Chufi

I am so sorry.. I thought ferrets were rodents too.. don't tell them I said that you can send Mickey to me, he'll fit right in with my rats. One thing I do know: Sometimes you do need chocolate at 10 am...

An opera about cooking.. that sounds so promising.. As a lover of food, opera and rodents, I am very much looking forward to this blog. I hope you'll enjoy it.. don't be nervous about the cooking.. don't forget to pour yourself a drink when you start your prepwork!

A dreary rainy afternoon in Amsterdam, time for some baking. This is a favorite of mine: Gevulde koeken - filled cookies. Crisp, buttery pastry with an almond paste filling. The recipe follows, and I've also put it into RecipeGullet here Because I did not know how mine would turn out, (never made these myself before), I bought one from a good bakery this morning. So here's what a storebought one looks like, it's about 4 inches in diameter: inside: Now let's make some. For about 10 large ones or 20 small ones (I made them about 2,5 inches diameter), you need: 300 grams of flour 200 grams cold butter, cut into cubes 150 grams soft white sugar 200 grams almond paste 1 egg almond halves to put on top. In the background my old and treasured baking book, called 'wij bakken zelf' which means 'we can bake our own' Almond paste: You can buy this readymade over here. Note that it's not the same as marzipan, which is much finer ground. This one still has a little bit of a course, grainy texture. If you can't buy it, make your own buy grinding together 125 grams of blanched almonds, 125 grams sugar. Add 1 egg and some grated lemon rind. If you buy it, make sure the ingredients are listed or that you buy from a reliable source. Often what you buy as almond paste is nothing but white beans with artificial almond flavoring. OK. Preheat your oven to 125 C / 250 F. Make a dough by mixing together flour, butter and sugar. You might need to add a couple of drops of water to make it come together. Roll out on a floured surface. Cut out rounds with you (preferably fluted) cutter. Put half the rounds on a baking sheet. Put little heaps of the almond paste on top. Moisten the edges of the pastry with water and press the other pastryrounds on top. Press an almond on top of each one (more almonds per pastry if you make large ones). Beat the egg and brush the pastries with it. A thick egg-glaze is characteristic of these cookies, so if you like, you can brush the pastries a couple of times with the egg during baking. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. If you take them out a couple of times to brush with the egg, like I did, they might need a little longer. They should be a beautiful golden brown. Finished! These turned out very well. And they taste spectacular... one of the best things I ever baked. I've eaten many storebought, mediocre gevulde koeken in my life (no doubt many of them filled with beans instead of almonds ) but I don't think I can ever eat one of those again! close-up..

Woohoo!! Friese Dumkes go to Texas!! they look magnificent. Did you do the thumb-thing? And how did they taste??

Don't tell me, it's got to be called boerenjongs, right?? Klary, going right back to the first recipe you gave in this thread, I was interested in the use of self-raising flour for the boterkoek. Is self-raising flour used so often in Dutch baking? Here in Germany it is so uncommon that I have to go to an Asian grocery to buy it. ← Yes! boerenjongens, boys from the farm Anzu, indeed selfraising flour is used a lot in Dutch baking. Other raising agents such as baking soda or baking powder are hardly used (anymore). Even applepie, which I'll be making later on in the 'series', is made with selfraising flour. Allthough I do have to add that most recipes for boterkoek I have seen, use regular flour. The use of selfraising flour in that particular recipe is just the way my mother, and her mother before her, have always made it.

Next up, a tribute to my grandmothers: Pap Pap is (was) the favorite Dutch dairy product. It is some kind of dairy (milk, buttermilk) cooked with some kind of grain or grain product (rice, buckwheat, pearl barley, oats or just plain flour) until you have a nice thick porridge: pap. Both my grandmothers loved pap and especially this one: buttermilkporridge. This is a specialty of Friesland, one of the northern provinces of the Netherlands. My father's family was originally from Friesland and I like to think of this porridge as the one that my ancestors grew up on... It's not the kind of dish that when you see it, you immediately want to make it.. but I'm including it in this thread mainly for nostalgic reasons.. The simplest version of buttermilkporridge would just be made of buttermilk and flour. This is the fancy version, including raisins. On the farms, this would be the staple dessert, and if the family was poor, it would probably be the main course as well. Most recipes I have use 500 ml. of buttermilk to 30 grams of flour. I had to use more flour, most likely because my low-fat 21st century buttermilk is nothing like the creamy fatty buttermilk from the farms.. So I used: 300 ml. buttermilk, 3 tablespoons flour, a handful of raisins. Mix the flour with a little bit of the buttermilk. Make sure there are no lumps. (as you can imagine, pap is also the stuff that childhoodtrauma's are made of. If you don't pay attention, you end up with lumpy, curdled, or burnt porridge ) Slowly, very slowly heat this mix over very low heat. Add the raisins and the rest of the buttermilk. Continue cooking, over very low heat, stirring like crazy, until you have a thick smooth porridge. Don't let it boil or it will split. Serve with plenty of soft brown sugar or syrup. The traditional thing was to have your mother write your initial in your porridge with syrup. After that, stir and add more syrup (and get creative..ok I got carried away syrup is fun and there was no mom around to tell me "not to play with my food"..) the funny thing is that while it smells very sour while you are cooking it, the finished porridge does not taste sour at all. It is very soothing, filling and comforting.

Gevulde koeken - Dutch almond pastries This is a cookie that consists of a crisp, buttery pastry with an almond paste filling. A word about the almond paste. In the Netherlands you can buy this readymade. Please note that it's not the same as marzipan, it has a courser, grainier texture. If you can't buy it, make your own by grinding together 125 grams of sugar and 125 grams of blanched almonds. Mix in an egg and some grated lemon zest. Knead well and keep in airtight jars in the fridge. My recipe says it will keep for a couple of weeks and improve in flavor. The recipe that follows is for about 10 large pastries (4-4,5 inches diameter) or 20-25 small ones (2,5 inch diameter) 300 g flour 200 g cold butter, cubed 150 g white sugar 200 g almond paste 1 egg, beaten almond halves for decorating Preheat the oven to 250 F / 125 C. Mix butter, flour and sugar together until you have a dough. You may need to add a couple of drops of water to make it come together. Roll it out farily thinly on a floured surface. Cut out rounds with a preferably fluted) pastrycutter. Put half the rounds on a baking sheet. Put heaps of almond paste on top. Moisten the edges of each round with a little water and press the other pastryrounds on top. Make sure the edges are sealed. Press one or more almond halves on top of each pastry. Brush liberally with the beaten egg. These cookies traditionally have a thick glaze on top, so if you like you can brush them a couple of more times during the baking. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. From the Dutch Cooking thread Keywords: Easy, Snack, Cookie ( RG1459 )

I never cooked (or ate! ) quail, but that pappardelle dish really makes me want to try some! What's your favorite Italian way of cooking quail?

advocaat is on the menu for this weekend's dinner party. I'm still thinking about a good dessert to use it in. But I'll definitely be making it this weekend.

bacon, leek & mushroom frittata warm salad of roast cauliflower, chickpeas and parsley, with a lemon/walnut oil dressing, and lots of homemade very large crunchy garlic croutons

glad you liked them yes, they should be like a thin crepe. There are restaurants in Holland that serve nothing but pancakes ('pancakefarms') and if you order a pancake there, it will be much larger and thicker.. think the size of a large pizza, and as thick as your thumb.. they can be very heavy especially if you have one with bacon and syrup..! For homecooking I prefer the small ones.. Much lighter and you can have more than 1!

Next up: a drink. Well, it’s not really a drink because you eat it with a spoon. But Boerenmeisjes, Apricot brandy, used to be served as an aperitif, in small crystal glasses with a tiny silver spoon. A couple of months before a birthday or holiday was coming up, and many guests were expected, my grandmother would make jars of this 'drink' (called boerenmeisjes, 'girls from the farm') and it’s counterpart, made with raisins instead of apricots (bonuspoint for who can guess the name of that one!). It's very much a ladies' drink – the men probably preferred jenever! It's a Dutch classic and you can still buy jars of this stuff (readymade) at liquerstores. Instead of eating it as a pre-dinnerdrink I prefer to have it for dessert.. it’s spectacular served with icecream or alongside a slice of cake, with plenty of whipped cream.. or in layered, trifle-style desserts. First, let’s talk about the booze.. This is made with brandewijn, Dutch brandy. The word brandy was actually derived from the Dutch word brandewijn, which means ‘burnt wine’ – wine boiled to distill it. In the 16th century Dutch traders introduced this drink to the countries of Northern Europe after they encountered it in the Mediterranean. The Dutch however, soon started making their own 'brandy' without wine but using malt instead. That’s still what Dutch brandy is made of, contrary to wellknown brandies such as Cognac, Calvados, Grappa etc. Dutch brandy has a very neutral taste which makes it ideal for preserving. This has 34 % alcohol . here’s what you do: soak 250 grams of dried apricots in 300 ml. water. It depends on how dry the apricots are how long you have to soak them. Overnight is ok, but I only soaked mine (which were nice and soft to begin with) for about 8 hours. After that, cut them into strips and put them in a pan with the soaking water, 200 grams of sugar and a strip of lemonpeel. Heat over very low heat and leave like that for about 10 minutes. It should not boil! After that, remove the lemonstrip. Add about 500 ml. of brandewijn and put the mixture in preserving jars. Leave for 6-8 weeks. If you make it now, it will be ready just in time for Christmas!

interesting. What about parsley root? Is that available in the US? you don't see that in the markets over here very often nowadays, but it used to be a key ingredient in Dutch cooking - soups, stews etc.

first we had this: vegetablesoup with meatballs and then we had this: leftover chili, folded into flour tortilla's together with sour cream, topped with cheese and baked. Served with cucumber/avocado/coriander salad.

I can't believe people all over the planet are cooking Dutch food! Thanks everybody. Your responses really mean a lot to me Today on the menu: Dutch vegetable soup with meatballs. Now I won't claim that the Dutch invented vegetable soup! But still I think that this kind of soup, with it's meatballs and the predominant flavouring of celery leaves, is uniquely Dutch. Please correct me if I'm wrong Yesterday I made some stock from a nice piece of beef shin, some sliced carrots, onions, leeks, and celery. This is after it simmered for about 3 hours. I used the meat from the beef shin, and some of the stock, to make yesterday's bitterballen. I felt I was being a very good Dutch housewife, using my stock for multiple dishes.. For the vegetablesoup, I used about 750 ml. of stock. Today, I chopped up some fresh vegetables. On this plate are: cauliflower, carrots, leeks, celery and greenbeans. I forgot to weigh the total amount of vegetables. I think it was about 200 grams, but ofcourse you could add more or less to taste. Other ingredients: meatballs. This is 200 grams of ground veal, seasoned with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg, a teaspoon of tomatopuree, and a tablespoon of cream. Mix very well and roll into small, marblesized balls. On the plate together with parsley (on the left) and celery leaves (on the right) and vermicelli very thin noodles sold especially for soup. In many Dutch kitchens this would be the only kind of noodle you would find.. There's really no substitute for the celery leaves. In Holland you can buy bunches of it, like you would buy a bunch of parsley. Can you do that elsewhere? The leaves attached to stalks of celery taste a bit similar but not exactly the same. If you can find a celeriac root with the leaves attached, that's the right thing. To me, the scent of celery leaves cooking in stock is the scent of traditional Dutch cooking. Note: I added about 4 times as much celery leaves to the final soup than pictured here. Heat the stock. Cook the vegetables in it for about 15 minutes. Add the broken up vermicelli, chopped up parsley and celery leaves, and the meatballs and cook 10 minutes more. The vegetables should be well done - al dente is a concept not known in traditional Dutch cuisine. Season with salt and pepper. Finished:

I'm really enjoying your blog. thanks for the pics of the market, I always love those. Amazing pumpkins! (we don't see them over here). I hope you feel better!

Hi Kerry, ofcourse, the recipe is here in RecipeGullet, recipe and demo with pictures are also in the Dutch Cooking thread (see the link in my signature)

Hans & Frans, this one is for you! Bitterballen First, let me clear one thing up.. bitterballen are not bitter. These are small, round, deep-fried meat croquettes, called bitterballen because they used to be the accompaniment to a herbal liquer called bittertje These days, a plate of bitterballen, liversausage, cheese and mustard is still called a bittergarnituur, (garnishes for your bitter), no matter what you drink it with. Kroketten are sausage-shaped and a favorite sandwichfilling, bitterballen are made from exactly the same mix only smaller and round. I can tell you that on a fridayafternoon, after work, nothing is nicer than going to a bar, ordering a large cold beer and half a dozen of bitterballen with mustard, and start the weekend! Kroketten and bitterballen both fall into the fastfood category these days and I don't know anyone who makes them from scratch. You can buy highquality ones frozen, and fry them at home, or just eat them out - which is what most people do. But for who-ever wants to try to make these themselves, here's what I did today.. Ingredients for the ragout : (this recipe will yield about 4 croquettes or 12 bitterballen.) 200 grams of cooked meat. I used a mix of beef and veal because that's what I had. You can chop it up very fine or leave a bit more texture if you prefer. 200 ml. good flavoured stock 30 grams butter 30 grams flour 1 eggyolk (keep the white) a pinch of mace pinch of grated nutmeg parsley or celery salt and pepper a little bit of lemon juice. Make a white sauce from the flour, butter and stock. Flavour with mace and nutmeg and cook for a couple of minutes until you have a smooth and shiny sauce. To this add the meat, parsley or celery, lemon juice, and eggyolk. Season very generously with salt and pepper. Keep tasting. The deepfried endresult will be blander than what you taste right now, se you should overseason somewhat. Spread this on a plate or in a shallow dish and put in the fridge for a couple of hours until really firm. I know, this does not look very appetizing.. When you are ready to deepfry, heat your oil (I used sunfloweroil) in a pan. I used a fairly small pan because I did not want to fry too many at once (you don't want to stir them about too much or they might crack), and I was only frying up half a dozen. This way you also need less oil. The deep-fried balls will keep warm in a low oven fro a while as you fry the rest. For the breading you need: the reserved eggwhite and 1 egg, beaten together a plate with flour a plate with breadcrumbs (about 300 grams) Now comes the messy part. (thanks Dennis for taking the picture) Take tablespoons of the meat mix and form a round ball. Dip very lightly in flour. Dip in egg. Make sure it's very well coated. Coat with breadcrumbs. Dip in egg again, and coat with crumbs again. So for each ball it's flour - egg - crumbs - egg- crumbs. they should look like this: Deepfry. I don't have a thermometer for this so I can't give an exact temperature... The oil should not be too hot ofcourse or the crumbs will burn before the inside is hot. These were fried for about 4 minutes each. Serve with mustard, and a cold beer.. very good! Final verdict: they were very good but we both thought they were blander than what we are used to from commercially made bitterballen and kroketten. It could be I underseasoned them, it could also be that some extra flavorings (I'm thinking maybe a bit of shallot or onion in the sauce, or some thyme ) would have added that extra flavor. But we also thought it was great to taste such a pure version of this classic, where the flavor of the meat really comes through, instead of just salt and artificial flavourings. And probably the commercially made ones are extra salty to keep the people in bars ordering beers..

A plate of Dutch hazelnut aniseed cookies (aka Friese dumkes)

I've put the recipe for the split pea soup (Erwtensoup) in Recipe Gullet click

Erwtensoep - Dutch split pea soup This is my family recipe for the famous Dutch split pea soup. It makes a very large pot of soup, but it freezes very well. 500 g green split peas 3 carrots 1 small celeriac 3 leeks 3 potatoes 2 large onions 1 kg pork ribs 200 g piece of salt pork 4 bayleaves 4 l water 2 smoked pork sausages celery leaves or parsley Wash the peas and put into a large pot that will easily hold all ingredients + 4 liters of water. Dice and slice all the vegetables into fairly small pieces. Put the vegetables, the pork (except the sausages), the bayleaves and the water in the pot. Bring to a simmer and simmer very very slowly for about 4 hours. A little longer won't hurt. Taste for salt and pepper. Leave to cool a little, take the meat of the bones and put the meat back into the soup. Now it's best to leave it until the next day for the flavors to develop but you could eat it right away. Slice the sausages and heat them in the soup. Serve in bowls with a little chopped celery or parsley sprinkled on top. (Serve with black rye bread spread with mustard, if possible with katenspek, a dutch bacon that has been salted, boiled, smoked and grilled) from the Dutch Cooking thread Keywords: Easy, Main Dish, Soup ( RG1454 )

not much cooking going on her lately unfortunately.. Wedensday I had a bad piza for dinner.. thursday I ate frites and mayo while walking to the hospital to visit my dad who just had hip surgery.. Friday I had a wine tasting for dinner (and some very good beef stew afterwards at a friends' house) Tonight I made Chili for the chili cook-off. picture here And there'll be chocolate to eat while watching tv later on.

well I really was planning to make chili from some recipe tonight.. but I was tired so I just did it my way.. here it is: I can't give the recipe but I can sort of tell you what's in it.. ground beef and ground pork vegetables: celery, onion, garlic, grated carrot can of tomatoes spices; ground corianderseed, cumin, chipotle peppers, tiny bit of cinnamon, chocolate. Kidney beans, barley. Fresh parsley and fresh coriander very, very good and so comforting..

suzi, this one's for you.. I never read one of Betty Neels' novels but I can just imagine the heroin in one of her novels munching on these cookies while waiting for her dashing beau.. The recipe is also here in Recipe Gullet Friese Dumkes, which translates as "frisian little thumbs".. you'll see why later or.: Aniseed hazelnut cookies ingredients: 100 grams of ground hazelnuts 150 grams butter, softened 125 grams soft brown sugar (I used extra dark but light brown is fine) 2 eggs 250 grams flour 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon aniseed 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger pinch of salt Preheat the oven to 150 / C 300 F mix the butter and sugar. Add eggs and the sifted flour. Mix very well for a couple of minutes. Add the spices, salt and hazelnuts. Flour your board or worksurface and roll out the dough to 1 cm. thickness. Now cut into 2 x 4 cm strips. [ now might be the time to confess I'm sort of geometrically challenged. Please just imagine all these cookies are exactly 2 x 4 cm ] Put the strips on a baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes until done. They should not brown very much. Take them out of the oven and with your thumb, press an indentation into each cookie. Then let cool on a rack. *Ouch* Ok I don't know how these Frisian women did that, but cookies just out of the oven are HOT and it hurts to put you thumb on them! I guess you could use a teaspoon to do that or just forget about it - they will taste delicious anyway! To me, these cookies are perfect for fall. They have the warm and mellow spicyness from the aniseed, not the much more assertive spices that you get with the december-pastries. Lovely, buttery, sweet & spicy goodness. You really should try these.

yes, and it's much used that way. You can also buy the leaves in bunches (without the root), like parsley. I'll be making vegetable soup later in the week, with celery leaves as one of the main flavorings.