Category: favorite

Categories
Cod Dinners favorite

Provencale Cod with mozzarella

  • 3 cloves of garlic-diced
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 c thickly sliced mushrooms-thickly sliced
  • 1 onion -chopped
  • 520 g fresh cod
  • 125 g mozzarella
  • 690 g bottled tomato sauce (any flavor is fine)
  • 150 g spinach
  • salt and pepper

Put baking paper on a roasting tray. Cut bell peppers in half and remove stem and seeds. Cover the outside with oil and place them on the highest rack. Turn on the broiler. Cook them until the skin is black. Remove the skins and cut into slices or square chunks. (not to small) Set aside.

Cut the cod into thick chunks and cover with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Get a large pan. The whole meal will end up here so the bigger the better. Add oil and cook the garlic 2 min. Add the onion, mushrooms and the roasted red peppers. Cook 5 min.

Add the cubes of fish and the tomato sauce. Tear the spinach leaves into bite sized pieces and to the pan. Salt and pepper to taste. (**you can also add hot sauce if you like it spicy) Cook for 4 min with the lid on until the fish is cooked.

Chop or tear the mozzarella into pieces about 1 cm sq and add to the pot, replacing the lid until melted.

Categories
Dinners favorite Soups&Salads Vegetarian

Gado Gado

  • cabbage or iceberg lettuce
  • green beans
  • tofu and dusting of flour/oil for deep frying
  • bean sprouts
  • small waxy potatoes
  • cucumber
  • hard boiled eggs
  • fried onions (ready to use)
  • shrimp crackers (kroepoek)

peanut sauce

  • 10 cloves garlic
  • 300 g roasted peanuts
  • 1000 ml coconut milk
  • 10 red chilis
  • 1 tsp shrimp paste
  • 62 g coconut sugar
  • 2-3 tbsp rice flour and a little bit of water

sambal

  • 20 red bird eyes chilies boiled/steamed
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • salt

Peanut Sauce

  1. Process garlic, peanuts/peanut butter, a half part of coconut milk, red chilies, terasi, coconut sugar in a food processor or blender.
  2. In a sauce pot, combine processed mixture with the rest of coconut milk, stir and turn on the stove at low-medium heat. Stir occasionally.
  3. Cook sauce until boiled, the volume reduced and the sauce surface looks a bit oily. Add rice flour mixture. Keep stirring until bubbling about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Sambal

  1. Combine all ingredients and process in a food processor/blender or you can grind them with mortar and pestle.

Use one pot for everything and prepare in advance. First, put oil in the pan and heat well. Cut tofu into squares and dry. Roll in flour to be sure there is no moisture. Deep fry until golden. Set aside. Clean pot.

Fill with water and boil. Add small potatoes for 6 minutes (not too mushy) set aside. Empty pan. Put in eggs and cover with cold water with 2 inches. add salt to avoid cracking (or vinegar) Heat water to rolling boil. Turn off heat but keep the pan on the hot burner, cover and let sit for 12 minutes. Take out eggs and set aside. Add green beans and cook until soft. Set aside. If you would like, add chopped cabbage to hot water without turning on the burner. This only need about 15 seconds.

Assemble everything on the plate cover with peanut sauce. Sprinkle with fried onions.

Categories
Cod Dinners favorite

Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

  • Cod filets
  • oil for deep frying
  • panko bread crumbs
  • flour for dusting
  • 1 egg
  • red cabbage/iceberg lettuce shredded
  • avocado
  • mango salsa
  • mayonnaise
  • fresh limes
  • small flour tortillas

MANGO SALSA

  • ripe mango
  • bunch of cherry tomatoes
  • red onion
  • salt
  • sambal or preferred hot sauce

Make the salsa ahead of time because the longer it sits, the better it tastes. Skin and chop mango, dice red onion and tomatoes and put in a bowl. and place in a bowl. Add salt and sambal and mix well. Set aside.

Put oil in a pot just high enough to almost immerse the filets. Cut the filets into large pieces (two pieces per taco) and flour to dry them.

Whisk egg(s) in a bowl and dip floured fish in.

Use food processor to whisk the panko to a powder and put in a bowl. Dp the egged filets in panko and deep fry. Set on paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

Heat flour tortillas in a pan (no oil)

To build your taco: place a soft heated shell on the plate. Put some mayo on the bottom. Ad 2 pieces of fish, salsa and top with shredded cabbage.

Categories
Dinners favorite lunch Vegetarian

Torta Pasqualina

  • 600 g spinach
  • 1 onion
  • 500 g ricotta
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 100 g grated parmesan
  • 10 eggs
  • 1 pinch of marjoram leaves
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • Salt, pepper
  • Olive oil
  • 270 g fresh pastry (or see below for homemade pastry)

Preheat oven 180c

Cook the spinach in a pan with olive oil until wilted. Put in a colander and squeeze out as much water as you can. Set aside to cool.

Chop the onion and garlic and cook it with 2 table spoons of olive oil. Onion first 5 min and garlic 1 min. When it’s golden, chop the cooled spinach and add to the pan. Add the parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. and stir well.

In a large bowl, whisk 4 eggs and add the ricotta and the nutmeg. Add the spinach mixture and stir together.

*note: you can drain the ricotta beforehand as well if it is watery.

Separate 2.3 of the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out as thin as possible. I used a deep springform pan (you can use a deep pie tin). Butter it generously and line the inside and sides with the dough. You can rollout the sides separately and then re-attach inside the pan but I did it in one piece….carefully.

Make 5 dents in the top of the spinach mixture, like little nests, and break the raw eggs (5) one into each indentation. Roll out the remaining 1/3 dough into a circle (a bit larger than the pan, wet the top edge of the dough and then lay the circle over the top, attaching to the wet edge.

Whisk the final egg and add a bit of water. Paint over the top. Bake for 45 minutes. Watch it and if the top seems to be browning a bit too fast, place a sheet of aluminum foil to keep it from burning.

Cool for at least 10 minutes.

With the back of the spoon, make 6 small caves around the surface of the stuffing. Put the 6 eggs on these small holes.

Cover with the 2 remaining sheets of dough (between the 2 sheets spread some olive oil).
Close properly the cake with the dough.

To make the crust nicer to see, spread it with some olive oil.

Cook the torta pasqualina in the oven at 180°C for 1 hour.

FOR HOMEMADE CRUST:

  • 500 g flour
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 300 g water (almost)
  • a pinch of salt

Prepare the crust, properly mixing flour, water, salt and olive oil. Split the dough into 4. Make 4 thin sheets.

Categories
Appetizers favorite Vegetarian

Carrot Beignets

  • 250 g haloumi (sheep)
  • 4 large peeled and grated thick carrots
  • 5 chopped spring onions
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro or parsley
  • 1 tbsp roasted ground coriander seeds
  • 20g chickpea flour
  • 2 eggs lightly beaten
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • bunch of ruccola
  • 4 tbsp lemon sauce (see below)
  • pepper and salt

Grate 50g haloumi cheese roughly and stir together with grated carrots. slice the rest of the cheese and set aside. Mix in the rest (up to the oil) of the ingredients and add a bit of salt and pepper, Form into 12 balls and then press them into flat shapes. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes,

Put the oil in the pan and fry the beignets and the sliced haloumi (keep them warm in the oven as you fry them)

To serve, stack the beignets, add ruccola, then fried haloumi, ruccola etc. Finish with lemon sauce.

LEMON SAUCE

  • 1/2 clove garlic chopped fine
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp mustard
  • juice and small amount of grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 90 ml olive oil

Categories
Dinners favorite

Belgium Lof

Many people find Belgian endives too bitter and need to acquire a taste for them.  Belgian endives lose however some of their bitterness when braised, especially with a sprinkle of sugar.  Cutting off the bottom of the trunk of the Belgian endives will also reduce their bitterness.  Be sure though to cut off this end after braising the Belgian endives.  If you cut them off beforehand the leaves of the Belgian endives will fall apart.

  • 1 kilo Belgian endive either whole or cut in half lengthwise
  • 2 tbsp olive oil or a little less butter
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • black pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 dash nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar or white sugar
  • 60 ml water (start with a little water and add more if you need it).

Wash the Belgian endives. Remove outer leaves. Cut each Belgian endive in half lengthwise.

Pour the olive oil or the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the Belgian endives, salt and pepper. Saute about 5 minutes turning the Belgian endives over a couple times to get them brown.

Add the nutmeg, minced garlic and sugar. Continue to cook for another minute or so, turning them over once.

Add a little water and continue to cook over until the endives become tender (about 10 to 15 minutes more). Turn them over from time to time to get all sides sauteed but be gentle since endives have a tendency to fall apart (like onions) when cooked.

Mornay Sauce

A Mornay sauce is essentially a bechamel sauce with a combination of cheese melted in.  Some know the bechamel sauce by its less elegant name of white sauce.  Bechamel sauce definitely sounds better, even if it’s basically only milk, flour and butter with a little salt, pepper and nutmeg.  That’s it!

Traditionalists add an egg yolk to give it more creamy consistency (and reduce the amount of flour used). Yet I don’t think it’s necessary.  I also often use olive oil instead of butter to improve its health benefits and make it vegan if I’m going that way.

With a Mornay sauce, at the end you add a combination of grated cheese, usually made up of Gruyère, Emmental, and Parmesan, or any single cheese.  White cheddar or other cheeses can be used if you are feeling less conventional.  A Mornay sauce is a wonderful base for any Mac and Cheese dish!

Roux

  • 100 ml olive oil or equivalent in butter
  • 60 g all purpose flour (or non-gluten alternative)

Sauce

  • 1000 ml milk low fat (or other if you prefer) – See notes
  • 100 g cheese grated (Parmesan, Emmental and/or Gruyère)
  • 1 pinch nutmeg freshly grated or ground
  • white pepper or black pepper if you don’t care it’s not pure white
  • 2 dashes salt to taste
  • braised belgium endives
  • mornay sauce
  • 500 g smoked salmon
  • 30 gram grated cheese

Roux

  • Mix the olive oil and the flour together in a small bowl until you have a grainy paste. This paste is called a “roux” as it will help thicken a sauce as it cooks. Some people like it thicker than others and start with 1/1 olive oil to flour ratio. I use less flour here yet my sauce ends up thick enough, especially if you will add it to a dish that will bake further in the oven.
  • Put a sauce pot over a medium flame. Add the roux mixture into the heated pot and stir. Continue until it starts boiling (small bubbles) (2-3 minutes).

Sauce

  • Add cold milk (see notes) and whisk the ingredients together making sure it is smooth. Continue stirring from time to time until the milk begins to boil gently (small bubbles on the edges.
  • Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
  • Reduce heat to low flame and continue heating the mixture in the pot until you reach the thickness that you like. Remember it will thicken further when you add the cheese and even more if you use this sauce in a casserole that will cook more time in the oven.
  • Remove the pot from the stove. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted and the sauce is smooth.
  • Adjust seasoning and use.

Notes

With a Béchemel sauce or any sauce made from a Béchemel sauce, it is essential to start with cold ingredients (butter and milk) and only add the milk when the roux is hot (slightly boiling). The combination of hot-cold is required to get a smooth consistency. This sauce can be made vegan, gluten-free or more rich if you like.   If you use low fat or nonfat milk you might need to cook a little longer to get the thickness you like OR need to add a little more flour.  

Baked Lof

Put the braised Belgian endives in a colander over a bowl and let drain excess liquid. Keep the liquid for later step.

Use a spatula to remove some of the excess liquid from the Belgian endives (with the little bits remaining) and add it to the Mornay sauce. Mix. Watch not to put too much liquid inside or else the Mornay sauce might become too thin.

Spoon some Mornay sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish so that it is about 2/3 covered. Place each Belgian endive close beside the others. Continue in this way until all Belgian endives are used.

Spread some sauce on top of each layer of rolled Belgian endives. Sprinkle a little of the extra grated cheese on top of each layer and sprinkle with fried smoked salmon. Keep any extra sauce to serve with the mashed potatoes at the table.

Preheat oven to 200°C (375°F). Place the casserole dish(es) in top half of the oven. Cook about 40 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.

Serve the casserole of chicons au gratin with mashed potatoes and any remaining Mornay sauce.