Not DB-braiding this time, but meme-ing

Couldn't do it this time, postponed too long, ran out of time and energy. This is the first DB-challenge I won't complete. Hmm. Not funny. What is fun is this meme I was tagged for by Tanna,

1) LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE?
Don't go to the movies much, I think it was Ratatouille... plan to go to the new Indiana Jones

2) WHAT BOOK ARE U READING?
"Footprints of God" by Greg Iles (everywhere)
The Jewish Kitchen by Clarissa Hyman (in the kitchen)
The Marrying Game by Kate Saunders (in bed)
Michelin Guide of the Provence (next to my bed)

3) FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Trivial Pursuit

4) FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Food magazines, Home decoration magazines

5) FAVORITE SMELLS?
green tea shower gel, a pine wood forest after a rain storm, a pine wood forest on a hot day.

6) FAVORITE SOUNDS?
My babies hands on the tile floor when he crawled to wherever I was standing (now replaced by size 11 sneakers and not always a favourite sound...)

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
Defenceless. As in not able to defend your child against... As in why can't I put this person in its place and stop being polite for once.. As in..well defenceless.

8) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE?
What day is today? What do I need to do today? Shikes I need to get up and I don't want to. (See night owl)

9) FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
SubWay

10) FUTURE CHILDS NAME?
No more future childs for me but we had girls names ready for our babies... Merel (son nr. 1), Jasmin (son nr.2), Amber (son nr.3)

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D......
Buy a house for my parents. Finally finally build my dream kitchen and build my house around it accordingly. Swimming pool for the kids. Travel. Set my teeth straight and white. Cookery schools. Travel. RV. Education for the kids. Travel sloooowly.

12) DO U DRIVE FAST?
Yes, not too fast but fast? Yes.

13) DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
Nope. Not as a child, not now. 14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY?
Cool!! Absolutely cool.

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
A very green Deux Cheveaux. Very green. Granny Smith Apple green. Love the roof, the fact that it always, always started. Loved the way the windows flipped open outwards. Too bad the police pulled me off the road, poked holes in the bottom and friendly but urgently asked me to show the "demolished papers" within 24 hours at the police station.... Drove it for two years, costed me 1100 dutch guilders, a friend drove my wheel cast off, insurance payed me 1000 dutch guilders, and the car demolish station paid 100 guilders for the carcass. Almost made a profit!!

16) FAVORITE DRINK?
Depends on the setting. I like wine, I like water, have fond memories or freshly made lemonade and grape fruit-ade we were offered in Canada.

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD…
It's not a matter of time, it's a matter of giving yourself permission to

18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Yes of course! You don't? Not together with the broccoli roses though, I save them, chop them up, blanch and serve with other greens in a pilaf.

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
If I could? Of course I can. And I do. I'm turning grey fast. Very fast and I dye it in shades close to my own colour. Not red. Not black. Not blond (did that once...Ouch!)

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN?
Haarlem, Veghel, Den Bosch and where I live now

21) FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
The Olympics, especially winter olympics. I used to watch each and every speed skate competition, notepad and pen at the ready, dutifully keeping all schedules...

22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Only one? Warm, Wise. That's two.

23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?
Besides the lonely dust bunny? A laminate floor, a fire escape ladder, my husbands shoes

24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
I think I do....with a nice tag: "new and improved"

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?
Night owl! Definitely! Love the silent of the night, no more need to do things until tomorrow, peace and quiet..

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Sunny side up, or poached (egg yolk = yum!)

27) FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
On the kids trampoline in the backyard, when it has been basking in the sun for a while, I'll grab a pillow and lie on my back looking at the sky and the huge old oak trees in front of our house, read a book.

28) FAVORITE PIE?
Lemon squares

29) FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
I don't care for ice cream..... I do like sorbet, fruity and citrussy

30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
Need to think. Hard. But not now.

Rye-s to the challenge: the Bread Baking Babes again

Breadchick Mary being our Kitchen of the Month, decided to use our starter again and asked us to test-bake a recipe she was working on. Between the Babes we cover a lot of different ground (as in soil) and thus flours. I think every bread baker experiences adjustments when baking US-based recipes because of the difference in wheat (summer, winter, hard and soft) but even in rye we discovered a variety. So Lien and I, based in the Netherlands, couldn't get the recipe to work. We needed to adjust it to work with our "sharp" whole rye flour which is very gritty, rather coarse and needs some help to get a decent loaf.

A decent loaf..... there's an enigma! Subject to personal, regional and country preferences. We had a very interesting challenge this month! I baked three times, my first one using Mary's original recipe didn't make it to the oven, even though I gave it 10 hours to rise it just lay there stunned... Second try was best in my opinion, recipe is below.


Sponge:
toss off as per Mary's recipe
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup rye
1/2 cup bread flour
1 small red onion, diced and sauteed in butter

Dough:
sponge
1.1/2 tbs treacle (stroop)
2 tbs brown muscovado sugar (for color, sweetness and moisture)
1.3/4 ts salt
2 scant ts caraway seeds
1 cup rye
1 cup bread flour (added some more during kneading, haven't measured how much)

Left the dough feeling rather soft and wet, gave it a couple of lashings against the work surface to get it together but it was still rather tacky and sticky when I put it to rise. I think this is much needed to give the rye some extra moisture to suck up. Got a great first rise (took approx. 5 hours to double) and not so much ovenspring.

Loved the flavour of this finished loaf, a bit sweet with a distinct caraway flavour, just a tad bitterness from the rye. Not sour at all! Definitely a bread that will hold up against cold cuts, cheese or a nice soup. It reminds me of the bread you get with an Austrian/German "Bauernplatte" or Jause.

A similar Dark Onion Rye can be found in Peter Reinhart's book the Bread Baker's Apprentice. I've baked that as well and found it very nice, really good with cheese and some chutney.

Just to show you what our Dutch whole rye looks like.

What is a Flamiche? / Een flamiche? Wa's da?

(Nederlands? Even scrollen!)
Something that:
- is liked by all, even pickiest eater son nr. 2!
- includes veggies.
- called by another name would be a quiche lorraine maybe.

Boring? Not at all.
Same old, Same old? Not at all.

Recipe:
3 fat leeks, white and light green parts, cleaned and cut into 1/4 inch stripes
4 tbs butter
salt & pepper
2 large eggs
50 ml crème fraiche
100 gr ham, (a cured or smoked ham is nice)
grated cheese (try a Gruyere)

I used a ready made puff pastry dough for the shell, but maybe you would prefer a Pâte Brisée.
Preheat oven to 200C (convection oven)

In a medium large saucepan and on low heat, melt the butter and add leeks. Season with fresh ground salt and pepper and braise in a covered pan for about 15 minutes. You will want soft leeks, not coloured.

In a medium bowl thoroughly mix the eggs and creme fraiche, add the leeks (you might want to drain the leeks first if there is a lot of moisture) and stir again. Add 3/4 of the ham and the cheese, stir to combine. Remainder of the cheese and ham will be used to top the tart.

Pour the leek-egg mixture in the pastry shell and even out with a spatula, top with cheese and ham, sprinkle some more pepper on top and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
De kinderen vinden hartige taart niet lekker. Véél te veel groenten ten opzichte van de korst zeggen ze. Mijn mededeling dat er 's avonds hartige taart op het menu stond werd dus met de nodige scepsis ontvangen. De bewering dat ze deze wél lekker zouden vinden.... Hmm, het zal wel.

Ik had voor ieder een punt gesneden en op het bord gelegd, en moest nog éven naar de keuken om iets te pakken. Kwam terug en zag 3 lege borden met kruimels! Huh? Zelfs zoon nr. 2? Ik vertrouwde het niet helemaal en verdacht ze van een snelle bordenwisseling met 3 punten op het bord van zoon nr. 1 maar nee, helemaal zelf opgegeten en het mes in de hand om een tweede punt te snijden. Okee, deze werkt dus!

Officieel heet het een "flamiche aux poireaux" waarbij ik poireaux altijd vind klinken alsof het fruit is maar dat kan aan mij liggen... Taart met prei dus:

Recept:
3 grote preien, alleen het wit en lichtgroen, gespoeld
4 el boter
zout & peper
2 grote eieren
1/2 dl crème fraiche (half potje)
wat plakjes ham ong. 100 gram (ik had gegrilde ham, maar gerookte ham is ook erg lekker)
geraspte kaas (gruyère is erg lekker, maar "gewone" kan natuurlijk ook)

De deegbodem was deze keer een kant-en-klare bladerdeeg cirkel (Danone) maar je kunt ook een pâte brisée gebruiken.

Prei in kleine ringetjes snijden, niet te fijn. Boter smelten in een hapjespan en daarin in ong. 15 minuten de prei met wat zout en peper gaar stoven. Het vuur niet te hoog en een deksel op de pan; de prei moet heel zacht en smeuiig worden maar niet kleuren.

In een middelgrote kom de eieren met de crème fraiche kloppen tot een homogeen mengsel, hier voeg je de prei aan toe. Evt. zou je de prei wat kunnen laten uitlekken als er veel vocht is vrijgekomen. Roer 3/4 van de ham en kaas door het ei-prei mengsel, bewaar de rest om over de taart te strooien.

Verdeel het preimengsel over de met deeg beklede taartvorm, strooi de resterende kaas en ham over de taart en bak af in de oven tot hij mooi bruin is. Ong. 30-40 minuten.

Voor een lunch, of een zaterdagavond met een kopje soep. Samen met een salade een heerlijke zomermaaltijd, glaasje witte wijn erbij...

Inspiring posts:
- Alsatian pizza or Flamme küche
- thin crust pizza dough recipe
- mini crab-lime quiches
- asperge taart

Cantaloupe ice cream is Orange too!

Cantaloupe, originally uploaded by BakingSoda.

Orange again. After the match last Friday (a white knuckle ride playing against France which resulted in an exciting game, a scary last 20 minutes and beating Les Bleus with 4-1). Tonight the Dutch team is facing Romania, and France meets Italy. The situation is such that when Romania beats the Dutch tonight, both Italy and France may be eliminated.... This is fodder for speculation, but I do hope -and expect- the Dutch to play for what they are worth and not sell the match. (Our coach, Marco van Basten was asked if he was contemplating entering a "B-team" answered: we don't have a B-team.... uhoh arrogance?). Anyway, we've managed to get into quarter finals and yesterday night the Germans secured their quarter finals with a close shave win on Austria. Anyone nervous yet?

We'll be watching the game tonight with friends, my friend and I the only females surrounded by 7 guys ..... I'll make sure there's ice cream to cool their nerves!

I am not that familiar with ice cream making, my Kenwood attachment is fairly new and hasn't been used much. For this recipe I wasn't very adventurous and tried the Ben and Jerry's version that is to be found anywhere on the net.

Cantaloupe Ice Cream (Yield: Makes 1 quart / almost 1 ltr)

1 large cantaloupe, very ripe
juice of 1 lemon
Cut the cantaloupe in half and clean out the seeds. Scoop the fruit into a mixing bowl, add the lemon juice, and mash until the fruit is puréed. Drain the juice into another bowl and reserve. Cover the melon purée and refrigerate.

Sweet cream base :
2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk
Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue to whisk until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend.

Whisk in the fruit juice. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions. After the ice cream stiffens, about 2 minutes before it is done, add the cantaloupe.

If more juice has accumulated, do not pour it in because it will water down the ice cream. Continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Stuffed tomatoes / Tomates farcies

(print recipe)
Stuffed tomatoes:

6 medium tomatoes, capped, scooped out (keep and set aside the seeds and juice)
approx. 125 gr button mushrooms, quartered
1 medium onion, finely chopped
fresh herbs: parsley, thyme, bieslook
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 egg
pepper, salt
1 tbs butter
(optional if not vegetarian: maybe some chopped cooked ham, or left over stewmeat?)

Buttered ovendish which holds tomatoes snugly set against each other.

Prepare tomatoes, set aside.

• Heat butter in a skillet and combine mushrooms, onions and garlic. Sautee over medium heat for 4 minutes. Using a skimmer retrieve and combine with herbs, tomato juices and egg, season with pepper and salt.
• Puree using a blender or food processor.
• Scoop puree into tomatoes, crown with tops
• Set aside until dinner

Bake in a preheated oven (200C) for approx. 25 minutes or until filling has souffleed and is firm to the touch.

Similar recipe:

- pomedori gratinati

Summer dream; Strawberry Meringue Cake

Counting down from 6 kgs of strawberries.

1 bowl to the neighbors

1 bowl to snack on (some vanilla sugar, a dash of orange -liquor- juice)

1 bowl in the freezer, unadorned

1 bowl for making jam

1 bowl to use in a panna cotta that committed gela-cide and was upgraded to ice cream (or downgraded whatever you like)

1 bowl left....

Now what to do? I knew right from the start that I would use some in this extravagantly deep cake. I love anything meringue, and the combination with a thin layer of sponge cake and fresh strawberries and cream is simply irresistable!

The cake looks rather rustic (a royal mess really), as I do not possess Martha Stewart genes in the kitchen this is a fun cake to bake. Directions are quite easy and can be divided into two simple steps. Baking the layers on day 1, and just prior to serving on day 2, whip up some cream and assemble the layers with the cream and fresh strawberries.

(printable recipe)

For the sponge:

50 gr (2oz) butter, plus extra for greasing

125 gr (4oz) caster sugar

1/2 ts vanilla essence

4 large egg yolks

125 gr (4oz) ap flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tbs milk

- Preheat the oven to 160C (=fan assisted convection oven, 180C or 350F)

- 2 round cake tins 20 cm (8in) preferrably spring form, lined with parchment paper, bottom and sides. Leave a 2.5 cm (1in) collar above the rim in case you have a low rimmed form.**

Cream butter and sugar together until light n fluffy. Add vanilla, yolks one by one, beat thoroughly after the addition of each one.

Sift the flour and baking powder on a sheet and fold into the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. Divide the mixture between the tins and spread the mixture evenly using the back of a spoon.

Meringue

4 large egg whites

200 gr (7oz) caster sugar

3 tbs almond flour (or 50 gr flaked almonds)

Whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry. Add half the sugar, whisk until stiff and glossy, sprinkle remaining sugar on top and fold into meringue. Either sprinkle one of the meringues with the almonds, or fold almond flour into half of the meringue mixture. Divide meringue between tins, on top of the uncooked batter and level the tops.

Bake cakes in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until golden on top and/or shrunk slightly from the sides of the tins. Unmold very carefully and let cool on a wire rack. Sponge side down of course!

Assembly

250 ml whipping cream

500 gr (1 lb) strawberries

Slice strawberries, reserve a couple of the most beautiful to use as decoration on top. Whip cream, either with a little sugar added or just plain, until it holds shape and spread on the cake without the almonds. Top this cream layer with the sliced strawberries.

Put the second cake on top of the sliced strawberries (again, sponge side down) and decorate with icing sugar and the reserved pretty strawberries.

Enjoy, oh enjoy!! (next day....enjoy again...)

** In case you noticed; I used a larger springform for the bottom cake. There must be another 20cm springform in my pantry but it wouldn't come out when I called it's name...

Il Tricolore: Not rubbing it in, just roasting...

roasting veggies, originally uploaded by BakingSoda.

Ready for the oven; Il Tricolore...a mix of red green and white. Fresh vegetables, some onion and garlic.
In a small bowl mix the following:

- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
- chopped fresh herbs: I used thyme, basil, parsley, oregano
- salt and pepper

Add to the vegetables and mix again.
Oven 175C, roast for 20-25 minutes. You might like to add a topping of breadcrumbs and cheese mixed with some rosemary during the last 10 minutes.

Great match yesterday, has been quite a while since we've seen our team play this kind of soccer! Kids went to school dressed in orange today, now they are allowed to!

FYI..... Holland 3 - Italy 0 (smirk)

Tonight is orange

Yesterday was red, but tonight, tonight it's Orange all around. The madness has struck again, the country is draped in orange, entire streets redecorated, there are 15 million coaches on the couch and we all know best. Mind you, not a ball has been played yet, no match won...










It's the European Soccer Championship and in a lot of households this means that evenings are scheduled around the matches. Tonight? At 6 it's France-Romania and 8.30 Holland plays Italy in their first match. Effectively? Dinner on the couch, coffee in enthusiasm-proof mugs. (And I'm afraid 4 sad boys tonight...we're in a very tough first series; playing Italy, France, and Romania).






Soccer brings out the sillyness in the Dutch I'm afraid. Grocery stores sell and give away all kinds of items -food and non-food- special edition in orange. You'll see lions everywhere (our national "heroic" symbol). Commercials in print and television have but one subject...



Let's play and win first shall we?

Strawberry fields..

Today's highlight was supposed to be the amusement park for which we had free tickets. Turned out that the strawberry picking on the way back was all we need to have fun.

Life can be as simple and sweet as the sun warms your back when you pick strawberries, and eat a couple for every hand full of berries that ends in the basket... My kitchen is fragrant with the smell of 6 kilograms of strawberries.....

I liked my plate! Individual gratins

Very nice dinner yesterday night, no complaints, animated conversations.... sigh... it can be done!
(print recipe)

For 5 individual gratins:

500-600 gr. potatoes, peeled and cooked in lightly salted water
1 fat leek, thinly sliced and blanched
5 tbs creme fraiche
5 tbs parmesan cheese
5 tbs cheese (Emmenthaler, Gruyere, or an aged Gouda)
3 tbs butter, melted and still hot
pepper, salt, nutmeg, sweet paprika powder
1 or two garlic cloves, sliced in half
5 ramekins

Prepare ramekins by rubbing the insides with the garlic, butter them using a brush. Fill ramekins with cooked and thinly sliced potatoes to halfway up. Divide blanched leek over the 5 ramekins, season with a sprinkling of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Proceed with sliced potatoes almost to the top. Pour some melted butter over the potatoes.

Top each ramekin with a tablespoon of parmesan and a tablespoon of the other cheese.
Again season lightly with salt and pepper, add a dollop of creme fraiche and sprinkle with sweet paprika powder.
Bake in a preheated oven 200 C for approx. 2o minutes, until the tops are nice and golden brown.

Simple, easy preparing (store in fridge until ready to cook) and...everyone has their own share of golden crust which can be very important! Coming up soon: the stuffed tomatoes.

Vegetable recipes using ramekins;
- Broccoli terrine
- Potted eggs and asparagus

I bet your head goes flop!

Told ya!

(see you at WCB, hosted over at the Kid's place also known as What did You eat?)

Culinary Meme, finally!

a lame is a lame, originally uploaded by BakingSoda.

A meme brought to me by Table bread, (in December 2007...) one that forces you to go back in time and memory, asks you to think about the road ahead or back. I am always afraid that my answers turn out to be trivial and not interesting but since I like to live life vicariously by reading about other peoples interesting lives I'll be a sport:

What were you cooking/baking 10 years ago?
- 10 years ago? Warp speed back; with one toddler and two babies in my kitchen, I was cooking baby food. Well not exactly baby-baby food (fruit bowls consisting of manga, papaya and pine apple or ginger flavoured mihoen is not exactly baby-ish). Around that time the oldest was already interested in all kinds of exciting flavours and preferred to have his food served in bite size chunks, the twins would have their food more or less pureed and the husband would like to have a grown-up meal.... So I cooked three fresh meals, cooked to order. Yes I was that crazy.

What were you cooking/baking (in December) one year ago?
Thanks to blogging, I'm able to show you these peanut butter - jelly cookies that were on my table one year ago today! And two years ago today? I made Christmas stollen!

Five snacks you enjoy:
- Lays paprika chips
- Cheese (any kind, any way, as it is or as an ingredient)
- Pecans
- anything caramel
- anything with bacon (dates rolled in crispy bacon)

Five recipes you know by heart:
Well that's a difficult one! Come to think of it, as soon as I know something by heart I don't consider it a recipe anymore. It evolves from being a "skill" to common; now I know how to do this, and if I can do it, anyone can do it. You know basics, what flavour goes with what and from there you proceed. Same is true about writing recipes here, I just go ahead and do something and most of the times I think duh... nothing to write about...

- breads, different styles, different flavours without even thinking about it.
- Pancakes ever since I was 11
- Pasta/Noodle dishes (dream up variations based on what's available in the fridge)
- Preserves, basics are simple so..
- Meat dishes like stews, chicken; again based on availability and what my eyes see in the spice cabinet.

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:
- I think I would travel.... travel to sample each and every dish I like in their original setting cooked for me by master chefs. That said I wouldn't know where to start.. Japan might be a good starting point.
- I shamelessly steal Lewis's idea of building/buying a house with an excellent kitchen, all fitted with appliances and attend the culinairy schools which are too far away (financially or geographically).

Food you love to cook/bake:
-Bread of course
-Soups for the comforting 'I'm in charge feeding the world feeling"
-Preserves...although no one in my family is a jam eater, I just like to make jam. Can't help it.
Maybe it's all about stirring a big pot, and the satisfaction of looking at rows of potted stuff.

Five things you cannot/will not eat:
-Things that try to escape your teeth...
- Slimey rubbery, well see above...
- Offal (can I make a small exception for goose liver? not PC but soooo good!)
- I certainly won't be stared at by my food...

Five favorite culinary toys:
- My stand m ixer (sooo original!)
- the Peugeot nutmeg shaver
- Rolling pin
- my Sabatier knives (hate the expensive Global knife I own...)
- guests and family who'll eat what I cook, without them no joy/toy in the kitchen!

Five dishes on your “last meal” menu:
I won't even go there, just too depressing.

Name five happy food memories:
- Taking turns eating corn off the cob with a toddler in my lap
- Having lobster on our first night in Nairobi, Kenia
- Mussels on a campsite in France, so fresh, barely a kitchen, no frillies but so good!
- Building a fire and roasting frankfurters and making cheese sandwiches on the top of a mountain after a long hike in Norway.
- The fun we had in our hotelroom taping stupid video we took showing the folks at home what a Red Lobster take out meal looked like. Back home discover we dwelled on the packaging and the tiny salt and pepper shakers without showing the actual meal.... duh!

Now I'm supposed to hand over the rolling pin baton.... I don't know! Someone? Anyone? Takers?