Warm Chicken & Climbing Bean Salad

Amsterdam put on a good impression of a different season today. The city, bustling with cyclists in any weather, wore a cloudless blue sky. It was a soft blue, delicate, and not quite strong enough to be confused with summer. However, if you stood and looked out your nearest window, you'd be forgiven for thinking Spring was in it's fullest throws. Those cyclists, always visible, seem to swell in number when the sun shines. Their numbers are made up by well-dressed commuters, fixie-ed hipsters, young, old, and, particularly among greener routes leading to countryside bliss, more and more lycra-clad people on road bikes. Cyclists, more often than not, are in the need for something more than fulfilling when it comes to dinner time. Something heavy. Something substantial. For todays special, we're letting Nigel Slater teach us that fulfilling and substantial need not be heavy. This relatively simple chicken salad will provide all you need in terms of proteins and good energy, a somewhat surprising wealth of flavour and taste, and it's almost spring like.

Ingredients: 2 chicken breasts, 1tbsp olive oil, 1 stalk of rosemary, 200g French beans, 12 stems & leaves of chard, 6 small tomatoes, lemon juice, 1 shallot, mint leaves, salt, and black pepper.

Method: Start with the dressing: grab a jar and throw in the finely chopped shallot, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, olive oil, and a few mint leaves. Seal the jar and shake vigourously. To prepare the chicken, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with rosemary leaves, and gril or roast until the skin is golden. Cover, and set aside. Trim the beans, cut the chard, boil the beans and the chard for 2-3mins. Combine the leaves, the beans, and the dressing. Sit the chicken on top to serve. Enjoy.

Tips: Don't spend your day off looking for chard in February!

Music: Light As A Feather - Chick Corea

Sweet Parsnip & Porcini Mushroom Soup

Emily decided it was to be, 'At Home With Nigel Slater Week' this week, so here we are. A week dedicated to one of our favourite food writers, Mr Nigel Slater. In our humble opinion, Slater is an artist. An artist with a fine array of tools, methods, means, and different medias. Naturally, we admire and enjoy his culinary artistry, but he's equally gifted as a writer. Slater's own often troubled childhood and home environment were what forced him into the kitchin, finding love and warmth with ingredients and recipes, rather than friends and family. Like any true artist, Slater has turned that notion of 'tortured soul' into something beautiful, wholesome, and full of love. Take this 'Sweet Parsnip & Porcini Mushroom Soup' for example...

Ingredients: Handful of dried porcini, 2 onions, 3tbsp olive oil, knob of butter, 2 large parsnips, 1 celery stick, 1.2l stock, and 1 glove of garlic.

Method: Soak the porcini in 300ml of warm water, peel the onions, and roughly chop them. Heat up the oil and butter in a pan. Cup the parsnips into large chunks, and gently fry. They should be evenly but gently toasted, which should take 8-10mins. Pour in the stock, celery, garlic, the porcini, their water, salt, and black pepper. Bring it all to the boil, and leave to simmer for 40mins. Put through a blender until smooth.

Tips: Serve with some good bread, lightly fried with mushrooms on top.

Music:  Warm Love - Van Morrison

Sausage, Spiced Red Cabbage & Parsnip Mash

If the lighter and brighter red tones enjoyed at the start of this #RedWeek stood for a straight froward increase in sex drive and hunger, these deeper and darker reds ooze something more acquired and complex. The humble cabbage, often maligned for an odour more suited to a retirement home, comes to life in this warming dish. Sausages add the substance, and the parsnip mash lends a sophisticated and warming quality. If you've been cycling for the duration of a Dutch winter morning, you'll appreciate this as a reward.

Ingredients: Half a red cabbage, 12g butter, 1 red onion, 1 orange, port, 1 cinnamon stick, 75ml port, 1tbsp red wine vinegar, 2 parsnips, 2 apples, coarse salt, and sausages of your choice.

Method: For the parsnips - chop 2 parsnips into 2cm cubes, and heat a generous amount of butter in a saucepan. Cook one side of the parsnips, till they start to turn brown. Turn them, add the chopped apples, and cover with water. Cook for approx. 20mins, then remove from heat and mash into a beautifully smooth puree texture. For the cabbage - Once the outer leaves are removed, cut half the cabbage into quarters, remove the core, and cut into think strips. Melt the butter in a saucepan and soften the onions for 5mins, add the orange zest and cinnamon stick, and cook for a further 2mins. Thrown in the cabbage, and then pour in the orange juice, port, and 100ml of water. Bring to the boil, and then simmer (keeping the lid on) for approx. 35mins, or until the cabbage is soft. Fry the sausages, and serve while everything is piping hot.

Tips: The cabbage can be prepared a couple of days in advance, and freezes well.

Music: Black Velvet - Alannah Myles (because ours was a little burnt, but still good)

Baked Bacon & Tomato Salad

Did you know that if you're sitting comfortably in the statistical average, colours play an important role in how you act, think, and feel. Blue is known to up your creativity levels, yellow gives a green light for joy and optimism, green is known to rid of stress and induces a state of calm. Colours, and their presentation, can even alter how your food tastes. Powerful stuff. With the day of Saint Valentine swiftly approaching, we had little choice than to go with red as our weekly theme here at Cafe Pump.

Red. Rosso. It's bold. It's powerful. It signals things with a defined and definite statement which cannot be misconstrued. It stands for love, danger, stop signs, sacrifice, blood, courage, and in some places, happiness. After all, it is the first colour in the rainbow. It's also been proven to enhance your attention span, make you hungry, and bolster your sex drive. Here at Cafe Pump we noticed we haven't braved the cold Dutch winter and taken the bikes out since the warm Mallorcan days of Christmas vacation, so we're hoping that the desire to cycle is bolstered as much as the sex drive.

Anyway, first up for this week's specials is this simple yet satisfying 'Baked Bacon & Tomato Salad'. At first glance it might look much fuss about nothing, but while it will never be a hearty and true 'cyclists lunch', it is a testament to that Italian philosophy that with good, fresh ingredients, less is more.

Ingredients: Tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, red pepper, salt, pepper, olive oil, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, red onions, hot sauce, chilli, and cayenne pepper.

Method: In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes, basil, sliced onions, red pepper, salt, and pepper, and leave to stand for a few minutes. Pre-heat the oven to a warm 220c, and spread baking paper on the tray. Bake the bacon for 15mins, turning half-way through. In the meantime, mix the dressing by whisking the mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, chilli, and hot sauce. Serve with a fresh drizzle of oil, and basil leaves.

Tips: Baked bacon = more taste and (slightly) less fat.

Music: Little Red Rooster - The Rolling Stones

Thai Prawn & Vegetable Broth

This Englishman is a converted fellow. At the outset of this week he was under the illusion that any 'one-pot wonder' would have to be almost earthy dark in colour, filling to the point of trouser un-button-ing, and heavy with both calories and flavours. This Asian dish proves quite the contrary. The lighter tones of prawns compared to read meats, the crisp taste and texture of the veggies, and the bright colours (enhanced by the beautiful simplicity and colours of a perfectly boiled egg) state this is the opposite to an English style stew. Yet, it carries all the flavour, warming qualities, and with just the right amount of 'being-full-up-ness'. Ours is slightly adapted from the X original. Enjoy...

Ingredients: Tin of coconut milk, lemongrass stalk, 2 garlic cloves, 1cm piece of ginger, 1 cauliflower, 2 carrots, 4 lime leaves, 2tbsp tomato puree, 1 tin of plum tomatoes, 1 yellow bell pepper, 2 birds eye chilli, 2tbsp fish sauce, 2 boiled eggs, and large prawns.

Method: For about 5mins, simmer a third of the coconut milk in a large pan with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and chilli. Add the cauliflower, carrots and tomato puree, with another third of the coconut milk, and continue to simmer for approx. 10mins. Next, add the tomatoes, peppers, fish sauce, and the rest of the coconut milk. Simmer for another 10mins. Throw in the prawns 5mins before serving, and serve with half a soft boiled egg, and a generous smattering of fresh coriander.

Tips: Serve with iced water.

Music: Hot Love - Marc Boman & T Rex

Prune & Almond Slow Cooked Lamb

We couldn't let 'One Pot Wonders' week pass without using the tagine. Combined with the more delicate flavours of Mediterranean/North African cooking, the tangine lends a stew an air of sophistication. As with many stews, this one would be absolutely perfect after a fresh winters day on the saddle.

Lamb, naturally, is the focal point of this recipe, and is therefore an area where corners shouldn't be cut. Adapted from a David Tanis recipe, this one calls for the very best lamb shank you can find and/or afford. The lamb shank has become almost chic in recent years, so there wont be too much bother in finding what you're looking for. However, if budget or unavailability get in the way, a lamb shoulder cut into small chunks will also do an admirable job.

As this dish really does have it all, we don't recommend serving it with anything but a generous glass of wine, and bread as fresh as you can get it.

(to serve 4 adults)

Ingredients: Lamb shanks (or shoulder), generous knob of butter, 2 onions, pinch of saffron threads, 4 garlic cloves, thumb-sized piece of ginger, 1 cinnamon stick, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, 100g gold raisins, 150g pitted prunes, 500ml chicken broth,150g chopped tomatoes, 100g blanched almonds, salt, and black pepper. 

Method: First, pre-heat the oven to 160c/325f, and melt the butter in a large pan. Once melted, add the onions, saffron, and a pinch of salt. As the onions begin to brown, remove from the heat and stir in the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, the raisins, and half the prunes. After a couple of minutes gentle stirring, return to the heat, and add the lamb. After a couple more little moments, add the tomatoes and broth, and slow cook in the oven for approx. 2 hours. When ready, remove from the oven and add the remainder of the prunes and increase the heat to 200c/400f. Leave the lid off to gently brown the meat, and return to the oven for 15mins. Serve with gently fried almonds to garnish.

Tips: Be ready to adapt, and try it with beans and/or spinach for another twist.

Music: Ben L'Oncle Soul - Soul Man

Fennel & Orange Fish Stew

For the second successive morning, we had to scrape ice off the bike saddles this morning. The commute is still in darkness, but at least the chill in the air serves to awaken the body from a cosy slumber. Cycling to work in the winter can be tough. Cycling home, again in darkness, can be even harder. As January turns into February, and spring remains a distant wish, here at Cafe Pump we've declared it 'One-Pot Wonders' week. After a long 9-5 it can be difficult to summon the energy, resources, and time, for a nourishing and hearty evening meal, which means that these quick, hearty, and tasty feasts are more than ideal.

To kick us off, Monday's special was an adaptation of a Marian Burros recipe. The orange flavours lend this one a light zesty, tone, and even a gentle reminder of summer months, while at the same time serving it's warming purposes as a winter stew.

Ingredients: Olive oil, 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves. 185ml dry white wine, i can chopped tomatoes, 3tsp tomato puree, fennel seeds, 1 orange, bay leaf, thyme, and white fish fillets. Plus good bread and/or boiled potatoes to serve.

Method: Heat the olive oil in a large pan/Dutch oven. Chop the garlic and onion, and fry till browned in the pan. Add the wine, grated zest of the orange, fennel seeds, tomatoes, puree, salt, pepper, fennel, and thyme, and cook with the lid on for 10-15mins. Stir gently and add the fish (chopped into 4cm cubes), and cook for a further 5-8mins. Serve over boiled potatoes, or with some nice bread.

Tips: Make enough for leftovers, as like any stew, this one is better the next day.

Music: Memphis Soul Stew - King Curtis & The Kingpins