Dutch Cooking (2005-2006)

[Marlene]

I learn something new here everytime. Now I have to hunt for this stuff!

[Chufi]

I learn something new here everytime.  Now I have to hunt for this stuff!

←

there's a picture of it in the very first post of this thread (when I made the gingercake).

Over here, you can also buy bottles of just the syrup, without the ginger in it. Very good drizzled over icecream!

edited to add: thanks lexy for explaining while I was watching tv..

Edited April 14, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Marlene]

I don't believe I've seen anything like it here, but then again, I haven't exactly been looking. Any Canadians know which section of the grocery store I might find this in? I did however manage to find something resembling sugar chips. I got something called Amber Sugar Crystals. Will that do?

[lexy]

I don't believe I've seen anything like it here, but then again, I haven't exactly been looking.  Any Canadians know which section of the grocery store I might find this in?   I did however manage to find something resembling sugar chips.  I got something called Amber Sugar Crystals.  Will that do?

←

I've definitely seen some in Toronto, in a store in Kensington Market, I seem to remember. If you have a big-ish Loblaws (or similar) near you, there's some chance they might carry it, but you might have to hunt since for it since I find that Loblaws sometimes puts things in unexpected aisles (I'd start with the baking aisle and then the preserves aisle). Otherwise, you might try a health food store, or a gourmet food shop (probably pricey though).

If you're really keen, preserved ginger is actually quite easy to make. I'm sure I saw a recipe posted on eGullet some time ago, but in essence:

• make a simple syrup (1:1 sugar and water)

• slice ginger root into thin (around 1/4 cm) disks

• steam or boil the disks until just tender

• drain, and cook in the syrup until they're soft and they've lost their harshness

Then you can either pour the syrup along with the disks into a jar and refrigerate, or you can drain the disks and roll them in granulated sugar to make the more candy-like version.

Edited April 14, 2006 by lexy (log)

[Chufi]

I did however manage to find something resembling sugar chips.  I got something called Amber Sugar Crystals.  Will that do?

←

I think those are used as a sweetener for hot drinks? Test one by putting it in your mouth If it's rock hard (i.e. you need to suck on it to make it melt and biting it would cause you a filling ) then it's not really suitable. The lovely thing about this bread is the soft crunchy lumps of sugar. So, if your sugarchips are hard, it's better to use ordinary lumps of sugar, crushed to coarse lumpy bits in a mortar.

I am so going to make my own preserved ginger this weekend!

Edited April 14, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Cadbury]

Oliebollen - with a twist.

I made Oliebollen this morning.  I made half the amount Klary gave in her recipe (with the increased measure of milk).  Having made several dozen spring rolls last night for dinner, after cooking about 20 of these delicious morsels, I had had enough of deep frying in my hot kitchen (35 C outside today, 27 C inside).

I still had a lot of batter left so I got creative, filling large muffin tins with the mixture and cooking them in the oven.  The result was a very light, sweet bun.  The oliebollen and the "buns" were given the "thumbs up" by my husband.

←

Okay, so being the adventurous sort .... When I made these last my husband commented that they were lighter in texture and tastier than the Hot Cross Buns we get here at Easter time so I made the muffins again.

I had left over mixture so I made WAFFLES.

They were excellent for dessert last night with vanilla icecream and a drizzle of port over the top. Of course we were too busy enjoying them to think of taking a photo I have a couple left over so a photo might happen later.

Edited April 15, 2006 by Cadbury (log)

[Chufi]

Okay, so being the adventurous sort ....  When I made these last my husband commented that they were lighter in texture and tastier than the Hot Cross Buns we get here at Easter time so I made the muffins again. 

I had left over mixture so I made WAFFLES. 

←

Cadbury, you win the award for Most Creative with Traditional Dutch Cuisine!!

What's next, I wonder? Hmm.. split pea soup croquettes.. oliebollen gnocchi

Seriously, they look great, and the port must have been wonderful with it!

[azureus]

What's next, I wonder? Hmm.. split pea soup croquettes.. oliebollen gnocchi 

←

Ooooh! How about split pea gnocchi? The Italians make gnocchi out of just about anything!

April

[KatieLoeb]

Klary:

Your current foodblog reminded me that I'd been meaning to try the Butter Braised Beef recipe for some time. I finally planned to do it this weekend and carried it out today for dinner. Here's the beef browning:

And here's the final plating, served with mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts as suggested:

Its's delicious, incredibly easy and makes enough for leftovers for a few meals. Even my kitties were meowing and doing figure eights around my legs in the kitchen as this cooked, since it smelled so good. They got a little of the gravy on their food as a treat and were quite content.

Definitely a keeper! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

[Chufi]

Katie, sorry I missed you post.

I'm glad you (and the kitties.. ) liked the beef!

[Chufi]

Goudse kaasbolletjes (little cheeseballs from Gouda)

The province of Zuid Holland is justly famous for it's cheese: Gouda, Leidse (with cumin), Edam. The favorite way (for most Dutch people) to eat cheese is on a (often openfaced) sandwich, but over time a lot of recipes have been developed to use up all that wonderful cheese. For instance, I came across a recipe for cheese soup, which seems to be something like a diluted version of cheesefondue, but minus the wine (too extravagant for the frugal Dutch I guess )

These little savoury biscuits are available in most supermarkets in the 'factory version', in some bakeries you can buy them fresh, but since they are really simple to make (and highly addictive) I thought I'd offer the recipe here.

Now, these will only taste as good as the cheese you put in. The more mature and piquant the grated cheese you use, the better the flavour of the biscuits will be. If your cheese is blander than you'd like, add a little extra salt and pepper to the dough, or even a dash of cayennepepper to spice things up a bit. Or add some crushed cumin seeds for a "leidse" version!

125 grams selfraising flour

1 eggyolk

50 ml. milk

75 gram butter, melted

100 grams grated mature Gouda

salt, pepper

a bit of milk to glaze

some extra cheese for sprinkling (optional)

preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F.

Mix all the ingredients for the dough together. You should have a fairly firm, but sticky dough.

Roll the dough into marble-sized balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Brush with a little milk.

Bake for about 10 minutes, than take from the oven and sprinkle with a little extra grated cheese (optional, but it does make them look better)

bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. They should be quite dry and crispy, a good way to get that is to leave them in the oven for another 10 minutes or so after you've turned off the oven, to dry them out a bit.

They will also become crispier upon cooling.

edited to add: I've put the recipe in Recipe Gullet here

Edited May 25, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[BarbaraY]

That looks like a keeper to me. I love cheeses.

[SuzySushi]

The gouda cheese biscuits look lovely.... which reminds me, I have a piece of gouda cheese sitting in the fridge. I just finished breakfast, but there's always time for a snack!

[Abra]

Very cute, and just what I need to serve with a little charcuterie platter. I'll use the triple-aged Gouda, which I find absolutely addictive.

[Anna N]

These look just perfect for a party. Thank you for sharing.

[Chufi]

Some added advice: don't make them too far in advance. I just ate a few of the batch I made early this morning, and found out that the home-made ones don't hold their crispness as well as the factory-version that I've been used to.

I wonder what's the best way to store them?

I'll see what they're like tomorrow.

Edited May 25, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[tejon]

Have you tried freezing them after baking? That might keep them crisp and fresh until serving.

[Kevin72]

Seems like alot of the biscuit-type items don't keep well in my experience, even within a few hours of making them.

Welcome back to this thread!

[Shaya]

Oh, Klary, those Goudse kaasbolletjes look incredible!

[Chufi]

I stored a couple in an airtight container and left a couple on the counter, on a plate. I have to say that I like the texture of the ones that were left on the plate best, but they were no longer fresh or crispy. So the best advice is to bake them and eat them

[Chufi]

Kletskoppen , lacy almond cookies.

kletskop means someone who talks a lot. No idea why a cookie would get that name! Anyway, these cookies were my favorite when I was a kid. Crispy, crunchy, buttery, mmm. I was really looking forward to making them myself when I started this thread. But, it turned out to be quite a task! All recipes I found seemed to vary hugely in proportions of ingredients, temp of the oven, and baking time. 2 batches ended up in the bin and I gave up for a while. Today I tried again and had succes!

Ingredients:

50 grams butter, melted

150 grams soft brown sugar

75 grams flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

50 grams almonds, chopped

about 1/2 tablespoon water.

Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F.

Mix everything together to a smooth dough. Take little lumps of dough, roll them into a ball, flatten them and place on a lined baking sheet. place them well appart because these cookies will spread (at least, they are supposed to).

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, watch them closely. They should spread to lacy thin cookies, but be careful they don't burn.

Take them from the oven and leave for a minute to harden up a bit, then remove with a spatula to a rack and let cool completely.

Edited May 26, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Chihiran]

Hello, I'm sorry to reply to this topic now that its been quiet for a while, but I just came back from a honeymoon to Amsterdam and I loved it! Before leaving on the trip, I enjoyed reading all of the recipes in this thread so I tried to sample all of the sweets (yum!).

So just to say, thank you Chufi! I look forward to trying your recipes!

[Chufi]

Thanks Chihiran! I'd love to hear how your Dutch food turns out.

And if you like, you can post about your Amsterdam dining experiences on the Amsterdam thread!

(and, congratulations on getting married!)

[Chihiran]

Thank you Chufi!

I plan on baking the speculaas today. I bought a package of them from Dandoy in Brussels, and ate them breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I also want to ask, is there a large Irish population in Amsterdam? I saw so many Irish pubs where the menus were entirely in English.

[Chufi]

I plan on baking the speculaas today. I bought a package of them from Dandoy in Brussels, and ate them breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I also want to ask, is there a large Irish population in Amsterdam? I saw so many Irish pubs where the menus were entirely in English.

←

try some speculaas on a slice of fresh white bread (spread with butter...) so good!

There isn't really a large Irish population here. I don't know why these Irish pubs have become so popular, but new ones open all the time. They are popular both with locals and with the masses of English/Irish tourists we get here!