Birthday season

Is it just me, or are May, June and July busy birthday months for everyone? Somehow all my weekends are booked up with parties, diners, brunches, lunches and whatnot.. Not that I mind, though. The weather's picking up, so every day is a good one for any kind of celebration!

My birthday was yesterday (for I'm a jolly good fellow..!). I didn't really celebrate it, as I will be doing that this weekend, but the bf cooked for me (which is exceptional to start with). He made a scrumptious meal of rib-eye, marinated in rosemary/thyme/olive oil and grilled, accompanied by a fresh and tangy mint/lemon couscous and a simple salad. with grilled cherry-tomatoes. Yum!

For dessert we had some leftover apple-pie which I baked for my mother's birthday last Sunday. According to her (and everyone else who tasted it), it was the best pie I ever baked. According to my bf, it was the best apple-pie ever made in the history of apple-pies. I'd like to think he is right, but realistically, that's not very plausible. I mean, in that case, I should have been famous already for baking the world's best apple-pie! Because that would be quite an accomplishment. Not as much as baking the worlds best chocolate cake but still... (Yes, I said it! Chocolate cake beats apple-pie, hands down!)

Nevertheless, it was really good. And pretty easy to make, so try it yourself!

Apparently, to some extent, the world's best apple-pie

No, it's not PacMan, it's PieMan! Here to save you from your pie-cravings

 For the pie-crust

• 300 grams (2.4 cups) all purpose flour
• 250 grams (2.2 stick) butter
• 150 grams (0.7 cups) caster sugar (I used brown, I just prefer the taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the pie-filling

•  4 large apples (preferably jonagold), in large slices
• 1 heaped tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 or 2 cups raisins
• some sugar, add to your liking

For the crumble on top

• 90 grams (0,7 cups) all purpose flour
• 40 grams (0.2 cups) caster sugar
• 1 small bag (9 grams - 0.32 oz) vanilla sugar
• 40 grams (0.35 stick) butter

Preperation:

You'll need a spring cake tin with a diameter of 26 cm (10.2 inches)

Add all the ingredients for the crust together, knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour, preferably in the fridge or another cool place. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius (374 Fahrenheit). Divide the dough over the bottom, make sure to create a good edge, and press the dough firmly.

Fry the apple slices. This will make the apples slightly softer and drain out any unnecessary fluids. Add a little water, so the apples won't burn or stick to the pan. Mix the fried apples with the cinnamon, raisins and sugar. Add this mixture to the pie crust.

Knead flour, vanilla sugar and butter manually to make a quick crumbly dough, then add the caster sugar and mix well. It is not necessary to knead it any more. Divide evenly over the apple pie.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 50 minutes. Make sure the crumbs are nicely colored.

Let cool on a cake rack for approximately 10 minutes. Enjoy!!

The fun thing about using apple slices instead of apple chunks, is the pretty layers you get in the cake.
It looks like you put some extra effort in it, but you really haven't!

Saturday I'll be celebrating my birthday, as mentioned before, so make sure to check in on my blog after the weekend for some partysnack recipes! Think minicupcakes, mini-sliders, mini quiches.. alot of mini things, come to think of it.. Maybe it's because we don't feel as guilty eating 3 mini cupcakes insetad of one big one, because they're so mini? Something to contemplate for my next post..

Where it all began..

In my 'About me' post I mentioned something about my mother placing me on the kitchen counter, in a car seat between ladles and pots, and that that was the moment my passion for food started to bud.

Recently my parents have stumbled upon some old pictures, including a picture of this very situation!

Here you can see me, explaining the daily specials to my rattle monkey

Behold, as the moment of my live for food, cooking and eating emerges is immortalized in this blog!


More recipes to follow soon, at the moment I'm pretty busy studying for my drivers theory test.. Wish me luck!

Asparagus

Asparagus season is almost over here, though if it was up to me, it could last all year long! I love pretty much everything with asparagus: green or white soup, quiche, salad, in an oven dish, grilled or just cooked, traditionally, with hardboiled eggs and buttersauce.

Because the season is almost over, most supermarkets are now selling the asparagus for a bargain price. Lucky me! So obviously, I made (white) asparagus last night! Just a simple, but delicious friday night meal. I cooked them, and served  them with whole new potatoes (boiled in skin and quickly popped them in the oven), salmon for the bf and duck breast filet for me, with buttersauce, of course.

In my last post I mentioned how much of a soup-lover I am, so naturally I saved the asparagus broth, the peels and the woody ends of the stem. You can make a simple, but very tasty asparagus soup with this.


Quick and tasty asparagus soup

• the peels and endbits of white asparagus
• asparagusbroth (the water you boiled them in, it's very flavorful!)
• a stick of butter (about 100 grams)
• 2 or 3 shallots, finely sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
• a small dried peperoncini, in case you want to spice it up a bit, crumbled up
• one teaspoon of dried tarragon
• two heaped tablespoon of flour
• dry white wine (approximately one glass)

Add the peels and the stem-ends to the broth, and cook over a low heat. Don't let it cook to long, 20 to 30 minutes is enough. If you let it boil too long, the taste might end up bitter. Take out the peels and discard them. The endbits can be cut up and added to the soup or removed as well

Slowly heat up a stick of butter in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic, soften, and add the tarragon and peperoncini. Sift the flour and add to the onion/garlic mixture, making a roux. Add the wine, stir until the mixture is smooth and pour in a ladle of the asparagusbroth. Stir until smooth, and repeat until all the broth is in the soup. Add some freshly ground salt and pepper, and let it simmer for a while so the flavors will intesify.

If you prefer a creamier soup, feel free to add some cream to your liking. I prefer it without, as the taste of the asparagus stands out more.

Such a luscious soup..

You can garnish with some fresh parsley, grated parmesan cheese, or chives. Enjoy! I know I will.. Too bad I can't post how great my kitchen smells right now..!

Lentil soup

Comfort in a bowl..

Result! And it is just as I remembered. I garnished it with a little sour cream and fresh parsley, and while eating, I'm already feeling better. It's like a snuggie (you know, the blanket with sleeves), but then liquid and probably better tasting. Anyway, it really does the trick.

And I just remembered I haven't seen Cars 2 yet, so my day is definitely improving..!

Comfort food for a rainy day

Somehow, when it's near the end of springtime, the weather here takes a horrible turn and we're stuck in this rainy, grey, depressing version of what's supposed to be June. (Doesn't the weather know my birthday is coming up? I pre-ordered sun a long time ago, I think I'm going to have to ask my deposit back!)
Not at all coincidental, around that time a flu epidemic rises and unfortunately, it has stricken me as well.

So here I am, waddling around in my pj's, drinking nothing but tea and freshly squeezed orange-juice, wondering what Pixar movie I haven't seen yet and in desperate need of comfort food. In my case, that means soup. Preferably tomato soup. Which is kind of weird, as most people swear by chicken soup when they're sick. Me, not so much. I've always preferred vegetable soup and with tomato there are so many variations you can make, that it has proven to be one of my favorite types of soup.

Soup in general is one of the most heartwarming, comforting and soul-nourishing foods I can think of, and it's always appropriate. In winter time, when you get out of the cold into your warm house, there's nothing better then a hot, steaming bowl of onion soup, or pea soup, or bean soup, or whatever you had laying around in your fridge/cabinet. And during the summer, a cold and spicy cup of gazpacho, vichyssoise or spinach soup may be just the kick you need.

Unfortunately, since I spent the weekend at my parents house and didn't do any grocery shopping, I currently have no vegetables whatsoever (very unlike me!). So that rules out the tomato soup..
 Luckily there's such a thing as canned foods. One thing (one of many, to be honest) I learned from my mother, is to always have certain things in stock. I always have enough pasta, canned tomatoes, canned beans, canned lentils, rice, bouillon cubes etc in stock, just in case I don't feel like going to the supermarket, or there are unexpected guests, or whatever reason.

Hold on.. canned lentils? This brings back a memory of me, sitting at the kitchen table while my mother is making lentil soup. I used to indulge in that smell, and that alone made me feel better on rainy days.. Never mind the lack of tomatoes, lentil soup it is!

Now, you can make this soup as hearty as you prefer. I always use my mothers recipe (which she adjusted throughout the years, I haven't received the latest update yet). It's really simple but so very delicious and it meets just my needs at the moment: something savory, warm and comforting.


My mother's lentil soup (the 2010 version)

• 1 can of 400 gram (14 oz.) blonde lentils
• 1.5 liters (6 cups) water
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 heaped tsp of thyme, fresh or dried
• freshly ground salt and pepper
• OPTIONAL: 150 grams (5 oz.) bacon strips
• OPTIONAL: 1 medium potato, peeled and finely diced
• OPTIONAL: Approximately one glass of red wine

In a large pan, heat some olive oil on high heat and add the bacon strips. Fry until crisp, and add the onion,garlic and thyme. Turn down the heat to medium and slowly let the onion and garlic soften. Add the lentils (I don't drain them, as the water in the can is very flavorful) and coat them with oil. Add the potatoes and bay leaves, coat them too and then add the water. You could add a bouillon cube, but really, the ingredients itself provide enough flavour.

At this point, add the wine, and turn the heat down to a simmer. Pu the lid on the pan and let it simmer for half an hour. Taste, add salt and pepper and let is simmer again until it has the flavor and thickness you prefer. To give it a fresher taste, you could add a little orange zest and juice.

You could eat it with some creme fraiche and bread, or just ladle it out of a bowl, as I will be doing.

Oh soup. You always know exactly what I need.

At the moment, my soup is still simmering, and it is starting to smell really delicious. Good thing I've still got my appetite! Pictures of the result will follow, though this soup hasn't proven to be very photogenic.

But really,who cares, when it tastes so good..!

Ratatouille: The results!

Well, to jump right in: it was a great succes! I promised myself to never ever make ratatouille any other way because it looked so great..! Until I looked at the clock: it took almost 2 hours! (including oven time and wine-breaks with the bf, but still!)

Now, I love spending time in the kitchen. It relaxes me. Probably because things usually go exactly the way I want them to go. One of my favorite quotes from the movie Julie&Julia (another must-see if you love to cook, and eat!), is: “I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say “nothing” I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It’s such a comfort.” And that's exactly how I feel about cooking.


So really, I don't mind to spend 2 hours on a meal, but some people just want to eat something - fast- because they are really hungry. As was the bf. We've been together for quite some time now, so he knows that when I get in a cooking frenzy, all he can do is be patient. Which he is. Accompanied by a bag of crisps.

But back to the results! If you were hoping for an exact replica of the picture I posted yesterday, then you are out of luck. But to be honest I think I did a pretty good job..

This is how it looked before I placed it in the oven. Looks great, doesn't it? I think it does!

But I won't keep you waiting any longer: Here's the recipe:

Ratatouille:
Ingredients for 4-5 persons

Sauce:

·         1 red pepper (and to avoid any confusing: I mean paprika)

·         1 large onion, diced

·         4 cloves of garlic, diced (I love garlic, and use it a LOT. Feel free to adjust to you own taste)

·         A few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked

·         One 14 oz. (400 grams) can of diced tomatoes. (Obviously, you can dice fresh tomatoes if you prefer. I just didn’t have enough so I used canned tomatoes)

Vegetables:

·         1 large aubergine, finely sliced

·         1 large zuchinni, finely sliced

·         4 large tomatoes, finely sliced

Vinaigrette:

·         Olive oil

·         2 cloves of garlic (yay, more garlic!)

·         Your own selection of herbs (I just used parsley and thyme)

·         Freshly ground salt and pepper

Preperation:

Preheat the oven to 180 °C (or 360 F, if you will). Halve the pepper, place in a small oven dish and grill in the oven for 30 mins, until the skin has blackened. After removing them from the oven, place them in a plastic bag, and allow to cool. Heat some olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic, and let soften. Meanwhile, peel the peppers and finely dice them. Add this to the saucepan, as well as the diced tomatoes and thyme. Fry everything, then turn down the heat and let it simmer.

Sidenote: At this point I suddenly remembered my mom used to make a version which included curry powder, and I always really liked that version, so I decided to add a little curry powder. It  is, of course, completely up to you whether you do the same, or not.

If you prefer the sauce to be smooth rather than chunky, then blend it. Once again, this is optional. I did blend it and it does look a bit more refined. Taste your sauce, add salt and pepper to your liking, stir well and then turn of the heat, allowing your sauce to cool.

Meanwhile prepare the vinaigrette. This is pretty easy: blend everything: and you’re done!

Transfer the sauce to a baking dish. Add the vegetables, placing them in a circle or a square or whatever, depending on what shape your baking dish is. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables, cover your dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven (still 180 °C) for an hour. The last 10 or 15 minutes, remove the aluminum foil.

Enjoy!

I love the colors in this dish!

I ended up serving it with bulgur, some lemon zest and crumbled up feta cheese. Accompanied with a nice Merlot, it really was a treat!

Looks even better on my plate..