Crunchy Chicory, Apple & Pecan Salad

First caramelise 100 grams of caster sugar with one tablespoon of water. When golden, add 100 grams of pecan nuts, make sure the nuts are coated and place on a piece of baking parchment to cool.

Remove whole leaves of two heads of chicory and place in a bowl. Cut two hard apples, one green one red, into small dice and add those to the bowl. Chop the cooled, caramelised nuts into rough chunks and add those as well.

Now make a quick honey mustard vinaigrette by combining:
1 tablespoon of smooth Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of grainy Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of mayonnaise
1,5 teaspoon of white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon of olive oil
Scoop the vinaigrette into the bowl and toss until the salad is covered with a nice mustardy sheen.
Very simple, very awesome.

Fruity Oaty Bar

If there's one chef known for his breakfast recipes, it's Bill Granger. This recipe was inspired by his breakfast loaf in 'Every Day', but I tweaked it a bit. Where he uses cherries I prefer the tartness of dried cranberries.
This cake is very easy to make and perfect for me, as I loathe cooking in the morning. Just make this during the weekend and slice off your breakfast the following days.

Put 50 grams of rolled oats in a bowl with 300 ml of milk and leave to soak for half an hour.
In another bowl combine:
240 grams of self raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder or bicarb
125 grams of dried cranberries
125 grams of dried apple, cut into small chunks
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons of honey
75 grams of dark muscovado sugar
1 lightly beaten egg
3 tablespoons of chopped almonds

Add this mixture to the milk and oats and combine with a spatula. Spoon this into a greased loaf tin and sprinkle some slivered almonds on top. Bake for 45 minutes in a preheated, 180C oven. Cool on a rack.
This cake will make a man out of a mouse.

Easy Strands

Put a few cherry tomatoes in a small dish and toss with a bit of oil and some course salt. Put in a hot oven to roast.
Cook the spaghetti in salted water, drain well and toss with a tablespoon or two of good garlic and lemon flavoured olive oil. Mix through some finely chopped red chilli, some fresh oregano leaves and some chopped flat leaf parsley. Add the blistered tomatoes and serve immediately.

Avocado & Pomelo Salad

Caprese

Monday Night Stir-Fry

I love a good stir-fry. Yes it's usually a super healthy way of cooking and all that, but that's not why I love it. That's just a nice bonus.
I love it because getting the old wok out, to me, means experimenting a bit. During a stir-fry you don't have the time to stop and read a recipe, so it's 'go with the flow' time. It's not as intimidating as you might think though, you just have to make sure to hit the few basic flavours. Salty, Sweet and Sour. If you manage a combination of those (and have some nice textures) it's always going to taste OK. This particular version, which I concocted tonight, turned out especially good. It's not overly complicated, but it just works.
The thing to remember is: prepare everything you need before you even think of heating up the wok. This is frantic cooking, but by having everything you need ready to go, it still manages to be relaxing.

So let's prepare.
Cut into small strips: one fillet of pork, one red pepper, one head of bok choy, three spring onions.
Finely chop: two cloves of garlic and one red chilli (seeds and all! be brave!).
Combine: three tablespoons of soy sauce with one tablespoon each of sweet chilli sauce, honey and oyster sauce and half a tablespoon each of ginger syrup and rice wine (or white wine) vinegar.
Also: put on a pan of boiling water (from a kettle).

Now let's heat up that wok!
Put it on a high heat and add two tablespoons of sesame oil. Let it get nice and hot, but be careful not to burn the oil. The way to test it is to hold your hand a few inches above the wok. You want it to feel about halfway between discomfort and searing pain. When it's hot toss in the sliced pork with the chilli and garlic and stir-fry for one minute. Squeeze over some lemon or lime juice (either from a fresh fruit or one of those green or yellow bottles) and add a dash of the sauce (about two to three tablespoons, I'd say). Fry for another 30 seconds and remove to a plate.
Return the wok to the flame and toss the noodles of your choosing into the boiling water (remember that pan we'd put on before?) and turn off that heat.
To the wok add another tablespoon of sesame oil and add the vegetables. Stir-fry for a minute and add one tablespoon of the sauce. By this time the veg will have reduced in volume by about half, the bok choy wilts a lot. The red pepper will be tender but still crunchy. Quickly drain the noodles and add those to the wok. Also add the pork, with the remaining sauce and stir to combine.
Serve immediately.

And yes, I do realise that I started off by saying that whilst stir-frying you don't have time to stop and read a recipe... So why did I bother writing this down? I think I've just confused myself. But hey, I had fun doing it.

Christmassy Snickerdoodles

Let's just get it out of the way immediately: No I don't know why they're called that. They certainly have nothing to do with Snickers, so rest easy, I'm not about to start deep frying candy bars.
There's a theory that the name comes from the word 'Snegl', which is Danish for snail. Cause of how the cookies sort of look like snail's houses. Doesn't really make much sense, but it implies that the cookies come from Denmark and I like the story so I for one am sticking with it.



Cream 125 grams of soft butter with 100 grams of vanilla sugar (I keep a jar of regular caster sugar with a vanilla pod stuffed in for just such occasions). Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and one egg. Cream until combined. Add 225 grams of flour, half a teaspoon of salt, same of cardamom and three quarters of a teaspoon of bicarb. Combine until the dough is soft and easy to shape into little balls. Before you start, take a plate and combine 3 tablespoons of vanilla sugar, one tablespoon of cinnamon and a pinch of ground nutmeg and cardamom (the nutmeg and cardamom make them extra Christmassy). Now roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and roll these through the sugar mixture. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 180C oven for 15 minutes.
They're wonderfully aromatic, but because of the relatively large amount of salt, not overly sweet. Great little cookies, and really, with a name like that you just can't go wrong.

Fully Festive Cupcakes

The Holiday Season is upon us! What we need now, apart from some tidings of comfort and joy, are recipes that are quick, simple and comforting. I know, I know, we always need those. But now more than ever. A special thanks to my friend Ceci (check out her Cuisine here) for introducing me to this recipe. I have fiddled with it slightly (do forgive me) and added some icing. My cup of good cheer nearly runneth over!

Now before I start, in Holland we have such a thing as 'speculaaskruiden'. It sounds quaint and deeply exotic, am I right? If you can get it, great, if not:
Combine 30 grams of cinnamon, 10 grams of nutmeg, 5 grams of aniseed, 10 grams of ground cloves, 5 grams of white pepper and 5 grams of ground coriander. There! You now have 'speculaaskruiden'. I may have just taken away some of the mystique, but it'll taste great just the same.

Cream 125 grams of soft butter with 125 grams of dark muscovado sugar and 10 grams of vanillasugar. Do use an electric mixer! You want to cream it for a good 5 minutes and it's no fun decorating a tree with carpal tunnel.
When light and airy, add an egg, mix until well incorporated and add another. When that's incorporated too, add 3 tablespoons of milk, 130 grams of self-raising flour and one generous tablespoon of 'speculaaskruiden'.
Combine well and bake in a preheated, 200C oven for about 15 minutes.
Leave to cool on a rack and proceed with the icing:

In a saucepan melt 40 grams of white chocolate (I know it's not chocolate! It annoys me too, but bear with!) with a tablespoon or so of water. Let it bubble away for a minute, take off the heat and add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and 115 grams of sifted icing sugar. Stir well over a low flame until smooth. Act quickly, this will start to set the second it's off the heat. Dollop a spoonful on each cupcake and decorate with whatever you like, as long as it's whimsical.



When you bite into these, you know the world is a better place.
Now let's deck those halls!

Chinese Chicken

I'm a great fan of dishes that get on with themselves. Much like people really. If something (or someone) needs constant fussing and endless attention, well, that's not my cup of tea. I'm more the 'you do your thing and I'll do mine' type. Which is exactly why I like this dish. After a little preparation you just leave it for an hour and before you know it dinner's ready. Completely free of hassle.



Take some chicken, I used three fillets and 5 legs (you could take a whole chicken and dismember it if you're into that) and place in an oven dish.
In a bowl combine 1 cup of chicken stock, half a cup of soy sauce and a quarter cup of oyster sauce. Add one tablespoon of dark muscovado sugar and a quarter teaspoon of Chinese five-spice powder. Add three star anise, two cloves of garlic, sliced, and a good chunk of fresh ginger, also sliced.
Pour this over the chicken, cover with a lid or with tinfoil and cook in a preheated 200C oven. Serve with a crispy duck style plate of crunchy veg and some Jasmine rice.



Simple work, complicated flavours. I'm game.

The Ultimate Tiramisu

I Love Tiramisu. I love how it hints at all the different flavours it contains. A hint of coffee, a hint of mascarpone, a hint of chocolate... If it leans too much in any one direction I quickly lose interest, but if it stays somewhere in the middle of all these flavours, there's simply nothing better.
Now, I've had my fair share of Tiramisus in restaurants. Some are spectacular, some are too soft, too warm or too dull. When I saw this recipe I've got to admit, I had my doubts. It seems too small somehow, to achieve the grandeur of a great Tiramisu. While I was making it I thought, for sure, the taste would be dull or lacking. Making it with sponge cake instead of ladyfingers seemed blasphemous. And yet...
Like I said, I've had my fair share of this dessert and this version is absolutely better than most. It's proof that some of the best things in life are simple. Putting this Tiramisu together is an absolute doddle. And eating it? Well...



First, make a good strong cup of espresso coffee, you need about 80ml. Leave that to cool and add 80ml of Tia Maria (or any other good coffee liqueur).
In a bowl beat together 250 grams of mascarpone, 80ml of single cream and 50 grams of icing sugar until thick.
Take about 300 grams of store bought sponge cake and crumble some of this into the bottom of your serving glasses. Press down and trickle over some of the coffee/Tia Maria mixture. Now add a generous dollop of the cream mixture, press down and repeat.
Top with shavings of good dark chocolate and refrigerate for a few hours.
You will swoon. You will 'Ooohh' and 'Aaahh'. You will wonder how a few simple ingredients can create such a delight and your guests will look at you like you're some kind of shaman, not knowing whether to fear or worship you.
Try it. You'll like it.

Oh My Stars

Red onion & Rosemary Pasta

The days I discover great new pasta recipes are among my favourite days.
I love this sauce. It contains only a few ingredients and while cooking it mostly gets on with itself. It’s easy to make but boosts great, deep flavour. What's not to love?

Chop two red onions into half rings and fry in a generous amount of olive oil, with a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary and half a teaspoon of coarse salt. The trick is to keep the heat as low as possible so the onions soften but don't colour or crisp up. Fry gently, stirring occasionally, for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until the onions are soft and sweet. Add half a tablespoon of dark muscovado sugar and one tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar. Turn up the heat and fry for a few minutes, stirring constantly, caramelising the sugar and the vinegar. At this point the sauce will smell incredibly (almost inedibly) intense, but don’t fret. The flavours will mingle and mellow and will eventually turn into something else entirely.

Add one tin of chopped tomatoes and turn down the heat again. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer for another ten minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down and the sauce has thickened. Use this time to cook the pasta.
I won't be bossy and tell you exactly what pasta to eat with this sauce, but please do give it some thought. This sauce is very soft so you want a type of pasta that remains a little toothsome when cooked. If you don’t have a lot of experience with different kinds of pasta, something like penne is a safe bet. Whatever type you choose, cook it al dente before draping it with the velvety sauce. Add some Parmesan if you want, personally I don’t think it needs it.

Swedish Lemon Poppyseed cakes

Chewy Almond Macaroons

Beat two egg whites until stiff. Fold in 300 grams of powdered almonds, 250 grams of powdered sugar, the zest of one lemon and a pinch of salt. With wet hands, roll into little balls and place in a baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and bake in a preheated oven for 10, until they're just starting to colour.

Pomodori

Alfajores de Maizena

Chocolate & Banana Cake

Hot Cross Buns

Traditional Easter buns.

Apple & Mascarpone Muffins

The use of mascarpone in this recipe is a bit of a revelation, to me at least. You’d think adding any kind of cream cheese to batter would make it heavy and dense, but the opposite is the case here. The mascarpone causes the cupcakes to become extremely soft and light and crumbly. Whipping the egg whites separately before adding them makes the cakes even more airy and wonderful. These are the kind of cupcakes that make a fantastic dessert, but can just as well be eaten for breakfast seeing as they’re not sickly sweet.

1 large apple
100 grams of flour
150 grams of mascarpone
40 grams of butter, melted
5 tablespoons of (vanilla) sugar
2 eggs
5 grams of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
½ teaspoon of cardamom
a pinch of salt

First cut the apple into small cubes and set aside. Separate the eggs and beat the whites, with a pinch of salt until white and fairly stiff, don’t beat it to within an inch of its life though, you don’t want it too dry. Set those aside too.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and spices. Add the egg yolks, butter and mascarpone. Give this a stir. It will probably offer quite a bit of resistance, but don’t give way! A little hand cramp is but a small price to pay. Once its combined add the apple and a small scoop of the egg whites. This should make the stirring much easier. Gradually add the rest of the whites, folding them in delicately (but not timidly). The mixture has to be thoroughly combined.
Spoon into a muffin pan either greased or lined with paper muffin cups. They won’t rise a crazy amount, so filling the forms about two thirds of the way will be fine. Bake in a preheated oven, 180 degrees, for about 25 minutes. They should be golden brown and an inserted strand of uncooked spaghetti should come out clean.
Commence swooning.

"Donut" Peaches

Lemony Cupcakes

These are basic cupcakes with some lemon zest and juice added. They’re great as they are, but it’s the icing that really sets them apart. Slightly sweet, slightly tart, slightly clinging to the roof of your mouth… Good stuff.

So that’s 200 grams selfraising flour/200 grams butter/200 grams sugar/3 eggs/1 heaped teaspoon baking powder. Simply combine this in a food processor, leaving you with a sticky batter. Add zest of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons of juice.
Bake in a pre-heated oven, 190 degrees, for 15 to 20 minutes, until risen and golden.

For the icing: combine 250 grams of icing sugar with a tiny pinch of salt. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice and stir with a whisk. At first nothing happens. Then it becomes a mess. Then in becomes a thick paste, that’s the moment you start to worry. But never fear! All of a sudden Something happens, call it a chemical reaction, call it magic, call it what you will, but behold! Suddenly it’s silky smooth, halfway between a liquid and a solid and whiter than freshly fallen snow. A white that is dull and glossy at the same time. It’s awesome. Dollop this on top of the cakes and allow to set.

Pizza

Basic pizza dough:
250 grams flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried yeast
125-145 millilitre warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the flour with the salt and yeast and make a well in the centre. Add the oil and a slosh of the water, be prepared to add more. Start combining and kneading with your hands. It will start off a shaggy mess, but keep going, it will come together. You want it to feel extremely soft and slightly moist, but not sticky.
Knead on a floured surface for about ten minutes. Form into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. My trick is to place that bowl in a one size larger bowl with a layer of hot water in it. When using dried yeast, you really need that boost of heat to get it going. Leave for about an hour or until doubled in size. Remover from the bowl and work it with your hands. It should be incredibly smooth and elastic and you should easily be able to form it into a circle as think or thin as you want it.

Classic Pumpkin Pie

Imagine yourself in a roadside diner with red booths and waitresses called Wilma and Gertie.
This is pure Americana.

Ragù alla Bolognese

This Bolognese is the Original, the Definitive, the Ultimate... It's just really really awesome. Using only the bare essentials and a few wise words from the great Antonio Carluccio, this sauce is little effort & great reward.

Fry beef and pork mince (half and half) in some butter until brown. Add chopped onion and garlic and season generously. Once the onion is translucent, add a glass of white wine (if you don't feel like opening a bottle for just a glass, use white vermouth, which I always keep beside the stove for such occasions). Stir in a few tablespoons of tomato paste and a bottle of sieved tomatoes (feel free to haughtily call this "Passata di Pomodoro", I always do). Bring to a boil and move to the lowest flame you've got. Leave to simmer gently for three hours. No, really.
Stir occasionally and finally add some dried oregano, if you feel like it.

Now for a major revalation: originally Bolognese is supposed to be eaten with fresh tagliatelle, not spaghetti. I know! End of the world, right? But it actually makes sense; this is such a thick, strong, dense sauce that only the broad strands of tagliatelle can really stand up to it. Now, the pasta doesn't necessarily need to be made fresh, I'm a great fan of dried pasta and could not imagine my life without it. But just do me a favour and use tagliatelle. It may sound wrong, but it's oh so very right.

Insert joke about getting caught in the rain [ here ]

Piña Colada Cake

Whisk together 250 gr of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon bicarb and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
In another bowl cream 115 gr of soft butter with 55 gr of light brown sugar. When pale and fluffy, beat in two eggs, one at a time. Add 240 ml cream of coconut (which is different from coconut milk!) and a generous tablespoon of dark rum.
Whisk in the dry ingredients (gradually) and stop whisking as soon as the flour is incorporated. Using a spatula, stir in 90 gr of finely chopped fresh pineapple. Spread batter evenly in a prepared 24 cm spring form and bake for 35 - 40 minutes in a 180 C oven, until a skewer (use a piece of uncooked spaghetti!) inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Let it cool, then using that same piece of spaghetti, prick little holes in the cake and drizzle over some more (a tablespoon or two) pineapple juice, or rum... or both.

Make some icing by whisking together 100 gr of icing sugar with a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice and spread this over the cake. Allow the icing to set, if you can, and consume with inappropriate relish. This really is something else.

For a grey and dreary day...

Banana bread

Making something wonderful is fulfilling enough, but to make something wonderful with produce you’d otherwise throw away gives me a feeling of immeasurable pleasure and smugness. Naturally I never throw away apples past their prime; I’ve been making applesauce since before time began. But now I’ve also found a way to deal with brown bananas (I only eat bananas that are still green around the edges). This banana bread comes courtesy of The Delicious Miss Dahl (initially I seriously underestimated her value in the baking department), and it is glorious. I first made it as a way to use up the brown bananas I had lying around and ever since I keep buying too many bananas, just to make sure I’ve always got some left over at the end of the week.
My addendum: try using different sugars. Dark brown sugar will give you slightly more depth of flavour while light brown will give a treacly sweetness and make the cake more moist and dense.

No matter how you make this cake, it’s easy. However using a food processor really makes it a doddle.

Put 70 grams of butter, an egg, 200 grams of brown sugar, 4 bananas (brown on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside) and a tablespoon of vanilla extract in the bowl and blitz. Add a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt and blitz again. When wet and smooth, pour into a bowl and whisk in 170 grams of flour.
Pour this mixture into a greased tin and bake for an hour at 160 degrees (fan assisted oven).

Eat and prepare to repeat this process. A lot.

disembowelment

The Christmas Pudding That Was

Dense, fruity, boozy, fabulous.
And it only took four months to make.

Dansk

Tarragon & Leek Risotto

I'm always surprised by leeks. They don't look like much, but they really deliver. Chop a large leek into rings and fry over a low flame in some butter and oil. You don't want it to colour, just to soften. The leek will produce a wonderful, aromatic fug, sweet and herbal. Stir in the Arborio rice (rinse the rice first, until the water runs clear) until all is sleek and shiny with butter and add a glass of good white wine, stirring, stirring…

Pull the leaves off the stems of a fat bunch of fresh tarragon and add the first fragrant, aniseedy handful now, along with about a teaspoon of dried tarragon. Once the wine has been absorbed, start adding ladlefuls of chicken stock. When absorbed, add more, keep stirring. Make sure to enjoy this mindless, repetitive activity. It’s part of what makes risotto so comforting!
Add some more tarragon after every couple of ladlefuls of stock. It should take about twenty minutes for the rice to cook. Add a handful of freezer greens after about fifteen minutes. I always use peas and sometimes green beans too, but whatever you’ve got is fine, you’re mostly looking for some different textures. Season with some white pepper (it should have enough salt already because of the stock) and add a final scattering of fresh tarragon. If you want to add cheese, I’d go with a grating of pecorino, or make some pecorino crisps.

Pasta 101

Suddenly I am overwhelmed by the desire to rid the world of a few misconceptions. This is a grand, ambitious plan, I know, so to make it a bit more manageable I'll just stick to misconceptions about cooking pasta. For now.

First of all, should you really add salt to the water to you cook your pasta in?
YES!
There is a saying so wonderful that to read it once is to remember it forever and it is this: You should always cook your pasta in water as salty as the Mediterranean.
Now, salt will not influence the actual cooking, it will not (in any significant way) alter the boiling point. Nor will it not stop the pasta from sticking or any such nonsense. It will simply season the product. And you should always season, whatever you're cooking. Pasta itself isn't much of anything and unsalted pasta just tastes of a flabby nothing.
Adding salt after cooking doesn't do anyone any favours either; you'll just have a flabby nothing with bits of salt clinging to it. Adding the salt to the water means it will infuse the pasta and this will give it body and bite (in terms of flavour).
So add it, and quite a bit of it too, seeing how most will go down the drain. Just remember when you were a kid, swimming off the coast of Italy or Spain and accidentally swallowing a mouthful of water. That's the level of salt we're talking about.

And about adding oil or butter to the water you’re cooking pasta in?
DON’T!
It’s another bizarre misconception that oil will stop the water from boiling over. Why would this be the case? The mind boggles.
If your water is boiling over, your pan is too small or you should turn the heat down a bit. You don’t need a raging inferno to maintain a steady boil; a moderate flame will do just fine.
Another so-called reason for adding oil is (again) that it will stop the pasta from sticking. Pasta needs plenty of water to move around in. If it doesn’t have enough water, then it’ll stick. So use a big pan with lots of boiling water and stir the moment you tip the pasta in and a minute after, it’ll be fine.
Adding oil will make the pasta slippery, that’s true, but that just means any sauce you’re planning to add later will slide right off as well.

One last thing:
Testing whether spaghetti is cooked by flinging a strand at the wall does sort of work: when it’s cooked, it will stick. It’s also great fun. Just biting into a strand does give you slightly better results however. Sorry about that.

Catching Rays

Get a generous armful of the best tomatoes you can find (If you rub them, you should smell them. No smell? Waste of money)
Quarter them and put them in a large tray with red onions, a bit of garlic (in it's skin), a few sprigs of thyme, some olive oil, butter and seasoning.
Roast in a hot oven until fragrantly blistered. Blitz, add some water, some stock if you thinks it needs it, and a slosh of good balsamic vinegar to turn this roasted tomato soup into a bowl full of Tuscan goodness.

Domestic Goddess Up Close

The interview with Nigella Lawson in dutch weekly Elsevier.
Also, she signed me a copy of her new book (translated version). Good times!

Imbolc

This winter has lasted quite long enough.
We've had the dubious fortune to enjoy months of snow, which was slowly trampled into an icy death trap. Trains were apparently not up to it and immediately put out to pasture. Hours were spent on freezing platforms waiting for nothing. Add to that the fact that I've recently taken a trip to Stockholm, terribly, deliciously cold, and to Berlin, shockingly: even colder. On a good day the temperature rose to a balmy -16 degrees.
Now it's January and I feel ready to check Winter off my list for yet another year. Of course Spring, our official calendar version, is a ways off yet. However the pagan Spring, known as Imbolc, is well underway. Small sleepy things are once again stirring underground, rustling, budding, getting ready. And me? I've started rereading Hyddenworld part 1 (by William Horwood), I have a stack of cookbooks at the ready and I am anxiously awaiting the first of the Spring fruit and veg. My beloved rhubarb is on it's way. Can't be long now, surely.