Pie by Dean Brettschneider (review and a discount!)

There's a new-to-me book on my counter, on my sofa, the dining table, the bedstand.. in fact in the first week it arrived I took it everywhere to read and to look at the pictures.. Seriously can there be anything more enticing for a savoury girl than pictures of pie? Crisp and flaky, golden hued pie in every shape and flavour.

"Pie" by Dean Brettschneider (Jacqui Small Publishers) features a collection of over 80 pies both savoury and sweet in all shapes and sizes.

"Dean Brettschneider is a global-based professional baker and pâtissier with an
international following. Award-winning author of eleven cookbooks, Global Baker –
Dean Brettschneider co owns the successful artisan bakeries Baker & Cook in Singapore
and has bakery interests in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Auckland and later this year in Abu
Dhabi, Manila, Tokyo & Kuala Lumpur".

The book is well laid out with chapters as Meat, Seafood, Vegetarian and Sweet pies (even something that's called "not-quite-a-pie, in which eg. cornish pastries, sausage rolls and flammkuchen are introduced). There's quite an extensive introduction of the history of pies (which sounds like something Monty Python could have done), ingredients and equipment.
The basic recipes for the pastries are grouped together in the back of the book. There are inviting pictures of almost every recipe; lovely, rustic and edible pictures that manage to at the same time lure you in and not scare you. You know where you page through a book and think oh my that is just gorgeous but I can 't do it? Pictures here are equally gorgeous and still make you feel you can do it yourself. I like that!

First of all, ingredients are in weight! Grams, ml and spoons!! One would expect this would be common practice especially in baking books but it still isn't. So yes, I am happy. Furthermore I really appreciate the fact that there are individual pies as well as family sized ones, with ingredients that are easily available around the globe. As I said, inviting and doable.
Loads of pictures to be found in the "Basic Recipe" section as well, helping you along to get the best puff pastry you can make, how to bake blind and topping your pastry. Very helpful for the first timer as well as the experienced baker. The only thing I would like to see is a time schedule; preparation time, cooking time, waiting time. I missed that.

Now what did I try?
The family really really wanted me to make the "Bacon, Curried Egg and Ricotta Pie".... I chose to bake the "Sweet 'n' Spicy Veal, Pork and Macadamia Nut tart" (sans nuts because I forgot to buy them :-()). Serving 8 people? Family of 5 liked it so much they left only 1 slice.... and didn't touch the green salad I made to go with it!

Fennel Pastry
2 tbsp fennel seeds
160gr standard plain flour
120gr butter
good pinch of salt
50 ml cold water

(prepare: 10 minutes. waiting time 30 minutes or overnight. Pre bake 20 minutes. Waiting time 30 minutes) 

Place fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar and grind to a rough powder, ensuring that it's not too fine. Set aside. Place flour, fennel seeds, butter and salt into a large mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, gently rub ingredients together until they resemble rough breadcrumbs. Do not overmix otherwise butter will begin to melt from the heat of your fingers.

Add water and mix until a dough is formed. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes of overnight. Gently re-work pastry before using, taking care to ensure it remains cold and firm.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry as stated in your recipe.

(line tin with rolled dough, trim edges and refrigerate for 1 hour. Line with aluminum foil and bake blind for 10 minutes in a preheated 180C oven. Remove foil and weights and bake until dry and crisp (10 minutes) Transfer to a rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes).

We were so enamored with the pastry! I am not scared by pastry dough anymore but I still find it a tricky thing.... this pastry? Even the kids commented on how flaky it was and maybe I could use this pastry to make sausage rolls as well? The filling was a surprising combination, there's a lot going on in this filling but the parts do make a whole in this case.

Then I baked the "Rhubarb, Blueberry and Strawberry Shortcake Pie" because the shortcake thing peeked my curiosity and it seemed like a quick little number.
Since this isn't rhubarb season anymore I used fresh raspberries and strawberries along with frozen blueberries and substituted some sauteed apple pieces for the rhubarb.

This is a real good one! Not overly sweet, fresh and lovely. The filling stays soft-ish and gooey, the shortcake is sturdy enough to take along on a visit, great to slice but still melt in your mouth.
Now I need to conquer making puff pastry from scratch.... several recipes in the book. I trust I will find time and courage in the next weeks. Will let you know!

We're hooked on this book. They've been begging me for that "breakfast for dinner" pie since a week.

If you would like your own copy (oh yes you do!) below is what the publisher set up for my readers:

To order Pie at the discounted price of 23.58€ including p&p* (RRP: 29.47€), telephone 01903 828503 or email mailorders@lbsltd.co.uk and quote the offer code APG18. 

Alternatively, send a cheque made payable to: 

Littlehampton Book Services Mail Order Department, 

Littlehampton Book Services, 

PO Box 4264, 

Worthing, West Sussex 

BN13 3RB. 

Please quote the offer code APG18 and include your name and address details. 

*UK ONLY - Please add 2.95€ if ordering from overseas.

Happy Baking!

Lacy Coconut Milk Pancakes {There's a hole in my bucket}

Name that song!

We travel to Penang for dinner and tonight oldest son and I have been trying our hands at Roti Jala {Lacy Coconut Milk Pancakes} and there was supposed to be some handiwork involved hence the hole in the bucket...

Again we are baking a recipe from Flatbreads & Flavors and match it with another one (or two…) from the book, providing a full meal for the family.

See, to make the pancakes lacy, the thin pancake batter is poured in a slow swirling motion onto the hot pan. Using a roti jala pourer. Right. A Roti Jala Pourer can be made by punching six holes in the bottom of a tin can; pour the batter in and swirl away! Believe me, I was all set to use the coconut cream can to punch holes in and then Elizabeth came to the rescue by using a squeeze bottle!
HAH! Justified. Running for the squeeze bottle!


To accompany the pancakes we made Gulai Ayam {Coconut Milk Chicken Curry} a mild curry where you roast fresh ground spices, combine them with a peppers/shallot/ginger/garlic/nuts paste and then slowly simmer with coconut milk. For me this was a tad too bland (I forgot to add the salt and maybe I added too much coconut milk) but the flavours were promising. Also the smell of the roasted paste and spices is just heavenly.
Then I decided we needed something crispy as well and quickly put together the Four Thread Salad (page 88). Another chapter in the book and a different continent altogether but this salad was the jackpot of our dinner! A lovely combination of vegetables (very adaptable) and the dressing is salty with a kick.

I think for this occasion I’m allowed to post a recipe from the book, slightly adapted to suit my pantry.

Four Thread Salad
(Flatbreads & Flavors, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid)
2 oz Mung bean threads (or cellophane noodles/glass noodles)
(prepare according to package directions)
1/2 pound carrots, scraped and julienned
1 tsp salt** (didn’t use)1/2 tsp sugar (didn’t use sugar)
1  English cucumber (peeled, deseeded, julienned)
2 to 3 scallions (julienned both green and white)
* added a green bell pepper also julienned
* added a bunch of crunchy deep fried mung bean threads on top

Dressing1 large clove garlic finely minced
1/4 tsp salt  (I really don’t think you need this with the soy sauce already being salty!)
1/4 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
3 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1/2 tsp roasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp dried chile pepper flakes

Medium sized bowl, colander, small bowl

**Note re the salt in this recipe:  my son put this together and I think he did follow the recipe in the book (he is out now so I can’t ask him) but we all thought this was a tad salty. So next time I will leave out all added salt and taste first before adding.

Put sliced carrots in the medium bowl.

Use half of the tsp salt to sprinkle the sliced cucumber and toss. Let stand for 15 minutes, rinse briefly under cold running water and squeeze to drain. (Eh Oops? I didn’t do this at all! I just peeled, deseeded and sliced the cucumber. Yes, it was quite wet, so do as I say and not as I did!)

Add to the carrots in the bowl. Stir in the drained (and if you like cut to 2 inch lengths) mung beans and the sliced scallions and stir to combine. At this point I added the sliced green bell pepper as well.
Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together in the small bowl. Pour over the salad and toss gently to coat. Serve at room temperature. The authors state that this salad taste best serves an hour or two after is has been dressed, also you can prepare ahead and refrigerate to serve later. Make sure you let it get to room temp again.

Just for fun and extra crispness I deep fried a bunch of noodles and arranged them on top. My kids love that.  They swell up and get all crispy in funny crinkly shapes (eeh… the noodles, not the kids!!!)
You know what?? I would love to try this salad sans dressing in rice paper wrapping and use the dressing as a dip. Or use lettuce leaf, roll up and dip. Oh boy I think I’m on to something. Maybe add slivers roast beef to it? Shrimp?

Wooha! I forgot I made my sweet and sour cucumber as an extra side dish! Easy peasy and so good.
Use another peeled deseeded cucumber sliced in thin half moons. Make a sugar syrup using 3 tbs water in which you dissolve 2 tbs sugar and reduce to a syrup. From the heat add 2 tbs (a splash ;-) white wine vinegar, pour over the cucumber and let cool.

On bathing pork and pressing matters {flatbreads and flavours} Chile-bathed Pork and Flour Tortillas

*Tock tock* this thing on? Helloooo? José? Are you there? Got a question man. Can you help me out?
See, I’ve got the book.
The pork.
the garlic
the corn oil
the fresh oregano (freeze dried because it’s a freaking 18 below zero here)
The masa harina. I think.
 
Listen José:
The pork is in the bath.
…
Yes.
…
No really, a bath.
…
No of course I couldn’t find dried red New Mexico chiles. No, no dried guajillos either.
…
Yeah yeah I asked. I’m afraid they think I’m a little wacko or have a speech disability. So I used hot sambal. That’s an Indonesian chili puree. I squeezed about 3 tbs in the blender. Then added 3 garlic cloves, 3 dried tomatoes, 1 tbs oregano, squeezed some lime juice in it, added a quartered onion and for good measure added 1 tsp of dried chipotle flakes and 1/2 cup of water. Blitzed to a smooth paste.
That was the bath the pork bathed in. Swimming merrily for 24 hours in the fridge. Cool!

Then… José?? Still there??
I had my masa harina which I guess was indeed harina but not very much masa… at least it didn’t develop into a dough (more like wet sand, no cohesion at all). No way José!

Started again and made a nice little dough out of plain flour and water. That worked! Divided in two… again and again until I had 16 round disks.
Hey José you’re back!?
…
I know they are not round.
They’re not very disk-ey either right?
Well I suppose your mama and your sister can make much prettier tortillas. In fact I am certain they can. I bow deep because well I tried and I couldn’t. They were quite tasty though. I don’t own a tortilla press so I did the dough-inbetween-two-ziplock-bag-and-roll thing.
…
You don’t need to laugh that hard. I really tried!
…
Well here they are:

Volledig album bekijken

Thank you José, I too do think they look very pretty. We really really liked the chile-bathed pork! It was so incredibly spicy but apparently so very good that even my cautious husband and twins had seconds.
I fried the meat in a little oil until nicely browned, then added a can of red chili beans and a bag of fresh spinach. Tossed until wilted. Really really yummy!

This is not just me, there's a bunch of us cooking from Flatbreads and Flavors providing ourselves and our loved ones with a intercontinental journey on our dining tables.

Lemongrass Risotto with Peas and Parmesan and lemon grass oil {steam oven}

Of course risotto is a very sophisticated thing to serve but I can’t help thinking of it as a very sophisticated baby food… My kids love it.
This is your regular stove top risotto (stir, add, stir, add and stir some more) but I turned it around by using my steam oven and I must say it’s far less hassle and as nice as a stirred one.
Risotto Recipe:
1 shalot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbs olive oil
250 gr risotto rice
1 lemon grass stalk (root end cut off and white part sliced)
100 ml white wine
500-600 ml vegetable broth, piping hot
20 gr butter
Fresh green peas
Parmesan cheese, grated
salt/pepper
* adding mushrooms would be nice as well
* sprinkled some chopped green onion on top

Combine and mix all ingredients in a bowl or the solid steam oven tray. Height 2, steam for 30-35 minutes on 100C. (or use the presetting: grains/risotto/weight)
Finally I used a dash of home made Lemon grass oil on the plates… sheer heaven!
Lemon grass Oil
4 stalks lemongrass (root end cut off and white part thinly sliced)
3/4 cup neutral vegetable oil such as sunflower
Combine in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it to steep for another 30 minutes. Sieve, discard the stalks and reserve the oil in a small glass bottle.
Will keep for two weeks in the fridge and is great to make a vinaigrette or sauté seafood, chicken or pork. Don’t forget to use a little as a garnish for finished dishes!
Serve with seared salmon or sauteed bass and enjoy!

Bread Baking Babes fire up: Stromboli

Versatile Babes, versatile Bread, versatile Baking. We range from fluffy to filled, from artisan to artistic, dowdy to doughy and this time Elle as our Kitchen of the Month thought we should bake something Italian; Stromboli.
You could say this is the savory dinner cousin of your breakfast cinnamon bun; it’s a white dough rectangle on which you arrange cheese, vegetables, herbs and sliced meat.


In my case I rummaged through my fridge and found fresh spinach (yay!), salami, two different cheeses and some left over feta, a lonely slice of ham and snipped some dried tomatoes on oil, added a hand full of olives. From the garden came basil, rosemary and thyme. The lower kitchen drawer revealed basil flavoured olive oil. Sounds good?
Tasted great!!
The dough on itself was of the kind that would easily replace a stressball. So soft smooth and strong. A very touchy feely dough, in my case also flavoured with some fresh ground pepper and again the basil olive oil.
Stromboli
adapted from Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno
by Girlichef

Ingredients:
2 tsp. dry yeast (I used instant)
1 ¼ c. water (268 grams)
3 ½ c. unbleached flour (470 grams)
1 ½ tsp. salt (11 grams)
3 Tbs. olive oil (38 grams)

For the filling and topping:
8 oz. smoked swiss cheese (226 grams)
3 cloves garlic, minced 8 oz. Prosciutto, sliced thin (226 grams)
4 oz. pepperoni, sliced thin (113 grams)
Handful of fresh basil leaves
~1 tsp. coarse salt
3 sprigs rosemary, stems removed
~1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Sprinkle yeast into 1 c. of the water, in small bowl. Leave for 5 minutes to then stir to dissolve.
Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in center and pour in dissolved yeast and the oil. Mix in flour from sides of well. Stir in reserved water, as needed, to form a soft, sticky dough.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, silky, and elastic...~10 mins. Pour dough in a clean, oiled bowl and cover with clean kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2-2 hours.
Punch down and shape into a ball. Let rest 10 minutes.
Roll out into a 14" x 8" rectangle. Cover with a clean towel and let rest another 10 minutes.
Spread your cheeses, meats, garlic and basil evenly over dough. (You can use your own combination of meats and cheeses, or roasted veggies and garlic or whatever you like for filling.) Roll up the dough like a swiss roll, starting at one of the shorter sides, but without rolling too tightly.
Place on oiled baking sheet. Use a skewer or a carving fork to pierce several holes through the dough to the baking sheet. Sprinkle with 1 Tbs. of olive oil, salt, rosemary and pepper.
Bake in preheated (400 degrees F) oven for 1 hour, until golden. Drizzle remaining olive oil over top. Slice and serve!!
My notes:

- for the ingredients I used see above the recipe
- added some fresh ground pepper in the dough
- used 150 gr starter and held back on the water because of that
- kneaded the dough in my bread maker; a little on the sticky side but after the bulk rise: perfect.
- to avoid the stromboli/volcano effect do pierce the dough roll several times! (Mine burst a little at the seam anyway ;-D)
- Oh roll up from the short side?? Hmm I rolled from the long side… made for more than a foot long bread!
- I was a little confused though: no second –shaped- rise?

After the hordes went away… all that was left – or rather that I rescued for the picture!
Come and see what my fellow Babes baked, blog roll on the left hand side! Go to Elle’s for the details on our Buddy Baking!

Gevulde pasteitjes / Cornish pasties

En toen was mijn hele post weg! Als je niet saved en je laptop valt uit? Dan is het weg. Gaan we nog een keer maar dan wat minder uitgebreid als je het niet erg vindt. Recept heb ik hier vandaan geplukt en eigenlijk alleen de ingrediënten van de vulling aangepast aan wat ik op dat moment in huis had.
Voor het geval je in paniek raakt… het deeg is voldoende voor 4 grote pasteitjes, maar ik heb anderhalf keer het deeg gemaakt en vervolgens kleinere stukjes deeg genomen per pasteitje… jaaaa om het simpel te houden!  Nou ja, maar dan weet je in ieder geval waarom ik er meer dan 4 heb liggen.
Het deeg zit supersnel in elkaar en de vulling kun je voordat je het deeg maakt al snijden en zover klaarzetten. (Of uit de koelkast plukken ingeval van restjes). Het deeg hoeft niet te rijzen dus je kunt in één keer door.

 Cornish Pasties
Het deeg:
385 gr patent bloem
1 tl. salt
85 gr. margarine
85 gr. boter
170 gr water
De vulling:
250 gr vlees (fijngesneden bieflapjes, restje stoofvlees/rul gebakken gehakt) *
250 gr groenten zoals wortel, selderij knol in dobbelsteentjes
2 of 3 kleine aardappels in dunne schijfjes
1/2 ui, in dunne ringen
1 prei, ook in dunne plakjes
2-3 tl verse tijm (gedroogde oregano of herbes de provence kan ook)
25 gr blauwschimmelkaas zoals bijv. stilton of gorgonzola (gewone kaas mag hoor!)
zout en peper

Dan nog:

- extra bloem voor het werkvlak
- 1 ei plus 1 el melk klutsen om de deegpakketjes mee te bestrijken.

- Oven voorverwarmen op 200 C (hetelucht).

* het vlees voor de vulling kan gewoon rauw, vind het alleen in geval van gehakt niet handig maar als je geen restjes gebruikt kun je gewoon rauw fijngesneden mager rundvlees gebruiken.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gebruik ofwel de keukenmachine met het mes of je handen.
Bloem en zout mengen, kleine blokjes boter en margarine toevoegen en doorknijpen/wrijven zodat het kleine klontjes vormt. In de keukenmachine: puls met korte stootjes totdat het lijkt op nattig grof broodkruim, dit overdoen in grote kom.
Water toevoegen en met een vork omscheppen totdat alles bevochtigd is. Met koele handen vlug in een bal vormen (niet teveel kneden). Dan op een licht bebloemd werkvlak uitrollen. Opvouwen, kwartslag draaien en weer uitrollen. Doe dit nog 2x.
Zoals Kelly zegt: geen paniek, je maakt geen bladerdeeg!
Verdeel het deeg in 4 gelijke delen en zet apart.
Je hebt de ingredienten voor de vulling al klaar staan. Toch?
Rol een stukje deeg uit tot een rondje van ong. 20 cm.  Laagjes maken door te beginnen met een paar aardappelplakjes aan één kant van het deegrondje. Dan volgen de blokjes groente, de ui, de prei en het vlees als laatste.
Strooi wat thijm, zout en peper erover en iets bloem. Nog wat van de blauwschimmelkaas erover (een paar krummels).
Strijk met je vinger wat water langs de rand van het deeg, pak dan de ene kant van het deegrondje op en leg die over de vulling op de andere kant. Til voorzichtig op bij het randje (vulling schuift nu wat naar onder en je hebt eigenlijk een zakje vast) en knijp de randen goed vast. Je kunt een mooi randje maken bovenop door een draaiende knijp beweging te maken zodat het deegpakketje eruit komt te zien als een stegosaurus. (briljante observatie van Kelly! lol).
Zet het pakketje op een bakplaat en bestrijk met het eimengsel. Doe dit voor alle pakketjes. Maak als laatste met een mes een sneetje vlak naast de top zodat evt stoom kan ontsnappen.
Bak ong. 25 minuten tot goudbruin. Heerlijk!
Poehee… wat een verhaal! Maar weet je… het valt echt reuze mee. Het lijkt een heel gedoe maar het is lastiger opschrijven dan maken. Heus. Beloof ik. En dan ga ik nu even kijken of ik dat superhandige filmpje kan vinden zodat je kunt zien wat ik bedoel.
JA! Hebbes!  Geweldig; Oma maakt pasteitjes… “me lard an’ me butter”
en bij deze kun je zien hoe de vulling wordt gestapeld en de rand wordt geknepen.

Stoomoven: Bulgur

Niet zozeer voor jouw informatie als wel voor mijn geheugen; Bulgur uit de stoomoven.

Sinds de nieuwe keuken ben ik in het trotse bezit van een stoomoven die eigenlijk nog maar weinig werkuren gemaakt heeft. Het kost me duidelijk wat tijd om te wennen aan het feit dat ik nu de beschikking heb over een meer-pits fornuis, een grotere koelkast, een oven, en alhoewel dat wat meer voeten in aarde had; een inmiddels weer gevulde vriezer.

De vriezer had de verhuizing niet overleefd maar aarzelde om ons dat kenbaar te maken; hij was héél langzaam en onwillig aan het doodgaan. Een minuscuul lekje in een leiding maakte dat het lang duurde voordat zowel de vriezer als wij het opgaven.

Zo nu en dan bekruipt me de gedachte dat het eigenlijk wel prima ging in de caravan met die drie (of eigenlijk twee) gaspitjes, het mini-koelkastje, geen vriezer en de magnetron op de eerste verdieping. Simpel = duidelijk en soms erg prettig.

Wat ook simpel is en erg prettig; Bulgur maken in de stoomoven.

225 gram bulgur
375 ml (groente) bouillon
klontje boter

Bulgur en hete bouillon samenroeren in dichte stoomoven schaal, klontje boter erop en 20 minuten stomen op 100gr C.

Ik heb tegelijkertijd de gaatjesschaal gevuld met 500 gr in plakjes gesneden wortel, 1 kleingesneden prei en 1 in blokjes gesneden courgette. Deze schaal boven de schaal met bulgur gehangen zodat het vocht uit de groente ook nog in de bulgur dript.

Reservoir vullen met water en lekker op de bank een boek lezen.
Of in de tijd dat de groente en bulgur stoomt een vleesmengseltje maken van –lams-gehakt, en zacht gesmoorde uien. Grof gesneden uien smoren in iets boter op een zacht vuurtje, gehakt toevoegen en rul bakken, kruiden met wat kaneel, nootmuskaat, gerookt paprikapoeder, peper en zout en komijn  en koriander. Evt. vet afgieten en gare groente toevoegen. Bulgur afdekken met theedoek en deksel en nog even laten dampen. Voor het serveren losmaken met een vork. Lekker!

Voor een meer vloeibare saus zou je ook deze kunnen proberen!

You have Naan? I have a dinner (1), Onion Bhaji, Cucumber raita

So what did we have with our Naan?

From the top right: chicken balti, tandoori chicken, onion bahji and Saag Paneer Palak Paneer in the center.

During a Skype session Tanna suggested Saag paneer (which in effect became Palak Mozzarella... center of the plate), I found some long forgotten Tandoori spices in the pantry and made grilled chicken Tandoori.

I remembered a cookbook featuring all kinds of Asian dishes, and while I told Tanna that I never had anything like Saag Paneer I flipped the pages to find a recipe for it! Right there in a book I've had for ages.

Paneer being a firm cheese, the Palak stands for spinach and spices. Ok, that settled it. Timewise I substituted mozzarella for paneer. Both Husband and I didn't like the way it looked, didn't like the way it smelled. We tentatively took a bite.... Not bad at all! Paired it with Naan... delicious! Between the three of us (oldest son helped) we polished off the entire bowl.

I gladly refer you to Tanna for the recipe, I used the one I found in the book but as certified sources have it that one should be called Palak Paneer because it uses spinach. Saag Paneer is made with mustard greens... I think I'm confused. Maybe not. But it's good and you should try!

Next I made Balti chicken (recipe follows soon), fairly mild to accomodate the twins, they loved it!

A lonely cucumber I found transformed into cucumber raita, simple but a delicious aside.

Cucumber Raita

2 cucumbers, peeled, deseeded and chopped

200 ml -thick- yoghurt

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp grated gingerroot

salt and pepper

paprika for garnish

Roast cumin and mustard seeds in a dry frying pan until fragrant. Mix cucumber with yoghurt and spices plus gingerroot. Add salt and pepper to taste. (Quickly scatter some aleppo chili flakes in before anyone notices hehe). Serve!

Something else I made were little onion fritters, not entirely sure how I think about them though, in potential these sound delicious but I detected a hint of something strange. My oil? The chick pea flour too old? I do know I want to try again because as I said in potential... yum!

Recipe Onion Bhaji (onion fritters):

80 gr besan (gram flour/chickpea flour)

60 gr ap flour

1.1/2 tsp baking soda (baking soda is what they said, maybe I should have used baking powder?)

1 ts ground chili

1 egg

3 dl water (add as you see fit, you'll want a thick batter, this is way too much)

4 large onions, peeled and sliced in rings

4 garlic cloves, chopped

oil for frying (I used sunflower seed oil)

Sift flours, baking soda and chilipowder in a bowl, mix egg and water and add to whisk into a thick batter. Add garlic, whisk and finally add the onion.

Heat 1/2 to 3/4 inch of oil in a large frying pan and make small "pancakes", using approx. 2 tbs of batter for each fritter. Fry on each side until golden and done. Leave to drain on paper towels and serve as hot as possible with mango chutney or chili sauce. (Or cucumber raita!).

Enjoy!

Sweet and sour vegetables with pork

There it is! The other half of the pineapple, and I kept my promise to post soon! Lots of colour, lots of crisp veggies and a little bit of meat. It's usually the other way around in these kind of dishes but I just happen to love the colours and soft crunch. It made me feel very adequate, adding all these vitamins and fibers to the kids diet. Although I'm not complaining, they do eat a fair amount and all kinds of vegetables. Granted, I frequently found myself in a clash of wills, losing my patience more than once in the process of teaching them to eat -almost- everything. "Yes this is good. It's red but it's good. Sure you can eat red vegetables." Aaargh!! (Beetroot, cabbage).

For this dish I used the fresh pineapple cubes that were not used here and the juice I saved. However, there's no problem with using canned pineapple.

Sweet and sour vegetables and pork

approx. 8 ounces pineapple in cubes

1/2 cup syrup / pineapple juice

1 Tbs corn starch

1-2 Tbs plum sauce/tomato ketchup

2.1/2 tsp nam pla (fish sauce)

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs vegetable oil

10 ounces lean-er pork in thin slices

1 Tbs vegetable oil

2-4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large carrot, in slices

1 medium onion, in thick slices

1 red bell pepper, cubed

1 small cucumber, halved, deseeded, in thick slices. No need to peel when the cucumber is young.

cherry tomatoes... 5? 10? Whatever you like

For garnish: dry roasted cashew nuts and cilantro!!

(there's a hole in my brain that hides the translation of cilantro. In Dutch it is called koriander, in English it's called coriander as well for the seeds but cilantro for the leaves?)

In a small bowl mix syrup with cornstarch, add plum sauce, (or ketchup if you can't find any, it's different but will do) fish sauce and sugar to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the pork until it's coloured, use a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate with kitchen towels to get rid of excess fat/oil.

Add oil if needed and fry garlic, when that has colored add carrot, onion, bell pepper and fry for another 2 minutes.

Tip in cucumber, pineapple, tomato. Stir fry for another 2 minutes, adjust with salt and pepper and add the sauce. Quickly bring to a boil, lower the heat and add the meat again, warm and serve immediately, garnish with cilantro. Yum!!

Fried rice with pineapple

(In 't Nederlands? Even scrollen)

Wouldn't it be fun to have your own personal rice-filled pineapple bowl? As it is I filled the two halves and put the remainder of the rice in an ordinary bowl. The boys thought it was fun to refill the pineapples from the bowl. You won't believe the amount of food that disappears at the moment! There is some correlation between food going down and seams of clothing going up...

I didn't measure my ingredients very carefully, I just added what I thought looked colorful and in harmony with each other. The pineapple is scooped out, leaving a inner rim of about 1/2 inch placed on a baking sheet and roasted 10-15 minutes in a preheated oven 350F. In the meantime combine the rice filling as follows:

Fragrant rice:

1 fresh pineapple

See above for directions, you'll only need half of the pineapple flesh in cubes for this dish! The other half of the pineapple cubes can be used for the accompanying vegetable dish -or breakfast ;-).

vegetable oil

sweet corn

peas (fresh/frozen)

small amount of cooked ham, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 tbs grated fresh ginger

2-3 garlic cloves

cooked cold white long grain rice

1-2 tbs light soy sauce

1/2 tbs rice wine / sherry

an omelet made from 2 eggs, in thin stripes*

for garnish and extra flavour: 1 red chili pepper thinly sliced and coriander leaves

Heat oil in a frying pan, add garlic and ginger until light golden and fragrant, add ham, corn, peas, bell pepper and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add cooked rice, soy sauce, sherry and pineapple, lower heat to medium and stir for another 5-10 minutes. Make sure you keep moving the rice or it will stick. Adjust flavour with salt and pepper. Fill the roasted pineapple halves with the rice and garnish with omelet stripes, chili and koriander.

* Instead of making a separate omelet I really like this way of making fried rice:

Heat 1 or 2 ts of -sesame-oil in a wok, tip in 2 beaten eggs mixed with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, stir like crazy while you add the cold rice. This way the egg will coat the rice grains adding an almost sweet flavour. You will have to cook the other ingredients separately adding them after you've put in the rice.

Fresh Tomato Salsa on Ruby Tuesday (6)

I am sure you all have been making fresh tomato salsa since you could hold a knife, have to tell you however that this was a first for me.. (yes that's a strawberry there and I know it's not supposed to be there but let me assure you that it was a really nice addition).

The love for tomatoes came late in life for me, although my mom tried every trick in the book to let me enjoy fresh tomato; sprinkled with salt and pepper, dipped in sugar.. just didn't like them. Baked yes, grilled fine, sauce great but fresh, eaten like you would eat an apple? No thank you.

It's different now. I even make fresh tomato salsa!

fresh ripe tomatoes, diced

onion, chopped fairly small

lime juice

olive oil/lemon flavoured olive oil

pinch of cumin

cilantro (fresh or lightly roasted seeds)

salt and pepper

aleppo pepper flakes (or any fresh chili, handle with care!)

No quantities, it was an instant idea and I just went ahead with it. I added some shredded basil leaves, some fresh chopped parsley and chives, because they were there in my windowsill staring at me... oh and the ripe red strawberries of course. Just a couple, quartered.

Absolutely something to do again, so simple but good!

This is another one for Ruby Tuesday.

Slow-cooker pulled pork / Slow-cooker hamlapjes in saus

(voor Nederlands even scrollen)
What exactly is pulled pork? Ever since I read about pulled pork sandwiches I wondered.. Short from going to the States and sample I had to make it myself I guess. A documentary on tv settled it, I was going to try. Not sure what the documentary was about really, what stood out for me was the guy visiting some restaurant known for it's bbq-ed pulled pork. We had some really great sunny days already but somehow Bbq is always a spur of the moment thing in our house (weather in the Netherlands) and usually it's nothing more adventurous then sausages/hamburgers/chicken. Let's hope the cookbook that the kids got DH will inspire hehe. 

I used Andrea's recipe as a base, halving the quantities and fiddled around some of the ingredients that are not available here. We tried it on buns, but we all thought it needed some oomph. The next day I reduced the sauce some more, added extra salt and pepper and some heat by means of smoked red pepper, some extra ancho chili pepper, added a fair amount of mixed vegetables and used it as a filling for tortillas. A little cheesy béchamel sauce on top and baked in the oven until golden... Pulled pork tortilla lasagna? Really very good!

Ooit gehoord van "pulled pork"? Het zou zo maar de Amerikaanse versie van draadjesvlees kunnen zijn, in een andere uitvoering. Officieel wordt het gemaakt met op de bbq geroosterd varkensvlees, uit elkaar getrokken en geserveerd met saus op een broodje. (Filmpje met uitleg waarin je kunt zien dat de hamlappen die ik gebruikt heb eigenlijk te mager zijn...). Ik heb Andrea's recept gebruikt als basis, maar zo hier en daar wat geknoeid met de ingredienten die hier niet zo makkelijk verkrijgbaar zijn. Het had eigenlijk wel iets pittiger gekund, het broodje dat wij aten vonden we een beetje flauw en nietszeggend. Ligt vast aan mij en niet aan het originele recept. Maar toen.... na een dag in de koelkast... Gelukkig had ik het vlees apart gehouden van de saus zodat ik de saus nog wat extra kon kruiden met zout en peper, wat extra -Ancho- chilipoeder, en gerookte spaanse peper. Dan de saus nog meer ingekookt, flink wat kleingesneden groente erbij en dit alles weer gemengd met het uit elkaar getrokken vlees.

Dat werd de basis voor tortillas, een simpele béchamel kaassaus erover, wat geraspte kaas en in de oven totdat het mooi bubbelend en goudbruin was. De geur alleen al bracht iedereen in huis aan tafel, ik hoefde niet eens te roepen. Heerlijk! Dit is de herziene versie:

Vlees aan een draadje:

scheutje -olijf- olie

1 grote ui, gesnipperd

2 teentjes knoflook, fijngesneden

1 klein blikje tomatenpuree

1 blikje tomatenblokjes met saus

60 ml sherry (of sinasappelsap)

1 el bruine suiker

75 gr stroop

1 tl piment (of 1/2 tl kaneel plus 1/2 tl gemalen kruidnagel)

1 el worcestershire saus

1 tl hickory smoked salt*

1 tl chipotle chili poeder*

(evt. half flesje/potje tomatensalsa of bbq-saus)

ca. 1.5 kg hamlappen (die heb ik gebruikt maar kunnen iets te mager zijn)

Verhit een klein scheutje olie in een koekenpan en fruit de uitjes op middelhoog vuur totdat ze transparant zijn en iets gaan kleuren, voeg knoflook toe en bak nog 2 minuutjes. Dan de tomatenpuree toevoegen, roeren en even laten bakken. De rest van de ingrediënten kunnen nu allemaal in de pan, goed roeren en ong. 30 minuten laten pruttelen. Af en toe roeren. Pureer nu de saus totdat hij er relatief glad uitziet. (Ik heb een staafmixer gebruikt, maar je zou ook kunnen zeven en een blender of keukenmachine kunnen gebruiken). Daarna nog een half uurtje door laten sudderen.

Het vlees inwrijven met peper en zout en in de schaal van de slow cooker leggen, de (hete) saus gaat hierbij, zorg dat het vlees goed bedekt is. Sudder het gerecht ong. 10-11 uur op "low" of 8-9 uur op "high". De precieze tijd is niet heel belangrijk in dit geval, het kan rustig een uurtje langer of korter. Dit vlees is relatief snel gaar, en er is voldoende saus om ervoor te zorgen dat het niet droog wordt.

Dan is het tijd om het vlees te ontdoen van de saus en uit elkaar te trekken. Saus apart houden in een steelpan en met een vork het vlees in draadjes trekken. Ik heb gewoon vieze handen gemaakt en ontdekte dat het heel makkelijk gaat als je een soort wrijvende beweging maakt met je vingers. Knoei karweitje maar het is snel werk. Terwijl je bezig bent met het vlees kun je de saus proeven op kruiden, en nog wat meer laten inkoken op halfhoog vuur. Waar je op moet mikken is een dikke saus, niet te vochtig. Goed op smaak brengen met zout en peper.

Heerlijk als vulling voor bijv. tortilla's, of als vleesgerecht bij rijst maar misschien wil je toch ook zo'n broodje proberen?

* sorry, ik weet het, niet te vinden waarschijnlijk, maar dat had ik toevallig. Het gaat in beide gevallen om het rooksmaakje. Het loont echt de moeite om te zoeken naar bijv. gerookt paprikapoeder, en ik ben persoonlijk helemaal weg van de chipotle chili; gerookte chili pepers die gemalen of in vlokken verkocht worden. De rooksmaak is echt aanwezig en geeft een authentieke smaak aan gerechten zoals bijv. chili con carne.

Before you know it / Voordat je 't weet

They show you how to do it. Properly.

Oldest traded his newspaper round for a "real job". Taking orders at Domino's Pizza. He's wearing the cap and the shirt (tucked in the black pair of pants that didn't come with the job but nevertheless were obligatory... ). He is still 15 and as such not allowed to work at the "make-line". The "make-line" is where your pizza is hand tossed and made to order and is considered as heavy duty, not suitable for 15 yr olds. Hm. Ok.

He's been trained though so one day he came home and said mom, I'm going to make pizza tonight and I'll show you how to do it. They get preweighted balls of dough delivered so I showed him how to make dough using the breadmachine for the kneading. He prodded and pushed, tsk-ed at the dough, telling me that this wasn't exactly how pizza dough should feel... (Yes I huffed a little). But isn't it nice to know that they work pretty much from scratch, using fresh dough and fresh ingredients and the pizzas are made to order and not sitting there all made up indefinitely until you come along and order?

He did a fine job, showing me how to push the dough from the center to get a rim, making some sort of bowler hat, then working from there to get a nice thin pizza with a thick rim. Nice! Of course he himself wasn't satisfied, he wanted them to be picture perfect. I can tell you that they were!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.... zijn ze zover dat ze jou vertellen hoe het moet. Niks aan je schort hangen terwijl je ze uitlegt.... Het kan nog wel hoor, dat uitleggen, mits je het verpakt in humor en net doet alsof ze het zelf bedacht hebben. Met een beetje geluk blijft dat nog hangen ook dan. Maar goed, in dit geval werd ik geínstrueerd te kijken, te luisteren en te leren. Met als beloning pizza!

De oudste heeft namelijk zijn krantenwijk ingeruild voor zijn eerste echte baan, namelijk bij Domino's Pizza. Voorlopig mag hij als 15-jarige alleen nog "voor" staan en orders aannemen. De "make-line", daar waar de pizza's worden gemaakt en bij de oven is namelijk verboden terrein als je nog geen 16 bent; het wordt gezien als zwaar lichamelijk arbeid en dus niet geschikt voor een 15-jarige. 

Maar ondertussen heeft 'ie het wel geleerd en op een dag kondigde hij aan dat hij mij zou laten zien hoe je nou een echte pizza maakt. Leuk om te weten trouwens dat die pizza's dus echt van vers deeg worden gemaakt  (en door pukkelige 16 jarigen worden gevormd en belegd op het moment van bestellen.. met schoongeboende handen hoor, dat dan weer wel). Hun deeg wordt vers aangeleverd, in afgewogen bollen dus ik was nog wel even nodig om deeg te maken. Volgens de pizzamaker was het niet helemaal zoals het zou moeten zijn maar hij deed het er wel mee. (Puh... het waren toevallig prachtige deegballen, ha!). Enne, ik moest hem er wel even aan helpen herinneren dat mijn keuken geen pizzakeuken was en het -dus- wel erg prettig was als er niet óveral semolina bloem lag. Dank u.  Hij heeft trouwens zelf gestofzuigd en gedweild daarna dus ik mag hélemáál niet klagen! Ze waren heerlijk die pizza's. Leuk he, toch, tieners. Ook niks mis met dat deeg.

Bread Baking Babes do it all: Ethiopian Injera plus!

This is posting day. I know that. Which is quite funny because I had my special BBB-panties all twisted some time ago. It's too confusing -even for me- to repeat the whole thing but I mixed dates and deadlines and even months and I think at one point of time asked the Babes to postpone the deadline and suggested a date two weeks earlier. Do you follow? They didn't. I didn't.

Anyhoo..

It's here, the day the Babes Bake Bread and listen up.... they're cooking as well! Breadchick Mary is head of the Kitchen this month and she whipped up a challenge! Wow! Thoroughly intimidated I was. So I did what I usually do when faced with something intimidating; postponing while thinking about it indefinitely.  

Then close my eyes and jump right in. Late.

Situation as of now is such:

- the batter for the injera is ready to be baked.

- there's a special bread in it's final rise, which I will post about later separately.

- the wot is cooking

Question son nr. 1, 2 and 3:

Wot's cooking Mam?

Yes honey that's right.

They think I'm a complete dork, I have fun! I will update live as the day continues.  

(secret ingredient for an additional bread.... stay tuned!)

Continue: It's getting even worse, now they think we will be having pancakes for dinner. Ai! As you will understand by now the injera is ready, the stew is ready, and the bread has been baked..

I gladly refer you to Mary for the full recipes for this dinner, she has step by step pics to make

 injera and if you wish to present your family with a -tr-additional Ethiopian meal she has even more things to make. The butter mixture is wonderful btw!

About teff; the first bag I grabbed from the health food store turned out to be a ready mix, consisting of all kinds of different non-gluten flours and baking powder. It is still in the pantry. The next bag was the one I was looking for: brown all teff flour, in Holland it's a very very finely ground flour contrary to the flour Mary used I think.

To get a headstart on the starter (dôh) I used two tbs of a very active sourdough I had somewhere in the back of my fridge. Fed it with teff and off it went. Very lively, but with a teenage tendency to slump, frown, and roll eyes when confronted with authority... in other words, quick to bubble, quick to form the liquid brown on top. Another thing that comes to mind when looking at the evolving starter is quicksand.

Baking injera is easy.... if only I could get used to NOT flip the darn things over! Very confusing, I've been baking pancakes since I was 12 and all of a sudden I have to think while baking. I guess every other pancake was flipped. Sorry Injera!

(Sourdough Bereketei dough)

Ah yes...the secret ingredient? It's present in the other dishes as well, the bread I made with it is called Sourdough Bereketei and I'm not entirely sure this is going to be a hit, (it smells good though). On it's first rise it went crazy, doubled in an hour. Second rise equally good and then.... no ovenspring! Nothing. Like a 70's girl on the beach, just lie there and get a tan. Tap me on the shoulder when I need to turn. 

Later!

It's later now, after dinner coffee. Dinner was enjoyed by all! "pancakes" in whatever form or shape are a sure hit but I wasn't too sure about combining it with stew, (one of them dislikes tortilla with a vengeance) but no worries! They loved it! A bit of nagging about spicy but plates were cleaned.

A little dinnertime story? Table set, Ethiopian dishes pointed out, these aren't pancakes but injera made with a special kind of flour (2 boys sniffing at their pancakes, affirmative nod). Explained the Ethiopian way of eating with the hands, yes you're allowed but NOT with the wrong hand mind you!

Remark boy 1 to all: Why can't they invent cutlery in Ethiopia?

Remark boy 2 to boy 1: They'd better invent toiletpaper and soap first!