Grilled Halloumi

Sunday needs barbecueing and therefore I bring you a recipe! A vegetarian one today, just for the fun of it, and with a slightly unusual ingredient to spice things up: Halloumi. 

Halloumi is a small, elastical and crustless white cheese from the Middle East. It hardly melts and is therefore wonderful to prepare on the barbecue.

Grilled Halloumi with a lemon-coriander-almond pesto.

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Ingredients

A block of Halloumi 

For the pesto

A large handful of coriander stalks with leaves
1 clove of garlic
1 red chilipepper
2 tablespoons of white almonds
half a teaspoon cumin seeds
half -1 salted lemon
1-2 tablespoons of moisture from the jar

Method

1. Slice the halloumi in thick slices and grill the slices.
2. Mix the ingredients for the pesto in a blender to form a puree. Cautiously add 125 ml of olive oil or enough to make a smooth sauce.
3. Serve the grilled halloumi with the pesto (I never said this was a difficult dish).

Halloumi tastes quite salty, quite like feta, so it nicely combines with the slightly sour taste of the pesto.

Enjoy!

French onion soup

Tonight an easy dinner: French onion soup from a jar. But not just any jar. It’s from the KleinsteSoepFabriek (The SmallestSoupFactory) - The SmallestSoupFactory produces soups. Full, delicious and adventurous soups, inspired by far away travels, and created according to traditional methods.

From their website:

For this French onion soup the onions are slow-cooked to create ultimate flavour and a beautiful yellow-gold colour. After they’ve been cooked the other ingredients are added. This onion soup is a delicious warming and invigorating soup which used to be eaten as early as 5 am by the market traders of Les Halles in Paris. Instead of coffee, it was onion soup! For evenings: it’s also tasty with a dash of white wine or cognac. If desired add some croutons.

We made it with a splash of white wine and ate it with a baguette. Absolutely delicious. 

This is a nice standby to have, but onion soup is also fairly easy to make yourself. This recipe is from Sophie Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights. As Sophie herself says:

“Purists will argue this is nothing like the real thing, which should be made with beef stock and have a great molten island of bread and cheese on top. I use vegetable stock and lose the bread - it’s not as heavy, yet still as decadent. The trick is sloooooooooow cooking the onions, so they impart their rich caramelly flavour to the soup.”

French Onion Soup
from Sophie Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights

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Ingredients

3 large yellow onions
1 tablespoon of butter
Slug of olive oil
2 litres / 8 cups of stock - I used 4 cups of chicken stock and 4 cups of vegetable stock.
1 tablespoon of good aged syrupy balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
100 g / 1 cup of grated cheese (Gruyere or parmezan according to Sophie or aged Gouda when you are in the Netherlands like me :-)) 

Method

1. Roughly chop the onions. In a large pot (like a heavy-bottomed Le Creuset) melt the butter with a few glugs of olive oil on a low heat. You don’t want it to burn. Make sure the bottom of the pan is covered by swishing it around.
2. Pour in the onions, mix them into the oil with a wooden spoon and sweat gently for about 40 minutes. If your heat is kept to the lowest setting they won’t neat more oil. Sometimes this is helped by using a heat diffuser pad. Towards the end of the cooking, turn up the heat a bit; you want the onions to brown and caramelize, not to be charred to a crisp.
3. When the onions look golden and browned around the edges, pour in the stock. Turn down the heat to low again, stir, and add the balsamic vinegar. I don’t know why, but this gives the soup a mellow, sweet earthiness. Let it simmer for another 15 minutes, taste, add salt and pepper if needed and then, using a ladle, pour into bowls.
4. Pour the cheese in when you’re about to serve.

Onion soup is also nice to serve as an appetizer or a small dish during a high tea, it looks lovely when served in small glasses.

Thai Beef Salad (Yum Nua)

I envy my sister in law. She has been to Thailand a few times and took a cooking class once where she learned how to carve pretty vegetable flowers. That is high on my to do list! Luckily she brought me some Thai food greeting cards. They have amazing recipes printed on the back with a pretty picture of the food in question on the front. I use them frequently, and one of them has become one of our signature dishes. Spicy beef salad, or Yum Nua. It is a very easy dish and pretty adaptable. 

As the amazing-but-sometimes-impossible David Thompson always says in his Thai Food bible this dish should taste equally salty, sour, sweet, spicy and umami. Give it a go, it won’t fail. You can serve it with either noodles or rice or a nice baguette, whatever you like.

Yum Nua
Spicy Beef salad

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Ingredients

400 g of beef tenderloin (we used ostrich steak today)
0,25 cup sugar
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic
6 fresh coriander leaves (and more for garnish)
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
2 spring onions
6 fresh red chillies (:-D it IS Thai food, we usually use 1…)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
lettuce leaves (we used red bell pepper today)   

Method
1. Grill the beef until medium rare, or as preferred, and cut into thin slices.
2. Pound together the garlic, soy sauce, sugar, lime juice, chopped coriander leaves, spring onions (thinly sliced), salt and ground black pepper.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir fry the spice paste for 3-4 minutes.
4. Combine the beef and cook for a minute.
5. Remove the beef and allow to cool.
6. Before serving, sprinkle the chillies (thinly sliced) on top and garnish with the remaining coriander leaves.

Comfort [insert noun here]

Many things count as comforting. For me it ranges from a tasty cup of coffee (and I am very picky) to reading books with titles like “Enquire Within About Everyting 1890” (with the dazzling remark printed on the cover: over one million copies sold). I am not kidding - I spent some lovely evenings leafing through it, stumbling across sensible advice as:

376. Beat a Carpet on the wrong side first; and then more gently on the right side. Beware of using sticks with sharp points, which may tear the carpet.

It may sound silly and obvious, but I completely understand the need for a book like this. Another one, just for the sake of it:

1792. Why does milk turn sour during thunderstorms? - Because, in an electric condition of the atmosphere, ozone is generated. Ozone is oxygen in a state of great intensity; and oxygen is a general acidifier of many organic substances. Milk may be prevented from becoming sour by boiling it, or bringing it nearly to boiling point, for, as the old proverb says, “Milk boiled is milk spoiled.” Heating the milk expels the oxygen.

Wonderful!

Other times just watching an episode of one of my favourite tv series (or a newly discovered one) can be just the type of comfort I need.

One of my “guilty pleasures” when it comes to comfort reading is The Babysitter’s Club series. I really like the comic books by Raina Telgemeier released last year.

Sometimes, though, you actually have to get your hands dirty to satisfy your comfort-cravings. And as one of my ultimate comfort foods are scones: here’s a nice recipe that I have to try soon - they look so delicious!

Pumpkin & Date Scones

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(from Mix & Bake by Belinda Jeffery)

Ingredients

3 cups (450g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarb/baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
120g cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
200g chopped pitted dates (not medjool, they’re far too moist and sticky for this)
1 cup cold cooked mashed pumpkin (I used butternut)
3/4 cup buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper, then very lightly dust it with flour and set aside.
2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking/bicab soda and salt into a large bowl and use a balloon whisk to whisk it together. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips till the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir together the buttermilk and cooked cold mashed pumpkin and set aside for now.
3. Add the dates to the bowl and toss them through to coat them in the flour mixture, then make a well in the centre of the bowl and pour in the pumpkin/buttermilk mix. Stir it together till barely combined, then tip it onto a well-floured chopping board and lightly knead till the mixture comes together (not till the batter is smooth - just till it holds together and doesn’t have any unmixed bits).
4. Pat the dough into a round about 4cm thick, then dip a scone cutter (or glass tumbler) into some flour and stamp out your scone shapes. Alternately, you can cut the round into triangular wedges or pat it into a cylinder and just cut off rounds.
5. Carefully sit the scones closely together on the baking tray, using up all your dough (press the scraps together rather than kneading them). Either dust the tops with flour or give them a milk or egg wash, then bake for 20 minutes or till cooked through and golden. Once they’re done, remove them from the oven and wrap in a clean tea towel for 5 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool.
6. Serve whilst warm with some salted butter, or store in an airtight container for up to three days. Cold scones can be reheated in a microwave or toaster oven to make them warm and soft again.

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Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.

Adelle Davis (1904 - 1974)

That’s difficult to do, though, when my life at least, is programmed around doing it the other way around… I have more time to cook (and more of an appetite :-)) in the evening than in the morning.

My opinion? As long as you listen to your body, enjoy what your eating when you’re eating it and do not overeat you should be fine. What do you think?

What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

roughnightrx:

meriggiare:

simple and clear!

This is a great tool!  Check this out.

Club Sandwich

A club sandwich, also called a clubhouse sandwich or double-decker, is a sandwich with two layers of fillings between 3 slices of (toasted) bread. It is often cut into quarters and held together by cocktail sticks. The traditional club ingredients are turkey on the bottom layer, and bacon, lettuce, egg and tomato on the top (it is sometimes called the “turkey club”).

from Wikipedia’s Club Sandwich page.     

A sandwich is a wonderful kind of food. It is easy to take somewhere, it is filling and you can put anything you fancy between those two slices of bread. But sandwiches are also easy to get tired of. I am always searching for nice new sandwich fillings to take for lunch. 

A club sandwich, however, always feels special. It is usually not something I bring for lunch, it is more a dish I order when eating out. It is easy to make, however, and when 3 slices of bread seem much or are impossible to bring, why not put the filling between just 2 slices? (Ok, technically it’s no longer a club sandwich, but hey, I won’t tell if you don’t ;-))

One of the best club sandwiches I had was one with smoked chicken, tomato and avocado, a tiny bit of bacon and a drizzle of mayo. The bread was toasted dark whole wheat bread and delicious! I was having lunch with a dear friend and we had a lot of catching up to do. We were talking so much that we initially didn’t realize the cook had forgotten to add the smoked chicken. Luckily all the talking had prevented us from starting to eat, so when the waiter came to tell us, it wasn’t a big deal. 

What are your favourite (club) sandwich fillings?

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Everyone seems to love the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning, but not everyone likes the taste of coffee. To some any kind of coffee will do, as long as it has the desperately needed caffeine, some do like the taste but don’t want the caffeine (my mom :)) and others, like myself, are extremely picky - sometimes irritatingly so - when it comes to coffee. My motto: I only drink 2 to 3 cups a day, so they’d better be good! Especially in the morning, so imagine my horror when I first discovered the habits in two of the student dorms I lived in. We lived with both students and some older women that were already working, in two different dorms the older women all had the habit of preserving leftover coffee from last evening to drink COLD in the morning. I drank tea with breakfast in those dorms, suffice to say. 

During the last couple of years I’ve moved through different stages, coffee-wise. From a drip machine at my parental home, through a Senseo coffee pod system while living in a small student room to a Nespresso cup-system (which is in my opinion the next best thing after a machine you can fill with whole beans).

Last week I completed the circle when I took home my mother’s old Cafe Duo drip machine and bought my all time favourite ground Lavazza coffee. The machine is probably twenty years old, but it still works like a charm and makes piping hot wonderful coffee in a few minutes.

My pickiness proves itself at work where last year all machines were replaced. First we had those machines which could make everything: tea, coffee, hot chocolate, soup - you name it and it had a button for it. The coffee was terrible, the cappuccino even more so as it was all powdered and overly sweet (and tasted ever so slightly of soup or hot chocolate, depending on the item of choice of the person in front of you…).

Considering my two cups a day, I always went out for coffee and bought my coffee in one of the many available coffee places in the train station and shopping centre below my office. Last year it seemed I could get free coffee at work again as all the old all-in-one machines were replaced by huge machines you could fill with beans and would only make coffee or coffee-based drinks (espresso, crema, cappuccino or latte macchiato) unfortunately my company has a contract with one of the few coffee roasters I do not like… so I still go to one of the coffee places outside my office where they sell coffee from different suppliers.

My colleagues don’t understand: “But, but, we have a machine with WHOLE BEANS now! How can you taste the difference?” It is simply a matter of taste, I think the coffee at work has a bitter, deep and burned taste. I like my coffee lighter, rounder and sweeter. For them it is a matter of “as long as it has caffeine” for me it simply is a matter of taste.

Food in the Viking Age

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/food_01.shtml

One of the culinary delights of the Viking Age: a stew. “The stew itself also looks rather scary; a thin crust of fat has formed over a brown liquid which is made up of boiled lamb bones, beans, peas, carrots and turnips.”

Nostalgia

This weekend we made a blitz trip to Brussels. We wanted to see the Moomin exhibition in the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée - a lovely Art Nouveau building. Brussels itself was a bit disappointing, though. It looked a bit faded and since I heard so much about the Art Nouveau tours and the wonderful architecture I was stunned to find tons of new, high, ugly buildings when we were driving to the museum. If anyone has better experiences with Brussels and tips on which areas to visit, I would love to hear them.

The weekend started with a visit to my parents in the very south of the Netherlands, near both the Belgian and German border. It still feels like home. Completely unexpected one of my dear childhood friends was visiting her parents as well, she now lives in the US so she was the last person I expected there! She called because she thought she saw us drive by and we had a nice long talk which made the weekend extra nostalgic.

For dinner on friday evening my mother made home made fries (cut by hand, so they are not as thin as French Fries) with a traditional sweet and sour meat stew called Zuurvlees. My grandmother makes the best version and she handed it down to my mother, so I am giving you a true family recipe.

Zuurvlees is traditionally made with horsemeat, I remember eating it with horsemeat when I was a small child - I loved it, even though I also love horses. The last fifteen years my parents or my grandmother have not made it with horsemeat anymore, as it is a bit controversial and not sold everywhere. It tastes just as wonderful with beef.

Traditional Zuurvlees

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Ingredients
500 g beef flank steak cut in small chunks
4 big onions, peeled and sliced
3 bay leaves
3 cloves (I always put the cloves and the bay leaves in a folded paper coffee filter so you can easily take it out again)
sweet paprika powder, salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
a splash of sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
2 cups of water
1 cup vinegar
two or three tablespoons of apple butter for taste, thickening and colour, if you can’t find apple butter use some slices of crumbled soft gingerbread instead
sugar to taste
1 stock cube

Method
1. Brown the meat well in a little bit of oil or butter, season it with salt, freshly ground pepper and paprika powder to taste.
2. Add the sliced onions and cook until soft.
3. Add the water, vinegar, the package with the cloves and bay leaves, the crumbled stock cube and kecap manis. Let it simmer for 2 hours or more, stirring occasionally and scooping off the foam.
4.When the meat is done, add the apple butter and / or the crumbled gingerbread slices and stir until combined. It should be a thick and velvety dark brown sauce. Taste to determine if it needs more seasoning, vinegar or applebutter and adjust to taste accordingly.

This is traditionally eaten with home made fries and a dollop of mayonaise. It also tastes delicious with the, also extremely Dutch, Hotchpotch (Hutspot in Dutch) a dish of boiled and mashed potatoes, carrots and (in my family baked) onions. I often eat it with bucatini pasta, stirred with a little bit of butter and grated nutmeg, delicious nostalgic comfort food!

Mexican Feast

I love Mexican food with its bold flavours, the heat combined with the hearty meatiness and the creaminess of avocado or sour cream. It makes a wonderful combination. I do not always like the Mexican food you get in (at least) Dutch Mexican restaurants. They like to cover all their dishes in cheese and eveything basically tastes the same - like slightly spicy tomato sauce with cheese.

What I do always like are the black beans - I really love their soft but slightly crunchy texture and their rich flavour. Luckily you can hardly screw those up. This Black bean and chocolate chilli from the Vegan Society sounds amazing:

Mole Poblano de Caraotas Negras

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Ingredients
500g/1lb 2oz black turtle beans
175g/6oz onions
2 cloves garlic
55g/2oz cornflour
400g/14oz tinned tomatoes
25g/1oz flaked almonds
25g/1oz raisins
1 tbsp sesame seeds
25g/1oz dark chocolate
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cloves
¼ tsp star anise
¼ tsp cinnamon
10g mulato chilli
10g ancho chilli
7g pasilla chilli
salt, pepper and sugar to taste
1 litre/1¾ pint water

Method
1. Soak the beans overnight, then cook them in fresh water for about 1 hour until soft. Drain and leave to cool.
2. Fry the onions and garlic in some oil until soft.
3. Add the cornflour, chillis, almonds, raisins, sesame seeds and freshly ground spices.
4. Shortly after add the tomatoes and water.
5. Add the beans and broken up chocolate, stirring all the time.
6. Cook for a further 10 minutes adding more water if necessary.
7. Serve with rice and salad.

Tonight we were invited to eat at my sister in law’s she suggested a “create your own meal” taco fest. That I love. You just fry some minced beef with a taco seasoning mix, you heat up taco shells, or what we just discovered: mini taco tubs! An amazing find - you are actually able to eat them after you filled them! My sister in law had chopped some onions, tomatoes and cucumber, grated cheese and made lovely quacamole. Topped with a dollop of creme fraiche it made a lovely Mexican inspired feast. The picture above is from the Casa Fiesta website and shows the taco tubs, the recipe pictured is for a Ceviche - a salad traditionally consisting of lime-marinated salmon with sliced onion, salt and pepper.

Ceviche

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Ingredients
400 g salmon filet, it must have been frozen for 48 hours before preparing this dish
2 avocados
1/2 pineapple
1 1/2 cucumber, sliced (peeled and seedless)
2 tomatoes, sliced and deseeded 1 jalapeno pepper, finely sliced and deseeded
3 limes (1 dl juice)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
a handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Mini taco tubs :-)

1. Cut the salmon, cucumber, pineapple and avocado into 1 cm cubes.
2. Marinate the salmon for 2 hours in garlic and lime juice, make sure it’s well coated and stir occasionally.
3. Mix the salmon with chopped tomatoes, pineapple, avocado, cucumber and sliced jalapeno’s, add a tablespoon of olive oil and mix well. Garnish with some fresh coriander before serving.

This weekend we will be visiting my family and going to Brussels to see the Moomins exhibition. My mother will make some cozy, comforting, straightforward and old fashioned family dishes. I will share her lovely traditional sour beef stew soon. It’s a traditional Dutch dish in general, but the version my mother makes is very common in the south of the Netherlands, where I come from.

Dan Dan noodles

For this week we have some lovely menu plans:

• Miso marinated pork probably simply with some wokked pak choi and steamed rice - lovely!
• Zesty chilli tiger prawns, again simply with some steamed rice.
• Something with the inariage pouches I bought.
• Spicy beef with coriander dish

But first tonight: Dan dan noodles. It’s a classic dish from the Chinese Sichuan area. Many versions exist, the authentic ones spicier than others. I use Ching He Huangs recipe who first makes a coating for the noodles which uses sesame paste (tahini), sesame oil, chicken stock, light soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and chili oil. The meat sauce is made with ground beef, garlic, ginger, rice wine and chilli bean sauce and some toasted sichuan pepper, coriander and spring onion for garnish.

Dan Dan noodles

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Serves 4

For the meat topping
2 tbsp groundnut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 tbsp freshly grated root ginger
1 medium red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (or use 3 tbsp chilli bean paste!)
250 g minced beef
1 tbsp Shaohsing rice wine
100 g cornichons / cocktail gherkins in vinegar drained and finely diced
1 tbsp light soy sauce

For the noodle base and sauce
500 g any wheat flour noodles
toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp sesame paste / tahini blended with 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp chilli oil
1 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar / balsamic vinegar
750 ml chicken stock

For the garnish
1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorns
1 large spring onion, finely chopped
1 small handful of fresh coriander, leaves and stalks, finely chopped
1 tsp chilli oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, drain and toss them through with some sesame oil, put to one side.
2. To make the meat topping, heat the wok over a high heat and add the groundnut oil. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir-fry for a few seconds, then add the minced beef. As the beef starts to turn brown, add the rice wine and cook for a few seconds. Stir in the cornichons or gherkins and cook until fragrant, then season with the soy sauce and keep on a very low heat.
3. Next, make the noodle sauce. Put the sesame paste or blended tahini, the chilli oil and vinegar into a small wok or pan, add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low.
4. Put the Sichuan peppercorns for the garnish into a small pan and dry roast until fragrant, then remove from the heat and crush in a pestle and mortar.
5. To serve divide the noodles between 4 bowls then ladle on the sauce and top with the stir-fry. Garnish with the Sichuan peppercorns, spring onion and coriander. Drizzle chilli oil over the dish, add a drizzle of sesame oil to taste around the edge of the sauce and serve immediately.

While making it, we realized we already made this dish before and did not really like it very much (very soupy and we missed a kick, see also: What Rachel Ate) so while preparing we decided to make Dan Dan noodles following this recipe instead: Dan Dan noodles by KokRobin it was delicious and used our beloved Chilli bean paste! We ended up adding 250 ml of chicken stock (for 2 people, so we halved the recipe) and decided it really did not need to simmer for 30 minutes. So we let it simmer for 20 minutes. When we were almost finished we realized we forgot to add our cornichons, forgot to buy peanuts and didn’t have any coriander so we’ll make it again sometime soon because I think the cornichons will add a nice soury sharpness.

Quiche Lorraine

One of my favourite foods is quiche. It is filling, easy to make, easy to take somewhere (for a picknick or a party) and - very important - easy to keep (and it gets even better when it’s kept in the fridge for a day or so). This is a lighter version, not because I am such a health freak, but because this version just tastes better, in my opinion. I never had a lot of quiche in my life. It was not something my mother made often. My first memory after a long time without quiche was during the first sailing trip I took with my boyfriend and his family. My sister in law, an excellent cook, made a quiche and some other things for a nice picknick on the water. It was a lovely thing to eat on the water with the wind blowing through my hair.

Quiche Lorrainne

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Ready-made pastry or use this recipe from Rachel allen:

1. Put the flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor and process briefly.
2. Add half the beaten egg and continue to process. (You might add a little more egg, but not too much as the mixture should be just moist enough to come together.) If making the pastry by hand, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs then, using your hands, add just enough egg to bring it together.
3. With your hands, flatten out the ball of dough until it is about 2cm thick, then wrap it in cling film or place it in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or, if you are pushed for time, in the freezer for 10–15 minutes, before using.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
5. Line a 19cm high-sided tart tin with the shortcrust pastry and cover the base with baking parchment. Fill the tin with baking beans and bake blind for 10-15 minutes. Remove the beans and parchment for the last five minutes of baking for a golden crust.

Filling

175 g bacon
50 g Cheddar (crumbled)
50 g Gruyere (grated)
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp chopped chives
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 eggs
250 g sour cream
some oil to cook the bacon and sweat the onion
nutmeg, freshly ground black pepper and salt for seasoning

Method

1. First cook the bacon in a little oil until crisp. Drain it and set it aside.
2. Gently sweat the onions in the same oil until softened and also set aside.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the three eggs in a bowl, add the cream, herbs, cheeses, bacon and onions. Mix well and season with salt, nutmeg and black pepper.
4. Pour the filling into the pastry base and return to the oven to bake for 30–40 minutes, or until the centre has set.

Since I first made this recipe last year I adapted it a bit, here are some nice variations and tips:

• use 1 leek and 1 onion for more varied veggies. This next bit of information made my life a lot easier: to clean the leek, chop it in half and then carve those pieces lengthwise so you can fold them open, this way you can wash them more easily and you’ll also clean inside.
• add some diced cherry tomatoes
• use little cubes of ham (boiled) for a lighter and less salty version (lovely combined with the leek)
• add a pinch of curry powder (or more to taste)
• add some (smoked mild) paprika powder or some grated chilli flakes for a kick
• make it the day before you want to eat it, it firms up a bit and the flavours enhance - it tastes even better the day after!

Madeleines

We were never very much into France, I mean, it is a lovely country and everything but we always went to rough and wild Norway on holiday. Last year our parents in law invited us to their holiday home (with a swimming pool) near Bordeaux and since the prospect of a lovely sunny holiday with swimming sounded very appealing we went. We did not regret it. Immediately we loved the country, the climate and the food.

The abundance of fresh bread, lovely meat, olives, vegetables and markets all over the place felt like heaven. My boyfriend fell in love with the supermarket-bought Madeleines and wanted me to make some from scratch. French cooking always sounded so elaborate and difficult to me that I was hesitant to try baking Madeleines myself, especially since the expectations were so high. Luckily I found this foolproof recipe on Anna’s blog Anna in the Kitchen, it makes wonderful madeleines, so she deserves all the credit for this foolproof recipe!

Foolproof Madeleines

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Makes 25-30

250g granulated sugar
4 eggs
250g plain flour
250g butter melted and cooled (plus a tiny bit extra for brushing the mould)
1 tsp vanilla essence (and / or the zest of a lemon or orange/orange flour water etc.)

Method

1. In a large bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs using a handheld electric whisk until pale in colour and more than doubled in volume. The mixture will go thick and the whisk will leave a trail.
2. Sift in the flour and then fold in gently until just combined. You’re trying to keep as much volume as possible.
3. Pour in the butter and the flavouring and mix until just combined.
4. Rest the mixture for 10 minutes up to 24 hours and heat the oven to gas mark 7 (220°C) while you wait.
5. Brush the madeleine mould with a little leftover melted butter.
6. Put a spoonful of mixture in each mould.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown around the edges.
8. Turn out to cool on a wire rack.
9. Brush the mould with butter and repeat the steps above until you have no more mixture.

Macarons

Macarons are funny things. They look lovely and vibrant and very homemade. So homemade, in fact, you are tricked into thinking they must be easy - or at least doable - to make in the comfort of your own home. Alas, baking macarons is a very scientific process and you need to measure the temperatures very carefully to get that lovely, slightly chewy yet airy texture.

Unfortunately I do not own a thermometer (besides the one you use to determine if you have a fever) so I have not yet tried to make these myself. If you feel more adventurous and courageous: here you find a recipe to try making them yourself: (Note: I have not tried this recipe, as far as I know, making macarons is a hit and miss type of thing. They will work out brilliantly one time and the exact same recipe will fail completely another time. So try at your own risk ;-))

Macarons

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Ingredients

225 grams icing sugar 125 grams ground almonds 110 grams egg whites (about 4), aged overnight at room temperature 30 grams granulated sugar

Procedure

1. On three pieces of parchment, use a pencil to draw 1-inch (2.5 cm) circles about 2 inches apart. Flip each sheet over and place each sheet on a baking sheet. [Note: You only have to draw circles on the parchment paper if you want absolutely even-sized macarons. If you’re skilled with piping and don’t mind eyeballing the amount of batter per cookie, skip this step.]
2. Push almond flour through a tamis or sieve, and sift icing sugar. Mix the almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and set aside. If the mixture is not dry, spread on a baking sheet, and heat in oven at the lowest setting until dry.
3. In a large clean, dry bowl whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip to stiff peaks—the whites should be firm and shiny.
4. With a flexible spatula, gently fold in icing sugar mixture into egg whites until completely incorporated. The mixture should be shiny and ‘flow like magma.’ When small peaks dissolve to a flat surface, stop mixing.
5. Fit a piping bag with a 3/8-inch (1 cm) round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets, in the previously drawn circles. Tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles. Let dry at room temperature for 1 or 2 hours to allow skins to form.
6. Bake, in a 160C/325F oven for 10 to 11 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door slightly ajar, and rotate the baking sheet after 5 minutes for even baking.
7. Remove macarons from oven and transfer parchment to a cooling rack. When cool, slide a metal offset spatula or pairing knife underneath the macaron to remove from parchment.
8. Pair macarons of similar size, and pipe about 1/2 tsp of the filling onto one of the macarons. Sandwich macarons, and refrigerate to allow flavors to blend together. Bring back to room temperature before serving.

Bitter Sweet Chocolate Cream Ganache

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- makes about 2 cups (550 grams) -

Ingredients

8 ounces (230 grams) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Guanaja, finely chopped
1 cup (250 grams) heavy cream
4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 60 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Procedure

1. Place the chocolate in a bowl that’s large enough to hold the ingredients and keep it close at hand. Bring the cream to a full boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. While the cream is coming to the boil, work the butter with a rubber spatula until it is very soft and creamy. Keep the butter aside for the moment.
2. While the cream is at the boil, remove the pan from the heat and, working with the rubber spatula, gently stir the cream into the chocolate. Start stirring in the center of the mixture and work your way out in widening concentric circles. Continue to stir—without creating bubbles—until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Leave the bowl on the counter for a minute or two to cool the mixture down a little before adding the butter.
3. Add the butter to the mixture in two additions, mixing with the spatula from the center of the mixture out in widening concentric circles. When the butter is fully incorporated, the ganache should be smooth and glossy. depending on what you’re making with the ganache, you can use it now, leave it on the counter to set to a spreadable or pipeable consistency (a process that could take over an hour, depending on your room’s temperature) or chill it in the refrigerator, stirring now and then. (If the ganache chills too much and becomes too firm, you can give it a very quick zap in the microwave to bring it back to the desired consistency, or just let it stand at room temperature.)

In Paris they are immensely popular. In the Netherlands they are steadily starting to pop up in different pâtisseries and even in some regular shops.I first got interested in them after reading Lucy Knisley’s French Milk and Paris Journal - look for a wonderful collection of macarons drawn here and some more in detail here. According to Wikipedia:

A macaron is a confectionery whose name is derived from an Italian word “maccarone” or “maccherone”. This word is itself derived from ammaccare, meaning crush or beat, used here in reference to the almond paste which is the principal ingredient. It is meringue-based: made from a mixture of egg whites, almond flour, and both granulated and confectionery sugar. The macaron as it is known today was called the “Gerbet” or the “Paris macaron” and is the creation of Pierre Desfontaines of the French pâtisserie Ladurée, it is composed of two almond meringue disks filled with a layer of buttercream, jam, or ganache filling.