Pancakes it is!

Hi all,


Spent 3 hours making thank you presents for the teachers and for the after school care ladies this afternoon - with the kids obviously..!


I am in desparate need of a 'survival rosé' now...!!! My friends, you know what I am talking about :).


Can't be bothered to make a fuss of supper anymore now so Dutch pancakes it is! Yes, the thin ones - but lots of them ;). I use spelt flour (Sharpham Park) these days rather than wheat as it is sooooo much easier to digest. Also, it makes the pancakes crispier. Yum!


My favourite is with thin streaky bacon and golden syrup (the Dutch version of the syrup I'm afraid). Maple syrup is good too. Matthew's is sugar and freshly squeezed lemon. Susie's home made strawberry (or any other for that matter!) jam. Although her favourite changes regularly - just because she can ;). And 'papa' tends to keep it savoury altogether with bacon and cheese as his favourite. Rich that..


So...below is a photo of the work we did this afternoon. The 'tea light thank you presents'. Nice on the table outside for an alfresco supper.....for when the summer finally starts....!


Made with just empty jars, ripped tissue paper and wallpaper paste! All credit to my sister Femmes who showed us how to do this a year and a half ago! Thanks darling - brilliant! See you on Saturday. Can't wait ;)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Toodeloo!


XB

A new week - a beautiful day!

Hi all,


After the excesses of Saturday night...I am back again!


Will post a few piccies of what we had. Baby squid (griddled with olive oil, chilli flakes and fresh parsley), fresh sardine fillets (with tomato salsa), Marrocan spiced butterflied leg of lamb (with couscous & green asparagus) and of course that dark chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries and that Black Muscat...


Needless to say, we had a lovely night and plenty of recovery time next day when it was p****** down with rain yet again. In fact, we made it a pyjama day, to the absolute delight of the boggins who love that sort of thing. As if we don't ;-).


Easy, very quick supper Sunday night (melon & ham, asparagus tart (see pic) fresh berries & vanilla ice cream) and then that dreaded football game... Say no more, say no more. This household is out of teams to support now. Holland and England both exit.


Yesterday it was 'the boggins and I' again, said the cook. And because it was swimming time I made a nasi goreng for which I cooked the rice in the afternoon so that I only had to wok everything else after swimming. Lovely!


This morning I am making ragu (not for tonight's supper!). Always have to have some ragu (bolognese sauce) in 'da freeza'. Handy for lasagnes of course but also simple kiddies pasta meals (especially when they eat separately - and adults later).


So.....I always make a big pot (with 1kg mince) - three times Darina Allen's recipe. I have been using that for years and haven't come across a better one yet. Hers is a recipe from on old Italian lady called Marcella Hazan. I've got it from Darina's book 'Ballymaloe Cookery Course'. But she's got it from Marcella's 'Classic Italian Cookbook'. Still following...... ;-)?


The tweaks on this recipe I have applied over the years are:
- mixed (beef/pork) mince instead of just beef
- red instead of white wine
- add some garlic


Also, when I get it out of the freezer to use it for say a spag bol, I add chilli flakes to the portion for the adults.


The key thing is to let it simmer for HOURS! I do at least 5 hours but the book says at least 3.5. And eat it next day the earliest for even more flavour - as with so many things..


Right, that'll be it for today. Also making a new load of muesli again. And will start thinking of menu for Saturday lunch when my family comes over to go to a concert by The Chieftains in Brussels in the evening. I am hoping for BBQ weather.......!!


Have a beautiful day everyone. It's gorgeous out here! Will add beautiful picture of Dahlia 'Red Manhattan Island' which came out this week.


Love,
X Bee

The Dahlia!

Griddled Baby Squid

Sardine Fillets & Tomato Salsa

Maroccan Spiced Butterflied Leg of Lamb, Couscous & Green Asparagus

Dark Chocolate Mouse with Fresh Raspberries & Elysium Black Muscat

The Simple Asparagus Tart we had on Sunday eve

My 'Ragu' ingredients - now simmering away...!

Let's Kick Off the Weekend!

Hi there,

Just picked up the boggins from school. We don't know what to wear anymore. Sandals? Wellies? Coats? Single tops? Pfffffff.....
I put a cashmere cardigan on this afternoon - it was the longest day yesterday....come oooooooon!

Anyway, it doesn't make us any less cheerful about the start of the weekend - especially not when there's a laced cherry pie (see photo) waiting for us! Bought. At good supermarket Delhaize. Only €7. So worth it! So NOT worth the effort of making it yourself ;-)! Most of all when you've been baking bread all day like I have. Still not finished. Sourdough to go in any time now.

These laced pies are very typical of this part of Belgium and the South of Holland where they call them 'vlaai'. You can get them with all sorts of fillings - rice too which is my favourite - but the boggins LOVE the cherry one and scoff it down in seconds. Daddy, we have left a little piece for you :-P!

So......this eve is going to be mega easy. Kids having vol-au-vents. Matthew calls them 'castles'. Sweeeet!

And I will be having (later when kids in bed, most likely in front of telly as husband back late and generally just because I can :-)!) my good old favourite 'singleton' topper: saté with crusty bread and a salad.
I used to make this quite often when I was a management consultant living in London. Coming back on a Friday eve, absolutely shattered from working my socks off and 'probably' also having had 'a few' glasses of vino with the team in a local bar/pub... The usual Friday eve ritual..

I just love it..saté sauce.. I could eat it by the bucket load. Shouldn't: waisteline!
Dad and I once made it ourselves, I was probably only 7 or 8 at the time. We ended up making LI-TERS because we kept adding one particular ingredient (think it was 'ketjap': soy sauce) as the flavour wasn't right according to us. Hilarious! We should do that again dad! Hahaha!

Yes, so I will fry some chunks or strips of chicken breast in some veg oil and season. Heat the (bought) saté sauce seperately. Put salad and crusty bread on plate. Chicken on the side. Saté sauce over it (AND next to it for dipping with bread piggie style!).
Bob's your uncle.

I still bring back saté sauce from Holland (widely available there as result of old colonial influence from Indonesia - bit like Indian food in the UK). You can get some good (powder based) ones in 'toko's' (Indonesion supermarkets) but other general supermarkets (like Albert Heijn) sell some reasonably good ones too. Conimex is a good brand - also available in Waitrose I think.

There you go! Friday sorted!
Going to put my sourdough friends in the oven now. Going to sit in front of it and wait for the oven spring!

Have a good start of the weekend. Will keep you posted on the rest of the weekend menu. Especially tomorrow's wedding anniversary cooking session.

Love,
X Bee

'After-swimming-pool' quiche

Just made a spinach & feta quiche for when we come back from swimming lessons this eve. Nice 'n easy as I only have to make a salad to go with it.

Kids also love having left over quiche in their lunch box next day - instead of 'ordinary' sandwiches - so that's two birds with one stone then!

No clear food plans for the weekend yet.. Kind of like that sometimes. Options open.... :-)!

Although there is firm agreement between husband and I that (to make up for not having had our wedding anniversary lunch in Antwerpen last Tuesday) we are definitely having supper TOGETHER Saturday night after the boggins are tucked in and that we will be having dark chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries for afters - accompanied by a small bottle of Elysium black muscat...!

Because that my friends, is definitely a marriage made in heaven ;-)!! First brought to us by the wonderful gastropub called the Crooked Billet in Newton Longville (Bucks). Hmmmm....miss them... Great food. Loads of wines by the glass. Lovely sommelier. Always young/fresh views on food/wine combos. Love it. Go go go if you live anywhere near it.

Baking sourdough bread again tomorrow. Alas...sponge will have to be made tonight without husband's magic stir. We shall see how magic it really is...;-).

Have a good one everyone. Only one more day and the weekend is upon us again. Hurrah! Keep smiling!

Love,
X Bee

And so to bed....

Kids in their baskets by 7.15....hurray!! Much needed too!!!!

'Poor old me' having a salade Niçoise - the first one of the season - outside..blue sky..sun..warm eve..glass of rosé..birds singing..

Just wish Duncan was here...!

Goodnight everyone.

XB

This week

Funny week this week.

Duncan ill Monday & Tuesday. Made chicken stock from roast chicken we had on Sunday. I always do that. Good for so many things but more often than not it ends up in our risotto or in a Thai chicken & noodle soup with loads of veggies in it. We had that soup last night. Duncan a bowl of pure chicken broth: Jewish penicillin they call it..!
And that on our wedding anniversary...
Celebrations to be had at a different point in time!

On Monday we had white asparagus 'one more time' - with a salmon fillet, little bit of Hollandaise sauce and lots of fresh chives from the garden. Very posh for an ordinary Monday actually..

Perhaps we'll have the white asparagus once more this coming Sunday as the asparagus season officially ends on St John's (the 24th).

Kids had their annual St John's celebration at school this morning (see pictures) so we're taking it easy now with a pizza for the boggins this eve and a salade Niçoise pour moi! Early nights for all three of us...getting knackered towards the end of the school year...all of us!

Love,
X Bee

OMG! OMG! OMG! Think we'll have this by the bucket load this summer....!!

Just finished the rhubarb, strawberry & rose crumble with home made vanilla ice cream.... Need I say more...?

XB

Ready to (c)rumble!

Rhubarb & strawberries being infused with rose water and elderflower cordial (I still get these products from the UK..). Will put crumble mixture over it later and in the oven it goes.
Should be yummie with the home made vanilla ice cream!

XB

Very first rhubarb harvest!

We have just harvested our very first rhubarb :)! Ooooooh the feeling....

Making rhubarb, strawberry & rose crumble this eve for afters. Will make fresh vanilla icecream to go with it.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone!

Love,
X Bee

Smoked Mackerel Pate & Wedding Flowers

Hi all,


Just quickly wanted to share with you the smoked mackerel pate I had for lunch. Saw a whole smoked mackerel and thought...you are mine! With a bit of horseradish, cournichons, capers, yoghurt: pate it is! On my own rye sourdough bread. Few slices of radish on top. Bit of freshly ground black pepper. Bingo!

Also bought some lovely flowers, ahead of our wedding anniversary next Tuesday! These two (Peonies & 'Lady's Mantle') were part of my wedding bouquet - amongst others. Timeless.... Reminds me of mum. You had the best taste mum! Classic with a twist...


Here they are:

Have a good start of the weekend everyone!


It's Jamie's asparagus (green), mint and lemon risotto for us three this eve. Duncan back late. Saved plenty of smoked mackerel pate for you darling!


Love,
X Bee

More about the weekend

Alas.. No 'Mechelse Koekoek' available this week. So went with corn fed 'Label Rouge' farm chicken which should have a good flavour too.

Will make chicken stock from it on Monday for a Thai noodle soup on Tuesday (as we will have been out for lunch in Antwerp on Tuesday for our wedding anniversary: InVINcible...can't wait...it's been a while!).

Have also decided to make a rhubarb (first lot from our own garden - hurray!!), strawberry & rose crumble for Sunday's pudding. Think will HAVE to make some fresh vanilla ice cream to go with that....

That's it for now! Swimming lessons again in an hour and a half. Then fish fingers, shoe string fries and salad...
There ARE days on which one has to take it easy ;-).

Love,
X Bee

The weekend

Have discussed the upcoming weekend meals with the boggins and my husband and it looks like we're having asparagus risotto on Friday, lasagne on Saturday and a roast chuck on Sunday.

Will try and get 'Mechelse Koekoek' - a typical bird from this region. Slightly more plump than a normal chicken.

Duncan will make his famous 'Belgian' chips (double fried) to go with it and Matthew and I will make 'courgette Matthieu' as a veg side dish.
Susie will be helping with the lasagne on Saturday - her favourite dish!

More about all of this later!

Love,
X Bee

Chard Tart

Bought some beautiful rainbow chard at the local organic farm the other day (see pics) and made a 'chard tart' of it today. Used Nigel Slater's recipe from his book Tender. Used pecorino and emmenthal for cheeses (because I still had some) and added pine nuts to sprinkle over the top before putting it in the oven.
Great success - also with the kids. See picture attached.
Second vegetarian meal in a row this week. Didn't plan it, but nice that it worked out that way.

Love,
X Bee

Mum's Cauliflower

Tonight we're having cauliflower the way my mum used to make it. Yum! Briefly blanch cauliflower rosettes in some water with a pinch of salt (5 mins max). Take out, drain and put in oven dish. Sprinkle some mild curry powder over it and cover with sliced or grated mature cheese (cheddar, Gouda). I find it easier to use sliced as it covers the cauliflower better.
Put in 180 degrees C oven until the cheese has melted, starts to bubble/colour, say 15-20 mins.

Lovely as a side dish to most meats, firm white fish, potatoes (sauteed, mash, roadted), quinoa, wholegrain rice, etc, etc.

Enjoy!

Love,
X Bee

Mondays...

With the kids off on Monday afternoons and me taxi driving to horseriding and swimming lessons I always need something simple for supper. Today it's going to be my (by now 'ancient') 'fake carbonara' pasta. Started cooking this as a student (you can see why!).

Fry bacon lardons then onion (chopped) in frying pan. At the same time, melt boursin & cream in small saucepan - add freshly ground black pepper. Cook pasta (anything from fusilli to penne and spaghetti) seperately then mix it all together.
Have with big crunchy salad for healthy feeling ;-)!

Of course if you want to, you can always add veggies to the frying pan after lardons and onions are fried. I find courgettes work well, so do red peppers and mushrooms.

Enjoy!

And remember...Monday's nearly over...only 4 days til the weekend :-)!

Love,
X Bee

Yield of the day

Four loaves of bread (picture) four curries (picture of one of them: chicken korma for the kids - nice 'n mild) pizza sauce, pizza dough...

Feet up and a vino now watching the Holland - Denmark game. Pizzas for half time :-P!

Have a good one everyone!

XB

The Baking Station

This is what part of the kitchen top looks like on Baking Saturdays!

XB

The sourdough adventure

After having made the 'sponge' (sourdough starter, flour & water) last night - Duncan and I always do this together - I have just made the dough and put it in the big ceramic mixing bowl to let it rest and rise for the first hour.
Already, the consistency looks a lot better than last time when it was too thin and gloopy. Fingers crossed we've got it back to where we want it to be!

Back in bed now with a cup of tea. Kids making father's day cards downstairs as I discovered yesterday that this is tomorrow in Belgium...!
Good thing I've already got something lined up ;-)!

Laterrrrrr!

X Bee

Spring soup & Belgian waffles it is!

Thought I'd let you know what I decided to do for this eve in the end. Bought some lovely new season courgettes at the local organic farm this afternoon and making courgette & fresh goats cheese soup. Recipe from great website about seasonal food:
http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/recipe/courgette-and-goats-cheese-soup/

Followed by freshly baked Belgian waffles - we've got the 5-hearts shaped pan for it. Kids can't wait!

Well deserved glass of vino now! I am having a lovely crisp organic Picpoul de Pinet 'Petit Roubié'. Simple, good value (for just under €5!) and just the right thing for now.

Good weekends everyone!

XB

My empty jars are getting excited in the cupboard!!

As soon as the strawberries are under €2 for 500g there will be the annual mash up! Strawberry jam in all kinds of ways and flavours (with rhubarb & ginger, with red currants, dad suggested with lime, etc). Watch that space!

XB

Weekend prep

Morning everyone!


Got to share this with you. This realisation I had again this morning. I guess it is when I put my blue and white striped apron on that I get truly close to myself - to who I am, to what I really enjoy doing and to where I get my energy from. Bit philosophical...but true! It is with the apron as if I wrap myself into 'my space', where I can be creative and use all the inspiration I have soaked up over the years or just recently. Hopefully I can inspire others by doing so! Let's make that a bit of a mission statement then... 
Sounds like the old management consulting days are still hard to shed... ;-).


This morning I asked the kids what the weekend cake was going to be and Matthew shouted: lemon drizzle!!! So Nigella's lemon drizzle cake it is. It's in the oven now so I took this moment to write on the blog and have my second & last espresso of the day. Illy of course ;-).


Sourdough starter prepared for the last time before 'Baking Saturday' tomorrow. Think there'll be four loaves. Two sourdough (mixed white (75% and rye (25%) flour) and two yeast loaves - probably spelt, perhaps I mix some sunflower seeds in. We'll see how the sourdough goes... Last time it seemed a bit 'knackered'. I might have to start a new one although that would be a shame as this one has been going since late October last year.


Other than that, we will be having home made pizzas tomorrow eve (I am now using Gennaro Contaldo's dough recipe from the 'Two Greedy Italians' book) so that we can watch the Holland footie game....if anyone is actually going to play the championship that is.. Can't believe the discrimination going on over there! Shocking!


For Sunday, we have decided to go for 'a table of curries'. Going to have a look at my 'Chiman's collection' in a mo. You've got to check out Chiman's : www.chimans.co.uk . I swear by their dry spice blends. You can't knock it. Generations have put their experience into the right blends and I don't think that I could ever achieve the same by experimenting with my own blends. What's more, they sell organic ones too - and all their blends are free of flavourings, preservatives and colourings. They're gluten free too in case you prefer/need that. I used to order them in the UK online and they always arrived within a day or two. Have now ordered them online here from Belgium and no problems getting them through the post either. Our favourites are: Kofta Bhoona, Chicken Korma, Dal and Curried Eggs but all the others we have tried are great too.


+++++Cake out - house smelling beautifully++++


So yes, curries. Might go for a Beef Rogan Josh, Dal and Curried Eggs this time. Will make poppadoms with it and have some chapattis, mango chutney, lime pickle, a bowl of banana, lime & raisins, and some cucumber raita. Duncan always makes pineapple and mango with lime juice & zest for afters - very refreshing! 


Still got to think of something to eat with the boggins this eve as Duncan will be late coming back from the UK. It'll come to me later.. It'll be simple but tasty - that's for sure!


That's it for now! I am going to drizzle the lemon cake.


Hope you have wonderful weekends and lots of family food fun!


Love, 
X Bee

It's the asparagus season now and here in Belgium (and parts of Holland) they grow the white version: delicious! You need to peel them (unlike the green ones) and then virtually anything is possible.. You can boil them and eat them the Flemmish way (with boiled eggs, cooked ham, melted butter and chopped parsley), just with Hollandaise (or Mousseline) sauce and/or with (smoked) salmon (or most other fish):

Making a creamy soup of the white asparagus is also delicious!

Dad and I recently had them at Degustation (www.degustation-restaurant.be) where Kris Wijnen basically pan fried them raw with lemon grass and I think reduced port/balsamic vinegar - they had a real bite to them both in terms of texture and in flavour: yum! They came with pan fried sweetbread and a reduced port sauce. A very special combination with which we drank both white (Albarino) and red wine (Roda - lucky me!!!) to see which one went well with the dish. Oh....both did...!


Wines I would recommend to go with the asparagus (it totally depends of course on what you combine it with) but generally... Alsace whites like Pinot Blanc, Loire wines like Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, Quincy and new World Sauvignon Blancs go well with it. Also nice to think of more unusual wines (or perhaps in the meantime not so unusual anymore...) like Gruner Veltliner from Austria and Albarino from Spain.
One word of warning: if you do eat boiled eggs with your asparagus, most white wines will start to taste a bit 'metallic' as a result. Nothing you can do about it......keep drinking :-)!

We should go live today!

Think we should go live today...! It's about time. This family food blog has been dorming in its nappies for wayyyyy too long ;-)! So many recipes and great ideas to be shared. Brrrrrring it on everyone! Love, X Bee