Winter sprout quiche

I love eating Brussel sprouts and now I am happy to tell you about a new way to enjoy this winter vegetable, in a quiche. The bitterness of the sprouts is such a great combination with the egg and the cheese! The whole family polished their plates the day I cooked this quiche.Spruitenquiche2

Sprout quiche

  • 1 recipe of short crust pastry or a ready made puff pastry
  • 200 gram of boiled sprouts
  • 1 onion, finely sliced and gently fried till tender
  • 100 gram of small bacon cubes or a handfull of pine nuts for vegetarians
  • 150 gram of grated cheese (cheddar or young Gouda)
  • 3 eggs
  • 150 ml of cream
  1. Pre-bake your quiche base for 10 to 20 minutes until just cooked at 210 degrees C.
  2. Spread your ingredients on your pizza base and fill your pie with a mix of eggs and cream.
  3. Bake at 220 degrees C for 20 degrees or until golden.

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For more quiche inspiration, look at my asparagus quiche or spinach quiche. This quiche taste great with a simple tasty salad. For more sprout inspiration, look at the sprout cappuccino.

Simple pizza alternative

FlammKuchen2If you love pizza, you will love this recipe! You use the same recipe for the base, but the topping is completely different. This German dish is popular with my son and his daddy. We may have stumbled on a new family favorite (after pizza that is).

This dish makes a great dinner if served with a tasty salad but it also makes a great party snack or a simple lunch.

Flamm kuchen (3 medium pizzas)

  • 1 recipe of pizza dough
  •  Sauce, mix:
    • 250 gram Quark (or ricotta if you can’t buy this ingredient)
    • 100 gram creme fraiche
    • Pinch of nutmeg
    • Salt and pepper
  • 200 gram bacon in thin strips
  • 1 onion finely sliced
  • Optional: a few handfuls of grated cheese

  1. Warm the oven up to 240 degrees C.
  2. Roll out your pizza dough and prick holes in the bottom with a fork. (this prevents it from rising to high in the center)
  3. Spread a generous amount of sauce on the dough.
  4. Sprinkle the bacon, onion (and cheese) on top.
  5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

For a vegetarian option you could top your flamm kuchen with blue cheese, union and artichokes. Look up our favorite pizza recipes here.

Simpel Starters : Brussel sprout cappuccino

SpruitjesCap1I learnt this recipe at a cooking workshop. It was such a simple recipe, but it is a major showstopper for dinner guests. It celebrates the flavor of the sprout, complementing it with fluffy cream, crunchy salty bacon and zingy fresh spring union. It’s secret for me is the diversity in flavors and textures.

What I like most of all is that this luxury treat is easy to make for any starting cook.

For a vegetarian option replace the bacon with homemade garlic croutons.

You can serve this starter in a cappuccino cup, or a stylish glass cup.

Sprouts

Brussel sprout cappuccino (serves 4)

  • 250 gr brussel sprouts
  • 500 ml vegetable stock
  • 150 ml (whipping) cream
  • 75 gr bacon cubes
  • 2 spring unions

Clean your sprouts. Boil the sprouts in the stock for about 10 minutes, until tender. Turn of your heat. Place a lid on the pan while you prepare the other ingredients.sprouts2

Fry your bacon cubes until they are crispy while the sprouts are cooking. Slice the spring union in thin slices. Divide the bacon cubes and spring unions over your cappuccino cups.

Whip the cream into stiff peaks.

Blitz the sprouts and vegetable stock until smooth.

Add a spoonfull of whipped cream to the smooth sprout soup. Add the soup to the whipped cream and fold the mixture in until combined.

Gently spoon your fluffy soup in each cup and let your guests dig in.

Lunch salads

Recently I descided to challenge myself and eat more healthy for lunch. What this comes down to is lots of salads! I would like to share to tasty simple salad recipes here.

Each recipe makes a tasty one person lunch or a great side dish or starter with dinner.

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Eggy salad (1 serving)

  • 2 soft boiled eggs in wedges
  • 1 spring onion
  • 1 handfull of chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 1 tomato in cubes
  • Simple honey mustard dressing

Simple honey mustard dressing

  • 1 tbsp of dyon mustard
  • 1 tbsp of honey
  • 1 tbsp of mayo (find a recipe for making your own here)

Combine the dressing ingredients in a jam jar and shake.

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Fig and blue cheese salad (1 serving)

  • 2 handfuls of your favorite salad leaves
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1 handful of fried bacon cubes
  • 1 handfil of chopped nuts (I used almonds here but walnuts or pecans would be perfect!)
  • 2 fresh figs in wedges
  • 1 hanful of crumbly blue cheese
  • Drizzle with olive oil and a good balsamic vinegar
  • Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly crushed black pepper

Read more about salads here.

 

4 principles for a tasty salad

A good salad is about balance and contrast. If you keep the following 4  principles in mind, you can make special salads every day of the year.

  1. Don’t combine too many ingredients, the best salads have around 5 main ingredients. This ensures you taste every ingredients shines.
  2. Make a simple dressing that compliments your ingredients. If you insist on using a complex dressing like a ceasar dressing, keep your salad even more simple: using up to 3 ingredients. For more information on ceasar salad read about my dutch ceasar salad here.
  3. Balance your flavors. Make sure you have a sharp/spicy, sweet, salty, sour, savory and bitter component in your ingredients and dressing.
    Sparpness can come from unions, chili or pepper.
    Sweet can come form honey in your dressing or some fruit or sultanas.
    Salty can come from some cheese, bacon,salty nuts or even sea salt.
    Sour can come from sertain lettuce leaves or butter milk in your dressing.
    Savory kan come from nuts, croutons or bacon.
    Bitter notes can come from your choice of leaves, cheese or fruits like grapefruit.
  4. Balance your textures. Make sure you have a variety of textures. Croutons or nuts for some bite, soft cheese or pears, creamy dressing and crunchy lettuce or cucumber.

FestiveLettuce1

The other day I made a tasty well balanced salad using endive leaves, feta cheese , union, tomatoe and bacon with a simple honey mustard dressing. For the honey mustard dressing combine equal quantities of mustard and honey. For a more runny dressing add water of (butter) milk to this mixture.

Simple Seasonal treat: Spinach quiche

As you might know. I like making vegetable quiches and pies. This is a lovely way to eat your spinach!

For a vegetarian alternative I would replace the bacon with a handful of toasted nuts like pine nuts.

Spinaziquiche

Spinach quiche

  • Pastry:
    • 100 gr flower
    • 60 gr butter
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 50 ml water
  • Filling:
    • 300 gr of fresh spinach leaves
    • 1 tbsp olive oil
    • 100 gr Bacon cubes
    • 125 gr soft goats cheese of feta cheese
    • 3 free range eggs
    • 75 ml cream
    • Pepper and ground nutmeg to tast
  1. Prepare your base as described in my asparagus pie recipe.
  2. While your base bakes:
    1. Clean your spinach leaves.
    2. Fry your leaves in the oil until all spinach has wilted.
    3. Place your spinach in a collinder and let the access water drain out.
    4. Fry your bacon cubes until they are crisp.
    5. Wisk and mix your eggs and mix in your cream.
  3. Build your pie:
    1. Divide your spinach and bacon over the base.
    2. Pour over the egg and cream mixture.
    3. Crumble the cheese over the top.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes in a 200 degrees C oven.