Friday's Fave Five, Cold Weather Comfort Food

The week went by much too fast! I can't believe it's Friday again!
Time to look back and share some of the blessings of the past week. Time to join Susanne's Friday's Fave Five at Living to Tell the Story...





1. My photographer's gloves I found at the weekly market. At least now my hands stay warm while I can still operate my camera.
2. The new Phalaenopsis hubby bought me. The other one has dropped all it's flowers, so I cut back the stem, but it's already starting to grow shoots. The new one is a lovely pink one with big flowers.
3. We made an early morning walk on Sunday. It was cold, but it felt good to be outside.
4. I made " hutspot", now that's real cold weather comfort food! It's made with green cabbage, onions, carrots and potatoes. You brown your meat first, remove it from the pot, drain the fat, and put the veggies and the potatoes in. Add some water, put the meat on top of the veggies and let it simmer until tender. Let it rest overnight.
5. Another fave of mine is Chili con Carne. I prepared it before we went shopping and let it simmer while we were gone. The hearty smell of that lovely stew was all over the apartment when we came back! It gave me the coziest feeling!

PS: I almost forgot! My photo of the day, project 366 #41

Scampi Diavolo Fuoco AKA Devil's Fire Shrimps

For four servings you'll need:

24 scampi
2 shallots
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of curry powder
1/2 a tablespoon of mild paprika
a pinch of cayenne pepper
100 ml ketchup
100 ml white wine
150 ml cream
2 tomatoes
chives
olive oil
a knob of butter
salt and pepper


- Defrost the shrimps, remove the shells and the veins.
- Cut the shallot and the garlic into small cubes, heat some olive oil in a saucepan and cook the garlic and the shallots until transparent.
- Add the curry powder and the mild paprika, stir and let it fry for a short while.
You can also add a little (or a lot) of cayenne pepper, that depends on how spicy you want it.
- Stir the ketchup in and allow the flavors to mingle. Careful not to burn it!
- Pour in the white wine and allow the alcohol to vaporize.
- Add the cream and reduce the sauce while stirring.
- When the sauce has the right creamy texture, set it aside on a low heat.
- Peel, remove the seeds and dice the tomatoes, chop the chives and add to the sauce at the very last minute.
- Serve with tagliatelli pasta.

Macro Monday and a Recipe

 

 

Peel the asparagus and cut off the bottom part.

 

Coat a slice of butter with a mixture of 80/20% sea salt and sugar and place it on top of the asparagus in a sous vide pouch. (I used sea salt with dried rose petals.)

Vacuum seal the bag and steam for 17 minutes.

More Macro Monday pictures at Lisa’s Chaos.

Favorite Recipes, Crab Mayonnaise

 

You need:

two hardboiled eggs
1 tin of crabmeat
a couple of sticks surimi crabmeat
mayonnaise
salt and pepper
 

Chop everything in small cubes and mix with the mayonnaise.
It makes a delicious sandwich spread or you can make this elegant appetizer by wrapping a generous spoonful of the crab salad in a slice of smoked salmon.

 

Macro Monday and the Christmas Stollen Recipe

I thought I’d share something different for this Macro Monday.
After all, 'it IS the baking season par excellence, so …

There is nothing like home made bread. This festive Christmassy bread originates from Germany and is filled with lots of dried fruits and nuts, and rum flavored almond paste.

Just imagine a white carpet of snow outside while inside your house is filled with the aromas of this sweet and lovely wintery goodness….

Am I beginning to sound like Nigella Lawson?

Are you hungry yet ?
Do you want to sniff those aromas too?
Okay, here’s what you do.
Light a scented candle …

OR get into that kitchen of yours and try the recipe!!
I tried to make the recipe as complete as possible but if there are any more questions, just leave me a comment and I’ll update the post.

You need:
- 170g - 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
- 70ml - about 5 tbsp of water ( I added some milk to the water instead of using milk powder)
- 17g of milk powder ( I skipped that)
- 12g - 1 tbsp of sugar
- 12g of fresh yeast OR 5g (= one teaspoon) of dried yeast
- 3g = 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
- 1 egg ( half of it goes in the dough, use the rest to egg wash the crust.
- 30g - 1 ounce of butter
- grated zest of one clementine ( you could use lemon or orange instead)
- 17g - about 1/5 of a cup of roasted hazelnuts
- 17g of candied fruits
- 130g - 1 cup of raisins. ( I made an assorted mixture with died apricots and prunes, figs …)
- 75g of almond paste flavored with rum ( mine was Cointreau flavored)

Mix all the ingredients except the almond paste, the nuts and the dried fruits. Knead until the dough becomes elastic. Let it rest for 20 minutes.
Mix the fruits and the nuts in and shape into a ball.
Shape the almond paste into a sausage. Flatten the dough and place the almond paste in the middle. Roll tightly around the almond paste and shape the bread.
Place it onto a baking sheet in the oven ( 40°C - 100° F ) to rest and rise for about one hour.
Brush the rest of the beaten egg over the dough to give it a shine.
OR
A little bit of research told me you could brush it with melted butter, which would probably produce a softer crust. (I still need to try this next time)
Bake for half an hour at 165-175° C - 350°F

Macro Monday and a Recipe

 

 

Brenda commented on last Friday’s Fave Five post and asked me :
”What are the little balls with a stick in them in your pictures?”
I promised to post the recipe as soon as I had the chance.
Why not make it a Macro Monday post eh? After all, these ARE macros, right? 

They’re crab balls. I made up the recipe because I wanted to use some leftover rice.

I had about a cup of white rice, - maybe just a little bit more – to which I added:
a small tin of crab meat.
one egg, beaten.
a tablespoon of each of finely chopped celery, red bell pepper and  shallot.
a teaspoon of mustard.
a couple of tablespoons of white flour. ( just enough to get the right consistency)
salt and pepper.

You can of course use any vegetables you have in your fridge, you could use spring onions and carrots or whatever. Mix all the ingredients together and shape it into balls about the size of a walnut.


Then cover them with breadcrumbs. I used Panko, the Japanese breadcrumbs, because it’s a little bit crunchier than traditional breadcrumbs.

Deep fry them in oil, and serve with hot chili sauce as an appetizer. 

 

Find more Macro Monday posts at Lisa’s Chaos.

Friday's Fave Five, the Home Edition

 

Another Friday, another Fave Five. This meme, hosted by Susanne at Living to tell the Story is something I look forward to each week. Knowing that I’m going to be sharing my favorite moments makes me enjoy them even more intense. This week was just an ordinary week, nothing big. No visits, no photo walks, no meetings with friends or family, no big purchases. But that does not mean it was a dull or a boring week. Not  in the least …

This week was all about HOME SWEET HOME …

1. Waking up to a gorgeous pink sunrise. Keeping busy all day with whatever it is that needs to be done around the house, and just enjoy doing it. Finish the last bit of ironing in front of the television, watching a new cooking program.
I don’t watch much television, but I’m a huge fan of cooking programs. In this new program two three Michelin starred chefs  (numbers 26 and 29 of the world’s top 50 chefs!!!!) – I’m very proud to be Belgian, thank you! - are looking for the amateur cook of the year. It’s based on the Master Chef concept. This week they were separating the wheat from the chaff, and some of the candidates were absolutely hilarious. To serve top chef Peter Goossens peas out of a tin? Or mussels that smelled nasty? In a cooking challenge? I mean really!!
They should have called the new program” So you think you can cook?”  ROFL!!

2. This week I challenged myself to watch my budget a little in the kitchen. I used some leftovers and made a lovely pasta dish with it. And I had some fish stock left in the fridge to make the sauce. It made a delicious meal. And then yesterday when  I went shopping I noticed that two pieces of chicken breast filet cost as much as an entire chicken!! That’s ridiculous!! So I bought two chickens, I filleted them myself, packed the pieces separately and put them in the freezer. I cooked the other one and the extra wings and bones made my chicken stock extra tasty. With that stock I made chicken noodle soup, and a lovely ragout with a velvety white sauce with mushrooms.
I know we can eat at least twice from that, I’ll just put the rest in the freezer and have a delicious home cooked meal stashed away for one of those days when I have no time to cook!

And then there were the stuffed tomatoes …

3. The stuffed tomatoes. I’m giving you the recipe.
I emptied the tomatoes, and used the pulp to make the sauce. I chopped some fresh thyme, flat leaved parsley and oregano and a small shallot. I used half of the herbs in the meat mixture, and the other half to make the tomato sauce. I mixed the minced pork with an egg, pepper salt and the herbs and some breadcrumbs , and stuffed the tomatoes with them. A little olive oil drizzle on them and put them in the oven for about 35-40 minutes, I think. I’m not sure, I did not really pay much attention. LOL!( You should test it with a knitting needle, if the needle is warm, they’re cooked )
To make the sauce, heat some olive oil in a pan, add the herbs, let it cook for a little while before you add the tomato pulp and a little bit of water. You can add some white wine if you have some. Let it simmer under a closed lid, and reduce a little at the last minute before serving if necessary. I added just a pinch of dark brown rock sugar to remove the tartness. I think the caramelized flavor of brown sugar works better with tomatoes than plain white sugar.



4. Another little tip from this blissfully domestic housewife! Ahem. Vinegar!
I use vinegar all the time. I need it to make my own mayonnaise and yesterday I made tarragon vinegar with some of the harvest from my herb garden. I washed and dried a couple of sprigs, put them in a bottle and filled it with plain vinegar. Put a cork on it and let it rest a couple of weeks. It’s perfect for dressings and as a base for a béarnaise sauce. I chopped the rest of the tarragon and put it in the freezer.
But there is a lot more I use vinegar for. It’s perfect to clean your pots and pans when you have burnt something ( yes, that does happen to me too!) I let it soak for a while with vinegar, and I can clean it without effort! And then when I cleaned the windows yesterday, I used some on my sponge to remove some very nasty stains that would not go away. They’re spotless now! It costs nothing and it’s probably a lot more eco friendly than all the other cleaning products on the market.

5. My downstairs neighbor who is vacationing in Greece at the moment gave me four of her hanging baskets. By the time she gets back they would have withered and she figured it would be a shame to throw them away. She gave them to me so I can enjoy their last blooms. In return, I promised to keep an eye on her garden and water the plants when necessary. I enjoyed every ray of sunshine this week. There have been a couple of good days in between some rainy and windy ones, and I used the sunny hours to be outside as much as possible. I cleaned the other half of the patio, oiled the table, worked on my lace outside and had fun watching all the birds feasting on the feeders. And of course, I had my camera within reach at all times… 

So there, another wonderful week in words and pictures …

Look for more Fave Five posts at Susanne’s Living to tell the Story.

How to Make Paella

 

(Or how to make my readers even more hungry!)   

 

 

This is a great way to entertain and feed a great number of people on a party.
You can hire this kind of pan, no need to buy it if you’re not going to use it that often.

Have all your ingredients ready before you start:
chicken stock or fish stock, or better still, a mixture of both.
Chicken legs.
The rice. (We used 2 kilo for this size pan. )
Diced red and green bell peppers.
4 shallots finely chopped, some garlic
scampi, shelled and deveined
squid, cut in rings. We used half a kilo.
2 kilo’s of mussels (we cooked them separately)
Big Tiger Prawns, we removed the middle part of the shell, but left the head and the tail intact.  
Salt pepper, paella herb mixture. ( I like to use saffron)
lemons cut in wedges. 
Half a kilo of frozen peas.
Diced or sliced chorizo.
 

Use quite a bit of olive oil, and color the chicken legs until golden brown. Remove from the pan, then add the rice. We used long grain rice, because it has a better texture and it does not stick like risotto rice or Arborio rice would do.
Stir well, and allow the rice to bake for a little while before you add the stock.
Put the chicken legs in, and let it simmer for a while.
Then add the diced peppers, the garlic and the shallots.
Season with salt, pepper and the Paella mixture ( or saffron, if you use saffron threads, you could put them in the stock.)
Add stock when needed. Near the end, add the scampi, the squid rings and the frozen peas. If you add the peas too soon, they loose their color too much, and that would be a shame.
By now the rice will have swollen, time for one last stir. Then add the Tiger prawns and cover with tin foil. Leave on a gentle heat until they turn pink.
Finish by decorating with the mussels. They only need to warm up a little, if you add them too soon, they become rubbery. We used a few to garnish the pan, removed the rest of the shells and stirred them in when a couple of the guests had been served.
Sprinkle with the chorizo and decorate with the lemon wedges.

Bon appétit!

Saturday Something ...? American Apple Pie.

I want a break from the predictability of my Saturday posts from now on. I want to use this space for ... whatever it is that inspires me through the week. I want a little more interaction with my readers, maybe answer a question I got in a comment, or a picture, a recipe, a video ... whatever. I might still follow the Photo Hunt theme every once and a while when it truly inspires me, but not every week. I think I shall title this as my
" Saturday Something ...?"
What do you think?



That said, I'll kick off with a recipe this week. My American apple pie everybody asked about. Melli asked me for the recipe, so here we go Melli!
The recipe came from one of a series of cookbooks I got when my daughter was a just a few weeks old. Almost thirty years later I still cherish them ...


You will need:

40 g of butter
90 g of sugar
750 g of apples. I used Cox Orange
75 g of walnuts
some lemon juice

********************************
For the dough:

80 g of butter at room temperature
160 g of sugar
2 eggs
the zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
80 g of flour
80 g of cornflour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3-4 tablespoons of milk.
a pinch of salt.

I made step-by-step pictures of the whole recipe, and you should follow them clockwise.
( aren't you glad I take pictures of EVERYTHING Melli?) ;-)

Preheat the oven at 190°C

Line the bottom of the baking tin with a sheet of baking paper, and grease it with butter.
Cover the bottom of the tin with the rest of the softened butter, and sprinkle the sugar over it.

Peel the apples, and sprinkle them with some lemon juice to keep them nice and white.
Fill the holes with the walnuts, and set aside.
To make the dough, soften the butter with the mixer and add the sugar spoon by spoon.
Add the grated lemon zest the lemon juice. Separate the egg whites and the yolks, add the yolks and keep mixing until the mixture becomes slightly white. Add the flour, the cornflour, the baking powder and the milk. Mix until the dough is nice and smooth.
Beat the egg whites and spoon them in using a wooden spoon.
Spread the mixture evenly over the apples and the walnuts.

Bake for +/- 45 minutes at 190°C.
(I think you should test it with a needle, if it comes out dry, the cake is done).
Let it rest for at least ten minutes before you turn it upside down and remove the tin, and the baking paper.