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.
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  3. Mix the pie filling.
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  4. Fill the base with the filling, cover with the butternut squash slices.
  5. Sprinkle with hot paprika and cinnamon.
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  6. Top with feta and hazelnuts.
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  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.

 

Sweet potatoe and lentil salad

Have a tasty lentil salad for lunch! This salad is full of healthy and teasty ingredients. It is well balanced in so many ways. The crunch of the oninons against the soft cheese and potatoes, the fresh mint contrasts beautifully with the sweet flavors.

This salad would make a great lunch, a starter or a side dish with a barbeque.

Sweet potato and lentil salad ( 1 person lunch, or a great side dish)

  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 150 gr (puy) lentils, tinned or freshly cooked
  • 100 gr goat cheese
  • 1 red onion, finely sliced
  • 1 handfull of fresh mint, finely sliced
  • Optional:
    • 1/2 red paprika, in small squares
    • 1 pepper, finely sliced
  • Honey mustard dressing:
    • 1 tbsp honey
    • 2 tbsp mustard
    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 tsp dill (optional)

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  1. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C.
  2. Peel your potatoes and slice them into rustic chips. Coat them in oil, season them and bake them in the oven for 25 minutes or until they are tender.
  3. Combine with the other salad ingredients for a great lunch dish!

Spring forest omelet

Daslook1This is a great omelet to make with wild garlic. This humble but delicious plant grows abundantly under trees in the Netherlands. Officially this plant is protected in the Netherland, but where I live I see large patches full of the stuff.

Luckily my mother has a huge patch of wild garlic under her apple tree. As it is in season, she picked a large bunch of the leaves and flowers for me to prepare.

If you are not lucky or brave enough to get your own wild garlic, you can use spinache or swiss chard instead.

This omelet makes a great lunch or side dish. It can be eaten warm or cold.

Spring forest omelet (2 lunch portions)WildGarlic

  • 3 handfulls of wild garlic leaves and flowers
  • 150 gr mixed mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 large free range eggs
  • 100 gr creme fraiche
  • about 75 gr butter
  • pinch of nutmeg
  1. Wash your wild garlic in very salty water, to get rid of any sand and wildlife.
  2. In a bit of oil or butter, fry the wild garlic untill it wilts down.
  3. Let your wild garlic cool slightlybefore roughly shopping it.
  4. Fry the mushrooms in some butter, season them generously with salt and freshly ground pepper.
  5. In a large bowl, combine the eggs and creme fraiche. Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of ground nutmeg.
  6. Mix in the wild garlic and mushrooms.
  7. In a non stick frying pan, melt a generous amount of butter on high heat.
  8. Pour the mix in the hot pan and turn the heat down. If you have a lid, clamp it on.
  9. Wait for your eggs to just set before turning it onto a plate.
    Cooking times vary, so just stay near your stove.

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

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  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.

Lemon & Nigella seed salad

If you have never tasted these lovely seeds, go out and find them. Don’t be fooled and buy black sesame seeds, get the real stuff. Ironically, I learned about this lovely seed through THE Nigella, but there is no real connection there, just that I really like both of them.

They are very aromatic and they make any simple salad or dip sing with flavor.

Lemon & Nigella seed salad 

  • 1 quarter iceberg lettuce, in fine slivers
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1 red onion, in thin slivers
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • Pepper & Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp of nigella seeds

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This salad combines very well with a Greek stew.

Add some chicken to make this a lunch salad.

 

Tasty chicory boats

I like making this salad as a starter for a dinner party. It is full of strong flavors, but very well balanced. There is also a great variation in textures. I can guarantee you that this will definately intrigue your dinner guests.

This dish also makes a great lunch salad. When combined with a piece of leftover chicken it is very filling.

Chicory taste explosion

  • 3 chicory
  • 1 apple, finely sliced (no need to remove the skin, this adds color)
  • 1 handful of walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 75 gr blue cheese
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Olive oil, generous sprinkling
  1. Remove the 4 outer leaves of each chicory. Keep them whole for serving the salad.
  2. Remove the cores and slice the rest of the chicory in 5 mm strips.
  3. Mix your chicory strips with the other salad ingredients. Dress the ingredients well as both the apple and the chicory will discolor without the dressing. Season to taste.
  4. Devide your salad over the chicory leaves for perfect tasty boats.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Homemade burgers

Nothing beats a good home made burger. You can pick the best meat and spice it just the way you like it. The same goes for all the other components, when you make burgers at home, get the best ingredients your money can buy. Burgers are actually a very honest recipe, where all the individual ingredients should shine.

Another advantage with making burgers at home is that it is good family fun. I like to make a platter with all possible toppings and sauces, and everyone builds their own favorite burger.

For all you busy parents out there: you can make your patties in a day in advance and keep them in your fridge. You can even prepare all the veg, and store these in an air tight container or a ziplock bag. When you want to eat your burgers all you still need to do is fry the patties.

Burger

Burgers ( for 4 burgers)

  • Patties:
    • 500 gr. minced beef
    • 1 tsp HP sauce
    • Salt & pepper to taste
    • 1 tbsp oregano
    • Optional: 1 tsp of paprika
  • 4 burger buns
  • Slices of good cheese, cheddar or dutch cheese will do
  • Ketchup and mustard to taste
  • Onion, sliced in rings
  • Tomatoslices
  • Crunchy salad leaves
  1. Combine the pattie ingredients in a bowl and mix gently with your hands. As this is beef, I recommend tasting to test if your have seasoned it properly.
  2. Devide the mixture into 4 portions and mould these into burger patties. They should be less than 1 cm thick and match the size of your buns.
  3. Now you can let your burgers rest in the fridge for 15 minutes to 24 hours. I like to coat my patties with a thin layer of oil to prevent them sticking to the plate. I cover the plate with cling film.
  4. When your table is set and your side dishes are ready, fry your burgers in a pan or griddle on high heat. Thanks to the layer of oil, you don’t have to add oil to your pan.
  5. You can test how well done your burger is by pressing it in the centre, when it is more firm, it’s more cooked. I recommend experimenting a little here and find out what your favorite cooking time is.

We like having oven baked chips with our burgers.

Need a good vegetarian alternative? My beetroot burgers taste just as good on a burger bun.