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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Delicious with Indian spices; courgette with chickpea salsa

If ever there is a season which lends itself particularly well to Indian flavors then to me that would be autumn. I love the spices used in the Indian kitchen, I love the hot curries (well, not too hot!), the garam masala mixes and I don’t think I’ve ever tasted an Indian dish that I did not like. It has such a high level of comfort food! Granted, there is still a lot to be discovered in that area by me,  but I’m trying. One thing that strikes me about the Indian flavors that it is fairly difficult to recreate the same at home. I’ve tasted many gorgeous Indian dishes but when I tried to make it at home, it was not at all the same. This delicious chickpea dish is a recipe by Anjum Anand. And this home version is so worth it!

pistachio and coriander

During our foodblogger connect in London she showed us a recipe of her new book (yet to come out) and I fell in love with the recipe immediately. Anjum was kind enough to share the recipe with us on her facebook page so that we could attempt to make it at home. From previous experiences I have learned (the hard way) that one of THE most important things in Indian cuisine is to use fresh spices. It will definitely make or break your dish, so be sure to use fresh cumin seeds in this recipe. The recipe has quite a few ingredients but it is actually very simple. The biggest amount of work is the grilling of the courgette. I think I could have sliced it a little better (thinner) but it was still delicious.

Don’t leave out the pistachio dressing as that is a big flavor component in this dish and will make it extra delicious. Now the big news is… it contains feta and I had Tom taste a bite and he actually liked it!! Now that’s a first when it comes to cheese, so I’m quite pleased with that. Maybe – just maybe – he’s getting used to cheesy flavors a bit more.

Griddled courgette carpaccio with chickpea salsa

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Serves	4
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	15 minutes
Total time	30 minutes
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish
Region	Indian
By author	Anjum Anand

Ingredients

• 5 courgette (large ones, you can use a mix of green and yellow)
• fresh coriander
• salt (to taste)

Pistachio dressing

• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic (small one, peeled)
• 15 pieces pistachio nuts (skinned if possible)
• 2,5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• good pinchsugar
• 2 teaspoons water

Chickpea salsa

• 300g chickpeas (1 can, well rinsed and drained)
• 100g feta
• 1/2 red onion (finely chopped)
• 1 large handful fresh coriander (leaves and roots)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoons cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds (dry-roasted and powdered)
• 1 tomato (medium large, finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Heat the griddle pan until quite hot. Slice the courgettes on the diagonal into thin slices, no more than 1/2cm thick. Place on the griddle in a single layer and cook, undisturbed for 2-3 minutes or until the base has well-charred lines. Turn over and repeat on the other side. Repeat with the remaining courgettes.

As you stand over the griddle, prepare and stir together all the ingredients for the salsa. Taste, add salt to taste and set aside.

Blend together all the ingredients for the dressing until smooth, I use a good stick blender but a good pestle and mortar will also work. Adjust seasoning and keep aside.

To assemble, place the courgettes on plates, slightly overlapping at the edges. You can do this in lines or in a circular fashion. Drizzle over the dressing to mirror the pattern. Mound the salsa onto the middle of the plate or scatter across, as you prefer and serve.

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Only a few more days before I’m off to London for Foodblogger Connect and I’m not sure if it is me, but what is all that chaos in London right now… ?? I mean seriously; first I was supposed to go to Japan and we all know what happened there, then I was supposed to have a wedding in Italy and that got cancelled due to whatever reason and now I’m gonna go to London and all hell breaks loose there too… Am I jinxed or what? I hope everyone I know in London is allright, because by the looks of the news this evening it’s been pretty bad in certain neighborhoods. What is wrong with the world? Seriously… I get depressed looking at the news these days. If it’s not one natural disaster after the other, then it’s crashing economics or people killing eachother… Not good. Not good at all. I find that it disturbs me more lately. Up to the point where I seriously start to wonder what will become of the world. Will we all be blown away by some major crashing natural disaster or will we “simply” ruin ourselves by war, viruses or the like? I’m normally a fairly optimistic person but it starts to become hard to see the light of day with all that is going on at the moment.

In light of all of the above my quest to loose weight is a simple one, but still one that can occupy my thoughts for a large part of the day. Well, let’s face it; my thoughts are already occupied with food for a big part and now there is just the added complexity of making good dishes a little leaner. One case in point was my lunch of today. I came home after working in the studio and felt like cooking something simple and quick. I had no idea what to make so I just went to the store and then saw one of their recipe cards with a recipe for gnocchi with bacon and garden peas. I liked the look of it and figured I could make that dish but then in a leaner version. And so I did! And it was delicious!

The original version had bacon, creme fraiche and a lot more cheese but my version made me feel better… I’m normally not a big fan of store bought gnocchi and I’m still not but whipping up freshly made gnocchi for this afternoons lunch felt like a little bit too much hard work, so I did opt for the store bought and with all the other ingredients added it was good. But I’m sure will be much better if you do decide to make your own gnocchi. And why not go for it?

O and I have to tell you too that I had THE best salmon hamburger tonight for dinner too!! I didn’t take any photos but I will definitely be making this again and share! Soooo good!

Gnocchi with garden peas

5.0 from 2 reviews

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Recipe type: Lunch or light main

Author: Simone van den Berg

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 1

Light and fresh dish that is literally done within 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 75 gr garden peas, frozen (or fresh if they are to be found)
• 150 gr gnocchi con patate (freshly made or storebought)
• 1 tbsp creme fraiche light
• 50 gr ham, cut into thin slices
• 25 gr rocket
• 1 sjalot, sliced
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• parmesan cheese for grating over the top

Instructions

1. Put your water with salt on to boil the gnocchi. Pay attention that they only need about 2 minutes to cook so do this at the end.
2. Heat the olive oil in a small pan and fry your onions until soft and golden. Add your ham and fry till they become a little crispy. Turn the heat down a bit and add your frozen garden peas and let it simmer slowly for about 5-6 minutes until your peas are soft and tender.
3. Cook your gnocchi at the same time.
4. Add 1 tbsp of creme fraiche to the peas and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Once the gnocchi are cooked, drain and add them to your pea mixture. Plate up and finish with some rocket and some freshly grated Parmesan on top.

1.2.4

And who is here trying to dip her nose in and stealing a little bit of that ham??

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Chicken curry with rice and beans

I know there are quite a lot of posts already on the site, but those have all been transferred from the ‘old’ blog, sooo.. this is the first official post from the brand new blog, which is still in the process of building. It’s the first time I am actually using specific software on my own domain and to be honest, I was very pleased with myself that I got everything to work yesterday! I am behind a computer a lot, so I do know something about it, but editing php or setting up database in MySQL stuff is not something I do on a regular basis, but thanks to the extensive manual from wordpress I managed! So now it’s still a lot of tweaking and customization of the site. Changing fonts (what do you think of the font?) and changing things around etc…

The above photo is another one that I did for the catering company this week; chickenfillet with green beans, curry and rice. It was a really hard dish to photograph and this was the angle that worked best. Still not my favorite of the day (those are the spareribs) but ok. The catering company is happy with it, which is the most important!

Back to editing the site now…:)

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Spareribs

One of my very first customers was a small catering company called het Komfoortje. We met at the opening of my previous studio in Hilversum two years ago as he was supplying the snacks for the opening. We got to talk and decided that we would exchange services rather then money. He provided the food and in return I took a lot of photos of his snacks. That was two years ago and it’s a challenge right now in the catering business. People are spending less money as they do everywhere so they want to try and attract more customers.
The idea is to have more people buy regular meals, so that is what we had to photograph this time. The meals where really not the easiest meals to photograph. With the spareribs above actually being the easiest of the lot, or maybe just my favorite. I can say they were incredibly tasty…:)

I was a bit anxious especially about the Endive above as that is really a tricky dish to make it look appetizing. I hope I succeeded but any comments are – ofcourse – welcome. We did 6 dishes all together, so quite

a lot as well for one evening.
It was a lot of fun as apart from the owner, two of his (older) friends where there as well, one of them who is a chef himself and the other who was just there to eat the food, I think..:) But they gave useful tips and four people do see more then one, so apart from being entertaining, they were also quite useful.

Any comments are welcome; we chose specifically one plate and one background to be a bit consistent, given the fact that the dished will be put together on the side of a car, so people have an instant visual when they see the car pass by. The owner did most of the styling with the help of myself and the critical eye of his two friends. Not the best in terms of styling but remember they are not supposed to look fancy. It has to say ‘regular meal’. Being too fancy in this case would not be possible, since the people are expecting to get what they see on the photo (minus the plate obviously), so we kept it fairly simple.
In addition to this, we did three more dishes; maybe I will post those tomorrow.

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