Beach, Beets, Bacon

Another walk on the beach today. The sea looked very different from last time I was there - tempestuous and just a little bit scary. Fortunately there were also signs of spring:



At the post-hike-evaluation my friend and I started talking about plans for dinner, and for some reason the subject turned to beets. I said, enthusiastically:
"I love beets! Especially with bacon!"
"What did you say? Beans and bacon?"
"No, beets and bacon!"
"Where did you hear of such a thing? I´ve never heard of beets and bacon.- Did you just come up with that?"
"Ofcourse not. Beets and bacon, that´s a classic."
"Where. In space?"

Now, I tend to think highly of this person´s culinary opinions, but how can you NOT know about beets and bacon? And it´s not just the Dutch classic of bietjes met speklap I´m talking about - googling beets and bacon gives me 440.000 hits - granted, not as much as the 3 million I get for eggs and bacon, or the almost 900.000 for "beets and cheese", but still. Really not that crazy.

Anyway, I was inspired to keep the pumpkin, olives and onions that were waiting for me at home till another day (I had no idea what to do with them anyway), and went to the store.. for beets and bacon.

This salad is so good because of its excellent balance of flavors and textures. We have cool cucumber and hot potatoes, soft eggs and crispy bacon, sweet beets and peppery arugula. A mellow walnut oil/balsamic vinaigrette holds it all together.

When you´re in a hurry, you could fry the potatoes and bacon in different pans simultaneously - but I think it´s a good thing, flavor-wise and budget-wise, to fry the potatoes in the rendered bacon fat.



Warm Beetroot Salad, dinner for 2

2 medium beetroot, cooked, peeled and cut into wedges
100 grams smoked bacon
3 large floury potatoes, cubed
about a quarter cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 handfuls of arugula
chopped chives, to garnish
dressing: 3 tablespoons walnutoil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, half a tablespoon coarse mustard, salt and pepper
2 soft boiled or poached eggs, to serve

Slowly fry the bacon in a non stick pan until it´s crispy and the fat has rendered out. Lift out the bacon and drain on paper towels, leaving the grease in the pan. Fry the potatoes in this grease (add a little olive oil if there´s not enough fat), slowly, until brown, cooked through and crisp. Season the potatoes with salt.

Heat the beetroot in the microwave until lukewarm.

Divide the arugula among 2 plates, top with the potatoes, beetroot and bacon. Scatter the cucumber around the edges. Drizzle with the dressing, place the egg on top and sprinkle with the chives.

Sweet & Spicy Cabbage Soup

This soup (or soupy stew, because there isn't that much liquid) is one I made a little while ago from odds and ends in the fridge. It was one of those dinners that turned out unexpectedly wonderful, but because of the unexpectedness, camera batteries weren't charged and notes weren't written down and there was no blogpost.

Last night I tried to recreate it and it was just as good as the first time I made it - even better becauase of the last minute addition of mint and coriander.

Whenever I cook something 'Asian inpired' I repeat this mantra in my head : Hot Sour Salty Sweet Hot Sour Salty Sweet Hot Sour Salty Sweet. It's the title of a book I don't even own (but covet) (and the authors of this book also have a website that I haven't really begun to explore yet). But to think of these flavors really helps when you're looking for the right balance in Asian dishes. If you consider the 4 flavors as working together like a little symphony, where none of them really takes the central stage but they all tune in together to create a harmony, it's a lot easier to adjust the seasonings (in this case, Hot Sour Salty Sweet - chili, citrus juice, fish sauce, and cabbage). When using other vegetables I might add a bit of sugar, but because cooked cabbage is so naturally sweet, that wasn't really necessary.




Spicy Sweet Cabbage Soup
serves 2, with leftovers for lunch the next day

a piece of carrot, about 125 grams, cut into matchsticks
150 grams cabbage, shredded
750 ml chickenstock
1 tablespoon sunflower oil or other flavorless oil
200 grams lean miced meat (I used beef, but you could substitute chicken, turkey or pork)
1 large shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping teaspoon minced ginger
1 heaping teaspoon chili paste (I used sambal badjak)
a splash of soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
a squeeze of lemon or lime juice (preferably lime, but I still have 5 lemons lying around so that's what I used)
finely chopped mint and coriander, about 2 tablespoons
sriracha, to serve

Heat the chicken stock in a large pan. Add the carrots and cabbage and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
meanwhile, heat the oil in a small frying pan. When it's hot, add shallots and garlic and ginger. Cook for a couple of minutes until the soften, then add the meat, breaking it up with a fork while you brown it. When it's nicely browned, add the contents of the frying pan to the pan with the stock and cabbage. Also add the chili paste at this point.
When the cabbage is tender, add the fish sauce, soy sauce and lemon or lime juice, and a bit of salt. Taste, and adjust seasonings (chili, lemon, fish sauce, soy sauce) as necessary.
Just before serving, stir in half the chopped mint and coriander. Rinse the cooked noodles with hot water and pile them into 2 deep bowls. Spoon the soup on top, garnish with the rest of the mint/coriander, add a little swirl of sriracha and serve.

Slurping is mandatory.

Smoky Chili

OK, we could have been eating roast pumpkin leftovers and cucumber salad for a couple of more days, but yesterday I rebelled against ‘eating from the fridge’ and ‘budget shopping’. I had a sudden, real, unavoidable craving for something spicy and flavorful and hearty and meaty. In short, I wanted chili.

This would be a challenge in itself, because last week I discovered a colony of bugs in my dried chili supply and had to toss them all out – bugs, chiles, the whole lot.

It’s a good thing I’m going to London next week, where, I’m told, the Spice Shop sells all kinds of dried chiles (from smoky dried chipotles to guajillos).

But my meaty black bean chili could not wait until I replenished my chili stash so I had to improvise. The combination of chipotles in adobo, heady spices like cumin, allspice and coriander seed, smoked Spanish pimenton, and finally a garnish of crispy smoked bacon resulted in an unorthodox, possibly blasphemous, but excellent chili. It had just the kind of spicyness I was looking for: the spicyness that's warm rather than sharp, a spicyness that's more about deep strong flavors than about sudden heat.

Toppings included avocado, soft goats cheese, fresh coriander,cool cucumber, and crsipy smoked bacon (the third element in the smoky trinity). And I also made skillet cornbread!



Klary’s Smokin’ Hot Chili
serves 3-4

250 grams dried black beans
400 grams beef suitable for stewing
4 large onions, minced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon allspice berries
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
1 small chipotle from a can of chipotles in adobo, cut up, and about 1 tablespoon of the adobo sauce
½ teaspoon oregano, preferably Mexican oregano (I had some that I bought at the farmers market in Santa Fe, it’s much more fragrant and spicy than European oregano)
About half a glass of wine, any color
A pinch of sugar
250 ml. pureed tomates from a can
250 ml light chicken stock
2 tablespoons of Turkish red pepper paste
Salt & pepper
Olive oil

garnishes: cubed avocado, soft fresh cheese or sour cream, something cool and crisp (cucumber, radishes), smoked crispy bacon.

Pick over the beans, rinse them, put them in a pan with water to amply cover. Bring to the boil, add a bit of salt, and cook over low heat until the beans are tender (it depends on the freshness of the beans how long this will take – probably an hour or 2).
Then, cut the beef into very (and I mean very) small cubes. Don’t be tempted to use ground meat for this dish: the hearty robust flavors demand the extra texture from the cut up beef.
Toast the coriander seed, allspice and cumin seed in a small frying pan until fragrant, then grind them to a powder in a mortar.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven. Season the meat with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot, brown the meat (I did not bother with doing this in batches - it's ok if it doesn't get really brown). When it has some color, add the onions and garlic and fry for 5 mionutes or so until the onions start to soften. Then add the spice mixture from the mortar, the smoked paprika, oregano, the miced chipotle and chipotle sauce, and the red pepper paste. fry all of this for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently.

Then add the tomatoes, stock, wine, and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat for an hour and a half. While it's cooking, check that it doesn't get too dry - add some water if necessary.



If you started your beans before you started your meat, they may be almost cooked by now. If not, turn off the heat under the meat sauce, and wait till they are. Then, drain the beans and add them to the meat, and cook everything together for another hour.

You can eat it now, but it will taste better tomorrow.

Serve hot, and put bowls of the garnishes on the table for everyone to help themselves.

All in all, this wasn't really too expensive: about 7 euros for the meat and beans, and everything else came from the pantry/leftovers. We ate a lot and still had enough to put one huge portion in the freezer for another day.

Truffled away

How can you, my readers might ask, be on a budget challenge and have truffle risotto for dinner?

When Dennis sent out the invites for his birthday dinner, he specified that he did not need any gifts – but for people who did not want to come empty handed, he advised ´perishables´: meaning, no stuff that ends up in a closet never to be used/read/listened to, but things that can be enjoyed for a while and then are gone forever.

After all, stuff, we have enough of.

So he ended up with chocolates, some great wines, port, special teas, and whisky.

And this little thing:

It arrived in a polystyrene box, the kind that´s used to transport donated organs from one hospital to the other – and jokes about Dennis being in need of a new liver abounded. But on opening the lid it wasn´t a bloody body part on ice that he found, but a delicate brown morsel wrapped in straw, packed in plastic, that looked and felt just like a true winter truffle. Which is what it was, shipped all the way to Amsterdam from France, all 19.7 grams of it.

I spent a couple of hours trying to think of creative, original things to do with the truffle, and then decided that with great things, simplicity is always best. I did remember a previous truffle dinner (2 years ago, with a truffle we´d brought back from our vacation in Umbria, which, by the time I got around to cooking with it, tasted of.. absolutely nothing). Ofcourse I had faith in my friends but maybe not in every truffle seller, and even the slightest possibility of a disappointing dinner was too much for me yesterday. So I decided to make a risotto that would be good on its own, and hopefully, sublime with the truffle.

There are plenty of discussions floating around on how to cook with truffles. Some people say they need to be cooked with the rest of the dish to release their full flavour potential, other say they only need to be slightly warmed for optimal aroma, and yet others say that shaving the raw truffle onto the food gives the best result. Because this truffle did not have an overwhelming aroma when I opened the plastic bag, I felt that a little cooking wouldn´t hurt and would help to coax as much truffle flavor out of the 19.7 grams as possible.



I made a very simple risotto, with white wine and chicken stock and some sauteed chestnut mushrooms for textural contrast. About 2/3 of the truffle was added halfway through cooking the risotto, the rest just at the end (with a good glob of mascarpone for creaminess and richness). I saved a couple of paper thin slices to sprinkle on top, where they kind of melted in the warmth of the rice.

We sat down to a very good dinner. The risotto had musky, earthy, luscious undertones from the truffle, and it was very rich and creamy and delicious. But (and yes you could feel this but coming on didn´t you?) we weren´t blown away. Not the way you would expect to be blown away when you slice up an almost 20 gram truffle between the two of you. And I am sorry to say this, seeing that this was a gift and all, and don´t get me wrong, it was a truly delicious risotto (and would have been much less delicious without the truffle!), but we´re talking about food here people so I have to be really honest.

Truffles can be heavenly, this one was like drifting on a little cloud on your way to heaven.. and finishing your plate just before you get there. I wonder why this is? Is it really only possible to experience truffle-heaven in the country of origin? Although I must say I´ve had some fantastic truffle dishes in Dutch restaurants, too... could it be that it´s restaurant chefs who snag up all the best specimens?

Still, a cloud on its way to heaven... not a bad place to be on a Monday night, in the middle of Budget Challenge.

Nu nog lekkerder

Het eten was heerlijk zaterdag. Maar toch moet ik eerlijk zeggen, dat een dag van voorbereidingen en mise en place, en daarna een paar uur volle kracht vooruit hectische keuken activiteit, niet bijdragen aan de optimale omstandigheden om van eten te genieten. Ik proefde zaterdag dat het goed was, maar was toch eigenlijk te moe/opgewonden/druk aan het praten en drinken om het eten écht op waarde te schatten.

Daar zijn dan de kliekjes voor. Zojuist heb ik geluncht met het laatste restje bulgur pilaf (waar ik zaterdag niet eens een foto van heb gemaakt) en het was zo lekker, dat ik vind dat dit recept een heel eigen blogpost verdient.

Het is een aangeklede versie van deze bulgur met tomaten - daar noem ik de aubergine en kaas als optioneel.



Deze keer gebruikte ik geen gepureerde bliktomaten, maar een mengsel van half bouillon, half tomatensap. De tomatensmaak is dan wat milder, wat goed werkt als je er andere ingrediënten bij doet. Door de pilaf ging een aubergine, in stukken gesneden en met een beetje olie geroosterd in de oven tot de stukken gaar en goudbruin zijn, en blokjes gebakken halloumi. Veel verse munt, een snufje chilivlokken, een drupje balsamico azijn, en een beetje goede olijfolie eroverheen vlak voor het serveren.

Lang leve restjesdag.

Feest voor Dennis

Het was een mooi feest met, al zeg ik zelf, bijzonder geslaagd eten. Van de witlof met avocado en grapefruit en de gorgonzola poffertjes, via de Marokkaanse lams ´sigaren´ naar de kikkererwten pompoen salade met tahin dressing (naar dit recept, maar zonder de rode ui en koriander, en met toevoeging van een paar handjes geslonken spinazie), bulgur pilaf met aubergine, munt en halloumi, en de Kip Musakhan.

De kip was zo mogelijk nog lekkerder dan de vorige keer dat ik het maakte. Paula Wolfert beschrijft dit gerecht in haar The Cooking of the Eastern Mediteranean als ´a Middle Eastern village dish´ - en het is inderdaad een geweldig voorbeeld van creatief koken met beperkte middelen. De kip (gemarineerd in sumac en citroensap) is al verrukkelijk, maar eigenlijk is het het brood, waarop de kip gebakken wordt, wat de show steelt. De helft wordt knapperig, de andere helft is doortrokken van het sap van de kip en de gestoofde uien, en de smaak is zo rijk en complex dat je niet kunt ophouden ervan te eten. Ik at er zóveel van dat ik bijna geen plaats meer had voor het toetje.

Ook dat was een reprise - basbousa met kweeperen, kweeperen wodka siroop en mascarpone. Maar voor de gelegenheid een beetje opgeleukt: in plaats van gewone mascarpone mascarpone vanille ijs, en voor een structuur-contrast gecarameliseerde pistachenoten.

Er waren oude vrienden van ver en nieuwe vrienden van dichtbij, er waren ouderwetse balkon-rookpauzes en een nazit en très petit comite waarbij ik eindelijk mijn voeten op tafel kon leggen en de wat... pikantere levensvragen de revue konden passeren.

Vandaag hebben we het aanrecht geschrobd, afwasjes gedaan en de vloeren gedweild. We hebben restjes in de koelkast om nog dagen van te eten, genoeg wijn over om nog een poosje plezier van te hebben (hoewel ik daar nu even niet aan moet denken - doe mij nog maar een Cola light), en een heel bijzonder culinair cadeau om mee te experimenteren.. daarover morgen meer. Nu eerst even uitrusten en nagenieten.

Kip Musakhan
voor 4 personen
naar het recept uit The Cooking of the Eastern Mediteranean, Paula Wolfert

4 scharrelkippenbouten, gehalveerd
1 1/2 eetlepel sumac
1/8 theelepel versgemalen nootmuskaat
1/8 theelepel kaneel
1/4 theelepel gemalen zwarte peper
zout
sap van 1 citroen
4 grote uien, in ringen gesneden
125 ml. kippenbouillon
olijfolie
een rond plat turks of marokkaans brood (de dunne variant, dat is belangrijk)
geroosterde pijnboompitten en gehakte peterselie om te garneren.

Meng de sumac, nootmuskaat, kaneel, peper en zout met het citroensap. Doe de kip in een kom, giet de marinade eroverheen en masseer de marinade met je handen goed in alle kipstukken. Laat minstens een paar uur, maximaal een dag, marineren in de koelkast.

Doe de fijngesneden uien in een braadpan met deksel, samen met 1 eetlepel olijfolie, peper en zout, en de bouillon. Laat afgedekt stoven tot de uien zacht zijn (ca. 40 minuten).

Verhit de oven voor op 200 C. en breng de kip op kamertemperatuur. Kies 2 ovenschalen: één waar de kip straks in 1 laag in kan liggen, en een andere die eventueel kleiner kan zijn, als de kip er maar in past (desnoods in twee lagen). Smeer de grote platte ovenschaal of bakblik in met olijfolie. Scheur het brood in stukjes en leg dit op de bodem van de met olie ingesmeerde ovenschaal. Verspreid de gestoofde uien (inclusief vocht) over het brood.

Doe de kip in de andere ovenschaal, dek deze goed af met folie. Bak de kip 20 minuten in de voorverwarmde oven. (Om te voorkomen dat de kip aan de schaal plakt bekleed ik deze met bakpapier.)

Neem de kip uit de schaal en leg de stukken met de huid naar boven op de met brood en uien beklede ovenschaal. Zet deze schaal (onafgedekt) in de oven en laat nog zo´n 20-30 minuten bakken, of tot de kip gaar is en goudbruin.

Bestrooi voor het serveren met geroosterde pijnboompitten en gehakte peterselie.

p.s.: het recept voor de lamsvlees pasteitjes vind je hier. Ik gebruikte een mengsel van lamsvlees en rundvlees, en paste de kruiderij wat aan: gerookte paprika in plaats van gewone, meer komijn, en exra: gemalen korianderzaad en gemberpoeder.

Morning, after

Straks meer.

Lichtvoetig

Soms ontdek je ineens dat je al dagen, eigenlijk weken, alleen maar bezig bent met plannen/ organiseren/ lijstjes schrijven/ spreadsheets maken/ zorgen/ regelen/ dichttimmeren/ tellen en bezuinigen. Toegegeven, sommige van die plannen zijn bedoeld voor toekomstige leuke momenten, maar intussen vergeet je helemaal om gewoon, nu, hier, plezier te hebben.

Gelukkig heb ik ook dáárop geanticipeerd en aan het begin van dit jaar een paar extra vrije dagen ingepland. En dan bedoel ik ook echt vrije dagen - niet zo'n vrije dag waarop je denkt: 'zo nu heb ik eindelijk eens tijd om de badkamer te soppen - mijn harde schijf op te schonen - een nieuwe website te bouwen - een stapel wasgoed weg te werken. Nee, een echt vrije, glorieus onnuttige, onverantwoordelijk werkloze dag.

Zo'n dag had ik gisteren. Ik maakte wat wel eens mijn nieuwe favoriete standaardwandeling zou kunnen worden: met de trein naar Overveen, dan slingerend door de duinen naar de zee, en dan langs het strand naar station Zandvoort. Een bijna perfecte wandeling. Eerst 5 kwartier door het duinlandschap, wat altijd mooi is, in elk jaargetij en bij zon en wolken. En dan, net als je dringend behoefte krijgt aan een toilet en caffeine, bereik je de zee (een kinderlijk opgetogen moment om voor het eerst de eindeloze horizon te zien) en Parnassia. Ze hebben er ook aardige broodjes en de erwtensoep rook lekker, maar het blijft toch leuker om je meegebrachte boterhammen op een bankje in de duinen op te eten.



Dan is het nog zo'n uur lopen naar Zandvoort, maar ik deed er gisteren een stuk langer over omdat ik steeds stil bleef staan om naar de strandlopertjes te kijken.
Bestaat er een lichtvoetiger wezentje?




's Avonds aten we sudderlapjes met mosterd, rode kool uit de vriezer en aardappelpuree. Op tijd naar bed, rozig, met een licht hart.

Whatever happened to the Budget Challenge?

When someone announces a project, talks about it enthusiastically for a week or so, and then stops talking about it, there´s a pretty good chance that said person has abandoned said project but is too embarrassed to admit that. (From my past: learning Russian, taking up guitar lessons, attending the gym regularly... to name but a few).

I´m happy to report that the Budget Challenge does not fit into this category, and that the fact that I haven´t reported about it, is simply due to my omnipresent unavoidable laziness. Because, in fact, it´s been going very, very well.

Today I chekced the bank balance and saw we had 190 euros left until Saturday, which means I can spend 90 euros on this week´s grocery shopping (way too much, but not really, cause this will help contribute to Dennis´ birthday dinner for 17 that we´re having on Saturday) and still have 100 euros left over this month. Woohoo!

We had some uninspiring, cheap dinners the last couple of days (the best one was penne with panfried zucchini and goats cheese, pictured above). Yesterday was a lovely dinner at VDuck, the corncakes with chipotle shrimp I´d been coveting ever since Mark blogged about it here. And they sent us home with leftovers, so tonight will be a reprise of that, yes, I´m almost ashamed to say it, for free.

Other things that have been happening: I´m shopping like crazy for the birthday dinner, and today I made more than 50 Morroccon lamb pastries - which will be the appetizer on Saturday. They´re safely tucked away in the freezer, but I did bake one just to see if it was okay. It was more than okay, it was so good I burned my mouth because I could not stop eating it even though I knew it was way too hot to bite into.

Scheduled for the rest of the week: poach a mess of quinces, bake basbousa, count my tableware.

Verjaardags-marathon, deel I

Donderdag was Dennis jarig, wat we vierden met pizza bij Renato´s, onze nieuwe Amsterdamse pizza favoriet, en daarna tot in de te kleine uurtjes bij Welling, waar we de enige gasten waren - klinkt ongezellig, maar dat was het niet, dankzij leuke barmannen en een glaasje Filliers of twee, drie....

Vandaag was er lunch met de diverse Ouders, en volgende week is er dan nog het Diner. We nemen verjaardagen heel, heel serieus in dit huishouden.

Op het menu vandaag: aardappeltortilla met basilicum, worstebroodjes, spinazie-paddestoelensalade, en ricotta muffins met cranberries.

De salade was geïnspireerd door een salade die ik af en toe op mijn werk eet. Dat spinazie en paddestoelen een geweldige combinatie zijn wist ik al, maar het idee om warme champignons door rauwe spinazie te scheppen zodat de spinazie net een beetje slinkt, heb ik te danken aan Kimberly van onze catering.

De muffins zijn gebaseeerd op dit recept, maar toch weer behoorlijk anders. De ricotta zorgt voor cake-achtige muffins met een frisse smaak. Wegens het verjaardagsthema van vandaag leukte ik ze op met een klodder mascarpone - maar ook zonder dat, waren ze heerlijk geweest.


Spinazie-paddestoel salade
bijgerecht voor 6 personen

500 gram kastanjechampignons, gehalveerd of in kwarten (als ze erg groot zijn)
150 gram spinazie, gewassen
1 grote teen knoflook, gesnipperd
2 eetlepels olijfolie
ca. 3 eetlepels japanse sojasaus
1/2 eetlepel wijnazijn
1 eetlepel sesamolie
peper, zout

Verhit de olijfolie in een koekenpan op middelhoog vuur. Bak hierin de champignons een paar minuten. Doe de knoflook erbij, bak even mee, en blus dan af met 2 eetlepels soja saus. Nog even laten sudderen (de champignons beginnen nu hun vocht los te laten, niet te droog laten koken). Op smaak brengen met zout en peper.
Doe de spinazie in een grote kom en schep de hete paddestoelen erop. Omscheppen, en laten staan tot het op kamertemperatuur gekomen is. Proeven op zout en peper, en nog een eetlepel sojasaus en de wijnazijn er doorheen scheppen. Tenslotte vlak voor het serveren een eetlepel sesamolie erover heen druppelen. - Terwijl ik dit typ, bedenk ik me dat het leuk zou zijn om de salade te garneren met geroosterd sesamzaad...


Ricotta sinaasappelmuffins met cranberries
voor ca. 14 stuks
275 gram bloem
1/2 theelepel bakpoeder
1/2 theelepel baking soda
1/4 theelepel zout
rasp van hele sinaasappel
150 gram suiker
115 gram zachte boter
175 gram ricotta
scheutje vanille extract
ca. 2 eetlepels sinaasappelsap
75 gram gedroogde cranberries

Verhit de oven voor op 180 C.

Meng de bloem, bakpoeder, baking soda en zout in een kom door elkaar (ik doe dat met een garde, omdat ik meestal te lui ben te zeven...)
In een andere kom, de sinaasappelrasp in de suiker wrijven met je vingers (de beste tip die ik leerde van Dorie Greenspan - citrusrasp geeft op deze manier zo veel meer smaak af aan je baksels!). Als de suiker mooi oranje gekleurd is, met de mixer de zachte boter door de suiker mengen tot je een zacht en luchtig mengsel hebt. dan de ricotta erdoor mixen en het sinaasappelsap en vanille extract, en tenslotte het ei. Dan (met een spatel, niet meer met de mixer) de bloem luchtig door het mengsel scheppen, en als laatste de cranberries erdoor scheppen. Niet te lang roeren, dan krijg je taaie muffins. Beslag over de muffinvorm (ingevet, of bekleed met papieren vormpjes) verdelen en de muffins ca. 15-20 minuten bakken (de mijne waren na 15 minuten klaar: doe de cocktailprikker test om te zien of ze gaar zijn).

The cookie crumbles

Sometime in December, I received a package in the mail.

Packages are always exciting, but I’ve learned to check my enthusiasm when I arrive home and see a thick brown envelope or a slim brown box on the dining room table. You see, nine times out of ten, the package isn’t for me but for Dennis, who is continuously ordering obscure cd’s, weird audio-related electrical appliances, and the latest developments in computer technology. The last time a package was mine, it turned out to contain a new supply of contacts. What I’m saying is, a package, a personal package, a fun package just for me, is a rare and special occasion.

This brown box came from Silver City, which made my heart jump. We spent a blessed week there in October visiting Rob and Tyler of Kumquat/Blogquat fame. Rob is an amazingly original and creative (on other occasions I’ve used the word ‘weird’, which did not go over well, but really, if you look at the list of dishes for his most recent tasting menu, isn’t weird a word that comes to mind?) cook, and I had a feeling he’d sent me something home made - so naturally I was really excited about the contents of this package.

Here’s what I found:
I was puzzled. I thought it might be some kind of flavored sugar he had made himself – but what to do with it? There was no note, no explanation. The wrapper smelled faintly of cinnamon. After a day or two (I did not want to mail him straight away, for fear of looking stupid in not recognizing the stuff) I emailed him: uhm, Rob, what is this, what you sent me?

He replied: they’re our state cookie, biscochitos.

Me: No they’re not, maybe they were cookies once, but they’re cookie crumbs, now.
He then sent me a picture of what the cookies looked like in their previous life, as cookies. They looked delicious and I was sad, and then I stuck the vacuum wrapped crumbs in the freezer, not really knowing what to do with them.

Yesterday my friend Maarten came over for 3 episodes of Dynasty and because I was feeding him lasagna leftovers and a bowl of tired salad, I decided we needed dessert. But I did not have anything that could be dessert. Except.. maybe… those frozen disintegrated cookies?

So I cut up a wrinkly apple and a couple of even more wrinkly plums that were lying in the fruit bowl, waiting for a purpose. Crumbs on top, drizzled with melted butter, baked for half an hour, a scoop of thick Greek yoghurt on the side – dessert bliss. The cookie crumbs made for a very soft and deliciously sandy textured topping. Maarten picked up on the aniseed in the cookie right away (he has an amazing palate), and we ate almost the whole thing, leaving just a tiny little scrap for Dennis.

Unless you are friends with Rob, who sends you cookies, which turn into crumbs while traveling from New Mexico to Amsterdam, you won’t be able to reproduce this crumble. I know I won’t – unless Rob will share his cookie recipe, that is.

The Dynasty Chronicles: I did not watch it for the food

Jeanette the chambermaid, and Mrs. Gunnerson the cook, indulging in a late night snack whilst discussing Blake Carrington´s methods for dealing with stress





Fallon and Jeff enjoying the rare home cooked dinner: Fallon made Boeuf Buorguignonne, they´re drinking red wine (which they keep calling ´vino´("Hey, I brought some vino", "Would you like another glass of vino?") but what´s that big white thing on the table?




Muis knows her priorities. "I don´t care which crap show you´re watching, as long as you give me a little love every now and then".

Dinner, February 16: Lazy Lasagna

The ragú I made this weekend became a gloriously rich and decadent lasagna today. We only ate half, so the leftovers will be dinner tomorrow for me and Maarten who´s coming over for the next installment of our Dynasty marathon.

Money spent on groceries today: 4.50 euros (salad, zucchini, goats cheese). The zucchini and goats cheese were an impulse buy that will now have to be part of Wednesday dinner.

Home sweet home

I´m typing this on my own dear laptop, at my own desk, enjoying my own view (even if the view is grey skies and drops of rain on the window - I don´t care)- it took the laptop about 6 days to receover from its hangover, and then, miraculously, he (she?) was completely fine again. Oh joy.



Other updates.
Dinner on Thursday was leek and ham quiche (money spent on groceries: 5.00 euros).
On Friday Dennis had leftovers, and I went to a bar and had beer for dinner (and half a pizza).
Yesterday I spent 30 euros on groceries (which included a bottle of cheap every day olive oil, and 40 roses). For dinner we had chipotle marinated salmon, fried sweet potatoes and guacamole - which tasted a lot better than it looks in the picture, I´m sorry about that garish seventies color scheme. I also made a huge pot of ragú yesterday, which will be dinner for 2 nights: tossed with penne tonight, turned into lasagne tomorrow. The ragú has beef (stewing beef cut into tiny cubes, a lot of work to prep but the end result is so much better than using ground beef) pancetta and chicken livers. I can´t wait.

Dinner, February 11: A bowl of noodles

Money spent on groceries today: 4.00 euros - organic beef, and some bok choy.

With udon noodles, black bean sauce and chili paste from the pantry, and spring onions and coriander from the fridge, this made an excellent tv-dinner. Spicy, healthy comfort food for those of us with a slight hangover from yesterday's eetclub festivities.

The laptop is still in the recovery room, we are too scared to see if it can breathe on its own. Yet. Maybe tomorrow.

The fairy tale dinner

Falafel, the ur-version, made with dried broad beans instead of chickpeas. After painstakingly removing the tough skins from every single broad bean (which took me more than half an hour) I decided I should have listened to Claudia Roden, who advises to buy the dried beans 'already skinned'.... The soaked, hulled beans are pureed with parsley, coriander, coriander seed, cumin and chili powder - and a ton of garlic. The deep-fried end result was very tasty - I would say that flavor-wise, these were the best falafel I ever had - but the texture needs some tweaking. They were a bit dry, and the outer crust was a tiny bit chewy instead of nice and crisp.



Musakhan
I used Paula Wolfert's recipe for this traditional Arab chicken dish. It's spiced with lots of ground sumac, which gives it a mysterious, lemony tang and a deep earthy flavor. I love any dish that combines good bread and juicy meat, and this recipe has you baking the chicken on a bed of pieces of flatbread. The juices of the chicken and stewed onions permeate the bread, which becomes part soggy / part crispy, and the whole dish (though simple and easy to make) is unusual, delicious and interesting.





Basbousa
We had finished the entire tin of Basbousa my friend had brought us from Abu Dhabi, so I decided it was time to make my own. Instead of soaking the cake with a lemon sugar syrup as the recipe (from Claudia Roden's Book of Middle Eastern Food) states, I used the reduced poaching liquid from my quinces, with a good glug of quince wodka for an extra quince (and alcohol) kick. Served with poached quinces and a good dollop of mascarpone, this was a truly gorgeous dessert - one I can see myself making for a big dinner party in the near future.


The dish without a beautiful name
Roasted aubergine with a minted joghurt dressing, sprinkled with smoked paprika.