Strawberry soup with icecream – Cooking club
It’s chaos everywhere; one person is running around with smoked eel trying to remove all the bones, the other is rummaging through the racks beneath the kitchen counter searching for an empty pot, someone else is peering over my shoulder to see if I maybe have the gelatin powder, while on the other side of the kitchen a few folks are stirring and chopping. (not necessarily in that order)
It’s really not that easy cooking with a large group of people. Did you know that? You would think that maybe all those hands would make the job lighter, but I’ve found sofar that it actually makes the job at hand harder. Trying to concentrate over measurements is virtually impossible if chaos is all around you.
Organized chaos
But then again I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world. It’s great fun and yes, we have more failures then I would care to mention here, but we laugh about it, eat it anyway and move on to the next dish. Our group is usually around 14-15 people which is a large enough group. Some have a lot of cooking experience, others have virtually none, but we all help eachother and in the end it is about sharing the experience, having a good laugh and a fun dinner at the end. Our cooking club is now over a year old already and still with the same folks except for one. No one ever really misses a session unless on holiday or away for work, but we’re all pretty faithful. It’s only once every two months to I guess that makes it a little easier to plan into any one diary plus the dates are fixed at the beginning of the year so we know where to keep the diary empty!
Cleaning eel
Last Friday was our first session in a different location. We had some disagreements with the owners of the previous place. Let’s just say that we were forced into doing things we didn’t want to do so that was end of story. Luckily we found a new place immediately as this is the same cooking location were Tom and I have done countless cooking courses over the last couple of years so we know the place. It’s a much older kitchen (and arguably it could be a little cleaner) but it’s a good location with a lot of atmosphere and in the middle of Amsterdam so close to the Albert Cuyp market.
Me having fun!
The menu this week was a smoked eel with fried herbs, shrimps with risotto, watercress coulis and crispy ham, escalope milanese with tomato and courgette and strawberry soup with vanilla icecream and caramel sauce. Not too complicated you would think, right? 
Well, the starter went a bit wrong, so we had eel soup instead of the turned little pudding it was supposed to be. Actually that was the only real failure, the rest of the dishes were pretty much ok.
Shrimp risotto
But the highlight of the evening really was the delicious dessert of strawberry soup, homemade vanilla icecream and caramel sauce…. So for that I will share the recipe with you; well for the soup as the recipe for the icecream was changed at some point and I don’t want to give you false information!
Strawberry soup
Strawberry soup
Ingredients:
- 1kg sweet strawberries
- lemon juice
- 1/3 dl water
- sugar (to taste)
- 1 pinch salt
Directions:
Puree about 2/3 of the strawberries with a little bit of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Add some sugar if needed. The rest of the strawberries you can use for decorations.
Strain the strawberries through a sieve and put into a deep, cold plate. Garnish with the rest of the strawberries and ad a ball of icecream in the middle.
Note
Well ofcourse this recipe is so simple you can hardly call it a recipe but that doesn't make it any less tasty!
Don’t mess with the chef!
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
Sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I was in Amsterdam to join you !
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:33
How fun would that be? A blogger cooking get together..
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A lovely recipe and great idea! It looks divine.
I wish I coulod be part of such a club! It looks like you have lots of fun there.
Cheers,
Rosa
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:33
O yes it’s a lot of fun but messy too!
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The cooking club sounds like a great concept and so much fun. I especially love the look of that strawberry soup. Just divine!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:34
I always wondered about strawberry soup and it’s even better then I thought it would be!
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always wanted to make strawberry soup ….such a fun idea
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:41
It was high on my list too and now I finally tasted one!
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I have trouble cooking in large groups too; I like to be relaxed when I cook, and the more people there are, the more stressful it usually gets, with a couple of exceptions.
Strawberries are just starting to come in here, but they aren’t great yet. But this looks like a good recipe for when the season hits its peak!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:35
That is so true… There is just too much chaos in a large group and well we don’t really have stress, we have a lot of fun but the cooking could mmm, maybe be a little better!
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Indeed, never mess with the lovely chef! hahahahaha:) What a lovely dinner & that dessert & risotto is calling my name & my mouth too!
Great pics too!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:35
Thanks so much Sophie!
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Is there a new Donna Hay challenge for May?
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:40
Send you an email..:)
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Oh, so much fun! How lovely! Wish I could be a part of one such club.
Enjoy!
Best,
Sihi
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:40
Thanks Sihi. Yes it is great fun!
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You are always so adorable! I miss you! And what is the old saying? “Too many cooks spoil the broth!” But this looks like happy chaos and I’d love to be there. The menu sounds soooo good! Wow! And the soup is stunning – you know I hate strawberry ice cream so making a cool, icy strawberry soup and topping it with ice cream or cream is so much better! It looks fabulous!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:36
O how lovely it would be if you were there too Jamie! And yes that soup was the best of the bunch and I’m definitely gonna make that at home too!
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We have an old saying which goes something like this: too many cooks ruin the meal
but your cooking club looks so much fun and everything looks delicious!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:36
Haha… it’s a pretty accurate saying!
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Oh I know it can be chaos, but it’s so much fun! Lovely pictures as usual and great food. Nothing beats friends + food + fun
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:37
That is so true Ben and really we all go there just to have a fun evening more then anything else!
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Simone,
These cooking club posts are always the best!
I love the photos with you in them and to see how smiley and happy everyone is!
I know all about organised chaos in the kitchen!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:37
I’m sure you do Mona and I’m glad I will be experiencing that first hand soon!
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Looks like your having alot of fun!
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:37
Thanks Solama!
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Cooking clubs are great to be….its great fun. great pictures Simone.
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:38
Thanks Nina!
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Oh, how I wish there was a good cooking club near me, or my friends loved ooking and baking as much as I do. The one cooking group I tried, several years ago, was a bunch of a-holes..food snobs who couldn’t back up their snobbery. Oh, well..one day. The strawberry soup is so elegant, impressive and lovely, but best of all, simple! Love your photos of the fun chaos – you all look so happy
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 12th, 2012 at 22:40
We had a cooking club before with people we really didn’t like. We stayed at it for a while but then realized we didn’t have a good time at all, so we left (and consequently the entire group abandoned..) and set up our own group of people we thought would be good together. We couldn’t have guessed it would work out so well! And the fun part is that not all of them love cooking. They come for the fun part and in the process they are actually starting to like cooking too!
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Sounds so yummy! I am so jealous of your cooking club! Sounds like so much fun! Great photos!
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