Dutch Cooking (2005-2006)

[Chufi]

Yesterday we had dinner with friends and our hostess made Haagse Bluf for dessert. She was telling stories about how her mother used to make this for her and her sisters when she was a child, and I couldn't think why I never made it for this thread! So here it is, thanks Hannah for the inspiration!

What does "Haagse bluf" mean? Haags means from The Hague.. and bluf refers both to the fluffy frothy substance of this dessert, and to the (alleged) character of the citizens of the Hague, who are said (but please don't quote me on this ) to be a bit pretentious..

for 4 people:

2 eggwhites

100 grams sugar

120 ml. thick, unsweetened fruit juice. Black- or red currant juice is traditional, but you could use raspberry, strawberry or blackberry juice. For best flavor, use a homemade fruit coulis rather than thin juice from a bottle.

Whip the eggwhites until stiff but not dry. Gradually add the sugar. When all the sugar is incorporated, gradually add the juice. Beat until well combined, thick and glossy.

Pile into serving glasses and serve immediately. Serve with thin, buttery biscuits - you'll need them for the contrast in taste and texture.

You could also use the bluf as a sauce, and spoon over a mixture of summer berries, custard, yoghurt or icecream. It is very sweet and rich and I felt that half the recipe would be enough to make 4 nice, small after dinner portions.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Shaya]

That bluf looks so refreshing, I must try it this summer.

[yunnermeier]

I'm definitely going to try this one!

One question: If I use strawberries, do I have to strained the seeds out?

[Chufi]

yes, I would do that. The texture has to be really smooth and silky and luscious.

[Abra]

Mmm, my blueberries are ripening like crazy, so I see bluf in my near future. Maybe with a little drop of cassis?

[Chihiran]

Chufi, I made the sugar-bread, sorry, I will have to look up the proper name again, and the speculaas. Everybody loved them. I think I might have made a mistake with the spice mix in the speculaas (I couldn't find cardamon and I ended up with 3 tablespoons of mix and not 2), but they taste great anyway. I'll work at the correct ratios for next time.

The bluf looks delicious! I'll try it for a hot day. Today, it's rainy.

And thanks about the pubs. I was really wondering why there were so many! Especially because there weren't many "Dutch" restaurants (that I could find)

Edited July 12, 2006 by Chihiran (log)

[Chufi]

I am sorry that I've been absent from this thread for a while.

The fact is, I had some culinary mishaps in the Dutch kitchen..

My husband is not a picky eater, and will most of the time happily eat everything I serve him, and will even find praise for dishes that I'm not that satisfied with. So when he says a dish is not good enough for this thread, you'll have to take his word for it!

Today was a good day though

Limburgse Vlaai

Vlaai is the pie that the southern province of Limburg is famous for. It consists of a yeasted pastry with a filling, traditionally fruit - for example the cherries that grow abundantly in Limburg. see here for a picture of the Kersen (cherry)vlaai. The fruitpies have a latticed pastry on top. Other famous versions are Apricot, or a filling of pureed prunes.

Nowadays national company Multivlaai makes al sorts of abominations, vlaai filled with tiramisu or chocolate mousse. Don't let them fool you, that's not real vlaai!

(btw vlaai is also the word for cow's droppings. You have to admit the shape is somewhat similar..)

When I was 12, 13 years old my parents rented a cottage in Limburg for the summer. On our outings we would usually stop for coffee somewhere and every single cafe in Limburg offers vlaai with their coffee. My favorite was always rijstevlaai - a very rich pie with a creamy ricefilling. I wanted a piece of that every day

Anyway, today I made one. Here's the recipe.

For the dough:

250 grams flour

1 sachet (7 grams) dried yeast

50 grams sugar

100 mil lukewarm milk

50 grams soft butter

1 egg

pinch of salt

Dissolve the yeast in the milk, then mix everything together until you have smooth dough. Put in a warm spot and leave to rise for about an hour.

In the meantime, make the filling.

This is basically a creamy rice porridge, sweetened and flavored with vanilla. I used 100 grams of quick-cooking porridgerice, 500 mil. milk, 100 grams sugar, and the seeds from 1 vanilla pod. This rice cooks to a porridge in about 15 minutes. But you can use any type of shortgrain rice and cooking method you prefer, as long as you end up with something like this:

Leave to cool.

When your dough has risen, knead briefly and roll it out on a floured surface. Line your pie plate. This amount of dough will cover a 12 inch pieplate. I only have a 9 inch plate, so I had dough left over. Traditionally, the edges of vlaai are not scalloped or ridged, but even. Roll out scraps of dough and use these to thicken the 'walls' (the filling is heavy)

Leave to rest in the tin while you finish the filling.

Seperate 2 eggs. Stir the yolks into the rice mixture, together with the grated zest of half a lemon and a sprinkling of nutmeg. (a thought: cinnamon would be good too, but is not traditional). If the rice became very stiff on cooling, add a couple of tablespoons of milk so you have a creamy mixture again.

Beat the eggwhites until stiff and fold into the ricemixture. Pour this into the lined tin.

Bake at 200 C for about 20-25 minutes. The pastry should be brown and the fillng set, but still slightly wobbly (it will firm upon cooling).

Serve with whipped cream. Yes, it's heavy and rich, but delicious!

Edited August 23, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Pontormo]

That looks wonderful! Off the top of my head, I can't think of other tart or pastry crusts that are left to rise, though I imagine there must be others.

As someone without childhood memories of the dessert, the potential for variations interests me as much as the simple, traditional version. It reminds me a bit of the French yogurt cake that Clotilde resurrects from time to time on Chocolate & Zucchini in that it would accommodate all sorts of things such as bits of peaches, berries, etc. mixed into the filling.

[Megan Blocker]

First of all, that picture of the finished, sliced tart is GORGEOUS. I love the way the lines on the platter echo the slice of the tart.

Secondly, that sounds, really, really good.

[Chufi]

Thanks Megan. I wasn't really happy with any of my pictures today, so I am glad you liked it!

Pontormo, yes, ofcourse you could add things to the filling. Limburgers would pronounce that sacrilege ofcourse

I was thinking, just now, while we had a large slice after dinner, that it would be nice with some sort of fruit sauce on the side. Spicy cinnamonny apple sauce maybe. Or some kind of berry coulis.

Also, sometimes you see them with a topping of grated chocolate. Very good that is too.

The crust came out a bit more crumbly than I'm used to with vlaai. The crust is usually more dense and compact.

Edited August 23, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Abra]

That looks so appetizing and homey, and makes me want some with coffee. I notice that in addition to the thicker walls you have a little rope of dough reinforcing around the bottom edge of the tart pan. It that traditional, or just because you had extra dough?

[Chufi]

That looks so appetizing and homey, and makes me want some with coffee.  I notice that in addition to the thicker walls you have a little rope of dough reinforcing around the bottom edge of the tart pan.  It that traditional, or just because you had extra dough?

←

yes, all the recipes I've seen tell you to do that, presumably because the filling is rather heavy with all that rice. I do think it made the crust slightly to thick for my taste, so I probably would not do it next time. (just make sure there are no holes in the pastry and that it's not stretched too thin).

Edited August 24, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Shaya]

Chufi,

My son and I made your Goudse kaasbolletjes last night, and I must say they are fabulous. We used goat gouda. I could sit and eat them all - I am having to seriously keep myself from doing so. They remind me of the French cheese straws from my childhood, with their salty crispy texture. My little guy got a little creative with some of the dough and made "initials" for each of us.

[Shaya]

We also made your Dutch kaaspannenkoek (cheese crepes) this morning for brunch. They were really tasty. Thanks for all these great uses for cheese!

[Chufi]

My son and I made your Goudse kaasbolletjes last night, and I must say they are fabulous.  We used goat gouda.  I could sit and eat them all - I am having to seriously keep myself from doing so.  They remind me of the French cheese straws from my childhood, with their salty crispy texture.  My little guy got  a little creative with some of the dough and made "initials" for each of us.

←

you know, you have to eat them all, because they don't keep well! Good excuse right?

Those initials are really cute.

and what's that on top of the pancake? looks like some sort of preserve?

[Shaya]

you know, you have to eat them all, because they don't keep well!    Good excuse right?

Those initials are really cute.

and what's that on top of the pancake? looks like some sort of preserve?

←

Well of course the kids wanted to top their crepes with blueberry jam!

[John DePaula]

I must say that I'm really enjoying this thread! Some very interesting things that I've not seen before. Glad to be learning about Dutch cooking, Chufi.

[Chufi]

These were posted on the Crepes Cook-off thread, and since then made an appearance in the Breakfast-thread, but I have neglected to put them right here in the Dutch thread, where they belong!

Dutch Kaaspannenkoeken, cheese crepes.

a layer of cheese (Dutch gouda, ofcourse ) between 2 thin layers of crepe batter. the recipe is here in Recipe Gullet click

[Chufi]

I must say that I'm really enjoying this thread!  Some very interesting things that I've not seen before.  Glad to be learning about Dutch cooking, Chufi.

←

Thanks John!

[Amoreena]

Chufi,

I have throughly enjoyed this Thread. I've just finished going through the entire thing. I've saved a few recipes, but I was wondering why so many desserts and so few main course dishes. Would like to see a few more of these.

Blessings to you for all this hard work you've put into this Thread.

Amoreena

[Chufi]

Chufi,

I have throughly enjoyed this Thread.  I've just finished going through the entire thing.  I've saved a few recipes, but I was wondering why so many desserts and so few main course dishes.  Would like to see a few more of these.

Blessings to you for all this hard work you've put into this Thread.

Amoreena

←

Thanks Amoreena! Wow, you read the entire thread?

About the main course versus sweet issue: I think the qualities of 'typical Dutch' cuisine are mostly found in it's sweets. The old fashioned sweets are really wonderful and unique, as I have tried to show on this thread, whereas the old fashioned savoury dishes (with the exception of the numerous stampotten and split pea soup) are pretty much lots of variations on the theme of beans, pork, and grains. The kind of stuff that fills you up, keeps you warm in the winter, but isn't necissarily tasty .

I could write about some of these, just for curiosities sake, but remember my husband has to eat all of it so I'm not sure he would approve..

That said, I still have some winter dishes on my list that will appear on the thread some time over the next months!

[spaghetttti]

Hi, Klary....

It's Ramadhan here in Indonesia and what a lovely way to break the fast with some delectable poffertjes.

I really made quite a mess baking them in my brand new cast iron poffertjes pan.

Totziens from Bandung,

yetty

[MikeyMike]

I made a big pot of Erwtensoep over the weekend. Basically the same recipe as Chufi's with just a few additions. After letting the soup sit overnight you stir in a half cup of white wine and a half cup of light cream. The recipe was given to me by my neighbor from when I lived in Wassenaar (I will post it later).

Edited October 10, 2006 by MikeyMike (log)

[DragonflyDesserts]

Wow! I am so excited to find this thread. I haven't read the whole thing, but as some others mentioned, I too have found a new fascination with Dutch cooking. I didn't grow up with too much Dutch cooking and asked my mother to dig up some recipes for me. The main thing I remember that they sold at the local bakeries was rusk buns. I love those, and the dried crispy version we would eat with butter and cinnamon and sugar. My grandparents were also from Pella and most of my relatives live around Sioux Center and Orange City. I even was in the tulip festival parade a few times. My maiden name is Kruid. I'd just like to even be able to pronounce some of these dutch dishes! My grandfather spoke Dutch and I always found it quite humorous. They sure like vowels! Any way...thanks for all the time and effort put into these recipes and demos. I'm sure to learn a ton!

[Chufi]

spaghettti, wow, glorious poffertjes! And I'm pleased to see that big knob of butter melting on top.. that's how it should be!

mikeymike, that's an interesting variation with the wine and cream. It's so rich to begin with, I would never have thought of adding more fat , but I'm sure it tastes great!

DragonflyDesserts, I'm glad you like this thread! Your maiden name, Kruid, means spice, did you know that?

If you decide to make any of the recipes, please report back and let me know what you think!