Dive into a world of flavor with my Chicken Stroganoff! Succulent chicken thighs, zingy Dijon mustard and a rustic charm of forest mushrooms! Ingredients 800g chicken thighs 25g butter 3 tbsp vegetable oil 2 onions 400g mushrooms (like chestnut mushrooms, king mushrooms, chanterelles, shiitaki) 500ml chicken stock 4 tbsp dijon mustard 1 tbsp brandy 3 tbsp crème fraîche (or sour cream) juice of half a lemon bunch of fresh curly parsley Preparation Cut the chicken thighs into nice chunks and season with salt en black pepper Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken thighs (do it in ..read more

Slow cooked Haunch of Venison with Roasted Vegetables and Holy Basil Salsa Verde. Enjoy this fabulous dark, lean meat as a great comforting alternatieve for your Sunday roast. Haunch of venison really benefits from long, slow cooking. Ingredients 2.5-3kg haunch of venison, bone in and well trimmed of all gristle 1 tbps of smoked paprika 2 tsp of ground cumin 2 tsp of ground coriander 2 tsp of salt 2 tsp of black pepper 2 onions 4 carrots 4 celery sticks 1 bulb of garlic 3 sprigs of fresh thyme 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary 2 dried red chillies (fresh also works) 300ml red wine 400ml beef sto ..read more

Transform your foraged wild garlic into a delicious pesto by combining the wild garlic leaves with parmesan, parsley, lemon, olive oil and pine nuts. Ingredients 150g wild garlic 60g curly parsley 60g pine nuts, toasted 60g Parmesan, grated 70ml extra vierge olive oil 70ml rapeseed oil 1 tbsp lemon juice salt black pepper Preparation Rinse and roughly chop the wild garlic leaves and curley parsley. Blitz all ingredients except the oil to a rough paste in a food processor. Season with salt and black pepper. With the motor running slowly add the oil. Taste, season if needed. Transfer the pesto ..read more

Distinctive versions of traditional English fayre in sophisticated yet familiar dishes with attractive flourishes and complementary flavours! Tucked away at the gates of Windsor Great Park since 1877, we find The Bailiwick in Englefield Green, Egham. A quintessential British dining pub and snug bar in a former Victorian shop with ceiling of vintage mirrors serving cask ales. The Bailiwick reopened in Februari 2021 under the new reigns of Steven and Ami Ellis. We know the Ellis’s from The Oxford Blue in Old Windsor, which they opened in 2015 and unfortunately had to sell in 2020 due to the econ ..read more

It’s not often that you really enjoy every bit of a tasting menu. This was one of those few happy occasions! Driving through Old Windsor in Berkshire and arriving at the restaurant in one of the back lanes, it sure looked familiar. And then it struck me, this is where The Oxford Blue used to live! Covid made Steven and Ami Ellis, who owned the restaurant since 2015, put it up for sale in 2020. It was bought by Adam Handling a year later and opened as The Loch & The Tyne by Adam Handling on May 17th 2021. The Ellis’s since started a new adventure at The Baliwick in Egham by the way. Born in ..read more

Interesting twists with notes of Asian and Peruvian influences. Solid flavour combinations with a contemporary elegance! The Sizzles adventure started in 2006 when Ester and Leon Habers opened their first restaurant in Apeldoorn. Leon had always been a chef and opening a restaurant was the dream. Ester worked in fashion at the time, but followed her husband’s dreams and hasn’t regret it since. They made restaurant Sizzles a fine dining success, with a Bib Gourmand from Michelin since 2011 amongst other acculades. In 2020 it was time for the next step in the adventure. Sizzles moved to a beauti ..read more

Quality ingredients, with elegantly light sauces, clear flavours and noteworthy tastes. Great to have such a gem close to home! The Chinese restaurants in The Netherlands are like the Indian places in the UK. You’ll find one in every village for your favourite takeaway. They first came to the country early 1900’s and started to boom from the 60’s and 70’s when more and more work immigrants came over and people started to go out to dinner. Nowadays it’s not easy to find a really good one, as they tend to go for quantity instead of quality and it’s not your goto place for fine dining. And then o ..read more

We had a lovely dinner, sitting outside in the garden on a beautiful summer evening. But it’s the details that count! On a warm Summer day last August we head to the city of Oegstgeest. A green oasis next to Leiden and about 15 minutes from Schiphol Airport. Apperently a lot of famous writers live and used to live in Oegstgeest, hence it’s nickname Schrijversdorp (Writers Village). One of those writers (Jan Wolkers) even wrote a book about it, called “Terug naar Oegstgeest” (Back to Oegstgeest). Mandatory literature when I was at college! We arrive at Villa Beukenhof, a boutique hotel & re ..read more

A pleasurable dinner with attractive dishes with a vibe of an Italian trattoria. This kitchen certainly has potential! Elburg is a beautiful and picturesque little town right in the heart of The Netherlands. The old center used to be a fortified city in the Middle Ages. The remains of that, like the city walls, are still very visible. In one of the cobblestone streets in the old center we find restaurant Da Pietro Restaurante Italiano. Da Pietro was opened bij Pietro and Hetty d’Andrea in 1994 as a pizzeria. Over the years they evolved to a Restaurante Italiano, earning themselves quite a repu ..read more

An impression of a very special wine & dine lunch. All dishes bringing surprise, mouth pleasing joyfulness and utter satisfaction! On Sunday 4 September 2022 the 5th edition of CHEFS®EVOLUTION took place in Zwolle. Organized and hosted by Jonnie and Thérèse Boer from restaurant De Librije *** in cooperation with Thomas and Carola Ruhl from team Port Culinaire. The gastronomy is in need of chefs who experiment and research the creative end of the gastronomic sector. This avant-garde gives impetus to the world of culinary art and leads it into the future. The Symposium CHEFS®EVOLUTION tracks ..read more