Winterfood in summertimes

After spending some (by far not enough!) lovely days in sunny France, it's been quite harsh getting used to the dutch equivalent of summer. I've just grown accustomed to waking up from sunlight, throwing on whatever sundress was nearest by and dashing off, out into the warmth that is the south of France (okay.. that's not true. I had an amazingly extensive amount of wardrobe choice crammed into my suitcase), spending the entire day just strolling, sightseeing, eating and drinking.. Something I could never tire of!

But alas, I'm back in Holland, and it's like the weather is taunting me with a reality check: grey, clouded, drizzly weather. This instantly awoke my winterfood-needs (hotchpotch,stews, pot roasts..), but since I had not yet found the time to properly restock my fridge, I was limited in my options. However, I was lucky enough to have some potatoes, onions, carrots, cheese, dried herbs, and ground meat in my kitchen/fridge/freezer.

After contemplating it just wasn't cold enough to make 'hutspot' I decided to go with shepherd's pie: something I've never cooked before, but it always seemed so.. wholesome. Plus, fairly easy. Just what I needed! After IM'ing about this with the bf (of course he was pro shepherd's pie, he's always pro whatever food I cook), he remarked that it was like a British version of moussaka. I figured he wasn't wrong, and maybe this dish could benefit with some cinnamon as well..? I was definitely going to try.


For the potato mash:

• 1 kg (35 oz) floury potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 medium onion, peeled, halved and sliced
• 200 mL (6.8 oz) milk 
• 2 large handfulls of grated cheese, preferably aged
• a knob of butter

For the meat filling

• 400 gram (14 oz) minced meat, whatever you prefer, I used beef, but it is originally made with lamb..
• 1 medium onions, peeled and chopped
• 4 or 5 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 can of 400 grams (14 oz.) plum tomatoes
• 150 mL (2/3 cup) chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 teaspoons of dried thyme (honestly, I never measure this, so it's a rough guess)
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

I stumbled upon some red pesto that was about to go bad, so I decided to throw it in as well, what the heck. Must've been about 2 teaspoons. I'm sure you can acquire this taste difference by adding some parmesan, if you so wish.


Anyway, in a large saute pan (incidentally, a birthday present from the bf), heat up some butter or olive oil and add the onions meant for the mash. On a low simmer, slowly fry them until they are translucent, then remove from the pan. Heat up a little more oil (if needed), and add the remaining onion (meant for the filling) and the carrot. Put the lid on the pan and let them sweat on a low simmer, until both the onion and the carrot has gone soft. Remove the lid, add the garlic and the herbs (sneak in a crumbled up pepperoncini if you'd like to spice it up) and turn up the heat.After the garlic has slightly colored, add the meat and fry until browned all over. Add the tomatoes (break them up with a wooden ladle), optionally the pesto, and stir well. Once heated properly, add the stock, and stir again. Taste the filling, add salt and pepper to your liking, turn down the heat and let it simmer until it has reached the consistency of your liking.

Look at my lovely new pan, simmering away!

Preheat your oven to 180 °C (356 °F). Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes in plenty boiling water with en equal plenty amount of salt.
Mash them, then add the onions, butter, milk and stir well until a smooth mash arises. Stir in the cheese, some more salt and pepper if needed (taste it first, obviously) and perhaps some nutmeg. You could stir in an egg or 2 if you prefer the mash to be more solid. Besides the fact that I didn't have any eggs around, I like my mash creamy and soft.


Pour the filling into an oven dish, spread the mash on top of it, smoothing it out nicely. You could sprinkle some more cheese on top of the mash, but it really isn't necessary. Place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until the mash (and possibly cheese) has gained a nice golden colour. Enjoy!

Delicious and easy: just my kind of food!

Stay tuned for my next posts, as I have been inspired by the french cuisine -who wouldn't be- to try some new things (well, new to me) as well as recreating some golden oldies. Let me tell you, making coq au vin in a french country-house's kitchen (in the languedoc region!) really heightens the flavor. Though it could just be the wine..

Miniature Guinness Cupcakes

I've got to be honest: I'm not that much of a sweettooth. Never have been, as a kid I didn't really care for candy that much. Nevertheless, I do love baking. Every now and then I get an urge to bake pies, cakes or cookies, and next thing you know, the bf is having whatever product came out f my baking urge for lunch for the next few days, as you don't easily finish a pie with just two people. Cupcakes, however, are something else. They are like personal-sized cakes, but somehow better, just because they are cupcakes. Plus, you can store them in your freezer! Until a year ago, I had never baked one. I somehow assumed it was a lot of work to make them, what with the frosting and all.

This non-cupcake streak ended when I found a recipe for Guinness cupcakes (on a wonderful website by the way, go check out mybakingaddiction.com). They sounded so appealing, I simply had to make them.
And how glorious they were, not at all as time-consuming as I thought. The cacao combined with the burnt barley flavour of the Guinness, and topped of with a salty, yet sweet vanilla frosting.. simply divine. I added some 80% cacao 'hagelslag' (chocolate sprinkles. Or chocolate jimmies?) on top of the frosting, but next time I'm making them, I want to try sprinkling it with maple-candied bacon bits. I think that could make it even more delicious!

Anyway, besides the fact that cupcakes in general are delicious, they look very festive as well. So, when I was planning my birthday, I knew that cupcakes had to be a part of the food choices. And because they can be quite filling, I decided to go with mini-cupcakes (they look really cute, too).

It really perks up the table!

This recipe makes approximately 24 normal sized cupcakes, and about 60- 80 mini-cupcakes, depending on how miniature you make them.

Guinness Cupcakes

For the Cupcakes

350 mL (12 oz) Guinness Stout
125 mL (1/2 cup) milk
125 mL (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
190 mL (3/4 cup) sour cream
90 gram (3/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa (for dutch people: just use van Droste or Blooker.)
 450 gram (2 cups) caster sugar sugar
310 gram (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, sifted

For the Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350°F).
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Guinness, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, and baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet Guinness mixture.
4. Butter 24 muffin tins, or 60 mini-cupcake liners, and divide the batter among the muffin tins. I discovered that the best way to do this with the mini-cupcake liners, is to pour the batter (since it is quite fluid) into a a plastic freezer bag (or a ziplock bag, whatever you have laying around), cut off one of the corner tips and slowly pour the batter (about 2/3 of the cup).
5. Bake 25 minutes for the normal sized cupcakes, and 15 minutes for the miniature ones,  until risen and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out of the tins.

For the Vanilla Bean Buttercream

110 gram (1 stick) salted butter – room temperature
110 gram (1 stick) unsalted butter – room temperature

1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla extract

220 gram (1 1/2 pounds) confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
4 tablespoons very cold milk

1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer.
2. Add the clear vanilla extract and combine well. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition.
3. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition (mixer on medium-high to high speed) until you reach the desired consistency.

Almost too cute to eat. Almost.. *munch*

Homemade Fast Food

I live a pretty healthy life, foodwise  that is (I am a student after all, so my sleeping and/or drinking pattern isn't always as healthy as it should be). Something I inherited from my parents, I guess. Fresh vegetables, preferably locally grown, free range meat and eggs, and as little with preservatives as possible. But every once in a while, like everyone else, I have a craving for fast food. This usually happens when I'm at a train station, and my train is delayed because of some construction work, technical difficulties, or some other bs our public transportation system is using as excuse as to why the trains are not arriving on time, or in some occasion, at all.

Thankfully, most stations are equipped with a number of shops and a diverse food court, so there's always something to do (or eat). Among the diversity in the food court, there's a number of fast food parlours and one of them in particular (which name I will not be mentioning, but I think you can imagine) disperses a quite pleasant smell of grilled burger. And when I need to wait at least another 45 minutes until there is a possibility of a train, it can be hard to resist the temptation of buying a burger. But, strong as I am, I usually can.

Because I opened the sterilized jar containing barbecue sauce for the sliders, I now have the very hard task of finishing the rest of the sauce before it goes bad. Obviously, I embraced this task with open arms.
This, combined with the fact that my power to resist the burger smells are weakening, inspired me for my dinner yesterday, as I made cheeseburgers with garlic/oregano fries. Naturally everything was home-made, except for the burger buns (I used sesame) and the mayonnaise (ok, ok, I'll be honest. I didn't brew the beer myself either.).

It's all pretty easy: I made the burgers the same way as I made the sliders (check out my previous posts), I added a little jalapeño to it though, just to spice it up. I toasted the buns in the oven for a short while, as the oven was already on because of the fries. In a frying pan, I baked some bacon rashers until crispy, took them out, and them baked the burgers on medium heat in the bacon grease (not so healthy but oh so tasty!) for about 4 minutes each side (this way they're still slightly pink in the centre). The last 2 minutes, I put a slice of cheddar on top of the burger and added a few onion ring and tomato slices to the pan. Spread some barbecue sauce on the bottom (once again: or whatever sauce you prefer), place the burger on top , then the onion rings/tomato slices, some slices of pickle, and the top half of the bun.

Now for the fries, you need to do a little more work. For 2 persons, use about 600 grams (2 pounds) baking potatoes, sliced into thin fries. Boil them for about 8 minutes, drain, cool and transfer them to a freezer/zip lock bag. In a small blender, blitz together 3 cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons of finely chopped, fresh oregano and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add this marinade to the fries, along with a good amount of unground sea salt, seal the bag, and massage the marinade into the fries. Let this sit for about an hour (or longer, depending on how much time you've got), make sure to squeeze the bag every once in a while (as it will increase the flavour). Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 200°C (390°F) and put a baking paper sheet on your baking tray.


When marinated enough, transfer the fries to a baking tray, make sure they aren't crowded, then they won't crisp up properly. Now, to be honest, I didn't check how long I left them in the oven, but I'm guessing, about 30 minutes. The last 5 minutes I turned on the grill (and placed the burgerbuns on an ovenrack above the fries) to make them extra crispy. Add the fries to your plate as well as the burger. Accompany with a green salad, and, most of all, enjoy!

Yummy in my tummy, and (semi-)healthy too!

Since we defrosted enough meat for four burgers, but were satisfied after two, and I don't feel like eating burgers two nights in a row, I'll be repeating this recipe tomorrow. So I will definitely fill my burger quota for this month..!
Dinner today is still a bit of a mystery, but I have narrowed it down to something with chicken, ricotta cheese, tagliatelle and oregano. Oh yes, I'm thinking pasta bake!

 Check back later tonight for the (long awaited) post about Guinness cupcakes!

Birthday Recipes!

Well it took me a few days till I had time to post these recipes, since I've been working a lot, I simply couldn't fit it into my schedule! (You know how it goes.. you get home, cook dinner, discuss the day with your significant other or teddy bear, snuggle up on the couch with said teddy bear, and after that you're just too comfy, so you don't want to get up and you put it off until tomorrow.. or is that just me?)


Anyway, my birthday party was good fun. Because of finals week quite a few people unfortunatley couldn't make it, which meant I could cut down the number of party snacks (so sorry to the people who came, but you missed out on crostini's with cream cheese, grilled peppers and anchovies, crostini's with cream cheese, jamon serrano and rocket, salmon rolls, cucumber and red pesto rolls and possibly some other glorious foods I'd whip at the spot).


Nevertheless, the food I did make was a hit, especially the sliders! I can't really take credit for those though, as I simply used the burger recipe from Jamie Oliver's America (also available on his website). Obviously, I made it a little my own, so here's my version of the recipe.

They look pretty festive, don't you think?

SuperSavory Sliders (makes about 40)

• 500 gram (18 ounces) minced beef, preferably free range
• 500 gram minced (18 ounces) pork,  preferably free range  (JO uses only beef, but pork gives it a little more flavour, plus you don't need extra oil or greasing)
• 2 medium red onions, peeled and finely chopped 
•  12 Jacob’s crackers (cream crackers)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt 
• 1 heaped teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic, beaten 
• 2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 crunched up pepperoncini (small dried red pepper)

Put a splash of olive oil into a large frying pan on a low heat and add your chopped onions and the pepperoncini. Fry for 10 minutes or until the onions have softened, then put to one side to cool completely. Blitz your crackers in a food processor until you get a fine consistency. Oil a clean baking tray and put aside. Put the cooled onions into a large bowl with the rest of the burger ingredients. Use clean hands to scrunch the mixture together. Preheat your oven to 220 °C (428 Fahrenheit).

Now, to create sliders that are all the same thickness and size, I found this really handy tip online. Transfer half the mixture to a baking tray, and even it out. Use a rolling pin if you must (cover the mixture with some baking paper first, of course), but just make sure everything is completely even and square (or at least rectangular). Fill a muffin tin with paper muffin (or cupcake) liners. Divide the evened out mixture into 20 same sized chunks. Most muffin tins can hold 12 muffins at once, so you will have to make the sliders in batches. Put one chunk in each liner. Grab another paper liner, place it around your hand, and press down upon the slider mixture, to make sure it evens out and the slider is firm enough (so it won't break up while cooking).

 Repeat this until all the chunks have evolved into nice little burgers (and because they're in the paper liners, you can just stack them in the free corner of your counter or fridge until you want to use them).

Now, do the same for the other half of your slider mixture.

Wash of your baking tray (or get a new one) and place a sheet of baking paper on it. Trust me, you do not need to grease this sheet! I could fit 20 burgers on it, so you should probably be able to do the same! With your thumb, press a dent in the middle of each slider (this ensures that it stays flat instead of curling up on the sides or swelling up in the middle). Bake 3 to 4 minutes on each side, transfer to a plate, tray, dish, whatever and let cool for about 2 minutes. 

OPTIONAL: You could add cheddar to make it a cheese-slider. In that case: tear 10 cheddar slices into quarts, so you end up with 40 small cheddar slices. After you've flipped the sliders, bake them for 2 minutes instead of 4. After the 2 minutes, remove them from the oven, place a cheddar slice on each slider, and transfer back to the oven for another 1 to 2 minutes (check regularly to make sure the cheddar is melting but not burning)

Now, to make the sliders: You need 40 small (white) dinner rolls (for the dutch people: 20 kleine witte puntjes, halved). Spread some barbecue sauce on the bottom half of the roll (once again, a shout out to Jamie Oliver for his amazing bbq sauce recipe: this too will be posted but it deserves its one post!), or some mayonnaise, or ketcup, or relish, or mustard, or a mixture of those or whatever sauce you like, basically. Though I can really recommend the barbecue sauce (ok, enough promoting for one post..). Next, place the slider on the bottom half, and on top of that place a slice of tomato and pickle, then end with the top half. To keep it all together you can use a wooden skewer (plus, it looks nice).

Yum! They slide right into your mouth ;)

Enjoy! I can safely say that all my partyguests did!

ps. seeing as how this post is long enough, the cupcakes will get their own blog.. (upgrade!)