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!

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.

Salad with figs and Parma

What you need for the salad: 

Bunch of Mint

Bunch of Watercress

2 spoons of Hazelnuts

6 dried figs

150 gr of Parma Ham

1 apple into cubes

Dressing: 100 yoghurt, juice + zest of 1 lime, 1 bag of vanilla sugar, peper&salt, mix everything then slowly stir 3 spoons of hazelnut oil through

How to make it:

Mix all the ingredients together and poor over the dressing: bon apetit

Stew with Parsnip and Jerusalem Artichoke

Again a night of Cooking from De Krat. Tonight I'm using some ingredients for the very first time, one of the reasons why I have De Krat in the first place. Tonight I'm using: Venison, Parsnip, Jerusalem Artichoke, Chicory, Mushrooms and Apples.

The Stew:

Fry 40 gramsbacon in 1 tsp. olive oil, add 1 chopped shallot, 1 chopped clove of garlic and a tbsp. of thyme leaves, bake for about 5 min until it's soft. Fry 400 grams of stewing steak in pieces of 5 cm until its brown in a Casserole in 25 grams butter, than add the onion mixture. Turn the heat high and add 50 ml red wine vinegar, let it boil for a couple of minutes. Add 350 ml red wine and let this boil for a while. Add 3/4 of 350 ml boiling stock to the pan, together with the 1 Bay Leaf and 2 Cloves of garlic. Let it softly boil for 1 hour, stir every now and then and add some stock if necessary. Than add 1 tbsp. Dessert Wine and 100 grams Mushrooms and cook for another 15 minutes. Season with some salt and pepper if necessary.

Side Dishes: 

Jerusalem Artichoke Puree - Peel 500 gr of Jerusalem artichokes, boil them for about 25 minutes (keep some of the water apart). Mash together with a tsp. of mustard and a tbsp. of creme fraiche, salt&pepper and some fresh thyme. If Necessary add some of the boiling water to make it smoother.

Parsnip - Peel 500 grams of parsnip, cut them in pieces of about 5 cm long and put them in water with lemon. Cook for about 15 minutes, drain, add a knob of butter, salt and pepper.

Chicory Salad - Peel and chop 1 apple. Mix it with 1 tbsp. mayonnaise, 1 tsp. of mustard, 1 tbsp. olive oil and some lime juice, salt&pepper. Put in a couple of sliced pickled onions and 2 stumps of chopped chicory.

Chicken from the oven

Preheat the oven at 180C. One of my favorite, very simple, chicken recipes. Just put 2 chicken legs in a pan with some potatoes (not peeled, just cut in pieces), cherry tomatoes (cut in half), cloves of garlic (about 8) and a whole lot of fresh basil. Salt, pepper and olive oil on top:

Shove it in the oven for 1.5 hours. Stir the tomatoes every half hour and voila!

Very nice with some green bean salad and fresh bread

Veal’s Neck stew

This week we have special meat in DeKrat, which I’ve never cooked with before: Veal’s Neck. As the milk drinking capital of the world there is a lot of veal production in the Netherlands. Strangely enough veal isn’t a kind of meat that is on the daily menu of the Dutchies and thus 95% of all veal is exported to our neighboring countries.

Veal’s Neck stew

Dinner for 2

400 gr veal’s neck, in pieces of 4x4 cm

1 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. sunflower oil

2 shallots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

250 ml white wine

250 ml broth

2 bay leafs

½ lemon

6 twigs thyme

Preheat the oven at 180 C. Season the veal with salt and pepper and roll in the flour. Fry them in the oil until browned and set aside. Fry the shallots and garlic until softened, add the veal’s neck together with the wine, stock, bay leafs, lemon zest and thyme.  

Garlic chicken

This honestly is the very first time I have prepared a whole chicken! Shameful to admit I have been more of a chicken breast person. Until now!

This recipe is very simple, but also very tasteful! How? Like this:

Garlic chicken with mushrooms

Dinner for 3/4

The chicken

3 bulbs of garlic

Handful fresh thyme leaves

1 organic chicken (around 1.5 kilo’s)

1 tbsp. olive oil

100 gr mushrooms, halved

Meatball Spaghetti

A real classic. My husband loves this recipe very, very much and when I want to surprise him once in a while I can most definitely make him very happy with this recipe. It does take some serious time though: the longer the tomato sauce is cooked, the better it tastes. Rolling the meatballs also isn't a two minute job either.

What also is important with the tomatoe sauce - as I learned from Jamie Oliver - is to try not to bust the tomatoes in the cooking process, but to wait until the cooking is done. This way the sauce will be more sweet . Breaking the tomatos in an earlier stage tend to make the sauce a bit more souer.

Spaghetti with meatballs in a tomato sauce

Dinner for 4

For the tomato sauce:
1 clove of Garlic, chopped 
1 dries chili pepper, chopped
1 tsp. oregano
2 cans of peeled tomatoes
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
a hand of fresh basil, chopped