Oma's famous Spanakopita

beloved by small children all over the globe (especially in California and Holland!)

• olive oil;
• chopped onion;
• garlic;
• cumin (I prefer the seeds to ground cumin);
• 1x 450 gr/1 lb frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained (I always cook it up and Magimix it);
• 1 pkg feta cheese (recipe says 115 gr but pkg is 200 gr);
• "115 gr" cottage cheese (or thereabouts);
• salt & pepper;
• 1 pkg filo pastry

Recipe says decorate with tomato wedges and coriander sprigs; I use lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Fry onion and cumin seeds in olive oil until onion is opaque, add garlic then spinach; Remove from heat and stir in both cheeses. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Brush base of baking dish with olive oil. Now layer half the filo pastry in the dish, letting short edges hang over. Officially you should brush every layer with olive oil before adding the next; this tastes very nice but all that oil is not really necessary so I've stopped doing it! Then add spinach/cheese mixture and cover with the rest of the filo. Trim the longest overhanging edges and tuck in to seal.

Very important step: with a sharp knife cut through the layers to the base of the dish, officially into 16 pieces which I do in an oval dish diagonally, but in a smaller dish I make smaller cuts. You need to pre-cut the pieces before you bake the spanakopita so that you will be able to cut it when it's cooked!

Bake at 190 deg C/375 degF for 30 mins; leave to stand before cutting into pieces. Can be served hot or warm.

...Moi? who do you think the Swedish Chef was based on?!

Mediterranean pasta (with aubergine & tomato)

I make this quite often and in fact am making it for dinner right now - it's on the stove as we speak so you get the very quick recipe version!

• 1 large aubergine - cut into +/- 2 cm squares, pour on some salt, let sit for a while (I kind of think this is nonsense so you can skip if you want). Cook gently in olive oil until soft.
• When the aubergine is done, take it out of the pan and put it in a bowl to keep warm. Let the pan cool down.
• Put water on to boil (big pan full), then throw in the spaghetti when you are about to start the sauce.
• Slice garlic (to taste, but I would recommend 2 or 3) and dice about 6 good quality tomatoes. Add some more olive oil to the pan, when warm add the garlic and the tomatoes, plus one small chopped dried chili pepper (without seeds if you prefer milder), and of course plenty of herbes de provence, salt and black pepper, and let this gently simmer down to a thick sauce (takes about 5 mins), stirring frequently. (The official recipe has you squeeze the seeds and juice out of the tomatoes but again I think this is silly.)
• When the spaghetti is ready, drain it and add some olive oil.
• Add the aubergines to the tomato sauce, stir, and also add the spaghetti into the saucepan.
• Crumble feta, stir all ingredients together gently, plus some fresh basil if you have it. If not, no problem either. Save some feta for crumbling on top.

Serve in bowls. Very tasty vegetarian dinner!

Source: Rick Stein (on TV)

Next I will add a super pizza, and the mushroom-mascarpone sauce I have promised Nicole 100 times.

Ramen Coleslaw

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, crushed, seasoning packet reserved (whatever flavor you like - Nissin Top Ramen brand Oriental flavor is vegetarian)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup sliced/slivered almonds
1/2 medium head cabbage, shredded (or buy the bagged shredded cabbage/carrot mix)
5 green onions, chopped

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar,
sugar, ramen noodle spice mix, salt and pepper to
create a dressing.

Place sesame seeds and almonds in a single layer on
a medium baking sheet and the ramen on another
baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes,
or until lightly brown.

In a large salad bowl, combine the cabbage, green
onions and crushed ramen noodles. Pour dressing over
the cabbage, and toss to coat evenly. Top with
toasted sesame seeds and almonds.

Original recipe yield: 4 servings

meatloaf recipe for evelyn

Meatloaf with tacochips
1 pak half-om-half gehakt (ca. 350 gr; biologisch)
100 gram gerookt ontbijtspek in reepjes (biologisch)
1 grote ui
2 tenen knoflook (of naar smaak)
[2 ingemaakte jalapeno pepers - optional]
85 gram tacochips (of gewoon 1 zo'n zak doritos)
2 eieren
chilipoeder
zout
flink wat gemalen komijnpoeder
40 gr geraspte belegen kaas
1 rijpe maar stevige avocado,
OF 1 groene & 1 rode paprika, in dunne reepjes en op laag vuur gaar zacht gebakken

for hot sauce:
1 blik gepelde tomaten
1 rode paprika
1 middelgrote, gehakte ui
1-2 tenen knoflook
1 grof gesneden stengel bleekselderij
zout
gemalen koriander
komijnpoeder
1 gedroogde chilipeper (met zaadjes is pittiger, zonder is milder)

Draai alle ingredienten in de blender (of mbv staafmixer) tot een vrij gladde puree.

For meat loaf:
Doe gehakt in kom, kneed even los, en dan de spekjes erdoorheen. Snipper ui & hak knoflook en evt. de jalapenos. Tacochips in een plasticzak, goed dichtmaken! en met een deegroller verkruimelen. Klop eieren los, en gooi alle ingredienten door het gehakt, goed kneden. Doe helft van het mengsel in een brood- of cakevorm van ca. 25x13x7 cm en druk een holte in het midden. Hierin strooi je wat kaas, daarover leg je de reepjes paprika. Rest van het gehakt eroverheen en goed aandrukken.

Zet 1 1/4 tot 1 1/2 uur in de oven op 175 graden C. Daarna, uit de oven halen, losjes afdekken, 10 min. laten rusten. In dikke plakken serveren met de saus er apart bij.

(source: NRC)