Radicchio salad @ microwave

For ➋
40 g blue cheese
40 g chive oil
25 g hazelnuts, peeled
10 g chives
120 g radicchio, half of a head
olive oil
salt
50 g buttermilk

(Optional: Place blue cheese in the freezer. While this step is purely aesthetic—frozen cheese will curl prettily when it is peeled—the freezer is a good place to store blue cheese so that it's always ready for salads and such.)
Make the chive oil with blanched fresh chives, blend them with oil, strain through a sieve.
Heat oven to 165°C.
Spread hazelnuts on a sheet pan and toast until golden brown, about 30 m.
As the hazelnuts toast, agitate the sheet pan every 5 m for even browning.
Remove hazelnuts from oven and transfer to a large zip-lock bag. Lay the bag flat on a work surface and smooth it so that nuts spread out in an even, single layer. Roll a rolling pin over the bag, repeating until hazelnuts are crushed into small crumbles.
Mince the chives.
Wash radicchio and pat dry with a paper towel. Remove any damaged or wilted outer leaves. Cut radicchio into quarters.
Dress each piece with a generous amount of olive oil.
Place radicchio in microwave-safe dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Cook on high for 40–50 s. Puncture plastic with a knife to allow steam to escape.
Remove from microwave. Radicchio should be warm and wilted, with just a little crunch remaining.
Cut white core from the radicchio and assemble leaves in a serving bowl. Dress with salt, minced chives, buttermilk, and chive oil.
Just before serving, sprinkle hazelnuts over salad and shave or crumble blue cheese on top.

Cobb grilled cheese

For ➋ sandwiches
4 slices whole wheat bread
4 tbs softened butter
250 g aged gouda, grated
1 roasted chicken breast, sliced
1 small tomato, sliced
½ avocado, pitted, peeled & sliced
1 hard boiled egg, sliced
4 slices cooked bacon
¼ cup blue cheese crumbles

Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread, then stack the two buttered sides together and repeat with the other 2 slices.
Layer top slice of the bread with a handful of gouda then follow with tomato, chicken breast, avocado slices, egg slices, blue cheese crumbles and 2 pieces of bacon then top with another handful of gouda.
Place the ingredient stacked bread, buttered side down, in a non-stick fry pan over medium-high heat and top with the other slice of buttered bread. Cover with lid and let cook for 3-4 m or until golden.
Reduce heat to medium and flip sandwich to the other side and cook for 2-3 m or until bread is toasty golden and the cheese has melted. The second side will cook faster than the first so watch carefully. Repeat process with the other sandwich ingredients to make the second grilled cheese.
Slice sandwiches in half and enjoy hot.

Risotto with beetroot & blue cheese

For ➋
1 l beetroot juice (pressed or out of a bottle)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
200 g risotto rice
1 glass of vermouth or white wine
40 g butter + 1 extra cube
50 g of blue cheese, like Gorgonzola
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Warm the beet juice until just below boiling point.
Sauté the onion and garlic over a low heat in a knob of butter. After 5 m add the celery and cook all the vegetables until they are soft. Turn up the heat and add the rice. Stir well until the rice is translucent and deglaze with white wine or vermouth. Let all the moisture to evaporate.
Reduce heat to soften again and add a ladle beet juice, and a pinch of salt. Stir well until the rice has absorbed the beet juice. Add each time a ladle juice until the rice is soft.
If the rice is not yet soft when the beet juice runs out, work on with salted water.
Add the soft butter. Let the risotto rest for 2 m.
Serve. Finish with black pepper and crumbled blue cheese.

Read tip on cooking rissoto.

Millefeuille aux poivrons (peppers mille-feuille)

For ➍
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
olive oil
veal stock (fond de veau) or vegetable stock
250 g soft goat cheese
5 tbs olive oil
chives

Mix the cheese with 5 tbs olive oil. add salt & pepper. Let cool in refrigerator for a few h.
Cut the peppers in half. Sprinkle the skins with some olive oil. Blister the skin of the peppers under a grill. When blackened, put the peppers in a closed plastic bag and leave for 10-15 m, so the steam will loosen the skin. Peel off the skins. Pull off the stalk, taking the white ribs and seeds with it.
Soften the peppers in warm veal stock for 15 m. Let them cool.
Dry with kitchen paper. Cut into 16 equal circular or square parts. (Bake in oil)*.
Make little towers of 4 differently coloured pepper slices, with the cheese mixture between them. Add a drop of oil and decorate with chives.

*Optional.

Originally, mille-feuille is a gâteau, made up of three layers of puff pastry, and two layers of crème pâtissière. As the puff pastry traditionally is prepared in six stages of folding into three, the milfoil/ mille-feuille/ mille foglie comprises 729 layers. In the 20th century, savory mille-feuilles were developed.

Asparagus & pancetta hash

For ➍
125 g pancetta, diced
500 g spring potatoes, peeled, cut & diced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
250 g asparagus, tough ends trimmed, cut into 2.5 cm segments
salt & pepper to taste
olive oil*

Heat a cast iron frying pan* over medium heat. Fry the pancetta, turning it frequently so that it browns and crisps, for 10 m. Remove it with a slotted spoon and drain it on paper towels.

Leave the heat on and the renderings in the pan*.

Add the potatoes. Don’t move them for a couple minutes. Use this time to season them well with salt and pepper. Once they’ve gotten a little brown underneath, begin flipping and turning them, then letting them cook again for a few minutes.

When the potatoes are about ¼ as crisped and brown as you’d like them, after 15 m, add the onion. Cook for 5 m more. Add the asparagus, cover the pan and cook for 5 to 8 m, or until crisply cooked.

Remove the lid, return the pancetta to the pan for another minute, to reheat.

Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.

Serve immediately with fried eggs, dabs of goat cheese and slivers of green onions. Or with broiled salmon. Or pork cutlets.

*With a well-seasoned cast iron, this should be all the fat you need. Otherwise, use 1 tbs of oil. Or, when not using pancetta or pork, 2 tbs of oil.

Apple, pear & beet salad

For ➍
1 large coeur de boeuf tomato, cubed
½ orange bell pepper, seeded & chopped
2 medium steamed beets, peeled & chopped
1 large sweet & crisp apple, chopped
2 small pears, chopped
10 cl champagne or white wine vinaigrette
3 handfuls baby spinach
100 g crumbled blue cheese

Toss together the prepared tomatoes, bell pepper, beets, apple, pears and champagne vinaigrette in a large bowl.

Divide the baby spinach and seasoned fruit and vegetables between 4 plates.

Sprinkle each salad with crumbled blue cheese and serve.