Quick gravy for poutine

A friend of mine never had poutine and so one day I made some for her and her husband.

Ingredients:
1 cup of broth (1 cube of bouillon disolved in a cup of water)
2 table spoons of flour/cornstarch
2 tablespoons of butter





Make a roux from the butter and the flour and mix in the broth bit by bit to make the gravy. I made the poutine with chicken and mozarella.

Shakshuka & feta

Last summer I had to be in the UK where we had Shakshuka & feta.

The dish is pretty basic but awesome. It is warm tomato sauce (passata),  to which are added poached eggs with some feta crumbled over it and some toasted bread.

For presentation the plate was sprinkled with some flat leaf parsley which made the plate a combo of red, white, yellow and green.

It was rainy but that breakfast at the Serpentine Bar in Hyde Park was the breakfast fix we needed.

Ipanema Cocktail

Last time I was in Germany we went for a drink. I wasn't feeling like having alcohol so I went for a non-alcoholic cocktail called Ipanema.

It was a mix of ginger ale, passion fruit juice, sugar cane. I didn't have the recipe but with a bit of rince-and-repeat you will find the measurements you like.

1. Crush the ice
2. Add the passion fruit juice
3. Add the ginger ale
4. Balance out the acidity with some sugar cane syrup.

I've added white rum to the mix when I was experimenting at home and it works pretty well.

Pickling peppers

This year I started growing peppers at home and it was a success. I grew seedlings from seed and gave them a lot of time. I started last year and grew them basically for a year.

When the time came to pluck the fruits of my effort I had to decide what to do with them and I decided to pickle them since I like them pickled.

This is what I used:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• a teaspoon of peppercorns
• a mixture of 50-50 vinegar-water
• a mixture of 2:1 salt:sugar

Basically it is an easy thing to do. You cut up your peppers, you make the mixture and boil it. Then you put your peppers in a jar and poor the mixture over it.

Make sure you sterilize the jar and the lid. When you fill it up do not give any space for airpockets so before filling it completely you can tap the jar on the counter and the bubbles rise to the surface. Finally fill completely and screw the lid onto the jar.

Turn the jar upside down and store in the dark. According to the research I did you have to wait at least 2 days before you can eat the peppers so I did and I must say they tasted amazing.

I did it with green and red peppers and it worked file twice. New plants are growing for next year but they just have sprouted. It is a different kind and I will probably use them differently.

Thai Mango Salad

About a year ago I was in Thailand and to bring back the memories I looked up the recipe for Thai Mango Salad.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts
• 2 firm mangoes, (about 2 lbs/1 kg)
• 1 sweet red pepper
• 2 carrots, coarsely grated
• 4 cups torn mixed greens
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh mint

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp grated lime rind
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp minced hot pepper
• 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Toast peanuts over medium heat until fragrant and dark golden, about 8 minutes. Stay by the pan, don't burn any. Set aside.


Thinly slice mangoes lengthwise. Thinly slice red pepper and remove the pepper seeds and the core.

In large bowl, whisk together oil, lime rind and juice, fish sauce, sugar, hot pepper, salt and pepper. Add mangoes, red pepper, carrots, mixed greens, green onions and mint; toss to coat. Serve sprinkled with peanuts.

Butternut Hummus

Hummus is a paste made from basically chickpeas and sesame seed paste (tahini). I recently came an article in which there spread was butternut hummus. I loved the idea so I got to work in my kitchen and this is what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 butternut
• pepper
• salt
• garlic
• peanut oil
• sesame seed paste
• sriracha hot chili sauce

First of all you cut up the butternut up into dice of the same size and throw them in a bowl to coat them with (peanut) oil, pepper, salt and garlic. You put them in a preheated oven on 180 degrees Celsius and bake them until they are golden brown.

Once they are ready I 've put them in a tray and into the fridge so that the pieces can cool down. First I blended the butternut into a puree and then I added the sesame seed paste and blended it down again. I got a smooth sweet orange paste but it needed some kick (I just returned from South-East Asia and like my food spicy) so I added some sriracha chili sauce to it to finish it of with some heat and acidity.

Jalapeño Salsa

The other day one of my friends was at my place when we came home from a night out and had munchies. I know that you can't feed Mogwai after midnight but anyways we had a snack and this salsa before going to bed.

Ingredients:
- onion
- vinegar
- jalapeño peppers

Dice the onion and peppers, put them in a bowl, blend it down you will get a green paste under which I mix some vinegar for taste and better preservation.

Lizano Style Sauce

Ingredients:
- onion
- carrot
- tomato
- habanero/jalapeño (depending on how hot you like it)
- cilantro
- lime
- vinegar
- ground coriander
- chili powder
- garlic powder
- brown sugar
- stock cube
- water

I had this sauce over my rice for the first time when I was in Costa Rica. I made sushi before so I know vinegar and rice work very well together.

I did not put any amounts in the ingredients list since it it up to you to experiment and find the right balance you like so there is no 'wrong' just you trying to make it better.

I heat the water, dissolve my stock cube and add the (diced) onion, (diced) carrot, (diced) tomato, habaneros and cilantro. Let it simmer until the carrot is soft enough a baby can bite through it.

Dash 2 spoons of vinegar in the pot. Add 2 tablespoons of salt. Add cumin, ground coriander, chili powder, garlic powder, lime juice and brown sugar for the taste. You have to find the balance for your taste.

Cook it on a low heat for 10 to 20 minutes. I blend it down and if the consistency of the sauce is not thick enough you can add some cold water with thickening agent dissolved in it and put some heat underneath your pot.

According to the person that gave me the recipe it keeps up to two weeks but usually I am out by then because it works really well.

Smores

Ingredients:
- cookies, 2 for every smore
- chocolate
- marshmallows

I was recently on a trip through Canada and stopped in Black Diamond, Alberta to ask for directions to a campsite and this simple story was how I discovered marshmallows and smores.

In Canada most camping sites have a fire pit and I told my new friends how I saw children roast their marshmallows on a stick. I had never done that before and my friends had plans to change that.

I knew what marshmallows were but growing up in Belgium I basically know it from the movies and a thing we call Sinterklaas. The good, old saint sometimes brought us marshmallows but shaped in a different shape not the one I know from the movies.

So to put a long story short I ended up in a garden of a beautiful house with wonderful people. We had marshmallows around a fire pit and the subject of smores came up.

The idea is pretty simple, you take a marshmallow and roast it (we roasted on pitchforks, an invention by my host to feed the whole family at once :) ) and put it on a cookie, put a layer of roasted marshmallow, a layer of chocolate and another cookie.

It is very basic, but it was fun and a total new experience but great thanks to the wonderful people who made me discover this simple recipe.

Pan Dulce

Recently I was in Costa Rica, I visited a place called the Durika Reserve. I ate there something called Pan Dulce and liked it so much so that I asked if I could have the recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 grams of butter
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon liquid vanilla

Mix the sugar with the milk and vanilla. Add the melted butter and mix until the mixture has cooled down. During the cooling down dissolve the sugar in the mixture.

Add the flour and baking powder to the mixture. The dough has a slightly thicker consistency than that for pancakes make. Add the desired flavor (cocoa, raisins, peanuts, strawberries, etc ...).

Place the dough in the pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 ° C until the cake from the inside is dry.

Tiramisu

A classic desert and very easy to make

Ingredients:
- 500 grams of mascarpone
- biscuits, it can be the traditional ones but you can go any direction depending on what you like
- pure dark cacao
- a cup of good dark strong coffee
- 6 spoons of amaretto
- 4 egg whites
- 5 egg yolks

Let the coffee cool down and add the amaretto. Soak your biscuits (but not too long) and make your first layer in the tray.

Add 3 spoons of sugar to your egg whites and whisk it until you got a smooth mixture. Add 3 spoons of sugar to the egg yolks and do the same. Now add the mascarpone to the sugary egg yolk and mix it so you have a yellow creamy mixture. Work the sugary egg white mixture under the mascarpone mixture without breaking the texture of your whisked egg whites.

Spread with a spatula a layer of your mascarpone mix on the first layer of cookies. Add another layer of cookies and mascarpone mix and continue until the tray is full. Let this rest overnight in the fridge and right before serving sprinkle the cacao over the top.

I made variants working with speculoos, working with cacao in the mascarpone mix, you can go as crazy as you want once you understand the basics of this recipe

Squid with rice, and red curry coco cream

Sometimes you have moments where you just want easy uncomplicated food. This recipe was one of these quick and dirty moments where you have a number of things in front of you and you start improvising.

Ingredients:
- Squid
- Rice
- Eggs
- Thai spinach
- Red curry paste
- Coconut cream
- Coriander
- Spring onion
- Chili peppers

Chop up the chilies, spring onions, coriander and spinach. Keep everything separated.

Rince your rice and put it in the rice cooker. Heat your oil up and spice it the way you like it. I personally use things like cloves, but watch out not to burn them. Put in the squid. Squid is not the easiest fish to prepare, you got to make sure it is cooked but be careful not to overcook it. Take the heat away and put the squid aside.

Put in the spinach and you will see it shrink in a matter of minutes. Once it is completely soft, take it away from the heat source.

Once the rice is ready put it in your wok with some oil. Add the coconut cream to it and your red curry paste. The amount of curry paste depends on how intense you want the taste. I personally don't use a lot. Mix in the spinach and then the squid. Let is simmer for a couple of minutes on a high heat. Take the heat away and break your eggs on top of it and mix them under the everything. Bring in the chilies, spring onion and coriander just before serving.

Enjoy.

Butternut mash

Thanks to my girlfriend, I had the experience to encounter the butternut squash. There is this delicious butternut soup she makes with it and since for Easter my family was coming over and they never ate it before I wanted to do something with it. I was not going to make the soup due to some food allergies some family members have. I started wondering what I would do with it and came up with the idea of making a mash.

Ingredients:
- 1 butternut
- potatoes for 6
- Cream
- Italian hard cheese
- Bread crumbs
- Flat leaf parsley

First you start with making dices of butternut. I used my microwave to steam them tender, which takes in mine something like 8 minutes. The idea is basically they must be tender enough to mash it down. While the potatoes are being cooked I already mashed the butternut. Once the potatoes are tender you add them bit by bit and mash it with the butternut.

To make sure I would not end up with just another yellow/orange mash I added finely chopped flat leaf parsley to it since the dark green contrasts nice with the mash. Depending on how the texture of the mash is you add some cream to have a smooth mash. Be careful not to add to much because you would end up with something you don't want.

Next, put it in an oven dish and put grated Italian hard cheese on it with some bread crumbs so it makes a light crust on top of it. Put it in the oven grill for a dozen of minutes so the cheese and bread crumbs can do their work.

I've served this with some nice chicken and we had a very nice Easter with the necessary Belgian chocolate easter eggs.

Mushrooms with butternut and basil pesto

I am just back from a trip along the Garden Route in South-Africa and one of the places where I stopped was in Wilderness. It was lunchtime so we entered a restaurant called the Blue Olive. The idea for this recipe is based on what I ate there a big mushroom with butternut and basil pesto.

Ingredients:
- A big mushroom
- Butternut
- 2 cups of basil leaves
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- Olive oil
- A pinch salt

Prepare the mushroom by getting out the stem and fry it in a pan with olive oil. It should be nice brown when ready.

The basic idea of the filling is to make a butternut puree mixed with basil pesto. Start by estimating how much butternut you will need. It depends on the size of you mushroom. Peel the butternut and boil it soft (I personally steam it in my microwave). Make the butternut into a puree and add the the basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and salt to it. Mash it further down and scoop the mixture into the mushroom.

You can eat it either warm or cold.

Arepas

Arepas are corncookies on which you put something like blue cheese or pico.

For the arepas you will need:

- 3,5 dl of water

- 2 spoons of brown sugar

- 200 grams of corn flour

- 2 eggs

- 120 grams of blue cheese

For the pico you will need:

- 3 ripe tomatoes

- 1 garlic clove

- 1 spoon of ahorn sirup

- 2 spoons of freshly chopped coriander leaves

- 1 sjalot

- sea salt and black pepper

Heat up the water and add the sugar until completely disolved. Add bit by bit the corn flour so you get a nice smooth thick batter. Mix the eggs and half of the cheese trough it. Let the dough cool down.

Put the oil in the frying pan and heat it. Roll little balls from the dough and roll them out so that it becomes cookie-shaped. You fry them 4 to 5 minutes on each side.

To make the pico you dice up the tomatoes, squeeze the garlic and add the juice of the lemon to it. Mix it up and then add the coriander to it together with the sjalot. Mix it up again and finally add the sirup to it and mix it up again. To finish it you add sea salt and pepper to bring it up to taste.

So finally you crumble your cheese onto the arepas or put some pico onto it.

Chicken with prunes

This one is for Jodie, it is based on a Belgian classic called "rabbit with prunes".

You 'll need:

- 500 grams of dried prunes with no pits if possible.

- 5 dl of white wine.

- 125 grams of sugar

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 5 thee spoons of honey

- 1 lemon (cut in parts)

- 2 onions

- 2,5 dl of chicken stock

- chicken legs, 1 or 2 a person

- mustard

You start of by bringing the wine to the boil with the prunes, sugar, cinnamon and lemon. Add 1 spoon of honey to it. Peel the onions and chop them up.

Do some frying butter in a deep pan and fry the chicken legs so they get a nice brown crust. Add the onions to it and add the chicken stock to it. Mix the rest of the honey and the mustard into it and add the wine with the prunes. Lets it simmer for approx 40 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through but check by making a little incision.

In Belgium we serve it with potatoes but they can come in many forms.

Mayonaise

When I was a kid my grandmother always use to make mayonaise. I really like the taste and it tastes a thousand times better than commercial one.

Ingredients:

- 2 egg yolkes

- 1 spoon of mustard

- 1 spoon of vinegar

- corn oil

- 1/2 lemon (juice)

- pepper

Put the egg yolk, mustard and vinegar together in a mixer. Mix them together on a slow speed. Add in the oil bit by bit and look how the mixture becomes mayonaise. To know when you've put enough oil to it is a personal taste.

Once I got the desired texture I add the lemon juice and mix it under the mayonaise and then as a final touch the pepper goes in.

Brocoli soup

Ingredients:

- 1 liter of water

- 1 stock cube

- 1 broccoli

- potatoes

Bring the water with the stock cube up to temperature so that it dissolves in the water. Add the broccoli and let is simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile bring the potatoes to the boil.

When the potatoes are ready add them to the broccoli and mix the whole thing down.

Bon appétit!

Karabitjessoep

The nick name of the people of Brussels is the kiekenfretters, which means chicken eaters, comes from the food we took with us to go and siege the castle of Gaasbeek.

The people of Brussels decided to siege the castle because the bastard son of the sheriff of Gaasbeek attacked the local war hero t' Serclaas who was on is way to between Brussels and Lennik. The main source of food they took with them was chicken and that way they became known as chicken eaters.

The following soup recipe is one I got from my grandmother who used to eat this soup at home during World War II. She told me that it was a very typical soup for that time. Personally I think it is remarkable that once again chicken is involved. In the old days everything you could find of the chicken went into the soup but do to legislation you can't buy stuff like chicken paws any more but according to my grandparents it was something like a delicacy.


Ingredients:
- 1 tray of pealed chicken stomachs
- 1 tray of chicken wings
- 1 cube of chicken stock
- a couple of carrots
- 2 branches of celery
- 2 small leeks

You start by cutting up the carrots, celery and leeks into small pieces that are approximately 1,5 cm long and are 0,5 to 1 cm (a pinky finger) thick.

You clean the stomachs and chicken wings under running tab water.
Next you put them on the boil for approximately 15 minutes. You will see a white foam forming on top of the water. Remove the foam.

Add the cube of chicken stock to the water and put in the vegetables.

To find out when the soup is ready you take a fork and try to put it into a stomach. When it goes in smoothly without putting any pressure on it it is ready. Don't forget to test the vegetables as well.

When I was a kid and my grandmother used to make this soup she would add in some soup balls. The soup balls are just small balls from minced meat and some bread crum that you boil in some water with minced pepper. They are ready when the float. You don't add the balls into the karabitjessoep until you will be serving the soup.

We usually make it and than reheat the soup because we have the impression that the flavors intensifies by letting it stand over night.

Stuffed breads

Ingredients:

- dough

- filling

I used for my first filling minced meat that I baked loose and spiced it with some paprika powder and added some chopped up dates to it. My second filling was Roquefort with chopped up dates. I wanted 2 fillings with nice contrasts in flavors and textures.

You make little dough balls and roll them out the size of the palm of your hand. In the center you put in some of the filling, approx a tea spoon and then you fold them so all stuffing is tucked into a blanket of dough.

Put them in a preheated oven at 200 centigrades until they have some color. Let them cool down a bit before serving so the interior still has some warmth in it but you won't burn your hands when you take one.