Koninginnedag Den Bosch, The Queen's Day (2)

Landmark of Den Bosch: the St. Jan Cathedral, on the square in front of the cathedral was a large tented stage where all kinds of acts were performed during the day. The Queen passed by this square, where childrens showed the Royal Family various kinds of plays.

And the already mentioned "koekhappen", which in this city rebirthed as: "Bossche Bol happen" with our local pride the Bossche Bol or as they say here: "sjokladebol" (a huge cream puff dipped in chocolate ganache). Here you see a miniature-version.

(Secretly I think the Royals are bored out of their minds with all this stuff. I for one wouldn't blame them for taking a hike upon the first sighting of dangling ropes and cookies.... High heels, hats, bouquets and all!)













Impressions on our way to the city centre..., the camera's, television people, photographers, men in black with "ears", the orange crowds getting thicker, all in a good spirit.
Anyone needs anything orange?













Just take a look around and original outfits are to be found everywhere!












Music on every corner of every street, from salsa to carnival, from classic to caribbean.

And of course the local High and Mighty on the right (I bet you thought it was a music band ehehe) although I think they were more high than mighty since the place they were standing was across(!) the street from the townhall. I quess the only thing they were allowed to do was wave to the Queen from a distance but hey, they were on a raised, secluded platform in their tuxedo! Which ofcourse is exactly what you want on a hot sunny day. We were all very jealous.... (NOT)

A view on the flee-market, where half of the population goes home with the other half's dumped stuff and vice-versa. Children are trying to make money out of their music-lessons, and entrepeneurship reigns. Some of the statements written on cardboard to help sell items are just too funny! What to think of: Despite good intentions only used it 5 times. Powerplate for sale, place your offer!Timo and Wessel were invited to join a hockey-clinic, (Timo in the yellow tee), not hockey players ourselves we are not exactly familiar with hockey stars, but started to feel something when parents shoved their kids to pose with the ladies. These are the stars of our National Team! Lady on the right is Mijntje Donners. Wessel played Minke Booij.

Missed the stories here completely, the guys on the left belong to a guild and re-enacted the capture of Den Bosch? And the Watertree is from Mexico and blooms with orange balloons? Haven't got a clue....

And when you're down and out...you rest your butt on a windowsill....

or search out your bike and go home!

What? Oh you were waiting for photo opportunities with the Queen or one of her Family....

Well, what did you think? This is all I can offer folks.. on the back exit of our cityhall we ran into the Queen's bus...... and we waved and waved.... If you enlarge the photo you can just see the little golden crown on the bus!

And last but not least; let me introduce you to a blog where you can read, hear and try to speak

our beautiful Dutch language. click to hear how you should say: Koninginnedag in Dutch.

Koninginnenach (t) The Queens day!

Tomorrow is a national holiday; it's the day our present Queen visits two cities in Her country and waves to Her subjects. And the subjects wave back of course, dressed in all colours orange, with funny hats and wigs, waving flags and all kinds of other things. Part of the tradition is that all the royals are taking part in the visit and join in the festivities. So if you would like to see a real Prince dance a folkdance, ride a bike, try to pry a cookie of a washline blindfolded and hands behind his back, (the infamous "Koekhappen") this is your chance! Yes, this is Him on the picture.

The best part of the fun is the "vrijmarkt", the open market where everyone sits out in the sun, spreads a cloth on the ground and tries to sell his/her obsolete household objects to the innocent passers by. In fact it is getting so popular in our biggest cities people are fighting (all in good spirit) over preferred spots the night before, hence: the Queens night where the festivities already begin! Lots of beer, music and sleeping bags involved.

And now..beat drums... This year Queen Beatrix and her extended family will visit our town! Yes she will be visiting Den Bosch tomorrow. Soooo, when you live in Den Bosch, and you have this weblog, what would you do?

Dear readers, on your behalf I will jump on my bike tomorrow, fight the crowds and try to get a glimpse of the Royals so I can post about it tomorrow evening! Did I say I'm not exactly fond of throngs of overly enthusiastic people, elbowing their way to get somewhere I don't want to be in the first place?

Poooh, the things you do for blogging!

Roasted veggies

See? I'm back on track! Three posts in a row... And such lovely piccies too!
Roasted vegetables tonight, I wish I could say I had it all planned but alas... this is the result of frantically searching the vegetable drawer (read: basement vegetable holding baskets)










Raiding the spice cabinet for pepper, salt, dash of balsamic vinegar and some lime olive oil, add some fresh herbs like thyme and basil, pop in a few whole garlic cloves. Some cherry tomatoes for color. (And the superb splash-in-your-mouth-experience). Went in the oven on 180C for oh 30 minutes or so. Some crusty bread and a little grilled fish on the side. For dessert we had a slice of this apple cake. Had to throw in some unhealthy stuff too, forgive me.

Today's mistake....quiche

Ever tried to make a quiche with a flaky crust 30 minutes before dinner time in a kitchen that has been in the sun for the better part of the afternoon? When the butter from the fridge goes soft in your hands before it makes it to the bowl? Never? You're smarter than I am. (But you knew that already having read the last post...).

Thought while pushing the pulse-button: "This should be in the fridge for at least a couple of hours in order to roll out"

Thought while splashing the dough on the silpat mat: "This is why clever cooks have butter in the freezer and shave it into their doughs"

Thought hot from the oven: hmm the word rustic and artisan come to mind...

Kid thinking out loud at dinner table: Mam, the others are still in the oven? Mam with her sweetest voice: No dear, the recipe says this serves 4-6 people. Sweetest voice trails off into nothing.

Kid says: were they talking dwarfs?

Parking looney

Hi!

I'm still here.
Not on vacation.
Not taking a break.
No illness (just hay fever).
Computer still working.

Just totally uninspired. Completely thrown by the weather. My mind is still on stews, kale, soups whatever and this weather we have here is all about barbeques, salads and milk shakes... Crazy but fun. I think.

Talk about crazy...this morning I decided to do a quick visit to the market, parked the car, did my shopping, returned to get my car....and couldn't find it! I walked the building three times, getting all sweaty and nervous and at the same time feeling silly and cursing myself (should have gone by bike as I intended to do), ended up walking to the nearest (10 minutes walk) parking lot assistent while making an emergency phone call to a friend and ask her to collect the kids). Assistent re-assured me: "Ma'am this happens all the time, your car will still be there, people get disoriented here". And, yes, I was fairly sure it wasn't there where I left it....ha, I'm not dumb, neither blond.
Of course it was, in the exact same spot.
I think I will wait a while before parking in this same garage again.... they might recognize me....
Anyway, thought I'd share.

Greek Stifado

After baking Greek bread I was sufficiently strengthened to rekindle the relationship with another familiar, Stifado. What went terribly wrong in January was rewarded now with a warm spicy bowl of meat, surrounded by a delicious sauce. I served this with rice and vegetables, away from the tradition but influenced by the beautiful spring weather we enjoyed today.

A little history on this dish which is said to have its origins on the isles of Greece; Corfu and/or Crete. The roots of the Stifado are firmly planted in the Mediteranian, the use of spices as cinnamon and cloves a Levantine influence, the name descending from the Italian "stufato" stewed meat (as in suffocate/suffusion, think of the lid on the pot) each lending an aspect to make this recipe a typical Greek household treasure, each family their own specifics adding walnuts or raisins, maybe cook in some feta....

I agree with you that stews have their place in autumn where you enjoy the embrace and comfort of braised meat paired with for instance potatoes or pasta, but I must say I don't mind eating this now. The sun is still shining, wind is coming up and the evening is getting chilly. Time for dinner! Think yourself under an olive tree, checkered table cloth on a rickety wooden table, bottle of strong red wine....

Recipe:

1-1.1/5 kg lean beef, cubed fairly large
500 gr small onions like shallots (peel and leave whole, or quarter)
approx. 1/2 bottle red wine
1 small carrot, finely diced
1 small leek, finely chopped
1 small celery stick, finely chopped
1 can of plum tomatoes, chopped, reserve liquid!
2 litres beef stock
sprig of rosemary
4 cloves
6 black pepper corns
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise (don't sub anise seed, totally different flavour!!)
modest sprinkle of coriander seeds
4 tbs olive oil
3 tbs very good balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1/2 tsp piment

cornflour paste made of: 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbs cold water

Optional: packet button mushrooms quartered / 1 zuchini diced

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan (Creuset, Cousances) lightly brown the carrot, leek, shallot and celery. Throw in the tomatoes and their juice, the rosemary and cook together for a couple of minutes. Pour in half a bottle of wine and reduce on high heat until reduced by three quarters.

2. Add the meat to the pan with the stock, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, coriander seeds, piment pepper and vinegar. Make sure the meat is almost submersed in liquid, add a little stock if necessary. Stir well and simmer for 2 to 3 hours until the meat is tender. (I simmered for close to 3 hours and my meat was so soft I could have eaten it with a spoon. You could let this simmer in the oven, on a low temperature with the lid on, make sure your pan is suitable for that)

3.Ready a colander over a clean pan and carefully pour in the stew with the liquid, the sauce ends up in the clean pan. Now boil the sauce until reduced to about 1 to 1.5 litres, then stir in the cornflour paste. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring until thickened, should be the consistency of double cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Add the meat and vegetables again to the sauce and stir, let simmer for a while to make sure everything is heated through and through.

As an option you could quickly fry the mushrooms in a little oil and add it the last three minutes in cooking. I added a diced zucchini 5 minutes before end of cooking time.
The entire dish can be frozen but in reheating leave the lid of the pan, otherwise your sauce will get all runny, equally delicious but there is an added quality to the thickness of a sauce.

Serve with rice or pasta (oven roasted potatoes are great too..) and a green salad on the side, and I think you will like to have a loaf of crusty bread stand by to mop up the delicious sauce! Would you like to drink wine with it, make it a full-bodied red. Enjoy!

(photo courtesy of John Hopkins University)

Hoe lang is een kalkoen?

(Just this once... rambling in Dutch..) Even lekker wegtypen in het Nederlands mag het? Ssshhht, niet verder vertellen, maar het gaat namelijk over
z u i n i g. Jawel, als in spaarzaam. En dan nog wel spaarzaam koken.
Luister, kom een beetje naar voren naar het scherm, zo ja, kopje koffie erbij?

Het begon allemaal zo; in December togen wij (vriendin L en ik) naar Duitsland, dagje leuk, dagje moeders uitlaten, veel praten, liefst simultaan, veel lachen. Had ik in dit verband al verteld over die supergoedkope parkeergarage in het midden van Dusseldorf? Maar 5€ voor een hele dag parkeren! En wel voor 100€ lol toen bleek dat die parkeergarage een parkeerlift was. Hadden wij heeeeel erg lang niet in de gaten. Ik zal je niet vermoeien met het hele verhaal maar ergens kwam "Wahaarheen leiheid de weg" van Mieke Telkamp in voor, plechtig voorgedragen door L. terwijl wij snikkend (van het lachen) de auto nawuifden.....die in een parkeerlift uiteraard naar beneden zakt. De parkeergarageliftbediende (goed woord voor scrabble!) had ook een gezellige start van de dag. Die heeft daar nog lang over nagepraat kan ik je verzekeren.

Met de auto wederom retour huis. Met in de door ons van tevoren (jawel wij zijn van alles maar ook voorbereid!) van koelelementen voorziene koelboxen.. onder ander een Junge Pute. Dat is een jonge kalkoen. Nog wel redelijk uit de kluiten gewassen maar toch, jong!
Die zou in het oorspronkelijke plan een vreugdevolle bijdrage hebben geleverd aan onze kerstdis.

Helaas, zoals wel vaker in dit huishouden ging het iets anders dan gepland en heeft dat vermaledijde *(&^beest inmiddels lang genoeg de grootste la in de vriezer bezet gehouden, en dus aten wij met Pasen kalkoen. In het grote schema der dingen moet dat gewoon kunnen. Anyway... wij aten 2e Paasdag kalkoen, gebraden in de oven met citroen, knoflook, marinade, lekker. Ik had met dat beest gerekend op Kerst en je weet maar nooit wie er allemaal mee komt eten.... (Nancy plus kids, Nicolette plus kids...allemaal niet dus!)
En toen was er nog veel kalkoen over.

Ik een beetje halfhartig geplozen, mooie grijpklare stukken vlees eraf gehaald...en wij aten de dag erna Turkey Cacciatore. Oorspronkelijk een Italiaans kipgerecht met tomatensaus, bacon, kappertjes, pasta.
En toen was er nog veel kalkoen over.

Gisteren een schort voorgebonden, wat fanatieker geplozen, en wij aten bloemkool met Geschnetzeltes en gefrituurde aardappelschijfjes. Oorspronkelijk een Zwitsers gerecht met reepjes kalfsvlees in roomsaus, hier uiteraard vervangen door....kalkoen! Zegt de vrouw des huizes: nou daar hebben we toch veel plezier van.... zegt de man des huizes: nou, hij was toch niet goedkoop ofzo? De vrouw des huizes zweeg stil (met behulp van een slok drank), hier kon ze met haar pet niet bij.
En toen was er nog steeds wat kalkoen over....met name veel bot....


En zeg nou zelf....da's toch zonde! Dus hebben wij de grootste pan in het huis op het vuur geschoven, het karkas eerst geblakerd in de oven en vervolgens met wat moeite in de pan gepropt, water erbij, groentetjes erbij (venkel, prei, wortel, bleekselderij, peterseliesteeltjes, een ui, wat peperbolletjes, foelie) kortom een gevogelte bouillonnetje. Staat nu een paar uurtjes te trekken. Kan het beest niet meer zien of ruiken. Ben bang dat de met veel moeite gewonnen ruimte in de vriezer ingenomen gaat worden door....soep!

Maar zuinig? Dat wel!

Toch jammer eigenlijk dat ik de rest van de onderdelen niet had...zou ik nog een leuke trofee van kunnen maken, voor op de muur, of Indiaantje spelen, ofzo...

Waiter, there is something in my....Robin's bread

This is my entry for Andrew's Waiter there's something in my.... bread at Spittoon extra. Don't forget to hop over and check all the other entries!

I love the way a bread can get personal on you. It starts with a name that catches. Than it's the method of kneading (remember the NYT?), or the way the dough itself behaves, almost like it has a mind of its own. Well this one sure had it all. The recipe comes from the new book I bought recently, "Home Baking", the writers spike their books with beautiful pictures and in this particular case enticing recipes from all over the world. Where you would expect a picture of a pretty bread you are treated to a view of pretty landscapes, or the wrinkled face of a mountain granny proudly showing you the fruit of her labour. Don't get me wrong here, plenty bready pictures to be seen as well in this book! Robin's bread is said to be the staple bread made by Mama Duguid. What attracted me in this one was the slow rising method, I am all for slow rising, little yeast, the way you can fit it in your daily schedule. Or so I thought....as you can see in the pictures below it did have a mind of it's own!

I chose to make the dough in the morning and let it rise during the day, so as to keep an eye on it (lack of refrigerator space had something to do with it too) and I am glad I did, I wouldn't want to wake up in the morning and see this creeping out of my fridge. Tweaked the recipe a bit and subbed some more whole wheat for bread flour, held back a little on the water due to European flour and saved some dough from the first time I made it to incorporate it into the next batch.

Recipe (will make 3 loaves)
4 cups lukewarm water (used less, around 3, 3.1/2)
2 cups whole milk (used skimmed)
1 ts active dry yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour (used 3 cups ww and 1 cup spelt)
8-10 cups ap flour (used bread flour, around 9 cups)
2 tbs mild honey (used treacle)
2 Tbs + 1 ts salt
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 cup sunflower seeds (used 1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds)
(added 1 cup of old dough saved from an earlier batch, room temperature in little pieces)

(Warning! It is very easy to add too much flour so try to hold back on your instincts and wait. Wait some more. Fight down the urge to add. Thank you!)

In a large bowl combine water, milk, yeast, (Here is the point where I added the old dough from a prior batch and mixed with a spoon to combine, but since old dough consists of a complete mix of ingredients it doesn't influence the mathematics of your dough and I didn't alter anything in the recipe other than the above mentioned). Add whole wheat and stir to blend in. Add and stir in honey. Add about 3-4 cups of flour and stir. Here the writers direct you to always stir in the same direction....don't know about that. Can't imagine the dough getting upset when you have the nerve to stir the other way round... What you are aiming at here is a smooth batter, I couldn't help getting some lumps and clumps forming but don't worry they will dissolve later on in the process.

Add 4-5 more cups of flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring is almost impossible here, you could switch to a stand mixer on the lowest speed or continue by hand with folding and turning. Use a dough scraper to fold and turn.

Tip it out onto a well-floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes incorporating flour as you think necessary. I used a dough scraper all the time up to this point because this was behaving like a thick porridge, not anywhere dough like. It really is a touch and feel thing, flours over the world differ so much I can't give you any straight directions on how much flour you'll need to add. Anyway....scrape it into a large, large oiled bowl, it will not form a ball, it's more likely to spread out like a whale on a beach.


Set aside to rise overnight or for 8-12 hour whatever is most convenient. I set it in my window sill as to keep a watchfull eye over it. The picture shows you what it looks like two hours into first rise... As you can imagine at this point I divided the dough over two bowls, stretching and turning it over itself once and let it rest again for a couple of hours.
After 6 hours the dough was still very moist and sticky, qualities you would expect of a sponge. Don't worry. No don't! Really.

8 hours into rising I felt compelled to do something about it as it was going all over the place.... So I turned the dough out on a very well floured kitchen counter, divided into three parts and started to fold and form, carefully as to not deflate all the air. All of a sudden I was rewarded with a very supple almost silken dough, still not firm but a pleasure to work with.

Form 3 oblong loaves, making sure the upper skin is folded tightly to create surface tension and make sure you pinch the seam to seal. I would advise to use pans for these breads to keep them from spreading as they bake. Cover with plastic and let rise for another 40 minutes. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 400F. Spritz the loaves with water and place them in the oven, after 10 minutes into baking lower the temperature to 375F and bake for another 40-45 minutes.

For doneness, use a thermometer or tap the bottom, it should sound hollow. The writers of this book have a great tip to test pan-baked bread: "Pinch the bottom corners of the loaf: they should be firm, not yielding. If they are still a little soft, bake the bread for about 10 minutes longer." This last picture is from the second batch I made, free form instead of pan-baked, had to incorporate even more flour to be able to free form, resulting in a denser loaf with a finer crumb. The line between adding to much flour or just enough is very thin, as much as I like free form loaves I think I will stick to pans next time for this recipe. All in all the resulting bread is very versatile and is excellent to make sandwiches.

Greek Easter bread

I like to bake a variety of bread to celebrate Easter as for us Easter is not so much about elaborate dinners but all about elaborate breakfasts, or rather brunches. Egg-hunt is first of course, the boys are now 10 and 13 and the times when DH Easter bunny hides the eggs are replaced by the boys and their father taking turns in finding impossible spots to put eggs in.... Yes, we count and yes there are always eggs MIA....(Missing In Action).
We enjoy sitting together and have a choice of different breads and pastries, eggs of course and Matse or Matzoh in English. Easter is just not complete without the large round ones! (My mom always had these for Easter). Some fresh OJ, coffee and/or tea and two work-free days ahead of you. What better way to start a day?

And now I suppose you were wondering what you were looking at in the picture above? Well it is this bread, a spiral or snail, based on a white dough, seasoned with orange. In the original version I would have had to use mahleb and mastic which were not available and so I decided to give this bread a definite orange twist. The egg in the middle is dyed a vivid red in the Greek tradition, which stands for the ancient symbols of spring and fertility.
The resulting bread is very soft crumbed, almost cake-like, yellowish in color due to the eggs and a very nice citrus aroma. I decided to pair this bread with soft orange butter spiked with orange liqueur. Sunny? Very sunny and yummy too!

The recipe is adapted from this new book I bought (well eh..I was looking for a present for a dear friend, found the book, decided it was spot-on and since there were two copies....I suddenly thought of myself as another dear friend who really really needed a new book on baking, ahum).
So, for no other reason than sheer greed, a copy of "Home Baking" by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid is in my kitchen. I will add the recipe here as soon as possible...have to go hunt for some other things now....like groceries and curtains.... be right back soon! In the meantime, enjoy the pictures!

Thumb print cookies

Admire The Husband at work! My hands couldn't handle the piping bag with this stiff dough so DH came to the rescue and piped his first ever cookies! Hurray!

These adorable cookies could easily live under the name of S'mores, almost all of the 40 bite-size cookies disappeared in one sitting....

These thumb prints are slightly Swedish, I used lingonberry jelly and hjortron jelly to fill. (The remainder of my treasures, however the lingonberry jam can also be found at Ikea).

Recipe:
(for conversions see column on the right hand side)

150 gr softened butter
100 gr sugar
1 ts vanilla extract
3 tbs milk
1/4 ts salt
225 gr pastry flour
jam

Pretty straight forward directions: Mix butter, sugar, vanilla, milk and salt. Add flour and knead (use a spoon first and switch to manual later on). This dough needs a firm kneading, make sure it is all supple and soft and the flour is completely incorporated, lightly dust your work surface with some flour if needed. I think that the stiffness of my dough was a result of not kneading enough. Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with a XXX , pipe small dots on a prepared bakingsheet, press a hole in the middle with your thumb (or use the back of a spoon) and fill with the jam of your choice. Bake for 12-15 minutes in a preheated oven (180C).