when it started to foam. Cut a nice pear in 8 parts (leaving the skin on) and added these segments to the asparagus. Turned everything a few times, 5 to 6 mins in total. At the last minute added the shredded sorrel. Plated, keeping the butter in the pan..

Mixed the juice of 1/2 lemon with the butter and poured the sauce over the plates, with some seasalt and black pepper.

Ham, salsify, honey/mustard dressing

Boil the salsify (schorseneren) for about 20 mins. Drain and fry a minute or two in a hot grillpan. For the dressing mix 2 tbsp mustard, 1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Then add wall- or hazelnut-oil and whisk. I wanted to add some chives...but didnot have any. Serve with a soft boiled egg and some caviar.