Tulips and a sandwich..;)

Even though the sight of fields with rows and rows of tulips is nothing weird here I still love the sight of them. Since a few years the area around Almere is used to produce tulip bulbs, which means that the fields get to full bloom and are only removed once all the tulips are dead and gone. Even though today was not the best of days to visit one of the fields to take some shots, I just couldn’t resist. I just know they will be gone in a few days time and it would just be a shame to miss them.

Tulip season has opened

So I played a little bit with my new lensbaby and with my 50 mm 1.4 I should probably have brought some other lenses now that they are so good looking (the tulips I mean) but didn’t feel like it and just quickly snug out of the house.

What I also love besides tulips is a good sandwich. You’ve already seen a couple on my blog before and today I wanted to share another one with you. One that is quick to put together and equally delicious. It’s a veggie sandwich with cheese. The original recipe states to use Colby Jack Cheese.

Gizmo is checking if there is any meat involved

And I loved it. Gizmo not so much. She was keeping an eye on me, checking my every move around the table, but unfortunately for her, there was no meat involved. She does like cheese but prefers the melty gooey kind that she lick from my finger rather then having to chew (she has only one tooth left!) The avocado ads a nice creaminess to the sandwich and I added some chives instead of the garden cress I bought but could not find anymore (…).

But I loved the chives on it, so that was all good. I will probably find the garden cress again when I don’t need it anymore. Which is usually the case. Anyway, here is the recipe for this delicious sandwich!

Cheese and veggie sandwich

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Serves	4
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	5 minutes
Total time	25 minutes
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Bread, Lunch
Website	Sargento

Ingredients

• 8 slices multigran bread
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 4 slices cheese
• 1 large avocado (thinly sliced)
• 1 tomato (thinly sliced)
• 1 small red onion (thinly sliced)
• 2 some chives (chopped)

Directions

Light toast the bread if you want. Spread mayonnaise on each side of your sandwich. Layer cheese, avocado, tomato, onion and chives (or use alfalfa sprouts or garden cress) on four slices of toast and top with the remaining toast

Junglefrog Cooking disclosure: This post was sponsored by Sargento. Though I have been compensated to write this post, all opinions expressed are my own.

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Hete bliksem

I suspect with a title like this one there might be a bit more spam then the usual amount..lol.. But I couldn’t resist the literal translation for this typical Dutch dish.

When I was asked by Ben from What’s Cooking if I wanted to do a guestpost in his worldseries I was flattered. I love Ben’s blog and have been following it faithfully for years now. His Mexican dishes are fantastic and you should really check out his blog. He lives in Mexico so you can be sure those are authentic Mexican too. On top of that he is also a really nice guy… Ben has an awesome series of guestposts by bloggers around the world. He has done a series before and is now bringing it back. And I’m one of the lucky people that gets to play a small part here!

So the idea was to write something about a typical Dutch dish. So that got me thinking, what is a typical Dutch dish? Our national ‘cuisine‘ doesn’t have a lot of highlights. The first thing that springs to mind is that we have lots of different mash-dishes (called stamppot) as our national kitchen, but then again those are terrible to photograph, so did I really want to go there? Plus most of them are typical winterdishes and in this part of the world it is spring so not the dish I was looking forward too. What is it with the Dutch and stamppot anyway? Why do we mash everything together..? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love stamppot and in winter we eat it at least once a week. We have several different varieties, but most commonly the potatoes are mashed with some kind of vegetable; endive, curly kale, brussels sprouts, carrots (in which case it is called Hutspot) and spinach, we like to add little bits of cruncy bacon to it and eat the lot with a smoked sausage (rookworst)

Apples, potatoes and cinnamon

I could make croquettes but then, they do exist in other parts of the world. And I was stuck with all these winter dishes in my head. Or I could attempt to make stroopwafels but having never done that, I had no idea where to start.

But then it hit me; I could make hete bliksem (hot lightning)! This is a dish I hadn’t made in at least 20 years. Not because I don’t like it, but because it goes together with a baked slice of cheese, something I couldn’t put Tom through as the cheese hater that he is. But he was going out for dinner with work so I could make this. It’s still a mash and therefore by it’s own nature wildly unattractive, but hey, it’s Dutch! So I apologize for the somewhat unappealing photos as I assure you that the content of the plate are in fact quite good.

Jacqueline, my friend, and I used to make this all the time when we were student nurses. Mostly because it was quick and tasted good and didn’t require extensive kitchen space (which we certainly did not have) It’s a pretty old fashioned dish, as it doesn’t get made a lot here anymore either. The core ingredients are apple and potatoes, in equal quantities which are then mashed together. There are a couple of varieties out there. Some with onions in it and other ingredients. But pair this with the caramelized apples and some crunchy bits of bacon and you’re gonna love it as it is the perfect combination of sweet and savory!

Now go on and check out the recipe on Ben’s blog What’s Cooking Mexico? You might be surprised at how tasty this little Dutch dish is!

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Cauliflower fennel gratin

When you talk to people about fennel, they are either in the pro or con camp. There doesn’t seem to be some sort of middle way when it comes to fennel. Granted the flavor of fennel is quite distinct. I love it in all it’s forms; seeds, fresh or dried (come to think of it, I can’t recall every using dried fennel but that’s beside the point…:)

When I first read the recipe for this Cauliflower gratin I was a bit surprised that it included fennel. I hadn’t tried that particular combination before and it’s not one that would naturally come to my mind. But reading through the rest of the dish I had to conclude that it was definitely on my want to try list.

And what can I say; it is totally delicious. There is a lot of mild cheddar cheese used in this dish which you can ofcourse substitute with another cheese, but I felt that it worked really well here. Plus I love the bright yellow of cheddar. It makes it looks already golden in our crappy oven (just a few more weeks before the new kitchen..! Whoohoo!) without too much hassle.

Lovely and golden yellow

We added a layer at the bottom of boiled potatoes and had this with a chicken leg. I will definitely be making this again too and then want to incorporate some minced meat and potato puree. The fennel here is not too overpowering so if you’re new to fennel eating.. you might want to give this dish a try. I substituted the original heavy cream for a lighter version as with all that cheese it was a bit on the heavy side for someone who’s trying to loose weight. Although by watching portion size I think I still stayed within the limits.

Cauliflower fennel gratin

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Serves	6
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	50 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 5 minutes
Meal type	Main Dish, Side Dish
Misc	Serve Hot
Website	Sargento

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (the original recipe stated 2 teaspoon but I used tablespoons and quite liked it..:))
• 1 small fennel bulk (thinly sliced)
• 1 head cauliflower (cut into florets)
• 1/2 cup cooking cream light
• 1 cup cheddar (grated)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 2/3 cups fresh breadcrumbs (I used sourdough bread to make these)
• 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium low heat; add garlic and fennel. Saute until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

In a pot of boiliing water, blanch the cauliflower until tender. Add to fennel and garlic mixture. Cook an additional 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat; add cream and 1/2 cup of cheese and toss together. Season with thyme and salt and pepper where needed.

Pour into a lightly sprayed baking dish. Stir breadcrumbs and parsley together and sprinkle over cauliflower mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and brown

Junglefrog Cooking disclosure: This post was sponsored by Sargento. Though I have been compensated to write this post, all opinions expressed are my own.

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Baked penne dish

Did you know that the Dutch are known as ‘cheese heads’ (kaaskoppen)? I’m quite sure it is not a term a Dutch person would use for themselves but it is an internationally known term. I wasn’t entirely sure how we got to be called that, other then the fact that we sure do eat cheese a lot.

As it turns out, our friendly neighbors the Belgians, came up with that name in the period of the “Belgische Opstand” (1830-1939) when they no longer wanted to belong to the Netherlands and were calling us names. You guess what one of those names was; ‘kaaskop’. The thinking was that the round cheeses produces looked a bit like a head.

Gooey goodness

In fact when going a bit further into detail there appear to be several stories about the origin of the word but in general it is definitely something the Belgian’s call us..:) And that’s fine; there is quite some name calling involved in the relation between Belgians and the Dutch! Lol…

Now having said that; I LOVE cheese. Seriously. Any cheese really but I have a strong preference for Italian cheese, French cheeses and strong cheeses. But then I also love Old Amsterdam (strong old Dutch cheese, which is delicious!) or well, like I said all cheese.

So when I was approached by Sargento to feature one of their recipes on my blog I did not have to think long and hard. I mean… it’s cheese! When browsing through the collection of seriously yummy recipes on their site I kept going back to the one featured on the front page, which was an oven dish with baked penne and eggplant featuring some lovely mozzarella cheese. I used minced veal in this dish but the original is vegetarian so check it out here if you’re more a veggie person!

Baked penne

My father in law was coming for dinner last night so this is a good dish to serve if you have an informal dinner party. You can prepare the dish upfront and just pop it in the oven half an hour before you’re ready to eat. Tom thought it was a tiny bit on the cheesy side, but then he is not a big fan of cheese (weird man, that man of mine!!) but he did find the flavors here lovely, so this will definitely be made over and over again.

Baked Penne with eggplant, tomatoes and cheese

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Serves	4
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	1 hours, 5 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 15 minutes
Meal type	Main Dish
Misc	Serve Hot
Region	Italian
Website	Adapted from Sargento

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
• 4 tablespoons fresh oregano (chopped)
• 3 pieces tomatoes (chopped into cubes)
• 3 sprigs thyme (leaves only)
• 1 shalot (finely minced)
• 350g minced vealmeat
• 400g penne (or other type of pasta)
• 1 courgette (chopped in cubes)
• 150ml tomato sauce
• 200g mozzarella (chopped or grated)
• 100g old cheese (grated)
• 1 eggplant (cut into cubes)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 C. (350 F) Brush a large enough baking dish with 1 tbsp of olive oil.

In a heavy skillet first brown the vealmince first until cooked. Bake the eggplant separately until cooked and set aside. Add the chopped onions to the veal, with the garlic and zucchini and bake until cooked. Add the eggplant back in and add the chopped tomatoes. Leave cooking until the tomatoes have lost most of their liquid at which point you add the tomato sauce in. I use a sofrito tomato base for this.

Mix in chopped oregano and thyme and season the dish to your liking with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Cook your penne pasta in 11-12 minutes until al dente. Drain, rinse and add a little olive oil to the pasta to prevent it from sticking. Add the pasta in your vegetable mixture and fold in 2/3 of the grated cheese. Transfer to the baking dish. Put the mozzarella on top of the dish and finish with the remaining grated cheese. Bake this dish for 25-30 minutes in the oven. If it becomes to brown then you can cover it with aluminium foil.

Junglefrog Cooking disclosure: This post was sponsored by Sargento. Though I have been compensated to write this post, all opinions expressed are my own.

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Sesame pumpkin skewers

I guess for most part it is my own fault that people expect food if they visit us. And I do not mean the regular bowl of peanuts or olives, noooo, they expect me to have made something new and something exciting! My dad is one of the worst as I have told you before but now Tom’s friends are equally spoiled. Or maybe not even his friends but more Tom… Twice a month he is having a bunch of friends over to play D&D (Dungeons and Dragons). Once on a sunday afternoon and once on a Saturday evening. The Sunday starts lazy, with breakfast in bed and coffee and then some more coffee.

Yummy bites

So this morning – while reading my new cookbook from Bea La Tartine Gourmand – Tom looks at me, looks at the cookbook; ‘So what are you gonna be baking today?” I give him a quizzical look. “Baking? Well, nothing really..”

“O but we’re having D&D this afternoon so maybe you should bake something for the guys?” I look at the clock, thinking; well, that’s all nice and all but by the time the baking is done and photographed it will be beer time, so that doesn’t really make sense. “I can maybe make some savory bites?” I suggest, knowing he’s gonna go and jump right in. Which he does…So then I have to think of what to make for a couple of hungry guys that is not too fancy (needs to be finger food after all) and will still be easy to eat while playing a board-game at a table.

Mini pizza's

In case you do not know what D&D is, let me enlighten you a little bit. While there are many versions out there, including once where people do a real life enactment of some sort (thank god, that is NOT what Tom does!) in essence it is a role playing game. Tom, as the Dungeon Master, comes up with a story and his friends are basically the characters that decide on the course of action at every point in the time. For instance, they walk into a cave and they encounter a dragon (yes, that is all very normal..) Each character has certain abilities, either healing or magic or whatever and based on the points they have gained they can get stronger or weaker (or die). Now if they encounter the dragon they can decide to fight in which case dice are thrown to decide how it’s going.Obviously that is the game from my perspective and I’m sure there are people out there who know much more about it then me.. so forgive me if I’ve got it wrong!

Tom has been playing the game ever since he was 14 years old, so for all the twenty years that we’ve been together the guys (the groups have changed a bit over the years!) have come over twice a month. A quick calculation tells us that they have been here for roughly 480 times playing D&D. Lol… I’ve never played it, except the one time when we hadn’t been together that long and Tom felt he needed to explain what on earth he was doing up in the attic. I just think it’s an entirely silly game but hey, he likes it, so all fine by me!

So D&D finger-food it is then… I searched and found a couple of really delicious recipes which I will share with you below. My favorite was the naan-goatcheese combo with the lime and chili jam. You could use fig jam or maybe ginger-jam would be nice too, but I LOVED the chili jam. Gave it a real kick!

Sesame pumpkin skewers

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Serves	6
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	35 minutes
Meal type	Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable
Website	BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 piece butternut squash
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Clean the butternut squash (take of skin, remove insides) and cut them in cubes of about 2 x 3 cm. Prepare the sauce by putting the soy sauce, honey and sesame oil in a bowl. Put all the butternut squash in the same bowl and cover them with the soy mixture.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and arrange the butternut squash on the paper. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and put in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the squash is to your liking. It should be edible but not too soft. You can put them on a skewer if you want or serve as is.

Naan bites with goatcheese and chili jam

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Serves	12
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	5 minutes
Total time	15 minutes
Meal type	Snack
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Website	BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 100g soft goatcheese
• 2 tablespoons chives
• 2 tablespoons lime and chili jam
• 2 pieces naan bread (either home made or storebought)

Directions

In a small bowl combine the goatcheese with some of the finely chopped chives and mash them together. Taste and add seasoning if needed, but goatcheese generally doesn't need anything extra.

Bake or prepare your naan according to instructions. Cut out small rounds with a cutter. Make them max 5 cm in diameter. these are supposed to be one bite snacks, so too big is not gonna be good. Add a teaspoon of goatcheese on each naanround and top with a small dollop of jam. Sprinkle some chives on top

Very fast minipizza’s

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Serves	24
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	10 minutes
Total time	20 minutes
Meal type	Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Hot

Ingredients

• 1 packet tortilla's or other flat bread
• 5 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 100g grated cheese
• 100g chorizo

Optional

• 1 bunch spring onion (to decorate)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut out little rounds with a cutter from your tortilla or flatbread and lay them in a baking tray on baking paper. Build up your mini pizza by putting the sauce on the bottom, add little chorizo chunks and grated cheese. Pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and serve immediately.

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