cooking@thelake

Cooking and eating experiences at Lake Norman. var sc_project=11679688; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_security="8fdbef06"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://www."); document.write("");

[cookingatthelake]

It has been a while.... a lot of catching up to do the next months!

[cookingatthelake]

Bitterballen...is complicated

Not as easy as it seems to make and bake bitterballen. This typical Dutch fried ball is filled with a meat stew. I followed a recipe on Bitterballen.net (in dutch) and was a lot of work, but not that complicated. First you make a bouillon with beef. That is not hard, but just takes a couple of hours to cook. Take out the meat and the bouillon, to make the stew. Well problem nr. 1 was that my stew was to wet. So I thickened it up with flour and butter and some gelantine. I thought it was good, so I let it cool down in the fridge. The next day I made small pingpong sized balls and put breadcrumbs on. Ready to fry! So it turned out that the stew was still to wet, the crust was not thick enough, which resulted in balls with no filling, a lot of floating stew in the oil and no appetizers for diner. But I will try again soon! Learning curve for next time: dry stew, just 2 minutes to fry and 2 layers of breadcrumbs. But they looked really good!

[cookingatthelake]

Original Dutch “stampot with hachee”

First the weather here: rainy and cold (4˚ Celcius/40˚ Fahrenheit), and that calls for a winter meal! 

I made Stampot with Hachee today. First the Stampot: That is an easy one: You need Potato’s (about 2 pounds), carrots, cut up in small pieces (about 1,5 lbs) and unions, also cut up and about 1,5 lbs. Take a large pan, put the potatoes, unions and carrots in. Then add water until everything is covered in it. Add a bouillon tablet and let it boil for about 30 minutes. Then just add pepper and salt, mash (stamp) it all up and you are ready to go. To make it more creamy you can add a half cup of milk or butter while mashing.

Then the Hachee. I had about 2 lbs of Stew meet. I baked that in a pan, after seasoning it with salt and pepper. In another pan you will warm up a bit of butter and oil and put in 2 unions (chopped) and 3 garlic pieces (chopped). After simmering for 5 minutes, add the following: 1 can of diced tomatoes, a table spoon of ketchup, 1 cup of broth (warm), 1 glass of red wine, 2 table spoons of brown sugar, 2 table spoons of flower, 3 bay leaves, 5 cloves and pepper & salt. Leave this simmering for about 15 minutes and then add the slightly baked stew meat. Leave this simmering for about 4 hrs. It is served separate from each other, so you can create your own mix. Some apple sauce will do the finishing touch!

And that is it for today. Bon appetite! 

[cookingatthelake]

Something easy and healthy for the kids.

When you only have 15 minutes to prepare a health meal.

I always have in my fridge eggs, broccoli, cubed ham and cream. Just because I can make a quick and healthy meal with it. And I use the same ingredients for a quiche, so I can choose what I will make. For the quiche you also need cheese and puff pasty sheets. 

There is a lot going on at the same time, but that is why it is so fast! 

So this is what you do: cook the broccoli together with 3 eggs. They need about the same time to cook. And of course you need to cook pasta (spaghetti, penne, farfelle).  A little bit later you can add a stir pan stir for the diced ham. 

You could add a small chopped up union or leeks to get more taste, but my kids like it plain. Wenn the broccoli is ready, chop it up. You do the same with eggs, peel them and chop them up into little pieces. Add that to the stir fried diced ham and just add cream. Do not forget the pepper and salt!  

You can add the pasta to the sauce or serve it separate. My kids love it, with or without extra cheese on top. Quick and easy and healthy! 

[cookingatthelake]

Schnitzel!

It has been a while since my last blog, but I have been cooking all summer! I will try to post some of the things I made, but yesterday was the a perfect day to cook for the blog again. I made Schnitzel! 

First the meat: you need some thick boneless pork chops. I cut of the fat that was on the side. And then you just hammer it! With a meat hammer, make it about .25″ thick. It will be come flat. Then get 3 plates: one with flour, one with eggs (2-3) whipped with cream and one with bread crumbs. You can add some flavor by adding red paprika powder or any other herb to the bread crumbs. I used just pepper and salt. Get the flat pork and dip it into all the beds: flower, egg and bread crumbs. And then bake them in a pan with enough butter. Do not let the butter get to hot, then the bread crumbs will burn. Bake them for about 3-5 minutes. I had to do them 2 x 2 in a pan, because the were big! 

You can serve them with a mushroom cream sauce or with baked unions. Bon Appetit!

[cookingatthelake]

Strawberry Cheesecake, the dutch way | Aardbeien kwark/cheesecake taart

I have made this cake a couple of times over the last weeks and I think I have found the right mix of ingredients.  On the bottom there is Maria cookies. You can get these in the Mexican department at the grocery store. Take 200 grams of cookies and 200 grams of butter. Melt the butter and crumble the cookies really small. Mix them together and spread it at the bottom of you baking form. I use a square glass oven dish. Put it in the fridge.  Now I make the chees cake:

First get a half pound of strawberries and but them in the blender. Mix this with 200 grams of sugar in a cooking pan and heat it, do not boil it! Add (by whipped) gelatine (2 bags) and let this cool down. Then mix together 400 grams of cream cheese, 200 milligrams of whipped cream and  200 ml of yogurt. Put the yogurt in a cloth and let the water leak out. Mix all this together. Add the strawberry mix and put in on top of the cookie base in the oven dish. Put in in the fridge for at least 2 hours and it it ready!

[cookingatthelake]

Kruiden in de tuin |Herbs in the back yard

Ik heb een bloembak waarin ik mijn eigen kruiden kweek… Nou kweek, ik had zaadjes gekocht, maar dat duurt me toch echt te lang. Dus na een week nog geen plantje te bekennen, dan maar naar het tuincentrum. Daar heb ik vervolgens gehaald: Bascilicum (staat in de keuken), bieslook, tijm, rozemarijn en peterselie. Die gebruikt het het vaakst. En nu ren ik iedere ochtend naar buiten om ze water te geven, zodat ze mooi blijven. Om ze vervolgens, altijd in de haast, compleet onvoorbereid “af te schuren”… met een beetje water groeit het wel weer bij! Welke kruiden gebruiken jullie het vaakst?

I have a pot on my deck, to grow my own herbs. Perfect idea but after a week of looking and watering still no plants in sight. So I run to Ace and get the best full grown plants to put them in there: Basil, chives, thyme, rosemary and parsley. The are growing perfectly with a little water every morning. And wen I am cooking I run outside, always in a hurry, tear them of the plant without thinking which part to take. Ah, it will grow back with some love and water, hopefully! What herbs are you growing?

[cookingatthelake]

Tompoezen | Tomcats

Nou, dat klonk gezellig, tompoezen maken op Koningsdag. Dat doe ik wel even, hoe moeilijk kan het zijn, beetje deeg voor de bodem en een goede vulling. Glazuur erop en klaar. Niet dus.... De vulling is te dun, de koek is niet helemaal zoals het hoort en alles zakt in elkaar. Ik heb nog tot 27 april 2019 om te oefenen.

Well, it sounded “gezellig” to make orange cookies called Tompoezen on Kingsday. Piece of cake, so I thought. How hard an it be: you need cookies, filling and glace. Not... It all collapized putting it together. I have to practice, I have untlli Kingsday 2019. The boys loved it as chips.... and eat it all.

[cookingatthelake]

Poffertjes! I made them today for my sons presentation about the Netherlands. It is a bit of work, all those small pancakes. I took me about an hour to make about a 100 pieces and it took his class about 2 minutes to eat them all!

Poffertjes. Ik heb ze vandaag maakt voor Jaspers spreekbeurt over Nederland. Veel werk om 100 van die poffertjes om te draaien en ze zijn binnen 2 minuten allemaal op! 

[cookingatthelake]

Tip of the day: Always cook your pasta with a beef bouillon tablet

[cookingatthelake]

The Julia Child cookbook has arrived! Het Julia Child kookboek is aangekomen! More cooking to come!

[cookingatthelake]

Boeuf Bourguignon

Nou, het was heerlijk!! ‘s Ochtend om 9:00 stond ik al achter het fornuis, want de boeuf moet 4 uur in de oven. Het recept is prima te volgen en de ingrediënten zijn makkelijk. Dit is het recept dat ik gevolgd heb. | 

It was delicious! At 9:00 am I was behind the stove , because it has to simmer 4 hours. The recipe I used can be found at:   http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/boeuf-bourguignon-a-la-julia-child-148007

Nou heb ik hem iets langer in de oven laten staan, ongeveer 4,5 uur. En de uitjes en champignons heb ik als laatste gewoon toegevoegd. Van 18.00 uur (etenstijd) tot aan 23:00 uur (laatste hap uit de pan verdween) hebben we ervan gesmikkeld. 

I had it in the oven a bit longer, 4,5 hrs. En the unions and mushrooms I added later after it was ready. We enjoyed it from dinnertime until late at night, just snacking our way to the end of the Dutch Oven pan.

Vrijdag komt het kookboek van Julia Child. Ben benieuwd of daar nog lekkere dingen staan. Deze week heb ik tijdens een lunch een heerlijke risotto gegeten en dat wordt dan ook mijn volgende project: Risotto!

Friday my Julia Child book arrives, I am curious what is inside! But during lunch yesterday I had risotto, so that is going to be my next project! Risotto!

[cookingatthelake]

Net gekeken naar de film Julie & Julia met Meryl Streep. En dus deze week maken we boeuf bourguignon naar het recept van Julia Child! | Just watched Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep, so this week I will be making Julia Childs famous Bouef Bourguignon!

[cookingatthelake]

Some really good (not according to Sam, who does not like chocolate) chocolate in Asheville North Carolina at Kilwin's Chocolates Fudge and Ice Cream. www.kilwins.com

[cookingatthelake]

Appetizers for Easter Day 2

The second appetizer was a “kroket”. Typical dutch food, but I made it with a filling of shrimps. It is nog hard to make, it takes a little time. You need for the filling: shrimps (cooked and marinated in a little olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper. 2 small shallots, 125 grams of butter, 100 grams of white flour, 100 ml of white wine, 400 mill of fish fond. Melt the butter and put the shallots (cut small) in it. Bake for 2 minutes and and the flour. Stir for 3 minutes and then add the fish fond and white wine. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and then add the shrimp and and a little chives. We it looks like a ragout, put on a oven plate. Let it cool down in the fridge for 2 hours.

Then make small balls (size of a butterball) and roll them in flour, then egg whites and then breadcrumbs. I baked them in a wok in vegetable oil at 180˚ Celsius. 

[cookingatthelake]

Appetizers for Easter Day 1

Our first Easter in Mooresville. We got invited to a friends house (all 7 of us). My job was the appetizers and salades. I wanted to make something European, small and good taste. I choose scallops with avocado mousse / mango mouse. Pretty simple to make (even a day in advance):

Advocado mousse: 2 advogados, a little parmasan cheese and olive oil. Mix it until it is a creamy mousse.

Mango mousse: 1 mango, 2 egg yellows (cooked), mayonnaise and parsley. Mix it up until it is a cream mousse

Baking the scallops is quick with but love. Salt and pepper them lightly and bake them in a hot pan with real butter.  Make sure the butter is hot when you put them in. Bake for 1-2 minutes each side. You want them soft but done on the inside.

Present them on a small plate. The guests could make there choice of mousse.

[cookingatthelake]

A special pie

Today I made a “home made” pie. The bottom is made out of buttercake (if they call it that?), is a simple mix of 250 grams flour, 25 grams almondflour, 1 egg, 140 grams of butter and 50 grams of powder sugar. First mix the butter and sugar, then add the egg. Then mix the flour (both) in it. Make sure you mix it everything with a spatula. The white part is buttermilk cooked with sugar. Add gelatine and let it cool down in the fridge. You can add any kind of fruit on top.

Next time I will make a good picture of it....