Pea Puff Pies

Posted on July 23, 2015 by elsje

This is a recipe that I invented in order to finish our leftovers. Feel free to use any form of leftover vegetables and meat for this recipe. I have also made similar pies using cauliflower, broccoli, spring union or asparagus.

You can also make a delicious vegetarian version by replacing the meat with some tasty nuts or maybe a stronger cheese.

I serve these pies in individual ramekins, this way I can accommodate everyone’s busy schedule. But you could easily make one large pie, just increase your cooking time slightly so the pie is cooked and warm in the middle.

These pies are a simplified version of a soufflé. The egg makes them puff up beautifully and creates a light texture. The measurements below are an indication. Feel free to adjust them to your taste. Add more egg for more rise and a more “eggy” flavor.

This recipe only needs stirring and measurements are not crucial so you could easily make these together with your toddler. For more toddler cooking tips, read this post.

For a simple dinner, serve your Pea Puff Pies with some HP sauce and a tasty salad. You could make these pies as a starter, especially if you use a more fancy vegetable like asperagus.

Pea Puff Pies (for 4 small pies)

150 gram of mashed potato
2 free range eggs
100 grams of grated cheese (keep some aside for on the top)
100 grams of shredded chicken
150 gram of peas (or any other veg you like)
Salt and pepper to taste

Simply warm mix your ingredients and spoon the batter into the greased ramekins. Sprinkle some cheese on top.

After preparing your pies you can keep them for a few days in the fridge until you are ready to eat them.

Bake your pies in a 220 degrees C oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until puffed up and golden.

Enjoy!

4 principles for a tasty salad

Posted on July 21, 2015 by elsje

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.

Don’t combine too many ingredients, the best salads have around 5 main ingredients. This ensures you taste every ingredients shines.
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.
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.
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.

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.

Tzatziki

Posted on July 18, 2015 by elsje

My husband loves a good barbeque. But before the meat is ready we like knibble on something. For us, that’s crispy bread and taziki. This yoghurt dip ticks all the boxes for me, both the garlic flavour and the smooth and rich, creamy texture. Normally such a delicious sauce is based on so many fats, like your mayo based sauce. But a taziki is yoghurt based and by comparison much healthier. This is why I must insist you use full fat greek yoghurt for this, non of that crazy diet stuff. Plus, full fat yoghurt contains more nutrients as well.

Feel free to replace my 2 favorite soft herbs with other options such as chives, dill or parsley.

I know this is hard, but try to let this sauce stand in the fridge for an hour, so the flavours are properly combined.

Just enjoy this sauce with crunchy bread, pita’s, falafel, naan’s, roast meat or with potato chips!

Tzaziki

1 cucumber
4 tbsp salt
full fat greek yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 handful of fresh mint
1 handful of fresh koriander
2 cloves of garlic

Grate your cucumber with a course grater. Now we will drain the water out of the cucumber to intensify the flavour. So bear with me and add all the salt to the cucumber. Mix this well in a bowl and leave to stand on one side while you continue with the other ingredients.

Finely chop the mint and coriander. Grate the garlic cloves.

In a large bowl add the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, chopped herbs and garlic. Season with a small amount of salt and pepper.

After 10-30 minutes of steeping rinse your grated cucumber in a collinder. This should clean away all that salt. The cucumber needs to be as dry as possible. I do this by first pushing as much water as possible through the collinder. After this I squeeze the grated cucumber between my hands. Add the dry handfuls of cucumber to the yogurt mix.

Stir your tzaziki thoroughly. Let it stand in the fridge for an hour (or overnight), and salt to taste before serving. This sauce will keep for a couple of days if stored in the fridge, that is, if there is anything left!

Tzaziki is also great with some oven chips, or as a side dish with a Greek lamb stew.

Fabulous five BBQ recipes!

Posted on July 17, 2015 by elsje

It’s summertime and we are crazy for barbecues. Here comes my list of favorites!

Mustard chicken. Makes for sweet and succulent morsels of chicken every time! Tastes great with some potato salad and a flower salad!
Fried sweet potatoes. I found a great recipe on www.theyummylife.com, still have to try it!
I love having a good baked potato. I am the least patient cook in the world. So I pre-cook my potatoes in the microwave. Simply wash your potatoes and prick them all sides with a fork. Cook them in your microwave for 3 minutes, then turn them around, feel if they are soft as this means they’re cooked. If not blast them for another 2 minutes, then check them again. Wrap your potatoes in foil and crisp them up on your barbecue.
Zucchini/courgette or aubergine are great for grilling too. Just slice in 5 mm slices. Sprinkle them with olive oil and thyme. Season to taste and grill on each side.
Grilled asparagus, precook them if the stems are thicker. Just lightly coat them with olive oil. Season them after grilling and dress with a few drops of lemon.

For more great barbecue side dishes:

No fuss tomato sauce

Posted on July 15, 2015 by elsje

This is the easiest way to make tomato sauce ever! You make it with fresh ingredients and the flavor is so intense. The bog secret is that the ingredients are not fried but roasted. You can use this sauce with your pasta or as a pizza sauce. Both my son and my husband have approved this recipe, it is finger licking good!

This recipe is enough for a family pasta meal. But you could easily make a large batch and freeze the rest of the sauce. The sauce can also keep in the fridge in a jar for a week.

No fuss tomato sauce

6 tomatoes
1 onion
1 handfull of fresh thyme and rosemary
1 tbsp dried oregano
Honey
Olive oil
Optional: 1 chili pepper for a kick
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven at 220 degrees C.
Halve all the tomatoes and place them sliced side up on a baking tray.
Peel and quarter the onion and peel the garlic. (Slice the chili in chunky pieces.)
Scatter the other ingredients between the unions.
Sprinkle the tomatoes, onions, garlic and chili with thyme and rosemary.
Drizzle with honey and oil
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes to an hour, untill your ingredients are nicely roasted.
If you are making this in advance, shutdown your oven and let it cool while leaving the tomatoes in.
Blend the roasted ingredients to a smooth paste.
Mix in the oregano, salt and pepper to taste.

Simpel starters: courgette soup

Posted on July 11, 2015 by elsje

In the summer I find myself overwhelmed my the bounty of produce. One vegetable that grows in abundance in the summer is the courgette. When I have a large surplus, I like to make this soup. It can be eaten warm or cold, my favorite! When it is cold you really appreciate the smooth texture and the subtle flavors.

Courgette soup

2 courgette
500 ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp oil
1 onion
1 cup of Greek yogurt
Fresh herbs to your taste

Dice your courgette and finely slice your onion.
Gently fry your courgette and onion in the oil for five minutes.
Add the stock and let this mix simmer for 15 minutes until the courgette is soft.
Blend your ingredients to a smooth soup and add in the Greek yogurt.
Mix in some finely sliced fresh herbs like dill, basil or mint.
Season to taste. If you plan to eat the soup cold, season you soup well as cool soups need intenser seasoning.

Combine with some carrot soda bread for a healthy vegetarian lunch!

Barbecue side dish: beetroot carpaccio

Posted on July 10, 2015 by elsje

Beetroot is a vegetable I had to learn to appreciate. Beetroot carpaccio always does the trick for us and our guests. I make it on a festive and large dish, this recipe serves about 2 people. In these fotographs I used yellow beetroot.

I make this dish very often, so I like to vary the ingredients depending on the contents of my refrigerator. Just discover your own favorite set of ingredients and let me know how it turns out!

Beetroot carpaccio

Three boiled beetroots (boil in water for 75 minutes and then peel)
Use mixed colors of you can.
200 grams white cheese – my favorite is soft goats cheese, but feta cheese works as well. On occasion I have use crumbled Boursin as well.
Generous sprinkling of fresh or dried herbs. I like using mint, basil and/or dill.
2 spring onions finely sliced – although your plain onion would work as well.
Honey
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar or other sweet vinegar
Optional extras:
- Ribbons of smoked salmon
- Capers

1. Make fine slices of beetroot and arrange these on your plate.

2. Crumble your cheese on the beetroot. I like a generous cover of cheese.

3. Sprinkle on the herbs and onion. (And optional extras.)

4. Drizzle with honey, vinegar and a generous helping of olive oil.

5. Season with freshly crushed black pepper.

Tip: This salad tastes great on a piece of fresh bread too.

Funny farfalle with chanterelle cream sauce

Posted on July 7, 2015 by elsje

I love trying new ingredients, and the other day I found some forest mushrooms in my supermarket. As I love any mushroom, I had to buy and try it.

I decided a simple pasta would do this ingredient justice. My son loved the flavor of the pasta and the sauce, but returned the fried chanterelles to my plate. Oh well, the texture of mushrooms isn’t for everyone, and I was happy to receive extra mushroom.

This recipe would work with any flavorsome mushroom, or even a mix. You can easily leave out the ham for a vegetarian option.

If you are going all out, garnish your pasta with freshly chopped parsley for some freshness and drizzle with some truffle oil.

Funny farfalle with chanterelle cream sauce (serves 2 and 1 toddler)

250 grams of pasta
150 grams chanterelle mushrooms
1 shallot, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
100 grams of ham in fine ribbons
1 glass white wine
150 ml cream
Handful of chopped flatleaf parsley
Some olive oil and a knob of butter

First boil your pasta according to the instructions. While your water boils and your pasta cooks, you can make your sauce.

1. Clean your chanterelle mushrooms and cut them in similar size pieces.
2. Gently fry the chanterelle mushrooms and union in the butter and olive oil until soft. Add salt and pepper to your mushrooms.

3. Add the garlic and the wine. Let this mix stew for a few minutes so the alcohol can evaporate.
4. Stir in the ham and add the cream. You can turn off the heat on your sauce until your pasta is cooked.
Drain your pasta when it is cooked.
5. Warm your sauce and pasta while combining them.

Sprinkle with parsley and dress with some olive oil or truffle oil and enjoy!

Simpel starters : Bruschetta

Posted on June 22, 2015 by elsje

We love eating dinner al fresco. But not every food is equally appropriate for this. This snack makes perfect finger food with a glass of wine in your sunny garden.

Combined with a pasta salad and some veggies it makes a lovely summer meal or a great starter at a barbecue.

You can make the garlic oil by simply finely slicing the garlic and covering it with olive oil. After half an hour the oil will have a lovely garlic flavor. You can keep this oil for a few days.

Rockin Bruschetta (about 12 servings)

1 jar of Rockin Rocket pesto
12 slices of mozzarella
Cherry tomatoes in different colors
Slices of old bread
Garlic olive oil
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Brush the bread slices with the garlic oil, then grill or toast them. Season the slices generously with salt and pepper while they cool. I quartered all bread slices to create the right bruschetta size.

Halve the tomatoes, dress them with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season the tomatoes and toss to dress them.

Spread the Rockin Rocket pesto on each slice. Layer the mozzerella and a few tomatoes on each slice. Take your bruschetta and enjoy.

Rockin Rocket Pesto

Posted on June 17, 2015 by elsje

If you ever tried growing rocket (or arugula) you know it grows like a weed. You can eat these lovely leaves every day once your rocket plants get going.

In Holland you find them in the wild too. They grow on sandy soil, so you find them in the dunes, next to rail roads and just on side walks.

If you are lucky enough to have an abundance of rocket, you might be looking for a new way to use it up. I like to do this by making my own pesto.

This recipe has no exact quantities, I suggest going with your instincts, and go by what you have in your fridge and adding ingredients to your taste.

Rockin Rocket Pesto

1 – 2 handfulls of rocket
1 handful of cashews (or hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, whatever nut you like)
a piece of hard cheese
1 clove of garlic
1 – 2 tbsp of lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

I grind and mix my ingredients in my trusty little blender. Make sure you have enough oil in the blender.

Store your pesto in a jar or container in the fridge. Keep a layer of oil on top of your pesto to keep it fresh. Eat it within a week, but for us this is not a challenge!

This pesto is lovely as a dip with some home made bread, on your (meat) sandwich or through your pasta. If you add some more oil and lemon juice, it makes a lovely dressing for your tomatoes and mozzarella salad.

This recipe works with basil or fenil tops too.

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