Poffertjes

This is the best recipe I have tried so far, so for the record here it is! 

Actually I think I actually put in 2 tsp of bakpoeder (accidentally) but that turned out very well, they were nice and poofy so that is the only change to the recipe I'd recommend. 

http://www.brendakookt.nl/2013/05/18/poffertjes/ 

Julie's Witlof Tatin

based on a recipe by Phillippe Exertiec

(Will add photo next time Julie or I make one!)

For 4 people – Preparation time: 30 min – Cooking time: 30-40 min at 200ºC

4 Belgian endives; 4 rounds of Chavignol/goat’s cheese; 8 walnuts*; olive oil; caster sugar [Julie used brown]; salt; pepper; 1 rol of puff pastry

* Julie used toasted whole pine nuts which were even nicer.

1. Remove leaves of the endive one by one to leave the centre core for another use
2. Colour the leaves in a pan of olive oil and a pinch of sugar on each side
3. Set aside whilst buttering the tart forms then add the leaves one by one with the tips of the leaves pointing to the centre in a star form. We found two layers of endives more effective.
4. Add crumbled goat’s cheese and chopped nuts.
5. Salt and pepper
6. Cut puff pastry in rounds to cover forms [or use a single form – easier!]  and prick with a fork
7. Bake at 200ºC for 30-40 mins and turn over on to a platter to serve.

 You may find one not enough!

Braised lettuce with peas

Braised lettuce with peas

Ingredients

small knob butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 Little Gem lettuces
200ml fresh chicken stock
4 tbsp single cream or crème fraîche
500g bag frozen petits pois

Method

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan with a lid. Fry the onion gently for about 5 mins, until softened.
Meanwhile, pull any damaged or coarse outer leaves from the lettuces and trim the bases. Cut the lettuces in half lengthways, through the base. Place the lettuce cut-side up on top of the onions and cook for half a minute, then turn over and cook for another 30 secs. Pour over the stock and lightly season. Put the lid on the pan, reduce the heat to the minimum and cook for 10 mins. With a slotted spoon, lift the lettuces out and put into a sieve over a bowl. Raise the heat under the pan and boil the juices until reduced by half. Add the cream or crème fraîche and petits pois and boil for 1 min until heated through. Arrange lettuces in a serving dish and pour over the pea-and-cream sauce.

I just felt like having braised lettuce for dinner and found this recipe on the BBC Food website. Apart from substituting skimmed milk (!) for the cream, I actually (more or less) followed the recipe and it was dee-licious! We had 1/2 a gem lettuce each as I wanted to see what it was like first. Shall definitely be making it again - especially for friends!

Bon appétit!

Ultimate carrot cake

This carrot cake is so good, I had to put the link here so I would be able to find it again. It is not difficult but does have a few extra steps compared to usual cake making, which you should do. I didn't have grated coconut but substituted half a box of coconut milk I had leftover, and supplemented that with the oil (i.e. instead of 200 grams of oil, I combined probably 125 ml coconut milk and 75 gr oil). These two ingredients make (and keep) the cake more moist than butter-based cake - I actually often bake cakes with coconut milk and it always works out delicious. You can actually also use very mild olive oil instead of sunflower to make it less unhealthy.

Enjoy :)

Fig butter

Fig butter by Yvette van Boven

1 cup dried figs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt

Blitz the dried figs, without the hard stem, in a food processor; add the spices and a pinch of salt. Roll the mixture into the log in plastic wrap. Leave to cool in the refrigerator and cut into attractive slices.

Iris's hapje: slice of fig butter, top with little bit of brie and thin slice of cucumber.

Note: you can use fresh figs, I used black missions. You get fig jam, also very delicious. Serve same way but the cucumber becomes the bottom layer, sliced about 1/4 inch thick.

Apricot Tapenade

Apricot Tapenade
from Home Made: the Ultimate DIY Cookbook by Yvette van Boven

1 1/2 cups dried apricots, soaked
2 sprigs rosemary
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 clove garlic (or more...)
salt & freshly ground pepper

Blitz all the ingredients in a food processor. If necessary, add some more oil. You can keep the tapenade in the refrigerator for some time. Make sure the tapenade is always covered with a thin layer of oil. The tapenade is great on toast, as is, or with cheese or cured ham.

Oma Ferguson's Pound Cake

Basic Pound Cake Recipe as taught to me by Oma Ferguson:
Ingredients:
150 gr sugar
150 gr butter
150 gr flour (I use self-raising for everything)
3 eggs

plus a packet of vanille-suiker which they don't sell here so I usually use vanilla extract; however I didn't have any this time so used almond extract instead - just as lekker!

Combine sugar and butter and beat 'til creamy.
Add vanilla extract.
Beat eggs one by one into the mixture.
On a lower speed, add flour so as not to knock the 'wind' out of the mixture.

I couldn't remember at what temperature to bake it, so I consulted Irma Thingey's Joy of Cooking whose own "Basic Pound Cake" is anything but, including all kinds of spices and peels. But the temperature she gave was 325ºF  (which is officially 162.78ºC!! so say 170) for 1 hr - 1 hr 10 mns. One hour was enough. I did make sure not to place the tin too high in the oven.

Looks o.k. doesn't it? Tastes quite o.k. too. And you can do so much with this 'basic' recipe: add anything you like, I should think, as long as say, the fruit you add isn't too wet. 
I'm serving it as a base to pop 'ice cream' on top of.
Good luck!!