The Mrs.

Simple Spice Cake

On some days there is a lot you should be doing, or want to be doing, like painting the window frames of your new studio, or playing hide and seek with the little ones, or ironing your laundry (that's a 'should' obviously) and clean your bathroom (and there's another one). But still, on days like that, one can feel a craving for something baked, something sweet, something home made. For those days, the following recipe is perfect. It's easy, quick and simple and anyone can whip this up in less than ten minutes (minus the baking time). And so, while nobody even noticed you were gone, while you cleaned your house like you should have, or better yet, played with your little ones or chatted with a friend on the phone, all of a sudden there is this sweet, spicey cake for all to enjoy. It's like magic. And it's yummy!

Simple Spice Cake

Ingredients:

• 300 gr. self raising flour
• 2 tablespoons of the following mixture of herbs: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, white pepper, ginger powder, cardamom.
• 2 beaten eggs
• 225 gr. dark or light brown caster sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 100 ml milk

Preheat the oven up to 150° Celcius. With a mixer beat the flour, herbs, eggs, sugar, salt and milk. Grease the inside of a bread* tin. Pour the batter into the tin until it's filled up to three quarters. Bake the cake in the oven for about 80 minutes. Get it out of the oven, let it cool of and cut it into slices.

Bon appetit!

*Again the pie/cake/tart/taart confusion. :-) What we call cake here, is different than the 'cakes' in English speaking countries. Our cakes look a lot like little breads.

Monday, August 09, 2010| 2 comments | Tags: Kitchen

Strawberry Season

One of the best things of the summer, I think, are strawberries. Fresh, sweet, juicy, red strawberries. Yummmm. The children love them too. We eat strawberries as much as we can. Mostly just the way they are. Fresh, cold, with fingers dripping from the juices, causing stains in our clothes that I never can get out again (not only the little ones' clothes. I am a notorious 'one stain maker'. Somehow I always find out afterwards that I created one single stain on a ridiculous spot. Chris seems to think it's rather hilarious. I myself feel kind of bewildered when I discover the latest crime scene, wondering how I was able to manage that while I really, really watched out this time. It's so weird).

Anyway, as you know Sarah requested a strawberry 'taart'  for her birthday. The different words for 'taart', namely pie, tart and cake in English, and their meanings caused some confusion. And there were several of you who asked for the strawberry pie recipe if I found one. I'm afraid that in the end I didn't make a 'pie'. but a 'cake'. But still I want to share the recipe with you, because really, this cake tasted just like it promised: Like a perfect summer day.

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients:

• 25 gr. cornstarch
• 100 gr. fine sugar
• 400 gr. strawberries
• 100 gr. butter (ice cold)
• 100 gr. flour
• 5 large eggs
• salt
• 0,25 litre cream
• 74 gr. Strawberry jam

Preheat the oven up to 170° Celcius. Seperate the egg yolks from the egg whites.

Add sugar to the yolks and whip until the mixture is soft yellow, thick and light. Sieve the flour with the cornstarch and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Place the ice cold butter on the flour and cut it with two knives in pieces as small as bread crumbs. Whip the egg whites until they are completely stiff. Add the egg yolk mixture to the flour mixture and gently scoop all of this through the egg whites. Spoon the batter into a round, greased oven plate and bake the cake in the middle of the preheated oven for about an hour, until it's golden brown. Let the cake cool off.

Rinse the strawberries and cut them in halves. Whip the cream with the jam until it's firm in a bowl. Cut the cake horizontally in two pieces. Cover the bottom piece with the strawberry cream and put the other half on top. Then cover the whole cake with the rest of the cream. Push the halved strawberries into the cream, until you have covered the whole cake. Garnish with fresh mint.

Bon Appetit! 

Wednesday, July 14, 2010| 2 comments | Tags: Kitchen

Chris' Apple Pie

Nope, it's not Sarah's birthday yet. That's tomorrow (and there is no way we can forget it). But because Sarah is expecting some early birthday visitors today and because this apple pie is even better the next day after it's baked, Chris already made his very own apple pie. He bakes it every birthday we celebrate and I almost couldn't believe I never blogged about it before. But I can't find it on this site, so I guess I didn't. Until today. Want to be able to taste this heavenly moist, sweet and sour at the same time, delicious apple pie? Then here's your chance to make it yourself:

Chris' Apple Pie

Ingredients:

• 350 gr. flour
• 140 gr. sugar
• 210 gr. butter (cold)
• 750 gr. apples
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• a little bit of salt

Sieve the flour and add 105 gr. sugar and a pinch of salt. Slice the butter in little pieces and add this, together with 3 tablespoons ice cold water, to the flour mixture. Knead until you have soft and supple dough. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap with kitchen foil and put into the refrigerator for about an hour.

Peel the apples and slice into pieces. Put the apple in a bowl, add the lemon juice, cinnamon and the rest of the sugar. Place into the refrigerator until needed.

Preheat the oven up to 175° Celcius.

Take 3/4 of the dough and roll it out until it's a round flat piece, about the shape of your pie tin. Cover the pie tin with the dough. Throw the apple mixture into the tin, on top of the dough. Use the rest of the dough to make strips and place them as a lattice top on the pie.

Bake the pie in the middle of your oven for about 75 minutes, until it's golden brown. Serve warm with whipped cream, or cold with powdered sugar on top. Either way it's finger-licking yummy. Bon appetit!

PS. Ofcourse we also have strawberries in our house, to make a strawberry pie tonight. Or a strawberry tart. Or a strawberry cake. I get kind of confused seeing all these different names. Can anyone explain the exact difference between them to me? Here in Holland we just use the word 'taart' for everything ;-)

Tuesday, July 06, 2010| 5 comments | Tags: Kitchen

Friday Food

I had a sewing post planned for today. I knew what I wanted to make, what pictures I was going to take, what I was going to tell you. But then the weather was so good, so warm, so luring us outside. And on top of that, Chris came home with a new barbecue. So no sewing did happen. Instead we spent a wonderful day outside, with the children and my parents. And ofcourse the new barbecue had to be tested. Chris grabbed a Jamie Oliver book and went for it (to be honest, he should be the one writing this post, because he did all of the cooking). He marinated, chopped and grilled and it was all delicious. And just in case you are getting in the mood for some barbecueing yourself, here are some of the recipes Chris used:

Best barbecued meat and homemade barbecue sauce

• 1 x 1.8kg free-range or organic chicken, spatchcocked (ask your butcher to do this for you) or
• 1 x 3kg leg of lamb, on the bone, slashed evenly 4cm deep or
• 2kg pork rib racks for the marinade
• 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp fennel seeds
• 5 cloves
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a bunch of fresh thyme or lemon thyme, leaves picked
• a bunch of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped, a few whole sprigs reserved
• the zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
• 4 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 150ml organic tomato ketchup
• 8 tbsp olive oil
• 10 bay leaves

Preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and light your barbecue about 40 minutes later.

To make your marinade, grind the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and cloves in a pestle and mortar with some salt and pepper. Chop the thyme and rosemary leaves, orange zest and garlic together finely. Put into a bowl with the ground spices, then add the rest of the marinade ingredients and mix together.

Rub your chosen meat all over with the marinade, really getting it into all the nooks and crannies and, in the case of the lamb, the slashes. Place the meat in a snug-fitting roasting tray, top with any leftover marinade and cover loosely with tinfoil. Bake the meat in the preheated oven until sweet and tender. This will take an hour and a half for the pork ribs and the lamb (but if you like your lamb pink, it will need only an hour), and an hour and 20 minutes for the spatchcocked chicken.

Now you're going to finish your meat on a medium hot barbecue. Place it carefully on the bars of the barbecue and sear it well on one side, then turn it over. While it's cooking, use your reserved rosemary sprigs to baste the meat with the sticky juices from the bottom of the roasting tray. Keep turning and brushing the meat until you've built up a lovely sticky, charred crust, then take it off the barbie and rest it on a serving dish for a few minutes. Meanwhile, pop your roasting tray on the barbie or over a gas hob and let the juices reduce a bit.

Cut the pork into individual ribs, carve the leg of lamb into slices or tear the chicken into pieces, and serve with a bowl of the lovely marinade juices from the roasting tray and some barbecued vegetables

Crispy barbecued side of salmon with cucumber yoghurt

• 1 x 1.5kg side of salmon, scaled and pinboned
• zest and juice of 1 lemon a bunch of fresh herby fennel tops or basil, leaves picked and finely chopped
• olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cucumber, peeled lengthwise at intervals
• 300ml natural yoghurt 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• a small bunch of fresh mint or oregano, leaves picked and chopped
• extra virgin olive oil

Place the salmon skin side down on a plastic board and, using a sharp knife, slash it evenly all over on the fleshy side, making the incisions about 1cm deep. Scatter the lemon zest and most of the chopped fennel tops or basil over the salmon, then push these flavourings into the incisions - don't hold back; really push them in! Rub the fish lightly all over with olive oil then season with salt and pepper, giving the skin side a generous amount as most of this will fall off.

When your barbie's ready, lay the salmon on the bars, skin side down. The flesh will start to colour from the bottom up and after about 4 minutes the skin should be beautifully golden brown. Carefully flip the salmon over with a roasting fork or a spatula and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes on the other side. While it's cooking, gently ease the skin away from the fish and put it on the barbie alongside to crisp up.

If your salmon is wild it will have slightly less fat in it, so will be a drier fish. You can therefore cook it for a shorter amount of time, even leaving it slightly undercooked - although this might feel unusual to us Brits, who nuke fish beyond belief, this is a really good idea! If it's (organically) farmed, cook it through, but please don't overcook it or it will become too dry. Lift the salmon carefully off the barbecue and place it on a nice serving platter or board. Allow to cool a little, then break the skin into pieces, a bit like poppadums.

Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, remove and discard the seeds, chop it up and mix it in a bowl with the yoghurt. Balance the flavours with the lemon juice, half the chopped chilli, and half the chopped mint or oregano. Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil. Season carefully to taste with salt and pepper.

Break the salmon up with a fork into four to six chunks. Serve with the cucumber yoghurt, sprinkled with the rest of the chopped chilli and the remaining fennel tops or basil. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and make sure everyone gets a piece of the crunchy fish skin.

Barbecue-steamed stuffed onion

Put a small red onion on a chopping board and cut it halfway down into four, without cutting all the way through. Push a few sprigs of rosemary and a knob of butter into the centre. Double-wrap in tinfoil and, when the barbecue has cooled down a little, place the packet directly on to the coals. Leave for 15 minutes, then carefully remove the foil and peel off the outer layer of onion, as it will probably be charred because of its sugar content. You'll have a perfectly good onion underneath, so tuck in!

Thank you Jamie, for these outstanding recipes.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. I hope you'll be able to spend it in some sunshine, sharing a laugh and a meal with the ones that are close to you. 

Friday, June 04, 2010| 4 comments | Tags: Kitchen, Living

It's My Birthday!

And to celebrate that I would have loved to share this wonderful lemon pie with all of you. But, since I think our computer wouldn't have liked it if I tried to stuff this pie through the cables, I'll instead share the recipe so you can make it yourself:

Lemon Pie

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 185 gr. flour
• 80 gr. ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon fine caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 160 gr. butter, in cubes

Lemon filling:

• 3 eggs
• 150 gr. fine caster sugar
• juice and lemon peel from 1 large, or 2 small lemons (too much lemon will make this pie very, very sourish, so be careful if you don't like that).
• 150 gr. melted butter
• icing sugar, to sprinkle on top

Let's bake:

Mix the flour, ground almonds, sugar and lemon peel for the dough. Add the butter and keep mixing until you see the dough crumbling. Then add one or two tablespoons ice water and keep kneading until you can form a dough ball. Wrap the dough in kitchen foil and put it into the fridge for about an hour.

Then you roll out the dough and push it into a flan form. Put it back into the fridge for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 190° Celcius. Put some baking paper and some blind baking filling (for example some dry beans, or rice) onto the dough and bake the pastry for 15 minutes. Then remove the paper and blind baking filling and continue baking the pastry for about 10 minutes, until it's golden and dry. Let it cool off and lower the oven temperature to 170° Celcius.

In the meantime, for the lemon filling, beat the eggs with the sugar, the lemon peel and half of the juice. Then add the melted butter and the rest of the juice and stir together.

Pour the lemon filling into the pastry and bake the pie for 40 minutes, until the filling is firm. Let it cool off and sprinkle with icing sugar just before serving.

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did today. Bon appetit! 

Tuesday, February 23, 2010| 15 comments | Tags: Kitchen