Roasted Dutch meal

Roasted Dutch meal
Print Recipe
A standard Dutch meal comprises of potatoes, vegetables and meat. My grandmother used to boil the potatoes and veg while frying the meat. I simplified this by cooking all ingredients in one baking sheet in the oven. While the oven does all the work, I have quality time with my sons.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Roasted Dutch meal
Print Recipe
A standard Dutch meal comprises of potatoes, vegetables and meat. My grandmother used to boil the potatoes and veg while frying the meat. I simplified this by cooking all ingredients in one baking sheet in the oven. While the oven does all the work, I have quality time with my sons.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C.
  2. Cut the potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots in large chunks. You don't need to peel these, it's a rustic dish.
  3. Peel the onion and cut these in large chunks.
  4. I like to line my oven tray with baking parchment, for easy washing up.
  5. On your oven tray, mix all ingredients. sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Make sure all ingredients have a thin coat of oil.
  6. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. After 20 minutes prick a potato chunck to test if it is cooked.
Recipe Notes

Serve on a large serving platter and let your family dig in. Serve with sauces such as BBQ sauce or mayonaise to taste.

Try more Dutch recipes.

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Awesome Autumn Pie

This is another tasty vegetarian pie. It is full of veg and color, but just as rich in flavors!AutumnPie2

Awesome Autumn Pie (4 servings)

  • 1 butternut squach, peeled, in 5 mm slices
  • 1 pie dish lined with puff pastry
  • Pie filling:
    • 300 gr spinach
    • 50 gr crumbled feta
    • 50 gr grated parmesan
    • 1 egg
    • pinch nutmeg
  • Sprinkle squash with
  • 1 tsp hot paprika
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 50 gr feta
  • 1 cup of roughly chopped hazelnuts
  • 1 tbsp honey
  1. Blind bake your pie in a 220 degrees C oven for 15 minutes.
  2. Boil your butternut squash slices until just soft enough to eat.
    AutumnPie4
  3. Mix the pie filling.
    AutumnPie3
  4. Fill the base with the filling, cover with the butternut squash slices.
  5. Sprinkle with hot paprika and cinnamon.
    AutumnPie5
  6. Top with feta and hazelnuts.
    AutumnPie6
  7. Drizzle over the honey, season with some freshly ground pepper.
  8. Bake in the 220 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Find more pie and quiche recipes.

 

Recipes for beginners

I realize that this blog contains a wide variation of recipes. Some are the kind you do in the weekend because they take skill and time, but others are easy and quick.

One of my colleagues told me he wants to improve his cooking skills beyond his standard student repertoire. This is why I made my top 10 meals for beginners:

  1. Gnocchi bake with a simple salad Pita3
  2. Home made burgers with home made fries ( you could go crazy and make your own mayo too)
  3. Courgette soup with bread sticks
    BreadStick1
  4. Chicken fingers with my Dutch ceasar saladCeaser
  5. Winter omeletOmelet1
  6. Quiche with spinache or green asperagusAspergetaart
  7. Pizza or flamm kuchenAngrPizza2
  8. Pea puff piesPeaPuffPie5
  9. Tagliatelli with no fuss tomato sauceTPasta2
  10. Mini veggie pizzas and salmon saladMiniPizza3

Cheese scones

I have been having a lot of trouble posting this recipe, every time I want to fotograph these fluffy delights, they seem to disappear. I am glad to post this recipe just before Easter brunch. Because it would be perfect for this occasion!

They also make a great side dish with a salad or a soup (like Dutch pea soup).CHScones2

Cheese scones (for 8 scones)

  • Dry ingredients:
    • 225 gr flour
    • 75 gr cornmeal
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 150 gr grated cheese
    • 1 tsp turmeric
    • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Wet ingredients:
    • 55 ml oil
    • 240 ml milk
    • Optional: friend onions
  • For finishing:
    • coffee milk or 1 egg
    • rock salt

CheeseSconesBWS

  1. Combine and mix your dry ingredients.
  2. Pour in your wet ingredients and stir until well combined.
  3. Form into a round flat disc of about 1.5 cm thick, wrap in cling film.
  4. Let this dough rest in your fridge for 20 minutes to 24 hours.
    Resting your dough will ensure a good fluffy end result!
  5. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C.
  6. Cut your disc into 8 triangles with a sharp knife.
  7. Brush your scones with coffee creamer and sprinkle them with salt.
  8. Back them in your oven for 15 minutes.

These scones are best when eaten the same day, to prepare in advance, just make your dough one day ahead. You find my scone recipe here.

Fabulous five: stews

In cool weather there is nothing better for winter than a stew. The other thing I love about stews is that they are easy to warm up and prepare in advance. I understand that to some people a stew seems way to much work, please consider that the stove top does most of the work, usually the actual preperations and cooking only take around 20 minutes. I also like to make large quantities of a stew, as they are a great dish to freeze or to serve to a group of people.

  1. Greek lamb stew – warm flavors and soft meat, what more could you ask for. GreekStew1
  2. Chickpea stew – even though my family thought a good stew always needs meat, with this recipe I proved them wrong.Pita
  3. My mother’s Malaysian chicken curry
    KipCurry_ZW_1
  4. My mother-in-law’s oxtail stew
  5. South African tomato bredie

The recipes to the last 2 stews will follow soon.

Cola Chicken Stew

ColaKipBW - S1
This is a great way to get your entire family to enjoy a chicken stew. I know it might seem crazy but this stew has a lovely and balanced sweet and sour taste. You can make this stew fresh, or a day in advance.

ColaKipBW - S2

I like to have this stew with white rice, the stew should be garnished with large hand fulls of spring onion. Your children might also really enjoy having chips and a glass of coke with this meal!

Cola Chicken Stew

  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • 3 onions, finely sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 6 chicken legs or thighs
  • 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 3 tbsp ketchup
  • 4 tbsp ketjap manis or sweet soy sauce
  • 400 ml cola
  • Optional: 2 tbsp corn starch to bind the sauce
  • Serve with white rice and sliced spring onion
  1. Fry your onions and garlic until they are soft.
  2. Add the chicken and let it brown.
  3. Add the smoked paprika and fry it a little while.
  4. Stir in the final ingredients.
  5. Let your stew simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until your chicken is tender.

Eggplant lasagna

This is a great vegetarian family meal. My son will eat anything covered in tomatoe sauce. The melted cheese on top combined with the crispy topping will seduce any vegetable sceptic.

It is essentially a lasagna with grilled eggplant instead of pasta sheets. It makes a great lunch or dinner when combined with a salad.

EggplantLasagna3

Eggplant lasagna (3 person meal)

  • 2 eggplants, in long 5 mm strips
  • 500 ml italian tomato sauce (your own recipe, mine or from the shop)
  • 200 gr kwark or cottage cheese
  • olive oil for frying
  • 250 gr mozzerella and/or dutch cheese in slices
  • Optional for a crust: 2 cups of bread crumbs and 75 gr butter
  1. Cut your eggplant in slices, season them on each side and lightly oil them.
  2. Fry your eggplant slices in a skillet on each side.
  3. Make layers:
    1. Tomato sauce
    2. Eggplant slices
    3. Kwark
    4. Eggplant
    5. Tomato sauce
    6. Eggplant
    7. Kwark
    8. Eggplant
    9. Tomato sauce
    10. Cheese slices
    11. Optional, for a crispy top: Sprinkle on bread crumbs and devide knobs of butter over the crumbs.
  4. You can store this dish in your fridge or bake it right away in a 220 degrees C oven for 20 minutes.

EggplantLasagna2

Together with a Dutch ceasar salad, this makes a great vegetarian meal.

Read more about oven dishes here.

 

Dutch Pea Soup

I have been working hard to record my mother’s recipes. I want to record these for myself, my siblings and my own children. I have been on a mission to illustrate this book. Today I would like to share my progress with the world. This is a sneak peak into our family recipe book.

Besides this Dutch pea soup, I am also working on my mother’s macaroni, sweet & sour fish, curry chicken, tomato soup and many more. It is great to see how these recipes reflect special my family is. For instance, the love my mother feels for her family, but also all the travelling we di , are reflected in her cooking. I can really recommend you write down your own family recipes, your children will be so grateful someday!

The basis for this classis Dutch recipe are dried split peas. It is a winter warming dish associated with frosty weather. We like to eat it when we’re able to skate in the outdoors. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen every winter, this does not stop me from making this dish whenever it gets cold. It is a dish meant to be shared, great to share with friend or your helpful neighbours. That’s what my mom used to do.

DutchPeaSoup

Dutch pea soup (3 to 4 litres of soup)

  • 1 l vegetable stock
  • 250 gr dried split peas
  • 1 large leak, in thick slices
  • 1 large winter carrot, roughly diced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 500 gr pork chops
  • ½ Celeriac, diced
  • 2 Celery storks, in slices
  • Optional: add the celery leaves, chopped
  • 1 large potato, peeled and diced
  • 1 Dutch smoked sausage (about 275 gr), sliced
  1. Bring the stock, split peas and meat to a boil and let it simmer for 45 minutes or until the meat is tender. You can slice all your other ingredients while the soup simmers.
  2. Remove the meat and shred it. Place the meat back in the pan.
  3. Add all the vegetables and the bay leaves to the soup.
  4. Let the soup simmer for another hour.
  5. Add the celery leaves and smoked sausage a few minutes before serving.

We like to eat rye bread and with slices of bacon (katenspek) with our soup. This makes it a very satisfying winter meal!

Find more soup recipes here.

Chickpea stew

This middle eastern inspired dish is a great heart warming dish. It is full of spice, slightly sweet and vegetarian. For our family it ticked all the boxes. We liked having this stew with home made flat breads and zingy yoghurt sauce.

Pita5

This stew tastes the best when prepared a day in advance, I make the sauce and bread dough in advance too. This makes this an easy and festive meal to make when we have people over. Thanks to its sweetness, my son loves this dish too.

Regarding the spice mix, you could just use to table spoons of raz el hanout instead of this complicated mix. Alternatively you could just double the teaspoons of various spices and leave out the Raz el Hanout. Raz el Hanout is an Arabic spice mix which is great for making Middle Eastern stews, I like to think of it as the cousin of curry powder.

Chickpea stew (4 portions)

  • Spice mix:
    • 1 tsp spicy smoked paprika
    • 1 tsp turmeric
    • 1 tsp thyme
    • 1 tsp ground koriander
    • 1 tsp fennel seeds
    • 1 tsp cinamon
    • 1 tbsp raz el hanout
  • 2 large onions, roughly chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 400 gr (tinned) chickpea’s
  • 400 gr (tinned) diced tomatoes
  • 10 dried apricots, roughly chopped
  • Optional for serving: a handful of shopped fresh koriander
  1. Fry your onions and garlics untill soft and light brown. Take your time for this step, it adds lots of flavor.
  2. Add the spice mix. Stir and fry this for a few minutes.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients.
  4. Let this mix come to a boil. Let it simmer on a low heat for an hour or more.
  5. Stir your stew regulaly. If needed, add some water to prevent it from sticking.
  6. Season to taste.

Pita

You can keep this spicy stew for up to for 4 days in an airtight container in your fridge. Warm it up in your microwave or in a pan while stirring on low heat.

I like to serve this stew with some flat bread, yoghurt garlic sauce and a salad of lettuce, tomatoe, onion, feta, nigella seeds, olive oil and lemon juice.

Pita3

Spelt flat bread

These flat breads are the perfect side dish with a curry or a spicy stew. They are also great for dipping in a yoghurt sauce or with a salad. They have a crunchy outside and a soft, velvety and fluffy inside. Perfect for soaking up a sauce. I use spelt flour because I like the flavor it adds, but regular flour will also do.

I like to make the dough one day ahead, this way I can bake it off the next day. The flat breads keep well, keep them in a plastic bag at room temperature. You can reheat them in the oven if you wish.

It can be real fun to let your children help you flatten out the dough!

Pita1

Spelt flat bread (6 pcs)

  • 350 gr (white) spelt flour
  • 7 gr dried yeast
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 100 ml plain yoghurt
  • 100 ml water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Optional: 1 tbsp nigella seeds, for flavor
  • For frying: 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  1. Combine all ingredients in de bowl. Knead your dough for about 10 minutes. Place in a bowl and cover with cling film.
  2. Let your dough proof for an hour at room temperature or in your fridge for up to 24 hours.
  3. Tip your dough onto a flowered surface, roll it into a sausage shape and cut it in 6 even pieces.
  4. Flatten out each ball into an oval shape, about 3 mm thick.
  5. Heat up a large frying pan with a small amount of the oil.
  6. Fry your bread in the pan, I can fit to flat breads in one pan. The bread will puff up and brown on one side.
  7. When one side is warm, lower your heat to medium and wait till this side is brown too.
  8. You can keep your flat breads warm in the oven or eat them right away!