Antwerp’s delicious aftertaste…

Posted on by the-back-road-chronicles

Sun, happy vibes and excellent food, aren’t these usually thé key ingredients to create that glorious holiday mood? Past days, for us, that didn’t even involve airmiles or long drives…for four long days Antwerp’s Waagnatie was centre stage for the culinary festival ‘Antwerpen Proeft’ freely translated as Antwerp tastes…tastes how? Quite delicious!

Antwerpen Proeft

Invited by Elvea1885, the brand that brings excellent quality and Italian flavours into your kitchen, and accompanied by the lovely weather last Saturday we found ourselves heading to Antwerp Waagnatie premises, located in vibrant ‘het Eilandje’.

Antwerpen Proeft

The culinary festival, the 12th edition already, has a tradition of bringing the world and its kitchen on your plate with a variety of restaurants and culinary experts presenting their signature dishes in bite-sized portions and a cost-friendly price setting. In addition there is room for a full programme of demonstrations and workshops, from Weber grill expert Academy to AEG-sponsored baking and cooking classes for young and old.

ProefMee

Antwerpen Proeft

For those among you that are of the ‘forever in doubt’ type…this festival will be quite a challenge, but of the fun kind! Take a few strolls and absorb flavours and colours before your stomach sounds indicate a decision will have to be taken eventually. No matter the dish(es) of your choice it will taste great!

Antwerpen Proeft

Antwerpen Proeft

Antwerpen Proeft

Antwerpen Proeft
Divin by Sepi

Our eye fell on the attractive food presentation and expert and passioned explanation of Gå Nord, presenting a fusion of scandinavian and oriental cuisine, inspired on the wabi-sabi philosophy, thus combining pureness and simplicity.

Of the two mouthwatering dishes on display we chose the Knäckebröd with horse-radish, flakes of cedarwood-smoked salmon and pickled vegetables. Colours and flavours in perfect harmony, truly yummy.

Antwerpen Proeft

Antwerpen Proeft

Outdoors the inviting seating by the water seduced us to enjoy an excellent Belgian Entre-deux-Monts Chardonnay wine, provided at the Belgian wines-stand. If not a wine lover, then head for one of the cocktails, belgian beers or water stands! Sip, relax and watch the world go by…

Scheldt river

Attending the festival and location is easily to combine with some shopping and city-stroling, either in Antwerp historic city centre or stay closer and explore what ‘t Eilandje’ has to offer.

Conclusion: a festival that leaves a sweet, lingering aftertaste…will YOU be joining next year’s edition?

Ingrid

Xxx

Antwerpen Proeft

ps you can find out more about the festival and its participants here or stay tuned on upcoming Antwerp events here

Raise your glasses…Happy 2018!

Posted on by the-back-road-chronicles

First things first: wishing you all a happy, healthy, joyful New Year! A year filled with joy and hope, a year plenty of dreams and projects, new horizons to discover, old and new friendships to cherish…let’s raise our glass to that!

Speaking of raising glasses, at Antwerp city brewery ‘De Koninck’ they take that quite literally!

glasses brewery

You can discover the history of this working and iconic Antwerp Brewery through an interactive and unique tour. Without spoiling to much of the fun in case you have a visit planned soon, expect to be immersed into the world of hops and malt, make a fun delivery drive through Antwerp’s city center and get some first hand juicy stories from the brewery owners…oh and there’s plenty of beers to taste too of course!

stop hand brewery
stop, the hand shows you the way to beer heaven
interactive tour Antwerp city brewery
Tour Antwerp city brewery

city brewery

city brewery
Jean Blaute and Ray Cokes, beer lovers and among other things famous for the fantastic Tournée Générale tv series

city brewery

Apart from the beer the brewery site houses some great food concepts, stores, restaurants and bars that make any foodie drool: from recently Michelin-rewarded ‘The Butcher’s Son’ to Cheesemonger-shop by Van Tricht, Jitsk chocolatier and many more fun projects and concepts.

city brewery

‘Tastemakers’ and the brewery teamed up and an urban beekeeper takes care of the beehives installed in a beertank on the parking lot… that’s around 160000 very ‘beezy’ workers producing some runny yummy honey!

city brewery, beer tank, honey

Antwerp city brewery

Antwerp city brewery, bolleke Koninck

And if you thought women and beers didn’t match…

Antwerp city brewery

…but you’re wrong, cheers to you Josephina!

Ingrid

xxx

happy 2018

visit brewery

The Butcher’s Son restaurant

busy bees at the brewery

Open tuna burger

Posted on by the-back-road-chronicles

You don’t always need a large list of ingredients to make a savoury dinner or lunch, or sometimes you’re just in a hurry and don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen or you know that feeling that after an exhausting day your stomach and soul are just craving for some comfort food? Well, this dish ticks all the above boxes, how great is that! And no worries, though the list may seem long, most of the items are already in your kitchen pantry!

ingredients tuna burgers
Ingredients tuna burgers

 

This is what you need:

(will feed about 4-6 persons depending if you add some sides or not)

  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 tins of tuna (natural brine)
  • 1 small tin of anchovies, chopped
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons of paprika powder
  • A few drops of Worcestershire sauce
  • 3-4 grated cloves of garlic
  • Salt and pepper
  • About 8-10 tbs of breadcrumbs
  • Ciabatta divided in smaller pieces or 8 small bread rolls
  • Olive oil
  • Some slices of mature cheese or whatever you prefer, I use cheddar

 

This is what you do:

  • Glaze the chopped onions in some olive oil and set aside. Meanwhile open your tuna tins, remove the excess liquid and transfer the tuna flakes to a large bowl. Add the eggs, the chopped anchovies, the paprika powder, the Worcestershire sauce and the onions. Flavour with the garlic, salt and pepper.

 

  • At this stage, you can either proceed of put aside in the fridge to use later in the day or in the evening when you get home from work. If you proceed, or after removal from the fridge, check the density and start adding the bread crumbs to absorb any leftover liquid. Make sure everything is mixed thoroughly and the mixture is moist however not wet.

 

  • Take your bread rolls or chopped up ciabatta and slice horizontally in half, brush them with some olive oil and grill in the oven. Take them out, start filling them up with the tuna mixture and end with a nice slice of cheese on top.

 

  • In the oven this goes, for about 15’ at a temperature of 200°C

 

There’s a whole lot of fish in the sea, but you’re one hot tuna!

You can serve this with a yummy green salad or just eat them as such…oh, and I know you can’t wait to take that first bite, but remember the quote and beware not to burn the palate…hot, hot, hot, let them cool off for just a few seconds!

davEnjoy!

 

Ingrid

xxx

A touch of frost

Posted on by the-back-road-chronicles

Any leftover cranberries after the festive season? Always fun to sugar-coat them…

3
sugar-coated berries in a row

Make a syrup of sugar and water, turn off the heat, add the berries and let them soak at least a couple of hours or overnight.  Point is to reduce the extreme sourness of the cranberries.

4
Cranberries in syrup

Then drain using a colander and make sure to keep the liquid as you can still use that when making cocktails!
Dry the berries lightly with a paper towel, they shouldn’t be completely dry, otherwise the sugar won’t stick.

Time for the fun part! Pour some sugar in a bowl, add some berries and toss them around until coated. Do not add too many berries at once, it will make the sugar clump and that’s not what you want at this point.

Leave them to dry on a rack or plate and that’s it!

5

2

 

I used mine decorating a chocolate mousse and added some in my morning oatmeal bowl.
 

image1

Sweet, sour and frosted instant happiness!

 

Ingrid

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