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.