Eastbourne

When you don't mind the elderly Eastbourne is a lovely place to spend a day. After a couple of hectic days in London at a wedding we have one spare day before travelling back to Amsterdam and decide to spend it near the South Coast of the UK. Inittially the plan was to stay in Brighton, but since it's the first of May it's very hard to find an affordable place to sleep at the last moment.We end up at the Best Western hotel that's more like a retirement home, which is kind of an experience on it's own, travelling back in time. The girls shake up the breakfast room the next morning, but all the grey heads are woken up afterwards.

Eastbournes Pier gives the same experience: back in time, but so nice. We've had a full English breakfast, but some day I will definately be back for a high tea on Eastbournes Pier! Or a fresh fish from the Friendly Fisherman at the end of the Pier.

Lamb chops on the BBQ

After a huge Easter brunch we hardly need to eat anything the rest of the day, but there are some lovely lamb chops (from De Krat) in the fridge. So the BBQ is lit again for a simple Easter dinner.

I marinated the lamb chops in some olive oil and fresh thyme with sea salt and black pepper for half an hour. Grill them for about 8 minutes, while putting some left over baguette next to it.

Dress some lettuce with red wine vinegar and olive oil. Other left over ingredients on top, in our case halved cherry tomatoes, roasted pine nuts, sliced spring onions and some fresh cut mint.

One of the things I really love about having a (tiny) garden in Amsterdam: Being able to BBQ!

Easter Eve BBQ

Although the weather wasn't very helpful these last couple of days we decided to have an Easter Eve BBQ, if only because our weekly organic box 'De Krat' was so full off lovely ingredient screaming to invite some guests. Only ingredients we had to add for a 6 person BBQ with salads and bread were some steaks, 1 avocado, pinenuts and some fresh basil and thyme. Alright, and some merquez sausages.

Salad 1: Grilled Veg Salad
Slice 1 Courgette and 1 yellow Pepper, brush the slices with olive oil and grill for a couple of minutes on each side. Mix it up with a chopped peace of Garlic, chopped Basil, a squeeze of Lime juice and some salt and pepper. Put aside. Fry some Pine nuts, cut some Cherry Tomatoes in half. Mix up 1 tbsp Red WineVinegar with 3 tbsp Olive Oil for the vinaigrette. Dress 3 hands full of fresh Spinach with the vinaigrette and put all the other ingredients on top. Finish of with some salt, pepper  and fresh Basil

Salad 2: Sunny Salad
This salad was solely based on the fact De Krat brought me pansies to use in the kitchen, so we had to make them into salad that added a little sunshine to our Easter Eve BBQ. All you need to do for this salad is slice and mix and its ready.
Cut and wash (a) Green Lettuce, slice an Avocado, cut Cherry Tomatoes in half, slice up half a Yellow Pepper. Slice a Leek  into thin rings, put in a bowl and pour some boiling water over, put aside. Make a dressing of 1 tbsp (Fennel) Vinegar, 3 tbsp Olive oil, 1 tsp (Spring) Mustard, 1 tsp  Honey and s+p. Dress the lettuce and put on a plate. Drain the leek and put on top, together with the other ingredients. Finish of with the Pansies, some Fresh Herbs (I used fresh Mint and Perilla) and maybe some Pine Nuts.

For the rest we needed some meat and bread. Where else to get your steaks than from butchery Louman who truly sell the best steaks you can get in Amsterdam. Their Merquez Merquez sausages are also not to sneeze at by the way. Bread of course from De Krat, who brought us some nice Walnut bread from Menno this week. And also got some brown Baguette at the Vlaams Broodhuys.

 

Despite the low temperature it was a very successful Easter Eve BBQ with thanks to De Krat en butchery Louman! 

Spicy Oriental Soup

Fry 1 chopped clove of Garlic and a chopped up cm of fresh ginger in a bit of sunflower oil. Add 1 small sliced leek, a small sip of stock and fry for a couple of minutes till the leek has softened. Add 1 grinded chili pepper and the rest of 500 ml of vegetable stock. Softly boil while preparing the other ingredients.

Whisk 1 egg with some pepper and bake a thin omelet of it in some oil. Roll the omelet and slice it up. Fry 50 gr of shrimp in the left over oil of the omelet.

Put ½ a sliced bok choy in with the broth, season with a dash of fish sauce and bring to a boiling point. Put the omelet, shrimp, a chopped spring onion and a bit of chopped parsley in a bowl and pour over the soup. Ready is your one person spicy soup

Hotchpotch with Chinese cabbage

And Hotchpotch time it is! Two times in a row on the menu and again one outside my hotchpotch comfort zone: Chinese cabbage and mushrooms. It actually is made almost the same as yesterday, with 500 gr of potatoes, 15 gr of butter, 50 ml of vegetable stock and a big dash of olive oil. 

Fry ½ chopped shallot in 1 tbsp. of olive oil, add 1 chopped clove of garlic after a minute or 2. Also add 1 tsp. of dried coriander, a pinch of nutmeg and ½ tsp. of cumin, fry for another 2 minutes before adding 1 small Chinese cabbage cut into small strips. Fry for five minutes and put aside.

Fry the other ½ shallot in 10 gr butter, add 250 gr of sliced mushrooms as soon as they soften. Fry for about 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

Stir the cabbage through the mash; put the mushrooms on top and maybe some fresh herbs like basil or parsley.

Hotchpotch with Brussels Sprouts and Lime

Since the stormy weather has started and the holidays are over, the craving for real winter food has begun. I tend to stick to the regular, mainstream Dutch hotchpotches (Kale, Sauerkraut, Endive or Carrots and Onions), but today there’s a whole lot of Brussels sprouts lying in the backyard. 

Although I do not hate eating them as much as I did when I was a child they still are my least favorite vegetable. Up until now I didn’t have a recipe that made me want to take a second bite. This really is the best recipe for them I ever found. The mash tempers the bitter taste they have and the lime even makes them taste kind of fresh.

Cook 250 gr of Brussels sprouts for about 10 minutes and cut them into quarters. Cook 500 gr of potatoes, drain them but save the boiling water. Mash the potatoes with 15 gr of butter, 50 ml of vegetable stock and a big dash of olive oil. When it is to dry you can moist it a bit more by adding a bit of the left over boiling water. Stir in the zest and juice of ½ a lime and add the Brussels sprouts. Season with salt and pepper. Add a couple of sausages and you’re good to go.