Glorious Recipes

This Blog Moved

2007-07-09T10:18:00.000+02:00

After long and many hours of work, updating, checking and tweaking I have finally taken the plunge: Glorious Food and Wine will be now at http://www.onfoodandwine.com/

I apologize for the sudden move and short notice. I also apologize for any inconvenience caused in updating your bookmarks with my new address. See you soon!

Roastbeef Twist

2007-06-30T10:51:00.000+02:00

Another great summer recipe, on a very non sunny day. The problem with Brussels in the summer is the weather. You are all set for sunny days, eating light, BBQ's, and all you get is rain, rain and more rain.

However I am trying to keep the summer in the kitchen. This time with a very easy but so delicious lunch (perhaps light dinner) recipe for roast beef. The recipe was taken from the delicious. May 2007 issue, page 32. With a little delay...

Roast beef, asparagus and Parmesan salad (serves 2)
200gr asparagus (given the season, what better veggie to use?)
1 ripe avocado
juice of 1 lime
1tbsp Dijon mustard
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
2tbsp olive oil
200gr thinly sliced roast beef
25gr Parmesan shavings
watercress
small red onion, sliced

Usually English tend to have left over roast beef (on Sundays, thatg is). No one I know in Brussels ever has left over beef, which was very much our case as well. So we roasted beef there and then: roast 200gr beef at 200°C/gas 6 for 15-20min. Leave to rest for 10min. Carve.
Steam the asparagus, until just tender. Set aside to cool.
Halve, peel and stone the avocado. Cut into large chunks and place in a bowl. Season with salt and squeeze over the lime juice.
Whisk together the mustard and vinegar, then beat in the olive oil.
Arrange the beef, the watercress, asparagus, and avocado in 2 serving bowls. Scatter each with Parmesan and sliced red onion. Drizzle with the dressing.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels delicious

Summer on a Plate

2007-06-25T15:28:00.000+02:00

Such a simple combination, yet so stunning. Let me explain: weekends are equal to time. I finally get the time to take the time and salads like these just make my heart jump. There is nothing out of the ordinary to them, but I give them my full attention.

This particular one was a simple combination of: baby lettuce leaves, radishes, Roquefort cheese, and a pear. I added just a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The result was delicious. The best summer salad ever.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

La Dolce Vita

2007-06-09T19:30:00.000+02:00

What I really need is a subscription to olive and delicious. Not that I do not come across the magazines here in Brussels, but a lot more sporadically and if I happen to be abroad for work - forget that month's issue. I did subscribe to the Dutch delicious though so my Dutch is improving every day ...

Back to food though. The May issue of delicious (UK) was all about Italian food. I love Italian food. Then again, who doesn't. Of course we have tried the usual and perhaps more unusual Italian dishes. However an ingredient I don't use nearly as often as I should is polenta. I grew up on polenta and just love the stuff. It is probably amongst the fastes dishes too make, yet I always seem to ... forget polenta.

I jumped at the recipe of lemon and basil grilled chicken with creamy polenta. Our basil is growing mad (really, this is not a joke - we are invaded by the basil plant) and the rest of the ingredients are always available in our house. Plus a chance to cook polenta.

The recipe is very easy, and can probably be adapted to other herbs, or just keep the chicken moist and simple. The recipe is taken from delicious, May 2007 issue, page 28.

Basil Grilled Chichen with Creamy Polenta (serves 4)
grated zest of 1 lemon, plus a good squeeze of lemon juice
large handful of fresh basil leaves
1 small garlic clove
1/2tbsp coarse sea salt
2tbsp olive oil
4 skinless chicken breast fillets
300ml milk
150gr instant polenta
150gr dolcelatte or gorgonzola, diced

Preheat the grill to medium high. Put the lemon zest in a food processor with the basil, garlic and sea salt, and whizz until finely chopped. Add the oil and lemon juice, and whizz again to make a loose paste.
Rub the paste over the chicken breasts. Grill for 12-15min,turning halfway, until the chicken is cooked.
Meanwhile, pour the milk into a large pan with 400ml water (you could also leave the milk out completely). Add a little salt and bring to the boil. reduce the heat to low, then add the polenta and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cook, stirring, for 4-5min, until thick.
Stir the cheese into the polenta, then quickly spoon into 4 shallow bowls. Top each with a chicken breast and serve immediately.

We added a very simple cherry tomato and basil salad. The wine suggestion to the dish is a full Chardonnay.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

Chorizo and Tomatoes

2007-05-31T18:09:00.000+02:00

A match made in heaven. There is very little else I could add to this. Every time I have this dish it only gets better. Spicy, thick chorizo sausages, cut into chunky bits, fried off to leave as much fat as possible in the pan. Juicy, ripe cherry tomatoes, tossed with some salt, a little balsamic vinegar and basil leaves.

All mixed together and served with chunky bits of homemade bread. Really it is a a simple as it sounds, and it tastes just perfect. It is summer, it is beach, it is bbq, it is sitting outside, it is all you need for a light dinner, after a long sunny day. I probably don't make this dish often enough!

Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

Nominated for Best Food Blog

2007-05-31T16:49:00.001+02:00

Ok, ok, ok. A very small step for mankind, and given I am just at 1 vote ... a very small step for me too. But if you enjoy this blog, and occasionally its content (o vice versa) then please go ahead and vote! Then vote again, and again. I'm feeling almost part of a mini presidential food campaign :) .

There will be cookies (virtually or not!). Thank you!

Spicy Squid and Mushrooms

2007-05-08T20:42:00.000+02:00

I have cooked and eaten spicy squid many times, and I still don't tire of it. A very easy recipe and even faster cooking time, we sort of invented this dish one summer evening before this blog was born.

How did it all come about? I guess even eating can at times become repetitive. Although we aim to be as seasonal as possible, eat locally sourced food, we somehow still end up turning in the same 'food' circle. Does this happen to you as well?

After starting this blog I realized that we don't use half the variety of vegetables available or think outside the food box. Which made me one day go for those ingredients not usually on our plate. Baby squid.

In a very Mediterranean way, we simply fried the squid with some garlic, added left over mushrooms, a can of tomatoes and the usual seasoning. I prefer this dish a little bit on the spicy side, but this time around I let the flavors of the dish to come trough on their own. The variety of vegetables or additions to this dish are endless: aubergines, zucchini, mussels (add your own).

I know this doesn't count as a complicated or sophisticated dish. But it is easy, it is tasty and a light summer dinner.
Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

The Taste of Summer

2007-04-23T16:10:00.000+02:00

With the sun now actually staying in Brussels, we decided it is high time to take advantage of our little city garden. After a day in the sun what better way to end the day than a lazy dinner in the garden?

We spent most of our Sunday morning at the biggest (and cheapest) market in Brussels, the Gare du Midi market. The trick to going to the market? Don't go too early, but also not too late. The market closes at 2:00pm and it all gets very hectic at that time But just around 1:00pm you can get some of the best bargains. Our favorite stops are at the different fish mongers who coming to close sell entire boxes of fish for 3euro. The choice of fish depends, one box being filled with cuttle fish, other with mussels, with whitebait or mackerel. This time around we opted for the whitebait.

I have never actually had whitebait anywhere but at the beach. But, although it doesn't look as good as on the beach, the whitebait we cooked, tasted just as good. We missed the sea, but had our own holiday dinner right in the back garden.

Fried Whitebait (serves many)
fresh whitebait
milk
flour
oil for deep frying (deep fryer)

I didn't know (think) whitebait had to be first soaked in milk. However we followed the recipe to the letter, soaked the whitebait in milk, then rolled it in the flour and fried it in the deep fryer. We had the whitebait with a lot of squeezed lemon juice, and a great chilli mayonnaise. Summer in the city at home.
Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

Delicious Goats' Cheese and Shallots Tart

2007-04-21T18:50:00.000+02:00

Saturday mornings have long been dedicated to one activity only: BBC's Saturday Kitchen. Whilst enjoying the only leisurely breakfast of the week, we love to watch Saturday Kitchen. By this I don't mean that we are glued to the TV watching James Martin cook (and talk). No, we enjoy our croissants and coffee, read the newspaper, plan the weekend ahead but in between, somewhere, we also watch Saturday Kitchen.

Being in Belgium we can not actually vote for the Heaven vs Hell dishes. Of course we have our favorites, and mine usually include the cheese dish. The episode of last week proposed a goats' cheese and shallot tart tatin as the Hell dish. How can goats' cheese ever be hell for someone? No matter the outcome of the voting though, I knew I wanted to give this dish a try. So after a busy Saturday, some last minute food shopping, I got cooking. Some tweaking here and there, half an hour later we had our dinner goat's cheese tarts with shallots.

Goats' Cheese Shallot Tarts (serves 2)
50gr butter - I left the butter out and replaced it by olive oil
2tbsp caster sugar
2 sprigs thyme
3 shallots, peeled, and sliced lengthwise
250gr ready made puff pastry
75gr soft goats' cheese

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.2.
For the goats' cheese and shallot tart, heat one big pan.
Place the olive oil and caster sugar in the pan and heat until the sugar and olive oil have melted and the mixture has started to caramelise and turn golden-brown.
Place a sprig of thyme in the pan and add the shallots.
Cook for 3-4 minutes until the shallots are just beginning to turn brown.
Meanwhile, place the pre-rolled pastry onto a clean, floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut out two circles of pastry so they are slightly larger than the circumference of the goats' cheese rounds.
Add the goats' cheese and shallots to the pastry. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is golden-brown and cooked through. Remove and allow to cool slightly.

Of course concerning the goats' cheese tarts are personal favorites and everyone cooks them differently. However the salad dressing suggested for the side salad was just divine. Honey and truffle oil in a small bowl, add some lemon juice, salt and freshly ground pepper. Arrange your salad of water cress, and fresh, baby leaves, drizzle some of the dressing on top of the salad and the tarts, serve. Truffle oil and goats' cheese go incredibly well together.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

Asperges a la Flamande

2007-04-04T12:20:00.000+02:00

Such a Belgian dish you'd think I would have tried it during the past 10 years. Well ... no! I ignore why I haven't eaten Belgian asparagus before, given the absolute love (obsession?) of Belgians with this vegetable.

We are spot on in the middle of the 'folie' (craziness) which comes with the first Belgian asparagus. Belgians rarely get overly excited so it is quite funny to see restaurants are fully booked when advertising the 'asperges en folie' and that asparagus flies off the supermarket shelves. Which is why we joined in as well. Sort of if in Belgium, do like the Belgians.

What better way to try the Belgian asparagus than in a dish, cleverly called 'Asperges a la Flamande', Flemish style asparagus. The recipe came from our one and only Belgian oriented cookbook, 'Everybody East Well in Belgium'. Oh boy, and do they eat well.

The recipe? So easy it makes me wonder why we don't eat asparagus at least 3 times a week. Basically the steps are boil, mash, serve. Let me explain: after you bought the asparagus (ideally avoiding any unnecessary air miles, so local asparagus is the best option) the following leads to Asperges a la Flamande (serves 2).

Boil the asparagus till tender. We has 6 stalks a person.

At the same time, boil 2 eggs (hard).

Mash the eggs with finely chopped parsley and season well with salt, pepper and lemon juice of 1 lemon.

Serve.

Delicious! Which would explain the current frenzy all around me asperges ci, and asperges la.

Simply Delicious Prawns

2007-03-15T23:00:00.000+01:00

After having been to Rome, then back, then looking for guest writers on Belgian beers, and oh ... I forget, real life, it's back to cooking.

The days are getting longer. I love that! When I come home it's still light, and when I wake up, again, more light. You have no idea how weather depend I am. My general well being is influenced by it, let alone the food I cook and eat. Food now has to be light, has to be fresh and colourful. Bringing the sun in.

Still keeping in mind my resolutions, I have moved on from the 'heavy' books, to lighter, sunnier books. Like 'Luscious' by Michele Cranson. A wonderfully visual book, full of recipes and photos which make you long for sunny beaches, the sea and cocktails. I wish I could be there now.

Although I am not complaining. Brussels has been more than sunny, and the city is simply wonderful. But let's get cooking. Not wanting to go through too much trouble, I took a look at our cupboards, I took a look in the fridge and with the help of Michele Cranson I adapted and cooked a simply delicious prawns dish.

All you need to make sure you have are ... well, the prawns (frozen ones work just as well). The rest is up to your spice cabinet - we didn't have tamarind, so left that ingredient out, and up to taste - I thought coconut milk would be too heavy so instead used yogurt. I am sure the recipe would go just as well with aubergines, green beans or even carrots? You tell me.

Simply Delicious Prawns (serves 4)
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp tamarind puree
20 raw king prawns, peeled, de-veined, tails intact
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 red onions, finely sliced
1 red pepper, cut into stripes
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
100 ml coconut milk (or yogurt)
coriander sprigs

Mix the spices, then add the prawns and toss until well coated. Cover and refrigerate till ready to cook.
Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, then add the onions. Cook until soft and they begin to caramelize. Add the pepper (vegetables), the sugar and the balsamic vinegar.
Add the prawns, and cook for another 5 minutes or till the prawns start to curl and turn pink.

Of course in the meantime you would have steamed some white Basmati rice, or cooked some noodles to serve the prawns with. We opted for rice. I also added two de-seeded chillies to the prawn mixture as I like my food hot. Instead of coconut milk I served plain yogurt next to the food.
Some coriander and you have not only a simply delicious prawn dish, but also one that doesn't take all in all more than 30min. The perfect end to a very sunny day.
Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

My favorite Tabouleh

2007-03-11T19:40:00.000+01:00

Tabouleh = a Middle Eastern dish often used as part of a mezze. Of course, now I could explain the term 'mezze' as well, but I think I will stop for the moment. Tabouleh. One of my all time favourite dish.

I tend to (mostly) eat tabouleh in the summer. I find it a very refreshing dish (or side dish), so easy to do and usually a sure crowd pleaser. This time around however, I decided to bring the summer in. Outside, Brussels has embraced the sun. People seem to have left their natural hibernation status, and now enjoy what the city has to offer. Go out, eat, party.

A perfect time to host a first dinner party (don't you think?). This time girls only! On the menu, light spring food, food to enjoy and share. However, hosting a dinner party on a working day asks for some organization and recipes which can be prepared in advance. A tabouleh was the perfect option. I also realized I have not yet made a tabouleh in 2007, although it is one of my first tried and favourite dishes.

I know everyone has a favourite party dish (so to speak), or that one fool proof recipe made to impress. I can not say tabouleh classifies right up there, but it comes pretty close. A versatile recipe, I tend to prepare it with just the ingredients on hand, although I insist on the mint and the coriander (cilantro). Every time I prepare it though it impresses and there is rarely any left over.

The main ingredient is of course bulgur or cous cous. The general rule is: 1 cup bulgur, 2 cups of water, and a lot of fluffing the grains after they have absorbed the water. Usually tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, but then depending on taste I also add some raisins or sultanas, grilled aubergines, sun dried tomatoes. I also tend to leave the fresh tomatoes out as i think they make the tabouleh a little soggy - but that is entirely a taste issue. Some olive oil and my favourite tabouleh is done. In the summer I rather eat it on its own, but at the girls dinner I served it with chicken. It goes well though with smoked salmon, with meat balls, etc.

If you have a favourite tabouleh recipe as well, and you would like to share, please, I would love to hear about it. There are many tabouleh recipes out there I don't know, or 'secret' ingredients you might add which could bring my own tabouleh to a different height. Who knows.
Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

Bottom Crust Apple Pie

2007-02-21T22:12:00.000+01:00

Now this was so easy to make, I am still in shock.

We’re back to my New Year resolutions, and the one new recipe per cook book goal. Almost one year ago (very, very soon to be exactly one year!), I received ‘Tarts with Top On’ for my birthday. Written by Tamasin Day Lewis, the book promises instant perfection when it comes to pies.

I love to cook. What I don’t like is to spend hours in the kitchen. Doughs take hours in the kitchen. Or so I thought, till this weekend. It is also time to admit it took me almost a year to get started with these … pies. This Sunday though I felt that I and book could actually get along. I knew pies meant lots and lots of dough, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. (Rain and wind outside helped). Bravely, I opened the book and I started my journey into pie-discovery. Savoury pies, traditional ones, other people's pies, apple pies, all Amercan pies and of course the more general sweet pies.

I did of course at all times keep in mind the ‘Waiter there is something in my … pie’ event. It seems though that not all ‘top on’ pies have a top. Thus I stopped at an Italian Cottage Pie (to satisfy the requirements) and a bottom crust fruit pie. And this made everyone – well, the two of us – very, very happy.

The bottom crust fruit pie. If you know the recipe, you will see it asks for gooseberries (love them!) and apples. Gooseberries though are hard to come by in Belgium. Or I am at a total loss where I can find them. So I settled for a mix of apples, sultanas and almond flakes. Result: 10 out of 10!

Bottom Crust Apple Pie (serves enough)
750gr fruit (plums, damsons, any type of berries, or apples)
75-85gr sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit
egg white to glaze the pastry
shortcrust pastry made with 225gr flour and 110gr unsalted butter

Make the pastry first. Mix the flour and the butter, adding if necessary 2 to 3 tbsp of water. Once the dough is made, wrap it in clingfilm put it in the fridge for at least 30min.
Prepare the fruits. I used apples, sultanas, and almond flakes. No sugar was needed. Peel and core the apples; cut them into chunks. Depending on taste I am sure you could add some rum, or brandy. Vanilla extract perhaps?
Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Roll the pastry out into a large circle, then transfer it to a pie dish. Hurl (!) the fruit into the middle and sprinkle over some sugar. I used 2tbsp of brown sugar.
Fold over the edges of the pastry, making sure they don't touch in the middle. Hence the 'non top'. Brush the pastry with egg white.
Bake for 20min, then turn the oven temperature down to 180°C/gas mark 4 and bake for a further 20-30min. With my oven, I had to cut the second part to 20min.

And this is it: the bottom crust apple pie. Not a tart with a top on, but still a delicious tart. I am saving the one with the top on for the waiter.

Recipe adapted from ‘Tarts with Top On’
Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

Blog Appetite ... Indeed

2007-02-19T16:21:00.000+01:00

You will wonder what this post is all about. I know. The point is, this is big. Huge! What used to be a very organized, useful, and I'd even say trendy French site is now available in English as well. Go figure.

Whilst French food bloggers (I belong to this group geographically) got together and followed each others posts through Blog Appetit, English food bloggers were somewhat left out. By this I don't mean there are not several very useful blog collecting sites out there. I just find the format and content of Blog Appetite to be ... well, very appetizing.

You can tag your posts, you can select your favorites, and I bet there are quite a few more functions I don’t know a lot about. Yet. Oh and the site updates itself automatically every so many minutes. Magic. Can you tell I’m technologically far, far behind? :)

Hope that Blog Appetite will convince you, many food blogs are already listed, and I’ll see you there. Blog Appetite indeed.
Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Brussels Bruxelles

French Onion Soup

2007-02-18T11:30:00.000+01:00

I can not complain. This winter has been a lot milder than in the past years. Then again I do miss the snow and crisp cold. But Belgium rarely has that kind of winter so life just goes on. As does cooking.

Soups. I love soups. Cold, warm, heavy or not, there is a soup for every seazon. Unfortunately I don't cook them nearly enough. With convenience next door, during the week I tend to go for packed soups and enjoy what Knorr, Campbell's etc offer.

One soup in particular caught my attention though. We were out one weekend, and after photographing Brussels through rain and wind, we stopped for a beer and ... a soup. I had the best French Onion soup ever! I know setting, time of day, hunger (!) play a major role when defining 'the best ever'. But the French Onion soup stayed in my memory, so I decided the best thing to do is to try recreate it.

Looking through the food blogosphere I also came across a wonderful soup event (I'll have to bookmark that!) hosted at A Veggie Venture. What a wonderful idea: the world is cooking soup. I love reading on the many different, new, unusual soup recipes. And now my very own French Onion soup. Voila.

For this recipe I combined a recipe from James Martin and one featured in olive. One had too much butter, the other not enough cheese, so bringing in my own touch I managed to cook what turned out to be a pretty tasty French Onion soup. Granted, there are some things I would do different, but more on that later.

French Onion Soup (serves 4)
5 onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
20gr butter
750ml vegetable stock
250gr grated Gruyere cheese
4 slices of bread
2 shots of brandy
salt and pepper, flat leaf parsley

Thinly slice the onion and garlic, then saute in a pan with the butter. Stir well before adding the stock and brandy. Bring to the boil, simmer for 10min.
Toast the bread, top with the grated cheese and place under the grill.
Seazon the soup with salt and pepper.
Serve the soup, top with the bread and cheese toast, sprinkle with parsley.

What would I improve or change? Firstly I think that many onions and garlic only thinly sliced make for a lumpy soup. Next time I would probably chop very finely 3 onions, and only slice 2 to keep the texture.
The recipes also suggested adding red wine vinegar, and balsamic vinegar. I didn't see how this could work, so I left it out.
Further the olive recipe suggested to use 8 slices of bread: one at the bottom of the bowl, then soup, then another slice on top (as shown). I found that could be a little too heavy and bread'y so I skipped the slice of bread in the soup.

Now tell me, aren't French Onion soups the best? Bon appetit.
Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Tempura Shrimp

2007-01-21T17:12:00.000+01:00

In our own search of perfection, we attempted Japanese cooking. The main aim of the evening was to improve our sushi making skills. Besides the sushi and the sashimi though there is the tempura mystery.

I always loved Japanese food. I find it fresh, light and the type of food I can eat guilt-free. When we can, we go out to eat Japanese, but lately the real non-food-blogging life has been so hectic there was hardly any time left for dining out. Thus we tried to make the best out of dining in. And so far it hasn't been bad at all ...

Generally, most people I know like/ love Japanese food. Of course there will always be the ones who do not agree with raw fish. This is where tempura cooked fish comes in. Or vegetables for that matter. We stuck with just shrimp, but tempura batter can be used on a multitude of shellfish and/or vegetables (tip given by Thalie a while ago - merci!). The batter is done very easily by mixing ice cold water (and I mean ice cold), 1 egg and ideally special tempura flour. However we used corn flour and it worked very well. The next steps, easy: take the shrimps, dunk them in the batter, then in the hot oil – ready.

For a first Japanese full out dinner, not too bad. I am sure this is only the beginning though. Why, you wonder? We recently bought Harumi Kurihara's book 'Japanese cooking', and I can't wait to get cooking. Any recommendations what I should look at next on my Japanese cooking discovery trip?

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Perfect Poached Eggs

2007-01-17T23:00:00.000+01:00

I wasn't joking. OK I have a lot less time than I would love to, as the real world seems to have gone mad. But I am still sticking to one new recipe a week resolution. This time around, I attempted something new where (some) cooking skills were needed. The ingredient? The very non-exotic eggs.

After looking trough my cooking books, I decided it is high time to attempt a different approach to the soft boiled egg. I love taking my time and enjoying my Saturday breakfast, which usually includes eggs. This time around poached eggs. The cooking book? The Cook's Book. First time around.

I remember buying this book and being so excited till ... it arrived. At which stage I was more intimidated by the book than anything else. Such a collection of elaborate recipes, and famous chefs. When would I ever get the chance/ opportunity to try any of the recipes? So the Cook's Book went to the 'cooking books' corner. Not exactly forgotten, but not used either. Till one Saturday morning.

Voila. Perfect poached eggs. No rocket science I know :)

use very fresh eggs, and at room temperature;
use a deep pan and bring enough water to cover the eggs to the boil, then let it simmer;
add a little vinegar and salt to the water;
break each egg into a small saucer/ bowl;
try creating a quiet whirl in the pan;
gently slip the eggs into the middle of the simmering (turning) water;
remove from the water with a slotted spoon.

And then ... enjoy!
Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Resolutions: Penne with Aubergines and Chilli

2007-01-11T21:57:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year!

Easy to set resolutions but who thought I'd also keep the odd one as well? True, it is only the first week of being back in Brussels. Work has started and real life is moving at an incredible pace. Yet I managed to keep resolution no. 1. I agree they are ambitious (see comments), but 1 week down 50 odd to go. It will be a very long year.

First week, first new recipe. The cooking book: Bill Granger 'Simply Bill'. The recipe, an easy and delicious penne with aubergine (eggplant) and chilli. Keeping resolution no. 1 in mind as well the real non-blogging life, all I have to do for the next 50 odd weeks is to identify tasty and fast (!) recipes. This recipe was one of them.

I love Bill Granger. All his recipes are light, are fresh, sound and look tasty and easy to do. Granted, Belgium lacks a bit (a lot!) the fresh produce and mostly the fish Australia offers. But we can find the one or the other ingredient. Like eggplants.

In this recipe I left out the pasta, as the sauce was filling enough on its own. But you can add any tubular pasta (penne) or shaped pasta (shells, spirals). The secret to sauces and pasta combinations is to use pasta which grips and holds the sauce.

Penne with Aubergines and Chilli (serves 4)
1 aubergine, sliced
80ml olive oil
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 red chillies, sliced (for the love of spice, I used green chillies)
2 x 400gr tins chopped tomatoes
500gr penne
salt and pepper
chopped flat leaf parsley
30gr pecorino (or parmesan) cheese

Preheat the grill. Slice the aubergines and lie them on a baking tray. Drizzle the slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Grill for 3-4min on each side, or till golden and cooked. When done, cut the aubergine slices into chunky bits.
Place a deep frying pan over medium heat. Add 1tbsp olive oil. Saute the garlic, chillies and a little salt. Add the tomatoes, ground black pepper, and simmer for 10-15min. Add the aubergines.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta al dente. Drain well and toss with the sauce and parsley. Serve with pecorino cheese/ or parmesan.

Presto. And all in under 30min.
Now let's see how this resolution will work next week. Any suggestions what I should try out from the current cook book collection?
Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Chingri Malai Curry

2006-12-30T11:18:00.000+01:00

After so much Christmas food, I know the best most dietary option is not curry. Then again I needed something hot and spicy to wake up my senses, to face the cold. It is officially winter. No snow (yet, although I doubt there’ll be any in Belgium), but freezing. All I can think of is good hot food to warm me up.

With Christmas just around the corner, new cooking books made their way onto my kitchen shelves. Such as a new book on Curry by Vivek Singh & Co. The book takes you through all the curries of India, with short stops in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and to end with, Britain and Japan. A comprehensive curry encyclopaedia which I am sure will serve its purpose when organizing exotic dinners in the coming year. All recipes serve 4 or more so be prepared for a lot of curry!

We inaugurated the book with the Chingri Malai Curry, in plain English the king prawns in coconut curry sauce. The dish itself takes a little bit of time and at first I was overwhelmed by the quantity of curry cooked. However following the advice of Garry Rhodes, I cooked the given quantity (serves 4) and froze the extra two portions for a future cold evening in.

Chingri Malai Curry (serves 4)
5cm piece fresh ginger
10 garlic cloves
6 onions
225ml vegetables oil (this is lot of oil, so I halved the quantity)
800gr king prawns
4tbsp ground turmeric
1tbsp salt
3 bay leaves
2tbsp ground cumin
4 green chillies, slit lengthways
200ml coconut milk
1tbsp sugar
5 green cardamom pods

Blend the ginger and garlic together in the food processor. Set aside.
Blend the onions and 100ml oil in the food processor. Set aside.
Season the prawns with ½ tbsp turmeric and salt. Heat 2tbsp of the oil and sear the prawns briefly, then set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan, then add the onion paste and bay leaves; Saute over moderate heat for 10min.
Mix together the cumin, remaining turmeric, ginger-garlic paste and 150ml water, then add to the onions. Reduce the heat and cook on low heat for 5-8min. Stir in the remaining salt, the green chillies and the prawns. Cook for 2-3min.
Season and serve with steamed rice.

I found that following the instructions to the book and less my own taste buds made for a very bitter curry. I added an extra teaspoon of salt and 1tbsp of sugar. To give the curry a fresher taste I also added a handful of chopped coriander and the juice of 1 lemon. All in all though a very comforting and tasty dish.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Nigella's Roast Potatoes

2006-12-29T13:23:00.000+01:00

The craze all over the UK: Nigella's perfect roast potatoes for Christmas. So perfect that the UK run out of goose fat ... and this is where the Belgian goose fat came in to the rescue. I know Christmas is over (Merry Christmas btw) and that heavy eating is momentarily stopped – till we hit New Year’s Dinner. Trust me though, these are delicious potatoes. Everyone will fight for seconds.

A foolproof recipe from the goddess of cooking herself.

Perfect Roast Potatoes

2½kg potatoes
2 tbsp semolina flour (alternatively, use polenta)
2 x 320g jars goose fat

Preheat the oven to the hottest possible temperature.
Peel the potatoes, and cut them into chunky bits.
Place the potatoes into salted cold water in a saucepan, and bring them to a boil. Boil the potatoes for 4 minutes. Drain the excess water from the potatoes using a colander and then tip the potatoes back into the empty saucepan.
Sprinkle the semolina (or polenta) over the top of the potatoes. Hold a lid firmly on top of the pan and shake the potatoes around to coat them well and so that their edges disintegrate or fuzz and blur a little: this facilitates the crunch effect later.
Place the goose fat into a large roasting tin and heat in the oven until very hot. Then carefully place the semolina-coated potatoes into the hot fat and roast the potatoes in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until they are darkly golden and crisp, turning them over halfway through cooking.
If the oven is hot enough they probably will not need more than about 25 minutes a side; and it's better to let them sit in the oven (you can always pour off most of the fat and leave them in the tin) until the very last minute.

(recipe from Nigella Lawson ‘Feast’)

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Food Blog Awards

2006-12-19T18:44:00.000+01:00

That time of the year again ... the Food Blog Awards. Go ahead nominate, vote and then all we have to do is wait for 2007 to bring us the winners. Good luck to everyone! (Click on the photo to go to the announcement).

Stilton and Port

2006-12-08T22:50:00.000+01:00

Now this is a cheese I love. Not a French cheese, not a Belgian cheese but an English one and I just can’t get enough of it. Every time we go to the UK I bring some back, and it is also the no. 1 gift I get when someone comes back from the UK. The cheese and of course, the usual food magazines.

Stilton was first made in the early 18th century in the midlands of England. It takes its name from the village of Stilton located about 80 miles north of London. As it is a trademark cheese, true Stilton can only be made by authorized creameries operating in the three counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

I find the cheese to be delicious. The stronger the flavor the more I like it. Stilton can be sold only after 9 weeks of maturing, when it has a crumbly texture and quite acidic taste. If left an additional 5 to 6 weeks, the cheese takes a smoother, almost buttery texture and a mellower flavor. And now with Christmas around the corner I am dying to try out the Potted Christmas Stilton.

There are of course plenty recipes which include Stilton and Port. Every cheese has its match.Two of my favorite recipes include the traditional one of Stilton and Port, and another one of walnut paté.

Stilton and Port
225gr Stilton
75gr butter
2 tbsp Port mace, and
butter to run over the top

Mash the cheese with a fork. Beat the butter to a soft cream, then beat in the Stilton, mace and Port. Pack the mixture into a jar or serving dish, smooth over the surface and run a little melted butter over the top as seal. Keep refrigerated until required. Serve as a dip with fresh bread or crackers.

Stilton, Port and Walnut Paté
225gr Stilton
50gr unsalted butter
3 tbsp Port
125gr chopped walnuts

Place the cheese, butter and Port in a food processor until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and add the walnuts, mix. Place the paté in a serving bowl, cover with cling film and chill till ready to serve.

The Birthday Cake

2006-11-23T08:34:00.000+01:00

Happy 33rd Birthday!

Pollo alla Cacciatora

2006-11-17T19:32:00.000+01:00

I would be lying if I would say we are cooking stews to match the cold outside. It isn’t cold at all. Yesterday we had 20 degrees C and today was a beautiful sunny day… I am guessing that all this has a lot to do with global warming, but as I am not keeping an environmental blog I won’t get too much into it.

Cold or not, we started our winter food tradition: stews and slow cooked meals. We are not yet at the height of winter food. We are taking it slowly with chicken stews and crumbles. Stews are quite a surprise. Little effort goes into them, yet so much taste and flavors are present at the end. I love the smell of stews and the comfort they offer when eaten. Plus there is always enough left for the next day. Stews are cooked for the masses. You never find a recipe for ‘stew for 2’. For 6 or 8 yes and anyhow, the more the merrier to share such a meal.

Lastly we cooked Jamie Oliver’s Italy pollo alla cacciatora which to you and me means simply hunter’s chicken stew. Now, neither of us hunts, or has even plucked a chicken which Jamie seems to be so proud of. But we can cook, love to eat and can easily fake the same hunger a hunter can after a cold day out looking for food. Very back to the basics all this!

Pollo all Cacciatora

1 chicken, jointed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
½ a bottle of Chianti
flour, for dusting and extra virgin olive oil
6 anchovy fillets
a handful of green or black olives, stoned
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes

Now these are the ingredients as stated in the book. I left out the Chianti (not because I don’t drink, because I didn’t have any!) and I left out the anchovies (didn’t feel like anchovies). Because of time constraints and not being a hunter’s wife and all, I didn’t marinate the chicken the night before either. And … I skipped the flour-dusting-chicken step (I do think that is because of pure laziness).

As always, season the chicken and indeed if you are organized enough, then leave the chicken to marinate ideally over night.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. I skipped the dusting, but the recipe does suggest dusting the chicken pieces with flour and shaking off any excess. I just added a splash of olive oil in a deep oven proof pan and fried the chicken pieces until browned lightly all over.

Add the sliced garlic. Fry gently until golden brown, then add the anchovies (optional … I guess), olives, tinned tomatoes and the chicken pieces. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and bake in thepreheated oven for 1 ½ hours. Or until done. Taste, add the black olives, stir and season if necessary.

Serve with salad on the side. We skipped that as well and had it simply with fresh bread.

I know this is an easy recipe, but it has so many flavors you’ll want to try it again and again. I like the flexibility of stews and this one offered me the chance to 1, use up ingredients I had in the house (tinned tomatoes, olives) and 2, present the ‘hunter’ with a very delicious meal.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Shrimp Pasta

2006-10-31T14:10:00.000+01:00

It has been a while. Not because any lack of cooking or eating out, but because we moved. And like everyone who has gone through a move, you know what it means. When on top of this you also move countries, it can get quite hectic and chaotic … we lived without plates and cutlery for a few days. But things are slowly getting back to a ‘new’ normal, in the new house, which in true Belgian tradition is very tall, very narrow, and has a lot of stairs. The cooking and blogging goes on floor 0 and floor 4 so a lot of exercise in between, which means burning off more calories than before – guilt free eating!

Amongst the dishes cooked in the new house (warming up take-away does not count!) was shrimp pasta. Something quick, something easy and that did not require a lot of cooking tools. One pot, one chopping board, another pot. A very easy dish but so delicious after hours of work and putting together furniture.

Shrimp pasta (for 2)
500gr pasta – we used orechietti pasta
500gr shrimp (we like our shrimps!)
1 can tomato puree
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
chopped flat leaf parsley
grated parmesan

Of course, taking the ingredients, you can understand how easy it is to cook this dish. Simply boil the pasta al-dente, fry the shrimps with the crushed garlic in some olive oil, add the tomato puree and then mix with the pasta. Sprinkle some flat leaf parsley and parmesan on top. Serve. And enjoy. Ideally after you have just put together a 2.50m high wardrobe and you’ll think this is the best dish you have ever eaten. Ever!

If you come across this post, read it, like it, find it useful, please let me know ... and do recommend it further :). You can find this blog also under http://www.onfoodandwine.com/

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Gorgeous Portobello Mushrooms

2006-09-22T22:22:00.000+02:00

Yesterday afternoon I made an interesting discovery. If I don’t rush in and out of my local green grocer, there is an entire world of vegetables out there. Yesterday I took my time. I decide to pretend I am there visiting, not buying, discovering the gifts of autumn.

A rarity in the current consumer world, my green grocer is quite seasonal. He takes pride in his vegetables and likes to show off the best autumn has to offer. Gorgeous ripe plums. Inviting juicy berries, blue and red, waiting to be used in pies, crumbles, puddings. Lush figs, fragrant and so inviting you can’t stop yourself from touching them (or is this only happening to me?). Apples, mushrooms, oh the gorgeous pumpkins a harmony in orange, … and I could go on and on. I also discovered unusual hidden gems, like mini pickles apples (I wonder what they are good for?), all kind of sauces and jams ready to be used with autumn’s lamb or partridge. If I would only have this much time on my hands every day…

I left the green grocer with two huge Portobello mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms are nature’s space ships. Dark, flat, big mushrooms ready to be used in so many ways. They might be amongst the most versatile mushrooms, good for roasting, barbequing (never tried that!), stuffed or baked. I opted for the stuffed version. As with most stuffed vegetables (eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers), the stuffing is a matter of taste. I like vegetables stuffed with minced meat, vegetables or just plain cheese and more cheese. Endless choices.

My stuffed Portobello mushrooms were such a pleasant dinner surprise! During the week I rarely have the time to be adventurous. And perhaps that’s something which needs to change.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
2 large, flat Portobello mushrooms
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
50gr chorizo (or cheese)
vegetable mix (sliced mushrooms, cubed peppers)
chopped herbs
olive oil, salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 (200C/400F). Wipe the mushrooms and remove the stalks, season with salt and ground black pepper. Place in a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 15min to 20min, till soft.
Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the chorizo, add onion and garlic, cook till soften. Add the vegetable mix and cook for about 10min. Season and add the chopped herbs.
Divide the vegetable mixture between the two Portobello mushrooms, and place back in the oven for a couple of minutes. Depending on taste you can add some grated cheese on top of the mixture.
Serve as a side dish (leaving the chorizo out), or with fresh salad.
(recipe adapted from BBC Food)

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Cucumber and Mint Soup

2006-09-18T20:08:00.000+02:00

I am not a big fan of cucumbers. Odd, as they are mostly made out of water. Yet I never liked them too much. The only exception I make is when cucumbers are used in tzatzikis. Otherwise, me and cucumbers are not the best of friends. Thus I don’t blame you if you’ll wonder why I chose to make a cucumber and mint soup.

Brussels was hit by the heat. The summer we didn’t have in August decided to come along in September. After days of rain and cold, suddenly temperatures rose to 30 degrees C. September was our Indian Summer 2006.

With the heat, my desire for stodgy warm food shrunk, it was hello refreshing, cold food. Soups are amongst the easiest no-fuss foods. And as the gazpacho was a success, I decided to go down the route of cold soups and try out something different. Like a cucumber and mint soup. I can tell you it was refreshing. And very cucumberish. So if you are into cucumbers, this is most definitely a winning recipe (courtesy of BBC Food).

½ cucumber
150gr Greek yoghurt
1tbsp chopped mint
crushed ice, salt and pepper

Whiz together in a blender. Season, and serve with bread and greens on the side.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Spicy Squid

2006-09-10T12:10:00.000+02:00

Marinated squid. Who would have thought? Going to the Marché du Midi, which is our local Sunday market, we bought fresh squid. Nothing unusual about that, as I love squid. But we always end up preparing it fried. So this time around I looked for a different recipe, where I could be more creative with the squid. And I came across marinated squid, a fresh, cold starter just perfect for this sunny, hot Sunday.

Again, this is a recipe to be adapted by everyone according to personal taste, and likes or dislikes. I personally like spicy food. Maybe too much so. If I can bring some spice into the food, I will go to extra lengths to do so. Marinating squid is not difficult. First of all clean the squid, and tentacles. I used only the tentacles for this recipe. The body will be stuffed, and prepared for dinner. After cleaning the tentacles, boil them for 2 to 3 min (or until tender). Then prepare the marinade according to taste. I used chopped coriander, onion, garlic, and of course chilli. Then just toss the whole in olive oil (spicy if you have), wine vinegar, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Refrigerate for 3 to 4h, and you have a very refreshing and tasty starter. Spicy marinated squid.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Red Peppers

2006-08-21T10:46:00.000+02:00

Once in a while you come home and you realize there is barely anything in the fridge, you forgot to buy food and of course, it is dinner time. Moments like these call for inspirational cooking.

Summer is the season of peppers. Green, yellow, red, orange, small and fat, long and thin, all the shapes and sizes. I like the crisp texture of bell peppers, and their versatility. Usually they make a great snack, served with some cheese (usually feta) and bread. But then again they are delicious stuffed.

As peppers were the only vegetable in the house, I decided to go ahead and prepare a simplified version of stuffed peppers. The filling reflects very much what was available in the house: garlic, haloumi cheese and anchovies.

Cut the peppers in half, seed them.
Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
Place in the oven for 10min.
Add the cheese, anchovies (or filling of choice).
Place back in the oven till cooked.
Serve as a side dish or on their own.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Bread, more of it

2006-08-19T16:36:00.000+02:00

Just some more bread, same recipe, same gorgeous result.

Quiche and Fish

2006-07-17T11:35:00.000+02:00

All of a sudden we are bang right in the BBQ season. We barely got used to the sun, the heat, the SPF factor … and it’s already full on BBQ. Our schedules are getting booked with the after work BBQ, the Saturday afternoon BBQ, oh and what about a Sunday lunch BBQ? After so many BBQ (and this is just the first weekend in many to follow) one needs a break from the meat, so hello fish. I know you can barbeque fish as well, but alas the people I know are dedicated meat eaters.

Taking a break from the BBQ, the charcoal and the meat I decided to go ahead and make a smoked salmon and cheese quiche. Very refined cuisine after so many BBQ if you ask me.

I love making quiches. Not only do they look fantastic, they are such a great source of imagination and inspiration. The combinations are endless and everyone enjoys a good old quiche.

The one I made this weekend was a simple yet truly beautiful combination of spinach base, smoked salmon and cheese mixture served with a crisp rucola salad.
For this fast quiche dish I used:
- puff pastry as base
- a spinach, onion and cream base
- mixture of smoked salmon, chunks of Danish white cheese and 4 eggs, all mixed together.
Pour the whole on the pastry base, and in the oven for 20min.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes

Guacamole

2006-07-09T00:13:00.000+02:00

One of my favorite dips, and among the most loved one is the guacamole. With no Mexican influences around, I only discovered it later but I can’t have enough ever since. It is one of the easiest dishes to do, so in this case of guacamole I refuse to buy it ready-made. Plus it never seems to taste just as great.

Avocados are such versatile fruit. They can be used in savory or sweet dishes, mashed or sliced, and every time bring with them new culinary delights.

Preparing a Spanish tapas-like dinner last night (Gazpacho included), I decided guacamole will have to be on the menu. I know many of my friends use personalized versions of making guacamole, so I will use mine.

Ingredients:
3 very ripe avocados
3 garlic cloves
1 tomato
1 lemon (juice only)
1tbsp sour cream
1tbsp olive oil

Instructions for use: mash it all together. There is rarely other cooking simpler than this. Depending on tastes, likes and dislikes, one can add chillies, coriander, or other herbs and spices. I prefer my guacamole quite lemony so all I add is usually just a little bit of extra lemon (or lime) juice.

I wonder if by the ingredients used I could qualify this recipe for the Weekend Herb Blogging over at Kalyn's Kitchen as well? :)

Tagged with: Food Recipes Weekend Herb Blogging Belgium

More bread

2006-07-07T10:52:00.000+02:00

When we set on our past adventure to make bread, little did I know we will repeat the experience. There is something though about the smell of fresh bread that can not be beaten! It fills the house up and all I wait for if the bread to cool down and have the first chunky, crusty piece.

This loaf of bread was no different. Using the same recipe as before we opted now to bake a loaf, rather than muffin breads. I hope the picture can talk a million words so you understand just how good it was (again!). Next time though a little experiment will be necessary and I am sure we will start adding flavors and spices.

Forza Italia!

2006-07-03T15:30:00.000+02:00

At the moment football is king! Everyone I know and everything I know is turning around football. There is the lighthearted office banter (I happen to work in a very internationally football representative institution). The short working days to catch the games planned at 5:00pm. The cheer and sadness that goes with great football. The beer and food that goes with the weather.

In order to celebrate the Italian game in style – very Italian of us – I decided to try the whole football/ food association. With the heat in Brussels, cooking pasta was not what I had in mind. Rather plenty of mixed antipasti. Easily done, with an Italian trattoria just down the street.

But to complete the Italian preparation for the World Cup, I made some bruschettas as well. The tastiest thing in the world. I somehow always forget they are so easy to prepare, so tasty and such a crowd pleaser. The variations can be endless. The classic bruschetta is toasted bread (I usually use baguettes), rubbed with fresh garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. The topping variations of your bruschettas can be sun dried tomatoes, slightly grilled mozzarella, roasted peppers, and I bet anchovies would be heaven as well.

Forza Italia indeed.

Gazpacho ... Ole!

2006-06-19T18:56:00.000+02:00

Everyone I know loves Gazpacho. Everyone I know also has a different ‘personal’ Gazpacho recipe. Thus, not disappointing anyone, I came up with my own summer Gazpacho recipe. For those of you in the dark (although I doubt there is anyone left not knowing Gazpacho), Gazpacho is a cold tomato soup, hailing all the way from sunny Spain. Depending on the temperatures outside, the soup can be served at room temperature or right from the fridge … I have though seen it served with ice cubes as well.

When it gets this hot, I rarely spend time in kitchen. Although, ironically, it is the coolest room in my apartment. Yet I prefer spending the lazy summer days on a terrace sipping a cold beer or a cold glass of wine. And when I do get hungry I tend to keep it simple.

With loads of tomatoes in the house, why not use them than by making Gazpacho? One indispensable kitchen utensil you will cherish: a food processor.

The ingredients are personal favorites. Of course 4 – 6 ripe tomatoes, and then let your imagination go wild. Ideally you’ll choose some solid vegetables as well to give the soup texture. I opted for zucchinis. The rest is a matter of taste, as some like it spicy, some like it hot, others herby.

4 – 6 tomatoes, peeled and chopped. A good trick: boil some water, pour it over the tomatoes, and leave for 3min. Then pour cold water over the tomatoes, and peel.
4 – 6 small zucchinis, roughly chopped, and boiled till soft
Herbs: basil, parsley, etc
Spices: salt and pepper (ideally ground pepper and a lot of it), hot sauce etc

As the recipe is all about personal tastes, I know some use cream as well to make it thicker … up to you.

Wisk it all. Place in the fridge till cold. Enjoy in the sun.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Recettes Spain

Tomato/ Tomato

2006-06-16T18:55:00.000+02:00

What more could you wish for on a hot summer day than juicy, delicious tomatoes, a little salt and pepper, parsley and basil? Maybe a drizzle of olive oil but that of course is optional.

I served this as a starter for a summer soaked dinner, and amongst the ah’s, the oh’s and the wow’s I can tell you all of it was gone before I could say tomato, you say tomato. Deliciously simple, yet such a treat.

Tempura twist

2006-06-05T12:59:00.000+02:00

This long weekend I went all out trying different recipes, and planning the menu for the days to come. In a sort of ‘Ready Steady Cook’ style, I attempted to use the food already in the house. It is amazing how much you forget and how much you discover once you are ‘forced’ to use what is already in stock.

It seems my love for Asian food hasn’t been satisfied yet, so we combined different parts of the Far East and had a Japanese starter, and an Indian main course. A little twist on the usual fish tempura, I tried vegetable tempura. Very easy and such a delicious starter for our dinner.

The tempura is easily done by mixing 1 egg, 1 cup of cold water and 1 cup of flour. For this starter I used cauliflower, courgettes, and aubergines, all thinly sliced. Of course you can use your imagination and go for other vegetables as well, such as carrots, asparagus (very much in season), etc … Coat all the vegetables with the batter mixture, 3min deep fried in hot oil – done. Serve with soya sauce.

Tagged with: Food and Drink Recipes Recettes Asian Food

Shicimi spiced duck ramen

2006-05-29T19:15:00.000+02:00

Back from tasting wines in the Alsace, back from the heavy cuisine of Alsace - more on that soon - we were in dire need of something quick and light. It’s funny how all you can think of before going on holiday is tasting the local delights, and once back all you are craving are things you didn’t have access to. In my case that would be Asian cuisine.

Granted, we didn’t actively look for an Asian restaurant in the Alsace. With pretzels and choucrote, Flammkueche, the Munster and the Kugelhopf there was no room left for Asian food. Or anything else for that matter.

Back in Brussels though the memories of good, simple and tasty Asian food are back. Armed with the Wagamama cooking book and still some energy left after the long drive, we got cooking: shicimi spiced duck ramen.

2 x 150gr boneless duck breast, skin on (we used one, half and half)
2 teaspoons shicimi (seven spice pepper)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
250gr ramen noodles
1l vegetable stock
2 handful roughly chopped pak choi (or baby spinach)
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced

Prepare the duck by lightly scoring the skin. Mix the spices together and lay the duck in the marinade. If possible marinate for 1h.
Cook the duck on a very hot griddle or frying pan, skin side down, for 5min. turn over, cook for another 3min. Set aside to rest for 5min.
Cook the noodles in a large pan of boiling water for 2-3min. Drain and divide between 2 bowls. Bring the vegetable stock to the boil, add the pak choi and cook for 1min, then ladle over the noodles.
Thinly slice the duck breasts and place on top along with the spring onions.

Of course all of this was possible because the weekend before Alsace was dedicated to Asian food shopping.

Bread, glorious bread

2006-05-22T23:49:00.000+02:00

After hints of summer, the hope the sun will stay and plans to linger in the south (cuisine wise), it seems it is all back to normal: rain and more rain. I doubt I will ever get used to the endless rainy days of Brussels. Then again, what can you do except the most out of it?

Last Saturday the mother of all storms hit Brussels. There was very little to convince me to face the outside world. I even had to put the heating back on if you can imagine that. So confined to my apartment and time on my hands, I started thinking of the most time consuming recipes …. I never have time for. No surprise to anyone, bread came to mind. At the beginning of my culinary journey I used to bake bread quite often. I think discovering the secrets of the dough rising, the texture and flavours, which can be combined as well as the process itself caught my attention.

There is nothing easier, or more satisfying than making bread. I love the feel of dough, I love the kneading, and the smell of bread baking is what heaven must smell like.

With the ingredients in the house and Jamie Oliver on hand, we set on our adventure to bake the perfect basic bread (recipe pg. 312). The rain, of course, continued.

3x7gr sachets of dried yeast
30gr sugar
625ml tepid water
1kg strong bread flour
30gr salt
extra flour for dusting

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in half the tepid water.
On a clean surface, make a pile of the flour mixed with salt. Make a well in the middle, and add the yeast mixture. Then pour the other half of the tepid water, and gradually incorporate all the flour to make a moist dough.
Knead the bread to develop the gluten – at this stage it is all about finger feeling. If the dough sticks to your fingers, add some extra flour.
Shape the dough into a ball and cover it with a damp towel. Then let the dough rest, till it doubles in size.
Once the dough has doubled in size, knock out the air by bashing it around for a minute.
To get mini bread rolls, we equally divided the dough and placed it into a muffin baking tray. Each dough ball was then seasoned with extra ingredients: rosemary, olives, salt, dried tomatoes … let your imagination run wild.
Gently place the muffin tray into the preheated oven, 20 to 30min.

And then all I can advise you is to let the bread cool for a while on a rack before tucking in. Talking from experience, there were some cases of burned tongues I know of …

Zorba the Greek

2006-05-10T23:56:00.000+02:00

The sun is finally coming to Brussels as well, so I think we will stay for a while in the Mediterranean-cooking zone. With summer knocking on the door, it is a pleasure to discover the markets again, to buy seasonal vegetables, take in the different smells and drown in the colours of spring. The sudden change in the dishes we cook is also amazing. From stews and one-pot dinners with a lot of flavour – but less colour – we now moved to a symphony of colours on the plate. It’s like food design every evening chez nous. We sometimes are tempted to buy food hat matches in colours, rather than to buy food for … food.

Salads are now (again) my favourites. I love tossing some rucola with balsamic vinegar and shrimps together. Or a simple mixed vegetables salad with eggs and bacon. The classic one - you know which one I mean - mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olives. Of course adding the Italian twist now: sun dried tomatoes.

And so on. I am sure you get the picture.

One such salad – again, an all time, foolproof classic – is the Greek salad. After a short visit to the Sunday market, and fresh produce in the house, the Greek salad in the picture was born. I assume the picture says it all: toss the cheese, the olives, the tomatoes, onions together, season with plenty olive oil, salt and pepper. Enjoy in the sun!

Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Brussels Greece

Kleftiko - the thieves dinner

2006-05-10T10:17:00.000+02:00

Back from Italy, we are gastronomically stuck in the Mediterranean. I promised to write some recipes on the Italian food we had, yet first let me share with you a recent Greek recipe we tried out. Kleftiko. The name alone can lure you into Greece and the amazing food it has to offer.

Then you discover the myth behind this dish: the food of the thieves. Legend has it that kleftiko –which in translation means thieves lamb – was lamb wrapped in paper, and cooked for hours. This to allow the thieves to go out on their robbing spree, yet come back to a delicious and ready cooked meal.

We didn’t go on a robbing spree, but we did cook kleftiko.

2 shoulders chops lamb
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 onion, cut into rings
fresh lemon juice, enough white wine to cook
olive oil, bay leaves, seasoning

Place the lamb shoulder in an oven proof dish and cover with all the ingredients. Other vegetables can be added to the dish as well, such a sliced carrots, tomatoes, potatoes etc. We however preferred our dish as simple as possible. The only twist we added, is covering the kleftiko with dough. Usually the dish is cooked in baking papers, in the oven. However we thought that dough could have the same sealing effect – which it did – and looked a little more impressive. Served with a fresh salad, it made for a very nice, sunny dish.
Tagged with: Food and Drink Food Recipes Greece

Merry Berry

2006-04-18T00:30:00.000+02:00

There are those moments when all you feel like is something sweet. Anything will do. Chocolate (yes!), any type of cake, anything. As I dread those moments when sugar pangs hit, I tend not to buy sweets (except one particular dark chocolate with chunks of oranges in it). Yet unavoidably, there it was: the sugar call.

Knowing that Easter was just around the corner, I decided to approach this the clever way: prepare something sweet, yet healthy. That’s where the lemon and berry creamy pots came into the spot light.

I remembered the recipe from the Good Food supplement on ‘Good for You – Healthy Eating’ (what could be more straightforward than this?). I made the creamy pots. We finished the creamy pots. And I am going to make the creamy pots again.

zest and juice of 1 lemon
12g sachet gelatine powder
200gr plain low fat cheese
250gr plain low fat yoghurt
5tbsp granulated artificial sweetener
250gr frozen berries, defrosted

Pour the lemon juice in a small heatproof bowl, sprinkle the gelatine over, place the bowl in a small pan of gently simmering water and melt the gelatine.
Mix together the lemon zest, cheese and yoghurt, and 4tbsp sweetener until smooth. Pour in the melted gelatine and stir to combine evenly.
Divide the mixture between 4 glasses, cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 1h.
Serve with defrosted berries on top of the pots.

Tuscan Pâté

2006-04-11T23:10:00.000+02:00

With spring in the air – finally temperatures are up, and the sun is making itself visible – my food cravings have changed as well. From one-pot dinners we are now moving on to more sophisticated (well at least in my world) dinners where I actually get to use some cooking skills.

Lately, the theme was Italian. It seems I didn’t go back to the English (Gordon, Jamie and Nigel) but stayed in the south. It’s Bella Italia wherever you look in the kitchen. Probably just getting ready for the 10 days of sun we will spend in Naples.

Moving on to food, my last success in the kitchen was (finally!) a Tuscan pâté. Whilst in Florence two things really made an impression: the Italian wine and the Tuscan pâté. For one or the other reason I somehow never got around to make Tuscan pâté, that is, till last weekend.

I know many are put off by organs. Somehow I never had a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is cleaning fresh fish! But that is another story. So chicken livers: I like chicken livers. I always did and now that the mystery of Tuscan pâté has been solved, I am sure there will be plenty more chicken livers coming up.

Not as difficult as I make it sound (but then again it was the first time I made Tuscan pâté), we got cooking. The ingredients used, simple:
4tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ onion, finely chopped
500gr chicken livers
cream, Madeira (or sherry)
salt and pepper, rosemary

Add the olive oil and onions to a large pan, and cool for 4min over low heat. Add the chicken livers. Cook on medium heat for 15min.
Add the rosemary and Madeira and let it simmer for 15min, or until the chicken livers are done well.
Add salt and pepper and let it cool.
Blitz the mixture in a food processor until smooth. Slowly stir in the cream (depending on how rich and smooth you want the texture to be).
Spread on crostini.

Cover with clarified butter to keep.

Tagged with: food recipes Italian recipe cooking

Gamberi in Salsa Dolceforte

2006-03-22T21:37:00.000+01:00

Looks like it’s a silver and spoon kind of week. You know that feeling when one cooking book just seems to answer all your questions right there and then? That is the feeling I have with The Silver Spoon this week. Needless to say my commitment to the Italians might vanish by the weekend, and I could find myself musing over the English (Gordon, Jamie or Nigel). For the moment though la vita e bella. On the other hand being home and leafing through my cookbooks, being able to decide what I eat tonight according to my own cravings – and not a restaurant’s menu – is pure bliss.

After a TLC weekend, cozing up on the couch – will the winter ever end? – this week I decided to have a healthier approach to food. The luxury of coming directly home every evening after work also plays a role. I now have breakfast, pack lunch AND cook dinner. Yey-hey! All this combined with a weekend in Brussels where I was able to go to the market and buy fresh ingredients (you know the ones where the dirt is still on, and no packaging in sight!).

Prawns. I love prawns. They are versatile, so easily used in many recipes and they do make the best finger food in the world! What I don’t love about them is the peeling and pulling off the heads. Nothing I particularly hate about it, but when you get 1/2kg of raw prawns ready for dinner it takes courage. And good music.

Dinner was not finger food, but an adaptation of Gamberi in Salsa Dolceforte, which translates to prawns in strong sweet sauce. At first, after reading the recipe I didn’t know what to expect. Now that I have cooked it, it will be a recipe to remember. An interesting combination of flavours and ingredients, which I have never used before, but it works – and no leftovers.

24 raw prawns (we used 1/2kg), peeled and deveined
5tbsp olive oil
2 carrots
½ onion finely chopped
we left out the 1 leek finely chopped and the 2 celery sticks finely chopped
50ml brandy
175ml dry white wine
200ml concentrated fish stock (not having any on hand, we used vegetable stock)
1 fresh thyme sprig, 1 bay leaf
2 ripe tomatoes, peeled, deseeded, chopped
2 lemons
1tbsp sugar
plain flour for dusting
1/2tbsp ground cinnamon
50gr sultanas
1tbsp pine nuts
salt and pepper

First, bravely, pull the heads off, peel and devein the prawns. Keep the heads and shells. Heat 3tbsp olive oil, add the heads and shells, the carrots, celery, onion and leek and cook over low heat, stirring for 5 min.
Add the brandy, cook until evaporated, then add the white wine and bring to the boil.
Add the stock, thyme, bay leaf and tomatoes, and simmer till thickened.
Strain the stock into a clean pan and return to the heat. Simmer until reduced to 5tbsp, remove from the heat and reserve.
Thinly pare the lemons, and cut the rind in very thin batons. Blanch the rind in three separate changes of boiling water (we actually did this, although to be perfectly honest I felt very silly doing it – or very chef’y, as you wish – but it was useful. The lemon bitterness was gone).
Place the batons in a small saucepan with the sugar and 2tbsp water; bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and the lemon rind is coated in syrup.
Squeeze the lemons and strain the juice;
Lightly dust the prawns with flour. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan, add the prawns, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the cinnamon, add the reserved stock, lemon juice, lemon rind, sultanas and pine nuts, and mix well;
A rucola salad on the side, and it was a dolceforte bliss.
Tagged with: Recipes Recettes Food Food and Drink Italian

Abbachio Alla Romana

2006-03-22T20:40:00.000+01:00

It was a quiet weekend, catching up on my life in Brussels, meeting friends I haven’t seen in a long time and a delicious dinner on Saturday night. Home cooked and all.

Looking for inspiration, I picked up The Silver Spoon. Unlike last time, my attention was drawn now by their meat recipes. Lamb to be precise. A nice dinner of lamb, roasted potatoes, a rich gravy, and a good bottle of wine. I know it might sound boring but after weeks of eating in restaurants, hotels, in planes and trains, I was in desperate need for some TLC.

So without any further debate, we opted for the roman spring lamb recipe or Abbacchio Alla Romana (serves 4, adapted from the Silver Spoon).

1kg leg of lamb
plain flour for dusting
3tbsp olive oil
3 fresh rosemary sprigs
4 fresh sage leaves
1 garlic clove, crushed
175ml white wine
5tbsp white wine vinegar

The recipe asks you to chop the leg into pieces, however we preferred cooking it whole. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (180°). As we didn’t opt for the lamb pieces, the following didn’t apply: dust the pieces with flour, and cook over light heat until browned all over (10 min). Season the lamb with salt and pepper, add the rosemary sprig and sprinkle with the sage and garlic.
Mix together the wine and the vinegar, and add to the roasting tin and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated;
Add 150ml of boiling water and the potatoes, cover and roast until tender.
Tagged with: Recipe Food Food and Drink Italian

Clafoutis in Paris

2006-03-18T18:09:00.000+01:00

While in Paris, we were invited for a long lunch of French food and wine. Oh and French cheese. I still feel awkward taking pictures of other people’s food. Everyone seems obliged to wait until I am done, and then start eating. I know it is the polite thing to do, but then again it can take me a very long time until I take a picture I am happy with. Lately it has been a case of cold lunches, and lonely dinners (cold as well btw).

Anticipating this, and wanting to spend my lunch with the rest of people around the table, I sneaked into the kitchen and started taking pictures of the entrée: a vegetable clafoutis. All this before I even tried it.

Usually a sweet cherry tart, the clafoutis is a speciality from Limousin. It seems the secret lies in leaving the cherry stones in.

As with all traditional recipes, modern twists are now present. And in true modern fashion, we had grilled vegetable clafoutis with a green salad.

10gr butter
100gr flour
3 eggs
2dl milk
1/2dl cream
25gr melted butter
breadcrumbs, salt, basil
grilled vegetables

Preheat the oven at gas mark 6 (180°). Butter a deep pan with 10gr butter and breadcrumbs (chapelure). In a bowl mix the flour, eggs, the milk and cream, with the melted butter, the salt and the basil. Pour the mix in the pan and add the grilled vegetables (aubergines, peppers, zucchini etc). Bake in the oven for 40min or until ready. Serve warm or cold with a green salad.

Tagged with: Food Food and Drink Recettes Recipes

Spicy carrots

2006-02-23T00:04:00.000+01:00

This was more of a happy coincidence, experiment, than actual cooking by the book. We bought cuttlefish at the market, and then fresh carrots and beans. And logic said we need to prepare a lovely dinner with these ingredients.

So we did. The cuttlefish was fried in the pan with lots of lemon juice, salt and peppers, and some chilli flakes. As for the carrots and the beans, I looked for inspiration in the last Olive magazine and found a recipe on spicy carrots. Ideal for what we had in mind. And to be perfectly honest it has been one of the best, quick meals I have ever prepared for dinner. Definitely a winner for many other dinners to come.

200gr green beans, trimmed
3 carrots peeled, and cut into long matchsticks
1tbsp sesame oil
1 large chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1tbsp soya sauce
1tbsp mirin
1tbsp sesame seeds

Cook the beans and carrots in boiling water for one minute then rinse in cold water and drain.
Heat the sesame oil in a wok then throw in the carrots and beans. Cook over high heat for a minute then add the chilli and a pinch of salt and cook for a minute more. Add the soya sauce and the mirin and cook for another minute.
Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame seeds. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Moules

2006-02-21T22:43:00.000+01:00

Amazingly enough I discovered mussels in … Brussels. It doesn’t get more cliché than this. And ever since discovering them, I love them. I love the fact they are easy to prepare, and then so versatile.

Moules in Brussels are as sought after and important as beer. Every restaurant and brasserie makes sure to have at least 4 different moules dishes on their menu, when in season. Naturally, moules are served in special Belgian casseroles – I really need to get one of those – and with frites and mayonnaise on the side. I think even the colours of the dish are planned to come across as Belgian: the black moules in red tomato sauce, and the yellow frites on the side – there you have it!

I love moules. I love the moules ritual and how all my Belgian friends can kill only to have moules when in season. I have been ‘dragged’ (and didn’t complain once!) to endless moules evenings. House moules parties, restaurant visits, and then easy moules dinners after the Sunday market. And every time I eat them, I discover a new twist on the original, a new recipe.

Of course there are the moules mariniere, the classic dish. The moules a la diable, the spicy twist – love them. As Belgian as it ever gets: moules a la biere. And then the endless combinations, exotic or not on moules. Versatile, easy to cook, delicious.

Moules mariniere
2kg mussels
2 finely chopped shallots
2tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 glasses white wine
100gr butter
thym, pepper

Wash the mussels till the water is clear. Place the mussels, the shallots, the parsley, the thym, the white wine and pepper in a deep pot. Cover, and cook over high heat until all mussels are open. Disregard any which didn’t open. Pour the juice in a casserole and bring to the boil. Add the butter and continue boiling, until the sauce reduces; add some fresh parsley, and serve on top of the mussels.

Gallina in Salsa Rosa

2006-02-17T15:34:00.000+01:00

There are a couple of cooking books you just know you have to have them. With me that’s about every other book, but still I am tying to contain my impulse cook-book shopping. This year I resumed my shopping to two books: The Cook’s Book and the Silver Spoon.

The Silver Spoon just arrived the other week. And it took me another week to leaf through it, read a recipe here and there, understand and become familiar with the structure and finally, to cook. The book is amazing and I hope to get the chance to write a little more about it. It’s Italian spirit, culture and cuisine all in one. I honestly think this is one of those milestone books, which I’ll use, then pass it on to my children, grandchildren and generations next!

My first attempt used a little improvisation on my side, but I mainly stuck to the recipe as described in the Silver Spoon. So to the joy of everyone I cooked (and succeeded) Gallina in Salsa Rosa.

500gr canned tomatoes
80gr butter
chicken, cut into pieces
175ml white wine
milk
salt and pepper

The recipes suggests you should pass the tomatoes though a food mill into a bowl. I cut them into smaller chunks, using a trick learned from Rachel on Saturday Kitchen. After opening the can, you just cut through with a knife, left and right, and presto! Melt the butter into a pan, add the chicken and cook, turning frequentkly until browned all over. Add the wine, milk and tomatoes, season well and cook over a medium heat for about 1 1/2h. I also added sliced red peppers and a chopped onion to the sauce, as well as rosemary. Combining these ingredients gave more consistency to the sauce.

Heston Blumenthal & Cheese Sandwiches

2006-02-16T15:13:00.000+01:00

I most definitely will not enter the endless tirade going on at the moment about a certain article on Food Blogs. I am only blogging for my own (foodie) pleasure, I do love food and wine, and the opportunity this blog is giving me to meet other like minded people. And I absolutely don’t like opinionated people who make general statements. But I do love cheese.

I will resume to a simple recipe on cheese sandwich – now who saw this one coming? – from none other than Heston Blumenthal. Now if a cheese sandwich is OK for a three starred Michelin chef, then I guess it should do for me and the rest of the world just fine. The recipe was published in the March 2006 issue of ‘Delicious’.

Cheese on Toast (serves 4)
½ garlic clove
4 baguette slices, cut diagonally
4 tbsp butter or olive oil
150gr Cheddar or Gruyere, sliced

For the Garlic Wine
75ml dry white wine
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 fresh tarragon sprig
2 black peppercorns, crushed

Make the garlic wine. Put the wine, garlic and herbs in a pan and bring to the boil. Add the pepper and boil for 8/10min, until reduced to 4 tbsp. Remove from the heat and cool. Strain and set aside.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/ 220°C. Put the baguette slices on a baking sheet and bake for 5min or until toasted. Rub the cut side of the garlic over each toasted slice, then spread with the butter or the oil. Top with the cheese and drizzle over the garlic wine. Return to the oven for 10min, until the cheese is bubbling.

St. Valentine's

2006-02-14T21:06:00.000+01:00

A box of Pierre Marcolini. Bliss.

Masterchef test

2006-02-07T20:37:00.000+01:00

Lately I am addicted to Masterchef. When I make it home on time from work, I love watching the three challenges contestants have to go through. And here and there pick up an idea or two. During the semi finals not long ago one of the tests was to identify animal organs. I have to admit I got a couple right, many wrong. What I realized though is that I rarely cook organs. They are full of vital minerals, known to be very tasty and I just eat them in patés?

I decided to approach my butcher and ask him for advise on what to go for first. His advise: to try out veal and chicken livers. Not sure I’ll make it all the way to their hearts, but so far I am enriching my taste buds.

Besides the traditional paté there are plenty of recipes for chicken livers. Such a great ingredient once discovered. Being at my first attempt, I decided to go for the BBC Food spicy chicken livers.

225g fresh chicken livers
2cm fresh ginger, chopped very finely
6 garlic cloves, chopped very finely
1 large hot green chilli, chopped very finely
¼tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp coriander powder
½ lemon, juiced
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
salt as desired

Clean the chicken livers and dice them up.
Mix together the ginger, garlic, chilli, turmeric, cumin, lemon juice and some salt, add the chicken livers and mix until they are thoroughly coated.
Heat the oil to smoking point in a large heavy-bottomed frying pan, then add the livers.
Don’t stir them too much, just shake the pan to toss them or stir very lightly with a wooden spatula.
Cook for 4-5min, until browned on the outside but still pink on the inside, or longer if you prefer them well done.
Toss in the coriander and mint and check the seasoning, adding a squeeze of lemon juice if you like and serve immediately.

I hope you will enjoy this spicy twist on chicken livers. And if you have a fool proof recipe on chicken liver paté, I would be very happy to hear about it.

Popping cranberries

2006-02-05T22:31:00.000+01:00

Life is coming more or less back to normal after the winter holidays. I have time to go shopping again, to go to the market on Sunday. To take my time in the kitchen, discovering new recipes and experimenting with new ingredients.

The current weather doesn’t yet spur anyone to go out for too many hours on end, so this weekend I decided to go through my cooking books and try something new. It is amazing how many recipes you rediscover. Or how many beg to be tried. All in due time I guess.

This particularly cold weekend we decided to have duck. Cutting on carbohydrates, we had duck with green peas and baby carrots. But the piece de resistance of this dish was the cranberry and roast shallot relish.

Now I have to admit this is the first time I used fresh cranberries and cooked them from scratch. So quite a discovery, which ended with us laughing in the kitchen at the sound of popping cranberries. And pop they do!

The recipe is from a classic book, ‘The Cookery Book’, which I don’t own. However if anyone is considering investing in a solid, classic cooking book, which recipes to last a lifetime, this is your book. True, some of the recipes will never be tried out in standard kitchens (the Rose Wedding Cake for examples, which could even make professional pastry chefs shiver) but overall the book is full of accessible, delicious recipes. I like leafing the book and finding new recipes in it, although many read as if stuck somewhere in the 1950’s – but then again you can’t beat good, classic home cooking.

Back to the cranberry and roast shallot relish. It accompanies duck perfectly. I truly recommend this recipe; it can also be preserved, so a tasty relish to be enjoyed time and time again. This dish could also work perfectly with strong cheese, as the sweetness of the relish will balance some of the powerful taste of cheese.

Following the recipe, it makes about 900gr relish. Cooking time: 45min (recipe taken from Good Housekeeping ‘Cookery Book’)
450gr shallots
45ml olive oil
225gr soft brown sugar
450gr fresh (or frozen) cranberries
2.5cm pieces fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
15ml mustard seeds
150ml red wine
200ml red wine vinegar

Plunge the shallots into a pan of boiling water for 5min to loosen then skins, then remove. When cool enough to handle, peel, leaving on a little of the root end to hold then intact. Halve the shallots lengthwise.
Place the shallots in a roasting tin with the olive oil and 45ml of the sugar. Roast at 200°C/gas mark 6 for at least 30min, turning twice, until softened and caramelised. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile place the cranberries in a heave based saucepan with the ginger, remaining sugar, mustard seeds, wine and vinegar. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 10-15min until the cranberries burst and the mixture thickens. Take off the heat.
Stir the shallots into the cranberries. Deglaze the roasting tin with the liqueur or a little extra wine. Reduce until syrupy, then pour into the cranberry mixture. Return to the heat and simmer very gently, stirring occasionally, for 10-15min, until thick.
Spoon the relish into sterilised jars, cover. Store in a cool place for up to 6 months.

Tortino

2006-01-30T22:18:00.000+01:00

The first thing I do when buying a new cooking book is identifying my top ten recipes to try out in the shortest amount of time possible. With ‘The Cook’s Book’ finally in the house it was not difficult to identify a couple of ‘must tries’. True, the book is a little difficult to handle as it weighs quite a bit and counts over 600 recipe pages. So I had to short list the recipes in the living room and then try out the magic in the kitchen.

My first choice was a Tortino, which is an Italian savoury pie. I chose the recipe not only because it contains eggs, among my favourite produce around, but also because I could use all the greens I still had in the house. A very versatile recipe, you can add any vegetables you like as it all mixes very well together.

For my pie I substituted the aubergines used in the original recipe with green peas. I love aubergines, but there were none to be found in the house. Also struggling with the post New Year reality I am now back to veggies and fruit so I decided to cook the Tortino using less olive oil than suggested, and the double cream was substituted by light cream. But to stick to the original, here the recipe (serves 4 as main course):

8tbsp plus 2 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, halved and sliced
1 large aubergine, peeled, quartered and cut into slices
2 courgettes cut into rounds
1tsp sea salt
5 eggs
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
240ml double cream
100gr freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 160°C (in my case gas mark 3). In a medium pan heat the 2 tbsp olive oil, add the onion and sauté, until tender and golden. Put aside.
In the same pan, heat 4tbsp olive oil, add the aubergine and sauté for 3-4min, then add the courgettes, and continue stirring until both are tender.
Transfer the vegetables to the onions, season.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add 2tbsp olive oil, the vinegar, cream, two-thirds of the cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well and stir in the vegetables;
Use the remaining olive oil to grease a round or square baking dish. Add the egg mixture. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 35min.
Sprinkle the tortino with the remaining cheese, return to the oven and continue to bake uncovered. Serve either warm or cold.

I very much enjoyed this dish and plan to cook it again, as it is easy to cook, healthy enough (when substituting the right way) and it makes for very delicious lunches. A fresh rucola salad on the side, and it is like being for a moment in Italy.

Winter comfort food

2006-01-24T20:38:00.000+01:00

I so wish I didn’t have to cook winter comfort food. Till about a week ago there was still hope, that Belgian winter will turn into spring, and the freezing temperatures forgotten. But it seems that Siberia is facing –80°C at the moment, and slowly the cold is making its way to Belgium.

Today was the first day I saw frozen water on the pavement.

So winter it is! And winter comes with comfort food. After a first challenge to 'revisit' old cooking books, the Weekend Cookbook Challenge no. 2 is all about winter comfort food. Needless to say how easy it is combining cooking at home with this second challenge! You just have to take a look outside and realize that all you need is (love-) comfort.

Comfort food to me is basically anything to do with stews. Easy to make, loads of ingredients and flavours, no fuss one-pot cooking – and everyone loves it. Looking through my cooking books, I came across ‘The 1200 calorie-a-day menu cookbook’ – not that I eat anywhere close to 1200 calories a day at the moment. I’d instantly freeze or blow away if that would be the case.

A recipe on a hearty sausage and pasta stew drew my attention though. My winter comfort food recipe for today:

200gr cooked pasta
4 sausages (I used chicken sausages)
1 chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, chopped
50gr mushrooms, chopped
one glass water
half a glass red wine
salt & pepper, chopped fresh parsley, black olives

As it is a stew, you can of course keep adding all the vegetables you like (zucchini, bell peppers, aubergines).
Lightly brown the sausages in a little oil, set aside.
Add onion and garlic to the saucepan and cook for 4min. Add vegetables, wine, water and season well. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10min. Stir in parsley, pasta and sausages and cook, covered, for 10min.

4 x meme

2006-01-18T20:37:00.000+01:00

There are not enough hours in a day I realized. True, I have been cooking, and eating, but in between incredibly long hours at work, and life ‘outside’ the blog, there was very little time to write on any recipes, food or culinary experiences.
I hope the current rhythm will slow down or if not, please, I’ll need another extra 5h in a day. Today’s post is less about food, more about a meme I received from Ulrike at Küchenlatein. So here goes nothing.

Four Jobs You’ve Had in Your Life
advertising (intern)
language teacher
advertising assistant
programme manager

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
What women want
My big fat Greek wedding
Ocean’s 11
The Breakfast Club

Four Places You’ve Lived
Brasov, Romania
Frankfurt, Germany
Paris, France
Brussels, Belgium

Four Websites You Visit Daily
Google
Yahoo
Hotmail
BBC

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
Will & Grace
SATC
Cold case
Saturday Kitchen

Four of Your Favorite Foods (now we're talking ...)
cheese (and I might just as well make that the top 4 …)
potatoes
lamb
bananas

Four Albums You Can’t Live Without
that’s between me and my mp3 player

Four Places You’d Rather Be
New York, USA
Madrid, Spain
Florence, Italy
Naples, Italy

And that's it. Before I get back to my cooking anf blogging, it is only fair to pass the 4xmeme on. So the four people I am passing the 4xmeme to: I'll try to get Zsofi in from Chili&Vanilia, definitely Alison from Cheese Web, to Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen , and last but not least to Michele from Chef Michele's Adventures.

Enjoy!

A magical chocolate moment

2005-12-18T21:26:00.000+01:00

I will be leaving in one week for the winter holiday, Christmas and New Year. That means out of Belgium for 3 weeks. A routine I follow every year. Which means every year around this time I refuse to buy any more food, as I know it will be a waste.

Which made the task ahead, namely the chocolate recipe contest, even more difficult. Not only will established food bloggers (and photographers) be part of the game, most of the recipes will be in French as well, and not everyone has given, up on food shooping.

Anyway!

I love being inventive and one of the greatest challenges is to be able to use what you have in stock to create magic (it’s not me who said it, but chefs on BBC). So in the search of chocolate magic, there were two options: Jamie or Nigella. This time around, Jamie won.

Ingredients in the house: phyllo pastry, almonds, cooking chocolate (Cora, 52% cocoa), as well as the base ones, butter and sugar. For this recipe I used 4 phyllo pastry sheets per apple, 20gr almonds, 50gr chocolate, 75gr butter and 25gr sugar.
Ingredients bought: 2 apples and 1 orange.

And I set off to cook ‘absolutely amazing and dead simple’ baked apples with chocolate, in flaky pastry.

First the apples had to be peeled. Then I carved the core of each one, whilst at the same time pre-heating the oven gas mark 3.

I mixed the almonds, half the butter, sugar, zest and juice of the orange till everything was nice and smooth. The flaked chocolate (I find grating the chocolate helps) was added to the mix and I divided the whole into two balls.

This is the stage where patience, more than talent comes in: for each apple you need four phyllo pastry sheets. That means taking one at a time, brushing it with the rest of the heated butter, then the next, brush again, then the next, brush again and finally the last one. In the end you have 4 brushed layers of phyllo pastry, cut into squares of 20cmx20cm.

Back to the almond and chocolate balls: each apple was filled with one, then placed in the middle of the phyllo pastry square. With the pastry sheets moist from the butter, I gathered the four corners and pinched them around the apple stalks. More melted butter to brush the outside of the pastry – and in the oven for 25-30min.

Expectations were high, but then again you can not go wrong with apples and chocolate now, can you? So in the end we had steaming hot apples with melting chocolate bottoms, wrapped in a phyllo pastry ‘blanket’. A true magical chocolate moment.

September 19: A chunky, inelegant dish

2005-12-08T19:49:00.000+01:00

I couldn’t agree more : ‘modern cooking is so exquisitely contrived that the chunky, rustic-looking dish, inelegant and apparently thrown together, is something of a rare treat’. Don’t get me wrong: I love cooking ‘good looking’ food, and coordinating flavours and colours, arranging the dish on the place so people gasp. But in the end I want my cooking to be eaten and people to enjoy it and say ‘boy, that was good food!’. I am definitely not hunting a Michelin star, as that’s not what I do for a living … but I love cooking. And I love cooking so that the house smells of aromas, the food is rich and tasty, and everyone asks for a second serving.

Or maybe I am just going through my one pot fits all phase. You never know!

Needless to say, I am taking again about an ‘inelegant’ dish, this time around baked lamb. I can assure you though I have rarely had such tasty traditional rustic, hearty food. Maybe the fact my job is closely linked to business lunches and dinners, sometimes I just crave simple, stodgy food.

The other day, on my way home, I bought lamb chops (initially I was thinking of going for a steak dinner …). At home I decided that my approach will be only to use ingredients I already have in the house. And for inspiration I reached out for Nigel Slater.

On the 19 September he suggests exactly what I was looking for: an inelegant dish of baked lamb. So, besides the aubergines, I followed the recipe as described:

8 small potatoes
4 plum tomatoes
a large aubergines (left out in my dish)
2 medium onions
6 large cloves of garlic
5 tsp olive oil
4 bushy springs of rosemary
4 lamb chops

The process of preparing the dish is too easy, really. I pealed the potatoes, and sliced them in half, the same for the tomatoes and onions. The garlic peeled, left whole, and all tossed together with some olive oil and seasoning. I tucked the rosemary among the vegetables and all went in the oven, uncovered, for 30min at gas mark 6.

On to the lamb, I rubbed it with olive oil, lemon juice and again seasoned it well, then placed it on top of the veggies. The dish stayed in the oven another 30min, till the lamb was golden brown on the outside, and slightly pink inside.

Now what can I tell you? Seconds were asked for, and nothing but a big pot was left to clean. This was truly, cooking with heart and soul.

The perfect mash

2005-12-07T22:38:00.000+01:00

Comfort food at its best. The BBC recently had a whole show dedicated to comfort food, and the top 10 most popular comfort foods in the UK. Mash potatoes were there in the top 5.

So in need of comfort, I decided to cook mash potatoes. Cook is maybe saying too much, as there is not a lot of cooking involved. The whole dish was based on potatoes, milk, butter, salt and pepper and plenty of garlic.

After the potatoes were thoroughly cooked, I added the warm milk and the butter and mashed the whole together, mixing the mash with crushed garlic, salt and pepper. To me the secret of a perfect mash lies in the warm milk and the garlic. I love garlic in all its form and shape, and when I can add it to food I do so, plenty. And a perfect mash needs plenty of garlic.

Emotion champignons & Nigel Slater

2005-12-05T19:46:00.000+01:00

There are certain ingredients, which I think are so amazing on their own that I am very reluctant to cook them or use them in highly fancy ways. Roquette is such a vegetable, which to me goes best with some lemon juice, a little olive oil and a dash of pepper – nothing else needed.

Mushrooms fall into this category of richly flavoured vegetables, which already on their own offer a feast of taste and aromas. So imagine my joy when I read that the 6th blog event on Blog Appetite is entirely dedicated to mushrooms. Of course the difficulty in choosing among the variety of mushrooms followed, but who is complaining?

Now of course all I had to do was look for a chef who appreciates the earthy taste and beauty of mushrooms. First I bought a box of Val de Loire mushrooms, beautiful brown mushrooms, big and small ones, ready to be eaten. Then instinct told me to look into Nigel Slater’s new cooking book ‘The Kitchen Diaries’ and see how he used mushrooms. I have used his book a lot lately, either by looking up the date and trying to cook the same or just for inspiration on winter food.

There were several recipes on mushrooms to choose from. However the one that got my attention starts by ‘I am not one to get fancy with mushrooms. My inclination is to cook all of them in much the same way ..’ and so on. I couldn’t have asked for more. A definite love for simple, yet very much flavoured and tasty food, Nigel Slater answered my search. And this is how my contribution to the 6th blog event on Blog Appetite came about.

Topped parmesan, bacon and mushroom sandwich: easy, so incredibly easy, and yet so delicious! They say the best things in life are free (or almost) and I can’t disagree with that. All I had to do was cut the mushrooms into chunks, and then gently frie them in a pan with butter, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. I then added some parmesan shaves and Parma ham on top, all served with a thick slice of whole grain bread. What a simple delight!

Homesick

2005-12-05T15:48:00.000+01:00

Reading 'Recettes' on ViaBloga, I crossed a recipe posted recently on grilled bell peppers. That reminded me of home and with Christmas coming close, homesickness is just a fling away.

A while ago I prepared something very similar, namely a cold salad of roasted red bell peppers. I think the cooking procedures are very similar, so there is no need to go into more details here. The only difference being I prefer cooking the peppers over the gas flame as I like the combination of the burned pepper skin with the olive oil and garlic.

Usually accompanying quite rich food, this is a salad is all based on fresh ingredients and delicious flavors.

Tarte Tatin

2005-11-27T21:37:00.000+01:00

It seems Lamotte-Beuvron is the homeland of the Tarte Tatin. I didn’t know all this up till recently, when looking for a Tarte Tatin recipe on the Internet.

Walking home in the freezing cold of Brussels, it hit me that I would love to eat a Tarte Tatin. It was one of those spur of the moment decisions, when the idea became reality.

I stopped by my local grocery shop and I got the necessary: phyllo pastry and apples. I had the rest ingredients at home so no excuses left.

I find cooking a Tarte Tatin is quite simple, for what is a delicious result. I didn’t fuss a lot over the décor, as the craving was higher than the patience. I melted about 50gr butter and 100gr sugar over low heat in a round cake pan, until the sugar was caramelized. Then I roughly cut approximately 5 apples into cubes and poured them over the caramelized sugar. I sprinkled the apples again with some sugar and what was on hand, Guatemalan rum, then covered the mixture with two phyllo pastry sheets. One beaten egg to brush on top of the pastry and the whole went in the oven for about 30min.

As you can see I am not one of the most patient persons, so the above might well be a variation on the classic Tarte Tatin. But I can assure you it tasted just as good. With a dollop of vanilla ice-cream, it was my own winter extravaganza.

Pumpkin cheesecake - BlogEvent Kurbis

2005-11-15T10:01:00.000+01:00

By now I think it is pretty obvious how very much like cheese. Not that I am trying to bring cheese in every dish I cook, but when I can, the world is a better place.

Two German blog events got my attention a while back. After deciding how I can contribute, trying to avoid the ever classic pumpkin soup, I decided to give pumpkin cheesecake a try. A variation on the classic cheesecake. The recipe and influence came from BBC Food, a continuous source of inspiration.

Ingredients used:
225gr hard biscuits (being in Belgium, I think speculoos work very well)
60gr butter
1 ½ juice and zest of lemon
340 cooked pumpkin (I preferred to steam it, as it makes the flesh softer, but the pumpkin can be roasted as well)
225gr caster sugar
450gr cream cheese
4 eggs
90ml double cream
90ml natural yoghurt
Cinnamon, nutmeg

Heat the oven to 170C (which for my oven translates to gas mark 3). Bash the biscuits into crumbs. I find a very easy method is to put all the biscuits into a small plastic bag, then put a kitchen towel on top and roll a rolling pin over them. This way the biscuits are finely crumbled without too much work.
Melt the butter over low heat, and mix the biscuits crumbs and the lemon zest; press the mixture into a lightly greased cake tin (I use a loose bottom one, as it makes it easier to slide the cake out when done).
Mix together the cream cheese, the pumpkin puree, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until you get a smooth texture. Pour the mixture on top of the biscuits and bake in the oven until the surface is set, but underneath still soft and gooey.
Let the tin cool, put the cake on a serving plate and chill overnight.
Next day whip the double cream, natural yoghurt and lemon juice (depending on taste, you can add some more lemon juice, or even orange zest). Spread the cream mixture on top of the pumpkin cake and serve.

Probably not the lightest cake ever baked, but indulgence is sometimes necessary. As long as you warn your guests in advance that the dessert is cheesecake, everyone can make sure to ‘save some space’.

Sunday fish

2005-11-14T11:16:00.000+01:00

After pasta on Thursday, English dinner on Saturday, Sunday evening was all about healthy food. Spending the day out, brunching at the Toast Gallery, walking the streets of Brussels, and then enjoying a drink on the MIM terrace, Sunday was a perfect day.

But the cold, albeit sunny day, wore us out and in the evening all we wanted was warm, but light food. So on the way home we stopped by our regular fish mogul and got two white mullets. The choice of fish being quite impressive, I am trying now to buy a different fish every time I go there. Among my favorites are the sea bream and tuna. Needless to say, I very much enjoy the trout, salmon, the sole as well.

Then I have Rick Stein and Gary Rhodes for inspiration. This time around the mullets were cooked with the help of Rick Stein’s Seafood book. Some variation on the recipe took place, based on the ingredients I had at home. But I can assure you the result was delicious and finished in no time.

Fish: I have a love/hate relationship with fish. Love to eat it, but I am not too keen on the actual feel of fish whilst preparing it. So I always ask the fish mogul to clean the stomach cavity, remove the gills and surrounding tissue, and scale them. There is no bravery to me when facing the whole fish and eyes are staring back at me.

The fish cleaned, I seasoned it with plenty salt and pepper. I prepared a very easy stuffing of coriander, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. I then placed the stuffed fish on plenty of aluminum foil (enough to be able to ‘box’ the fish with it) and drizzled some olive oil and white wine on top. Same was done to mullet no. 2.
I sealed the aluminum foil, and let the fish cook in the juices for about 20 min (all depending on the size of your fish – these two being quite big).

As a side dish I prepared a sweet/ regular potato mash. Comfort food in its glory. The last Guardian Weekly labeled mash as the top comfort food around, giving at least 5 recipes on different combinations. I decided to give it a try with sweet potatoes. Seasoned correctly (plenty of salt, pepper, and some butter) it was instant comfort.

The dinner was a discovery trip, as it was the first time I had mullet. I find the stuffing was very nice, but maybe for this type of fish some spices need to be added next time. A slightly spicy tomato sauce (or sweet/sour sauce) could be the perfect complement to this fish. A very meaty fish, it needs stronger flavoring, as it can take it.

Still, all I asked for: a light meal, which perfectly ended a cold, beautiful Sunday.

Variations on a quiche

2005-11-05T23:15:00.000+01:00

I love quiches. I love making them, eating them, and finding new variations on the classic ones. They are easy to make, but can make and save a dinner and I haven’t yet met anyone refusing a second helping.

When making quiches, I use rolled phyllo pastry, which I spread out in a round baking tray. And count on a lot of eggs. Usually one quiche serves around 6 people. I tend to cook two different ones to make sure everyone has a slice of their favourite by the end of the meal.

There is the all time classic Quiche Lorraine. For this I use 150gr bacon strips or cubes, 100gr cheese (usually a gooey one like gruyere or emmental), 25cl cream, 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks, oil, s&p. With the oven preheated at gas mark 7, I gently fry the bacon in the oil. The eggs, the yolks and the cream are all mixed in a bowl and seasoned with salt and pepper. The bacon comes first on the already rolled out phyllo pastry, then the egg mixture and all is covered by the cheese. In the oven for about 30min.

Other combinations I think work very well, and I usually make for dinner parties are:
salmon and goat cheese – mix the cheese, the eggs and the cream. Cover the phyllo pastry with salmon strips and then cover it with the mixture.
salmon and spinach – same, only mixture is done with spinach.
spinach and feta – mix the spinach, the eggs and the cream, then crumble feta on top of the mixture.
wild mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes – gently fry the mushrooms, chopped onions and the sun dried tomatoes; season the mixture. Beat the cream and eggs, cover the pastry with the mushroom mix and then pour over the egg mixture.

These are just a few of my favourite ones. I am sure the combinations are endless though, so if you have any further suggestions on what I should give a try next, quiche away.

Chestnuts anyone?

2005-11-05T13:45:00.000+01:00

It is dry and sunny. But cold. The winter is now not far anymore. Soon plans will be made where to spend the winter holidays, and discussions evolve already around snow.

You can thus understand I haven’t left yet my soup making period. I will probably go through a lot of soup this year. My life has gotten very busy lately, so I find this is one of the most time saving solutions. Everyone has soup!

Moving on … as it happens, one of my colleagues at work not only has a farm (fresh products for us!) but he also has a chestnut tree. Which means we delighted ourselves with roasted chestnuts over the past two weeks. And he brought me a whole bag full of them, to use at home.

I decided to make a chestnut creamy soup:

500gr mixed mushrooms (I find wild ones go very well in this)
100gr cooked chestnuts (a little time consuming but easy: soak the chestnuts in lukewarm water, peel the shell, then boil them till soft)
75gr goat cheese
1l stock
2 spoons cream
1 spoon lemon juice
5 shallots
1 clove garlic
thyme, olive oil, horseradish

All ingredients lined up, I heated the olive oil and fried the shallots and garlic, then added the chestnuts, the mushrooms and the stock. Mixing in the goat cheese and the horseradish, 1 spoon cream and the lemon juice.
After blitzing the mix, I added one more spoon of cream and voila, chestnut soup.

Now I just have to figure out what I will do with the rest of the chestnuts, besides roasting them ...

Posh pasta

2005-10-23T18:11:00.000+02:00

Sunday evenings are all about quick decisions, and sorting out dinner without too much fuss. My current attitude to cooking is: use the ingredients in the house as much as possible. With fresh food in the house from the market on Wednesday, from the market on Sunday, cooking for 20 should not be currently a problem.

I just had to think of something quick for 2. My cupboard holds at the moment 4 different types of rice, double as many types of pasta, there are exotic ingredients, there are cans, the freezer is full of vegetables. Deciding which dish would take the least time was the question.

And what is quicker or easier than pasta? A variation on the pasta dishes cooked while in university, yesterday we had ‘posh’ pasta. That is probably due to the fact that I didn’t have any meat in the house to cook a real Bolognese.

Having bought shrimps at the market, we fried them butterfly style in 2tsp olive oil. To this we added diced mixed mushrooms, cream and white wine, salt and a lot of black pepper. Some parsley might have added some extra flavor and color to the sauce, but sadly, no parsley in the house.

After the sauce boiled, and the pasta drained, I mixed the two, some parmesan on top and dinner was served.

Preparing for winter

2005-10-20T22:18:00.000+02:00

For me fall is a preparation for winter. I start eating less salads, and more filling food, and soups take the stage. Variations on the soup theme are in order, and I try and test everything possible – basically focusing on what I have available in the fridge. And the joy of combination starts. It feels like being a kid all over again when it felt right to mix chocolate mousse and cheese and the world was ok with it.

Evenings, now that it gets dark sooner, are perfect for these kind of experiments. Crumbles of Stilton are mixed with tomato soup, pumpkin and basil join forces, and my latest, peas and bacon. Bacon was in the fridge (from an English breakfast attempt) and with a can of peas on hand another soup inspiration was ready.

The peas were boiled, and blended, then back in the pan to which I added the bacon – and brought the mixture to the boil. Some coriander on top and the evening started.

From Thailand with love

2005-10-19T17:32:00.000+02:00

After evenings of non-exotic food, I finally decided to take a leap and cook Thai. The choice was based on the fact that I have a lot of Asian ingredients in my cupboards but somehow never seem to use them up. Plus variation makes for an interesting life.

All the ingredients were on hand for a dinner for two. So I started cooking Thai green curry perche. And who would have thought it was so easy? I always seem to spend a lot of time on elaborate cooking, while forgetting delicious food doesn’t have to take time.

Ingredients used:
2 perche fillets, cut into cubes
150gr peas
1 small aubergine, cut into cubes
250ml coconut milk
3 spoons green curry paste
fish sauce, lemon juice (unfortunately no lime on hand), chili, basil and coriander
Thai rice for two

Two pots and the show started. In one I cooked the rice, in the other the curry. I first fried the aubergines in a little bit of oil, adding the coconut milk, the chili (I do like it hot!) and the green curry paste, then the peas and the fish cubes and at the end the lime juice, and the finely chopped basil and coriander. All simmering slowly for about 10min.

Voila. Done.

Served in two bowls, rice first, Thai curry and fresh coriander leaves on top, it made for a very aromatic and delicious dinner. And to finish on an Asian note, we had as dessert mango slices with lemon juice. Fan-thai-stic.

UEO - unknown edible objects

2005-10-13T15:13:00.000+02:00

Close to where I live, I have a small fruit and vegetable shop, which is an odd mix of common products and exotic, unidentified ones. Many times I go in, and I find myself in front of fruit (or are they vegetables?) that I have no idea where to place, let alone how to use. But as I refuse to give in to the unknown, I buy, try, taste and then wonder how I could integrate the UEO's in my usual cooking.

One of these UEO’s was (what later turned out to be) the cactus fig. Known as well under the name of prickly pear or feijoa. Seeing fig, I thought … fig! So I tried it at first with cheese. Not a top combination. But with a little help from Rick Stein and his travels through France, I decided to combine the flesh of these fruit with cream and vanilla extract. Which made a very tasty dessert. To adapt the recipe to my taste I also added a splash of lemon juice, and it was perfect.

Lesson learned: don’t be afraid of the UEO’s and just try them out. That doesn’t mean you will always like what you’ll try (memories of a durian still linger from Singapore) but my motto is, you have to give everything a chance.

Green, white and red

2005-10-10T18:14:00.000+02:00

La bella Italia on a plate. Not difficult to do, but always a winning dish. And I haven’t yet met anyone who said they don’t like the mozzarella – tomato mix. All the way from Naples, where mozzarella originates from, an easy yet delicious combination: one mozzarella, one tomato, couple of black olives, fresh basil, freshly ground black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil.

I would recommend using mozzarella di bufala (buffalo mozzarella), which is made of buffalo milk, as it is creamier and richer than the normal cow milk mozzarella. Some ciabatta on the side. A glass of Chianti. Buon appetito

Eggs and Saturdays

2005-10-10T18:13:00.000+02:00

What I love most about Saturday mornings is the extra time. During the week my mornings are a chaos made up of squeezing oranges, taking my vitamins, shower, brushing teeth and making sure I have my keys so I don’t lock myself out.

But Saturdays I manage to enjoy the breakfast I like, in my own pace. It’s not a fancy breakfast, but there is fresh made coffee, there is orange juice, toast and what I adore most, two soft boiled eggs. And this menu doesn’t vary too much to be honest. I find it to be a winning Saturday menu.

Eggs are fantastic. You can use them in so many different ways, and each time they taste different. Soft boiled eggs are the best though. Getting the right softness is sometimes a little trickier, but what I do is put the eggs in at the beginning, and once the water starts boiling I leave them for 1 minute. Most of the times they are pure perfection.

Besides soft boiled, I like fried eggs, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, hard boiled as well – but I haven’t had Eggs Benedict yet, so still need to try and test this combination. But you get my drift, I find eggs to be egg-cellent.

Paella, ole!

2005-10-10T17:57:00.000+02:00

With Spanish memories of food and wine (and sun) still lingering in my mind, we decided last Saturday to cook seafood paella. And open a bottle of Spanish wine.

Paella originated in Valencia, and got its name from the ‘la paella – the pan’ used for cooking rice and sea food. Being the favorite (and cheapest) food of the Valencians, this rice dish became known to the rest of Spain, and the name eventually evolved in the 19th century to define the dish as well.

I consider paella a party dish. Easy to cook (although a little time consuming), it can cover the main course for 6 people. We had a smaller version of the usual sea food paella, nevertheless delicious, and very filling.

Cooking paella, you would ideally use Mediterranean rice (cooked in chicken stock). However plain rice works just as fine. The other ingredients needed are: shellfish (sea food), and lots of varied ones, as this gives the flavor to the dish: jumbo prawns, clams, mussels, whitefish. Then some chicken; and for spice chorizo. I personally add some chilies as well, but then again I eat wasabi spread on bread! Vegetables for the flavor and the color: red and green peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic. And the piece de resistance: a little bit of saffron, for the deep yellow color it gives to the rice.

All this cooked and mixed together make for a very hearty and tasty paella, which no friend will say no to. Add to it some tapas as entreé and a nice red Spanish wine, and the fiesta is on its way. Ole!

Aubergines to the rescue

2005-10-06T12:22:00.000+02:00

I think aubergines are beautiful. If there would be a vegetables beauty contest (mental note: something to think about and initiate on the blog in the future), sort of a‘Miss/Mister Vegetable’ I’d vote for the aubergine. I like their deep purple color, the glossiness of their skin, and their shape. And all this before I even get to talk about their taste …

Originally from India, aubergines have been cultivated in Asia since prehistoric times. Then, over 1500 years ago, they were brought over by Arabs to the Western world. Ever since aubergines worked their way up as one of our favorite vegetable. And I can only agree with that.

I could easily rate the aubergine as one of my Top 5 vegetable. Probably because we used to eat them a lot at home (caviar, stuffed, baked, fried, grilled, you name it). Or because it is one of the vegetables I like to cook and I think its texture and taste offers such a variation.

So with aubergines plenty in the house (again, courtesy of the Marché du Midi), last evening I cooked them in two different dishes. The range of dishes you can create with aubergines is endless, and ideas are shaping themselves for other recipes to be tried out over the weekend. The caviar d’aubergines will surely be one of them.

However, last evening I cooked a simple pasta dish with grilled sliced aubergines, olive oil, a handful of grated parmesan and some olives (to be eaten today, for lunch) and, the star of the evening, stuffed aubergines. Delicious, but time consuming. If there is one (small) complaint I have about aubergines, is that cooking them takes some time.

I halve the aubergines in their length, and then scoop the flesh out (soup spoons come in very handy). The stuffing I use varies on the ingredients I have in the house. I chop the aubergine flesh and fry it in olive oil, with garlic, onions, salt and black pepper. Then I add minced meat, and finally the rest of veggies (cubed tomatoes, corn, peppers, etc). When the meat is done, I mix fresh herbs and black olives in the stuffing, and divide the mixture between the two aubergines halves. The best bit is adding the cheese on top, be it mozzarella or parmesan (lots of it, and ideally one that melts nicely in the oven) – and off, in the oven. Depending on the size of the aubergines, the cooking time can vary from 20min to 1h.

Served hot, it is truly a very nice dish, where a lot of flavors mix and, to me, a little bit of Greece enters your house.

Leg of lamb and a figue dessert

2005-10-05T15:02:00.000+02:00

Ideally my Saturday mornings start with Saturday Kitchen on BBC2, thus slowly getting me in the mood for the weekend. It is a lazy start, but I never actually manage to watch the whole show from beginning to the end – however I do pick up the odd useful tip. And I overall like the relaxed atmosphere on the show, and some of the recipes are pure inspiration.

This is how I discovered the roast leg of lamb with rosemary. I watched Gennaro Contaldo, gesticulating a lot, and talking in a very strong Italian accent, how he prepared what looked like a very easy but absolutely delicious roast leg of lamb.

So last night I decided to cook a simplified leg of lamb, following Contaldo’s recipe. Having bought a leg of lamb at the Marché du Midi, and with plenty of couscous in the house, a southern theme dinner took shape.

By just using good quality products it was easy to prepare a really tasty meal for two which didn’t take too long. I skipped most of the ingredients in the recipe, just covering the leg of lamb in olive oil (two spoons), salt and mixed ground pepper. Making small incisions all over the leg of lamb, I then stuffed them with chopped garlic and little springs of rosemary. Using an ovenproof dish and following the recipe, I added one glass of water and one glass of white wine, in which I placed the leg of lamb.

This done, I covered the meat with foil and … off in the preheated oven. The foil is an incredibly good tip, which makes for a very interesting dish. Just following the recipe on the cooking time, you will have a leg of lamb which boils softly in water and wine at the bottom, and is golden and crispy on the top by removing the foil towards the end of the cooking time.

The couscous was a lot less time consuming, which is one of the main reasons why I enjoy preparing it. Just adding some stock over the desired quantity of dry couscous, the juice of one lemon and finely chopped mint – done.

To match the meal we had a bottle of Côtes du Rhône Villages, Rasteu, 2004. With cranberry, violets and cinnamon aromas, it went very well with the roast as it was gentle enough not to overpower the food but had enough body to carry the meal.

Dinner finished, dessert was trickier. A very last minute combination, with the Carte d’Or vanilla ice cream in the freezer and some figues left from a failed attempt to combine them with Porto. Surprisingly enough (or maybe not so?) figues and vanilla ice cream go brilliantly together. Both the texture and tastes mix perfectly and now that I know this – I wonder if any ice cream company has already come up with this combination? Something to look into.

Hot pumpkin soup for cold days

2005-10-04T09:58:00.000+02:00

Belgium is not exactly known for its Mediterranean weather. So October brought with it cold and rainy days. Fall is here. And fall is a pumpkin’s favorite time of the year.

I do have to admit that I am not cooking pumpkins as often as I should. But Halloween is just days away. Pumpkins in all shapes and colors are filling the shelves. And the mood is set for comfort food. So a hot pumpkin soup was really the only option.

All I had to do was cut a large pumpkin into chunks, removing the skin and the seeds. Then cook them in boiling water until soft. A little bit of chilli, garlic and basil in the blender, to which I later added the soft pumpkin chunks. The whole mixture back to the saucepan and depending on the dietary requirements, you can add coconut milk, double cream or light cream, so that in the end you have a creamy orangey soup.

Delightful.

I realized that a bowl of pumpkin soup can easily replace a dinner and be just as filling and satisfying. A thick slice of brown bread next to it. And you are all set for a cozy night in.

One lemon sole coming up

2005-10-03T16:21:00.000+02:00

A very tasty meal, which doesn't take time and where simplicity is the key. All you need is a whole lemon sole, green beans and potatoes.

Lemon sole: place skin side down with a little bit of oil in the medium hot frying pan for 4-5min, then turn and add knob of butter (which gives it a very nice, nutty taste). Done.
Green beans: boil in salty water for 3min. Drain and quickly plunge them into cold water to set the color. Done.
Potatoes: preheat oven. Boil potatoes for 8-10min. Drizzle with olive oil and then transfer the pan to the oven for 6-8min until roasted. Done.

Simple. Easy. Delicious.