Cauliflower soup

So, it's been a while. A long, long while. My life has changed radically. The cute little house in the forest is still there...but I'm no longer in it. At least not permanently. It will now be a place to hide from the big, bad Amsterdam.
Yes, I've moved back. I found a job and a house, and I'm enjoying the buzz of the city once again. Looking out of my window I no longer see deer jumping around, it's just the neighbors across the street closing their curtains. It's a different life, completely. Not so much time for blogging anymore! But, now that everything has settled down a bit, I think I'll start again. Even if it's just as a notebook for myself.
Today I will start with a recipe I got from my mother-in-law. It's delicious, fresh and very pure. It sounds a bit complicated, but actually it's quite simple. Just try it!
I'll serve it tonight on my Easter dinner, followed by lamb, spring vegetables and a dessert.



Cauliflower soup (serves 4-6)

1 cauliflower (NL=bloemkool, S=blomkål)
1,25 L water
1 large tablespoon of butter
1 onion, chopped
1 sellery stick, chopped
2 tablespoons of flour
100 ml cream
50 g grated pecorino and some extra to serve
nutmeg (NL=nootmuskaat, S=muskot)

step 1
* cut the cauliflower in half. divide in two parts, and cut one part in nice florets, without the green
* bring 1,25 L water to the boil in a large pan and add the florets. boil for around 5 minutes, until just tender
* when that's done, take out the cauliflower with a (slotted) spoon and put it a bowl to use later. don't throw away the water!

step 2
* cut up the other half of the cauliflower, including the green, in large chunks
* take a large pan and fry the onion and sellery in butter, until soft and shiny
* add the unboiled cauliflower and greens, and 2 tablespoons of flour and keep frying for a minute, while stirring
* add the water you used to boil the cauliflower in and cook for 20 minutes

step 3
* purée the soup and add 100 ml of cream, the pre-boiled florets and 50 g of pecorino
* taste, and add salt and pepper
* serve with freshly grated nutmeg and some extra pecorino or parmezan

I changed the recipe a little bit - originally it has carrot instead of sellery, and parmezan instead of pecorino. All variations taste good. What I especially like about this soup, is that it's creamy but still has texture, and that it's very pure in flavour. Vrolijk Pasen!

Fred's brownies

When I was working in Amsterdam at the local television station, I had a sweet colleague from the US. Once he treated the whole floor to brownies and a huge New York cheesecake. Both were delicious. On request he gave me the recipes, and just now (years later) I finally made the brownies. Why did I wait that long? They were yummy yummy yummy. So please try them if you are in the mood for something very chocolaty, fudgy, smeary and yet crunchy.



Fred's brownies

230 g butter
225 g dark chocolate (70% cacao), roughly chopped
125 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
380 g sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
140 g walnuts, roughly chopped

* preheat the oven to 175 C
* grease a baking pan that is around 25x30 cm (or a little bit bigger or smaller) and then line it with two sheets of baking paper. also grease the top layer of baking paper. the paper can stick out some centimeters on the top to prevent the brownie mixture to overflow
* melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave at 350 watt, stirring each 30 seconds until completely melted
* in a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt
* in another, large bowl, whisk the sugar with the eggs and vanilla extract until fluffy and white
* pour in the melted chocolate/butter mixture while stirring, and then add the flour mixture. continue stirring from the edges of the bowl to prevent lumps
* when all is mixed, stir in the chopped walnuts
* pour the mixture into the baking pan and place in the oven for around 40 minutes, the top should be shiny and edges should curl up a little
* let it cool down completely on a rack (yes, this is the hard part!), be patient.
* flip it over carefully and remove the paper. cut into squares and enjoy.

The brownies will taste even better the day after, so make them in advance, or try to save some for the next day.

Thanks Fred!

Ratatouille - French zucchini and tomato stew

Excuses, excuses. Plenty of those. I do apologise for my absence the last month. I will not bore you with the reasons, but instead treat you to a new recipe. A very summery dish this is, and while eating you will think you are somewhere in France. I do anyway.
You can eat ratatouille, of course, the day you make it. I usually eat it with some wild rice.
But make sure to make some extra ratatouille and eat that the next day. Preferably lukewarm on a piece of French bread (baguette). Let it stand for 10 minutes and enjoy. I read this tip on another blog somewhere and I can really recommend it.
By the way: buy your zucchini on the small side. They usually have more flavour than the larger ones.
The recipe for this ratatouille is without aubergine. My man doesn't like it, and I'm not too fond of it either, so I skip it even though it's quite a traditional ingredient for a ratatouille. If you do like to put in some, well, then be my guest.



Ratatouille (serves 4, or two times two)

olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped or finely sliced
3-4 zucchini (NL: courgette), halved and cut in 1-cm slices
10 tomatoes, coarsely chopped or 2 cans of tomatoes
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 glass of white wine
2 bay leaves (NL: laurier, S: lagerblad)
1 teaspoon of dried French herbs
salt and pepper

* heat the oil and add the onion, garlic, celery and carrots
* let this soften up for 10 minutes - it should not get brown, just soft
* add the zucchini and fry for 2 minutes
* add the tomatoes and sugar and turn the heat up
* break the tomatoes by cooking them on a high heat while stirring often
* after 5 minutes you can lower the heat and add the wine, bay leaves and herbs
* leave to simmer for 30 minutes or longer, with the lid of the pan halfway

Another serving alternative: add some fried sausages, cut in slices and boiled potatoes to turn it into a more meaty and hearty stew (S: Fransk korvgryta).

Summer strawberry cake

Before the thunder and lightning struck on Midsommar, we had a lovely lunch outside. Three different types of herring (very traditional); warm smoked salmon with a horseradish cream; a smörgåstårta or 'sandwich cake' with salmon and crayfish; Swedish strong cheese; dark bread and of course knäckebröd. No potatoes, as you could read in my last post.



And then the pièce de resistance: a strawberry cake, with lots of fresh strawberries and filled with strawberry mousse. I will give you the recipe for this cake now, as the strawberries are still in season and rather cheap.



Strawberry cake (adapted recipe from Dagens Nyheter)

Step 1
Mousse: (can be made 2-3 days in advance)
4,5 sheets of gelatin
200 g strawberries (not more or less)
4 dl cream
0,75 dl sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

* cover a springform (24 cm in diameter) with plastic foil. It's important that the filling will not leak, so make several layers of foil and press it down gently along the edges
* let 4,5 gelatin sheets soak in cold water
* purée the strawberries with a blender
* put the puréed strawberries in a pan, together with 4 dl cream, 0,75 dl sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar
* bring to the boil and then take the pan of the heat
* take the gelatin sheets out of the water and shake excess water off
* put the gelatin sheets in the pan and stir until the sheets have dissolved
* let the mixture cool down for 5 minutes and then pour it into the prepared springform
* let it stand for 30 minutes and then place it in the fridge
* it needs to stiffen up in the fridge for at least 4 hours

Step 2
Cake: (can be made 1 day in advance)
100 g butter
3 eggs
2 dl sugar
180 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
1,5 dl milk
some good strawberry cordial (NL: siroop, S: saft)

* preheat the oven to 175 C
* use a springform the same size as the mousse. Cover the bottom with baking paper and grease the form
* melt 100 g butter
* in a bowl, mix 3 eggs together with 2 dl sugar until fluffy
* while stirring, you can bit by bit add 180 g flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar, 1,5 dl milk and the melted butter
* pour the mixture into the springform and bake for 40-45 minutes
* when the cake has cooled down, take it out of the springform.
* using a sharp bread knife, cut the cake horizontally so you have two cake halves
* sprinkle both halves, on the cut side, with some cordial

Step 3

Take the mousse out of the fridge and, with a steady hand, flip the mousse on top of one half of the cake. Place the other half on top it. Cover the cake with some foil, and put in the fridge. This is best done the day before serving, so that the flavours can be soaked into the cake.

Step 4 - just before serving
2 dl cream
250 g strawberries
icing sugar

* whip the cream, but not too stiff
* clean the strawberries
* using a spatula, spread the whipped cream on all sides of the cake
* place the strawberries on top and dust with some icing sugar



This cake is quite a lot of work, but it tastes heavenly and looks spectacular (or so I think). If you really want to make something special, then let this cake be it. The good thing is that most is done in advance, so you don't need to do much before serving, which is nice when you have guests!

when lightning strikes...

We had the most wonderful Midsommer. I made a big lunch with three types of herring, smörgåstårta, warm smoked salmon with horseradish sauce and much more. To drink there was beer and wodka - very traditional here in Sweden! My family came over from Holland (except my dear sister) and my parents had the task of cleaning the new potatoes...when they finally cleaned and boiled them, we forgot to put them on the table. Oh well, they made a nice potato salad to accompany the barbeque in the evening.
After lunch we had coffee with a strawberry cake and then we headed into the village to see the singing and dancing around the pole. The sun was shining, we were drinking beer and cider and finally I dared to join in for the last song. Suddenly the sun hid herself behind some clouds and we decided to slowly walk back home. A few minutes later it turned dark and a big thunder storm started. That hardly ever happens here, so I rather enjoyed it! When we were just inside our house, taking off our wet clothes and talking about how nice everything was - I saw a bright light and heard a loud bang. I thought there was some firework going on or something, but it was lightning that struck our house! That was quite scary and it actually burned our modem and router. So we have lost all our connection to the world, since we lost our internet connection.

I am writing this post after a fabulous dinner at M.'s grandmother's house, where we all were invited. I am writing to let you know that we will try to fix the internet as soon as possible, but you will have to wait a few days for a new recipe. But those recipes are worth waiting for, I can tell you that!! We had some good meals in that little wooden house in the forest and I can't wait to share the recipes with you...just a little patience please.

Apple and pear crumble

Now, my dear readers, it is time for something sweet. Something very simple and yet so good. I made this cake a few days ago for two friends who stayed with us for a few days. I didn't plan to make a dessert, as we had been eating so much during the course of their stay, but in the end I couldn't resist and threw some things together. They loved it (or so they said) and I can really recommend this recipe if you want to make something fast and easy. If you've never baked a cake before, then try this one!



Apple and pear crumble (serves 8)

3 small apples
1 ripe pear
lemon juice (fresh or from a bottle)
250 g flour
250 g sugar
150 g oats (NL: havermout/ S: havregryn)
200 g butter
3 handfuls of almonds or other nuts

* preheat the oven to 190 C
* peel the apples and pears, and cut them in cubes
* place them in a bowl and sprinkle some lemon juice on them
* put 250 g flour, 250 g sugar and 150 g oats in another bowl
* melt 200 g butter in a pan on low heat and add to the bowl with the flour mixture
* blend it all together with large spoon
* grease a spring cake tin (NL: springvorm)
* put two thirds of the pastry in the tin and use a spoon to press it down a bit
* place the apple and pear mixture on top
* chop 3 handfuls of almonds coarsely and sprinkle on top
* sprinkle the rest of the pastry mixture on top (it should be crumbly)
* place in the oven for 60 minutes, until brown
* leave to stand a little before cutting

Serve with some whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream (yes, or both). It's best served warm, but will also taste great the next day with a cup of coffee.

Roasted red soup

I have a few recipes for you, waiting to make an appearance here on the blog. A soup; a healthy plate and a simple, but delicious dessert with nuts, apples and pears. What shall I share with you first? Perhaps the soup. I have made it a couple of times, and have the original idea for it from this website. Have a look there if you like healthy and vegetarian food.
The flavour of the roasted vegetables in this soup is really great.



I added a little twist to the recipe by putting in a little anchovies and I have replaced the vegetable bouillon for fish bouillon - but you can keep it simple and completely vegetarian too if you like.

Roasted red soup (serves 4)

olive oil
5 ripe (grape) tomatoes (NL: trostomaten, S: kvisttomater)
1 large red bell pepper (NL/S: paprika)
4 small onions
5 cloves of garlic
500 ml water
1 cube of fish bouillon (or vegetable bouillon)
optional: 2-3 anchovies
salt and pepper
a few drops of tabasco
freshly grated parmezan

* preheat the oven to 190 C
* grease a baking tray with some oil
* peel the onions and remove the seeds and membrane of the red bell pepper
* cut the tomatoes, red bell peppers and onions in quarters, place them on the baking tray and pour a few tablespoons of olive oil on them
* use your hands to make sure they are all covered by a thin layer of oil and place them skin side down (or in case of the onions - where the skin used to be)
* don't peel the garlic, just put them in a corner of the baking tray
* place in the oven for 45 min, or until the onions are browned a bit on the sides and all the vegetables are soft and cooked
* take the garlic aside and put the rest of the vegetables (including their juices) in a pan
* peel the garlic and add to the veggies
* also add the anchovy, if you are using it. it will add a little bit of extra flavour and saltiness
* in another pan, bring 500 ml water to the boil and add the bouillon cube
* use a hand blender (NL: staafmixer, S: stavmixer) to puree the vegetables and add half of the bouillon. add more bouillon if needed to create the texture you prefer - this will vary depending on how much juice the vegetables are containing
* warm the soup through and add salt and pepper to taste, and a few drops of tabasco
* serve with a handful of freshly grated parmezan

I usually serve this soup as a starter. It's really great when you have pasta as a main course, because this way you still get your portion of vegetables. Smart, huh.
Of course you could serve it for lunch as well, perhaps with some garlic bread.