Potato bread with sauerkraut, sausage & creme fraiche

Not only have I been remaking a lot of the dishes I posted here the past couple of months. But because of my pregnancy I've also had a shift from culinary inspired food, to the most basic, taste lacking dishes one could think of. I'll spare you the details....

Luckily though, now that I'm halfway it seems my inspiration is coming back to me, to recreate recipes that I come across. Like the one I found in Foodies, a Dutch cooking magazine. The original recipe uses chorizo. However, I'm using a typical Dutch sausage called rookworst, that is just a match made in heaven with the sauerkraut that is in this dish. And since it is still full on winter, there is no reason not to try this recipe!

For 8 slices you'll need
400g potatoes, peeled and grated
400g plain flour, some extra for dusting
7g dry yeast
salt and pepper
1 egg
1 rookworst (or use 150g chorizo)
3-4 spring onions
750g sauerkraut, drained
250ml creme fraiche
baking paper



Grate the peeled potatoes on a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out the liquid. Mix with the flour, salt and yeast and add the egg and a 100 ml of lukewarm water.
With a mixer and dough hooks mix the ingredients roughly. Tip the mixture on your work surface that you dusted with flour and use your hands to bring the dough together. If it's too dry add some more lukewarm water. Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a towel and leave to rest for 45 minutes in a warm place (for example on the radiator)

In the meantime slice the springvonions, sausage and leave the sauerkraut to drain in a sieve, pressing out the extra liquid. Cover a baking tray with some baking paper.

Now that the dough has risen take it out of the bowl, again on a floured workvsurface and work through it a couple more time. Add some more flour if the dough is too sticky. Roll the dough, on the baking tray, until it's about 1 cm thick and leave it to rise again for another 15 minutes. While it rises preheat the oven to 200C (hot air oven 175C). Mix the creme fraiche with some salt and pepper.



Cover the base of the bread with the creme fraiche (you will probably have some left, we will use it later, so don't throw it away). On top of that put the sauerkraut, the spring onions and the sausage. Put the baking tray in the oven and bake the bread for 45 minutes. If it starts to color too fast, cover with aluminum foil for the remaining 15 minutes.



Slice the bread and serve with some of the left over creme fraiche and a dollop of Dijon mustard. Enjoy!

Salmon & spinach fish pie

Winter foods don’t all have to be heavy dishes that fall into your stomach like a ton of bricks. There are lighter recipes, that still give you that warm and fuzzy feeling. And the best part of this one (that I've adapted from a recipe I found in one of Ainsley Harriots books) is that it’s super healthy (lots of Omega 3 and iron) and you can chose to either make it with fresh ingredients or use frozen ones. I used everything from the freezer, because the weather was just too awful to go outside and get fresh stuff.

Another big plus is that you can make it in advance and just pop it in the oven when you get home. While you kick back and relax, your super yummy dinner is getting ready to warm your body, mind & soul!

For 4 people you’ll need
4 pieces of salmon (with frozen salmon, thaw them before using)
600ml milk
Good pinch of dry dill
Pack of frozen leaf spinach (defrost and squeeze out the liquid)Don’t use any of that creamed spinach stuff. Not only is it yucky, but you’ll get your sauce later
40g flour
35g butter (some extra for greasing)
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard (or any other sharper mustard)
Mashed potato (again either use fresh or frozen, but have enough for 4 people)



To get things going
Warm the milk with the dill and place the salmon in the pan, completely covered by the milk. Poach the salmon until tender. This shouldn’t take any longer than a couple of minutes. You don’t want the fish too dry. Take the salmon out of the milk and leave to cool on a plate. After it has cooled flake the salmon into bite size pieces. Pass the milk through a sieve and keep the liquid for later use.

Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour, make sure to start stirring immediately. Cook the flour/butter mixture for a couple of minutes, stirring to keep it from burning. Slowly add some of the milk, while whisking to avoid lumps. Keep on doing so, a little milk at a time, to make your white sauce. Don’t panic if the sauce isn’t forming instantly. It will take until the last bit of milk to be silky smooth. Cook the sauce over a low heat for 5 minutes to thicken and reduce a bit. Season to taste with some black pepper, salt, maybe some more dill and a pinch of grounded nutmeg if you please.



To get the dish together get an ovenproof dish and grease with some butter. At the bottom put your thawed and squeezed spinach. Drizzle with some of the sauce (about 1/3) than add the flaked salmon and spoon the rest of the sauce over the fish. Finish the dish with a thick layer of mashed potatoes. Spread the top evenly and then fluff it with a fork to get a nice crunch while it’s in the oven.

Either you put it straight in a preheated oven at this point (30-35 minutes on 200C) or you leave it covered in the fridge for later us. In that case you warm it in the oven at the same temperature, for about the same time. Enjoy!

Hearty winter food - sauerkraut mash from the oven

When days are colder the need for hearty winter food grows for me. A typical winter dish we eat quite often in the Netherlands is a mash with sauerkraut. Now sauerkraut can be quite, ehrm, sauer. This dish however is a milder version. Especially nice for those of us that get reflux from cabbage like vegetables.

The use of sour cream softens the sauerkraut and gives it a nice and creamy taste and texture. Of course no sauerkraut dish is complete without the use of lardons and a big juicy 'rookworst'
You can make this dish in advance and finish it off in the oven on the night you want to eat it. Any left overs are even better the day after!

serves 4 more than generously
1,5 kg potatoes
milk & butter to make the mash
500g sauerkraut of your choice, I used wine sauerkraut
125ml sour cream
250g lardons
1 rookworst
breadcrumbs (from a pack is fine)
bit of butter

Peel and cut the potatoes and cook them for as long as they need to be soft enough to mash. With some milk and butter mash the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. While the potatoes are cooking heat the sauerkraut with the sour cream over a low heat until hot.

Fry the lardons, without using any extra oil!, in a large pan. When crisp drain the lardons on a sheet of kitchen paper. When all this is done preheat your oven to 200C

Now start combining the mash (save about 1/3 of the mash for later) with the sauerkraut. When combined add the lardons and mix again, until incorporated.

Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish and spread evenly. Add sliced pieces of rookworst and cover with the remaining mash. Cover with bread crumbs and add some bits of butter to get a nice crunch. Put the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes until everything is piping hot. The last 5 minutes turn on the grill to get a nice golden crust.

Serve with mustard and some pickles if you like and enjoy!!

Rocky Road, Christmas style

I'm a big Nigella Lawson fan. That's no secret. I love the way she talks about food, the food she makes, her books, her cooking shows. The works! Just this Monday I was watching Nigellas Christmas and I saw her making Rocky Road.

This type of chocolate bar is not really known in the Netherlands, but I was heavily intrigued by it. How much yummyness can you get into one piece of chocolate? A lot apparently. So as you can figure out yourself, no, it isn't the most health conscious recipe. But what the heck. It's that time of year to indulge and treat yourself. You know you want to....

For about 36 pieces you'll need
350g good quality (70%) chocolate, into pieces
45g golden syrup (or use honey like I did, about 3 tablespoons)
125g soft butter
150g Brasil nuts, chopped
150g glace cherries, roughly chopped
couple of marshmallows, cut up
200g amaretti cookies, smashed up in a bag with a rolling pin into tiny pieces
brownie tin, 24 cm diameter

Melt the chocolate, au bain marie, on a low heat until fully melted. Add the honey and the butter and stir until completely dissolved.

In a separate bowl mix the nuts with the cookies, marshmallows and cherries.

When the chocolate mixture is finished pour this with the rest of the ingredients and mix together really well. Make sure everything is coated with the chocolate.

Line the brownie tin with some baking paper and pour the mixture in. Press firmly to make sure everything sticks together. Transfer to the fridge to firm up. This will take at least 2 hours. After this time you can take the chocolate out of the tin, remove the baking paper and cut up into bite size pieces. If you want, you can dust with some icing sugar for some extra festiveness.

* * * Merry Christmas everybody! * * *

Mini blueberry cheesecakes

It has been a while since I bought an English Good Food Magazine. But the ones I got in the UK last month have given me plenty ideas to cook and bake from. So much so that, with the help from my friend H. who sends them to me, I renewed my subscription. And luckily so, because in the January issue I came across this recipe for individual cheese cakes.

The original recipe uses digestive biscuits and cranberries. I made a variation on this and turned them into ginger and blueberry cheese cakes. Equally as delightful I think and gone within the weekend. The two that were left were taken to work by Jazz, much to the happiness and frustration of his co-workers. So it is for them that I put up this recipe. Give them a go guys, I'm sure your families will thank you for them :-)


For 12 individual cheesecakes you'll need

250g biscuits, I used ginger snap biscuits

100g butter , melted

600g soft cheese (like Philadelphia)

2 tbsp plain flour

175g sugar

dash vanilla extract

2 eggs , plus 1 yolk

for the ripple

400g blueberries, fresh or frozen

100g icing sugar ,

plus extra for dusting

First make the ripple by putting the blueberries and icing sugar into a pan and cooking down over a medium high heat for 10 minutes until the berries collapse into a thick and sticky sauce. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.

Heat the oven to 180C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with 12 muffin cases. (I use silicone ones)

Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag (great way to get rid of any stress) or whizz in a food processor, then mix with the melted butter. Divide between the muffin cases and press down firmly with your fingers.

In a separate bowl, mix the soft cheese with the flour, sugar and vanilla extract, then gradually beat in the eggs and yolk until smooth. Ripple the berry mix through the cheese, being careful not to over-mix. Spoon the mix into the cases and smooth the tops with the back of the spoon.

,br.Bake for 30 minutes, leave to cool, then chill in the fridge until completely cold.

You could either serve these for afternoon tea or as a dessert with some ice cream and some extra of the blueberry ripple.