Michiel Schuurman is showing his graphic design and silk screened posters at home gallery Shrank 8. Of course,
when my man has a solo show, I will not stand for a buffet of peanuts and salty sticks. So, I went at it: a buffet of
crudites with bagna cauda, Thai basil dipping sauce and blue cheese dip. Turkish bread with edamame-ginger-
miso spread, nachos with mango salsa, spicy caramelized nuts, Indonesian coconut meatballs with peanut sauce,
edamame beans, salted cod balls, black bean soup with cilantro and bacon, and bite sized nut glazed chocolate
cakes. With the help of the amazing Julia we got it all done in perfect time, and after the opening (and several
refills!) there was nothing left but a few chunks of lemon and edamame skins. Even without the food, the
exhibition is well worth your time, it will be open for the next three weeks, call ahead and you’re welcome there.
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CRUDITES WITH DIPPING SAUCES
For the crudites, I chopped up daikon, cucumber, yellow and red bell peppers, carrots and cherry
tomatoes. You could also add cauliflower, celery, or whatever vegetables you like to eat raw.
THAI BASIL DIPPING SAUCE
A bunch of Thai basil, which gives it a sweet, pungeant, licorice-like taste
A bunch of cilantro and/or mint, whatever you have lying around
A few tablespoons soy sauce
A dash of fish sauce
Chopped peanuts
A chunk of ginger (about the size of a garlic clove)
A clove of garlic
A chopped red pepper or a teaspoon of sambal
Juice of 1 lime
A dash of sweet chili sauce and/or sugar to taste
Combine everything except the peanuts and blend with a wand blender until sort of smooth. Add the chopped peanuts and serve. This
dipping sauce works perfectly as a dip for summer rolls or spring rolls, and if you thin it down a bit it makes a nice salad dressing too.
BAGNA CAUDA
A classic
250 g butter
8 salted anchovies
About the same amount of capers
Juice of ½ lemon
A clove of garlic
A bunch of parsley
Melt the butter and add the other ingredients. Blend with a wand blender. As it cools down it will solidify a bit. Traditionally it’s
served warm, but I really like it at that halfway stage between liquid and solid. This might just be my favorite recipe in the whole
world. It’s so good that I never make it for myself because if I do, I’d eat a whole pack of butter in a day, and that’s no good… And
please, don’t fear the anchovies, it does NOT taste fishy. If you prefer, you can put in less of it too.
BLUE CHEESE DIP
1 cup blue cheese
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp finely chopped scallion
1 teaspoon finely chopped sage
2 tbsp lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper
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NACHOS & MANGO SALSA
This is also in my top ten favorite recipes of all time. I don’t throw a party without it!
It’s surprising, complex, fresh and delicious and extremely easy to make.
2 mangos, flesh finely chopped
Juice of 2 limes
½ red pepper, finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon sambal
Small bunch cilantro
1 small onion, chopped extremely fine
Salt to taste
Combine and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. You can eat it right away and it will be delicious,
but it gets better if it sits for a while. Also, be careful adding pepper, it gets spicier with time. On it’s own,
it’s great with nachos, but it also goes very well with tacos, meat, on a sandwich or even a salad. Good stuff!
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SPICY CARAMELIZED NUTS
Take a bunch of mixed, unsalted nuts. Heat them in a large non stick pan with three parts sugar
and one part each salt, ground cumin and cayenne pepper. Use lots and lots of it. Heat it up until
the sugar melts and caramelizes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. This is also a particularly
dangerous dish, it’s best not to make this by yourself or you will eat it all.
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BOLINHOS DE BACALHAU
Brasilian salted cod balls
450 g salted cod
2 medium crumbly potatoes
2 eggs, whisked
½ cup breadcrumbs (Japanese panko works well)
½ onion, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Chop the cod into small pieces and put in a large bowl filled with water. Change the
water every 20 – 30 mins for a few hours, until the fish is no longer overly salty.
Boil the potatoes and mash them. Finely chop the fish and add to the potatoes with
the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate for a while to firm up, and form balls. If the mixture
is still to soft and wet, add more breadcrumbs. Form the balls and refrigerate until use.
If you feel they are still a bit soft, you could freeze them. You can deep fry them or fry
them in about ½ cm of oil until golden brown. Squeeze over lemon and enjoy!
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INDONESIAN COCONUT MEATBALLS & PEANUT SAUCE
500 gr organic ground meat – half beaf/half pork or all beef
200 gr dried grated coconut
2 eggs, whisked
1 tsp trassi (fermented shrimp paste)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander seed
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
Salt to taste
Add 6-7 tbsp hot water to the coconut. Dissolve the trassi in a spoonful of hot water. Combine
all the ingredients and form balls. You can refrigerate them but usually they are quite firm so
you could fry them right away. They are an absolute party favorite, whenever I dished out a
plate of meat- and fish balls they were gone before I’d turned my back.
Peanut sauce:
4-6 tablespoons high quality peanut butter
The inner part of a stalk of lemon grass, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, caramelized (sauteed for ½ hour – 1 hour until nice and dark and sweet)
½ red pepper, chopped or a teaspoon sambal
Juice of 1 lime
A bit of coconut milk (optional)
In a pan over low heat, saute the garlic and lemongrass in a bit of oil. Add about four tbsp of the peanut butter
and the rest of the ingredients, stir until combined and add water as needed to make a smooth paste. If the flavors
are too strong, gradually add more peanut butter to taste. It’s hard to give a set recipe for this sauce, you really need
to taste it as you go and adjust it to your liking. This sauce goed well with meat, warm vegetables or on a sandwich.
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CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE NUT GLAZE
See the recipe for this cake here. Instead of using a big cake tin, you divide the batter over small cake forms and keep
an eye on them as they bake. They need about five minutes less time in the oven. Just squeeze them, if they feel a bit
firm, they should be fine. Just taste one to check and be sure. Finish just like the big cake, and allow the glaze to set.
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And this was what we were left with. We hope everyone enjoyed it!
