Getting ready.... the knives have been sharpened !

Only 2 weeks to go before I go to Paris. This week I am sorting out all the stuff that I received last year at the basic cuisine course : my uniforms, plastic containers, knife-set, padlocks, kitchen shoes, notes and old 'recipes'. And I still have to make those kitchen trousers a lot shorter...

This weekend it's time for some practicing in the kitchen again: dinner for 6. I think I'll try last year's exam dish: Dorade fillets (sea bream) with fennel. And I might even do some turned potatoes... after all, what's a dish without potatoes! The menu sounds a lot better in French actually: filets de daurade poêlés au fenouil - oh yeah!
We'll have a nice salad on the side and for dessert a meringue 'thing' with coffee or tea.

And today I had all my Cordon Bleu knives sharpened again. They look fantastic now ! There are a few places to do that in Amsterdam, but one of the best is a company called 'Moes'. After they have sharpened the knives, they're as good as new.

See you all soon!
Sjoerd

'Julie & Julia' - an early Sunday-morning film

Last Wednesday, we received an invitation from 'La Cuisine Francaise', the Cordon Bleu Cookery School here in Amsterdam to watch the movie 'Julie & Julia' this Sunday morning. 
The film isn't out in The Netherlands yet, so this was a great opportunity to watch it.


The preview was in the Tuschinski Arthouse cinema in Amsterdam, a very nice old cinema in Jugendstil and Art Deco style. Directly after te film everybody was invited for a Cordon Bleu style tasting at the cookery school.

Classical dishes like 'petit chaussons au roquefort', 'boeuf borguignon' and 'mousseline au chocolat' were served with a glass of wine. Very, very nice. Please check out Pat's Cordon Bleu/ La Cuisine Francaise website (culinary activities, workshops and cooking sessions) for more LCB cooking info in Amsterdam.
Thank you Pat and Madelijn (and LCB) for organising a very very entertaining Sunday ! I'll keep you posted on all my Cordon Bleu adventures in Paris!

Jayne & Sjoerd

I'm a bigolarist.... !

A what? A bigolarist ! And what the £$@!* is a bigolarist????

Well, let me tell you - the bigolaro is a pasta 'machine' from Northern-Italy. That makes me a bigolarist when I 'turn' my pasta with this machine. I bought this thing only a 2 weeks ago, and it's great fun to use.
It is actually a pasta press, and as you turn down the handle, the long spaghetti's come out.

If you do it right, the spaghetti comes out as long as the room. Sometimes even longer! This is great fun to do. Make a bit of dough in advance, and when your visitors arrive they can make the pasta themselves. Success guaranteed!

Result ! very good spaghetti.

Normally, when I use my standard pasta machine, I let the pasta dry a bit before I make it into tagliatelle, but with the Bigolaro I put in the (rested) dough immediately into the press. You can use a standard pasta recipe for this.

You can make 4 different kinds of thick pasta with this 'machine' - there are 4 dies available: bigolo (which is the fat spaghetti), rigatoni, tagliolini and tagliatelle - see picture !

This great piece of kitchen 'machinery' can be bought in Italy at a company called Bottene.

The type that I have is 'hand press B'. You have to order the little bench you sit on separately. And the bigolaro comes with 2 dies - bigolo and rigatoni. The tagliolini and tagliatelle have to be ordered separately.

When I asked for more information by Email at Bottene, I got in direct contact with the Dutch supplier who happens to have his business here around the corner in Amsterdam. Delivery within a few days. Great service!

In the picture, Jayne is cleaning the spaghetti die.

There is a bit of video footage available on Youtube. Check it out and start after about 2.30 minutes to see some kind of funny Bigolaro parade... It's hard work...
Another (not too good quality) video can be found here;

I found this 'machine' through a very nice and interesting website. A Swiss guy, Francois-Xavier (FX) is keeping a great food blog with unusual stories. Check it out on FX-cuisine!

The bigolo article can be found here.

All the best and see you all later,
I have to turn my Bigolaro tonight...

Sjoerd