…making lemonade is an excellent choice of course, but one needs to eat too, right, and food needs seasoning…we’re making herb salt!
Herb salt
This is what you need:
+/- 250 gr salt
zeste of two lemons, chopped up
Leaves of two branches of rosemary, chopped up
Leaves of two or three branches of thyme, chopped up
This is what you do:
chop up the herbs
mix with the salt
let it dry out and place in a sealed container…that’s it!
herbs and spices
You can do a little twist and use oranges instead of lemons or you can use more or other herbs. It tastes great with some roasted meat, use it when seasoning fish or chicken, etc…
Trust no one, unless you have eaten much salt with him (Cicero)
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
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!
Any leftover cranberries after the festive season? Always fun to sugar-coat them…
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.
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!
I used mine decorating a chocolate mousse and added some in my morning oatmeal bowl.
The word foodie, you see or read it a lot nowadays, right?! It seems to me lately everyone with a latte or salad posting a pic adds the foodie hashtag. And that’s just fine by me as long as you are savouring it with inner joy and an even bigger outer smile!
‘Foodie: onewhohas an ardent or refinedinterest in food; a gourmet.Alsocalledfoodist.’
If this definition is the standard, then yes, I tick the box, consider me a foodie…when in a book store, I head straight for the new releases on cookbooks, I adore tv shows mixing food and origins and culture like the Rick Stein series and The Two Greedy Italians. I love it when a recipe doesn’t only show the ingredients and how to proceed but tells a background story, like for example in Nigella’s books or Flemish Pascale Naessens, oh and need I say I adore cooking and baking, that is when my back allows me, and do not forget the eating experience!
Finding inspiration in one of the 50 something cookbooks at home
Yep, I’m probably an addict: when breakfast I already think about lunch or dinner, when throwing a party, putting together all the pieces of the food puzzle gives me joy and thrill, and okay I admit stress too sometimes, and drop me on a farmers market or a food store or in a restaurant and I’m in heaven!
Even the small town I live in has the luxury to have access to farmer market produce, due to the rising awareness that we are what we eat. Food isn’t just about keeping us alive, keeping our body engine up and running, it’s so much more than that: it brings us together, that moment around the table, the great expectation, all the senses on sharp as to not to miss the aromas and colours revealed when the dish is served! That’s what gives me joy, it’s the total package: the food, the table setting, the company, the occassion: it may be just your daily lunch or dinner or a family or friends get together, make it something special, food shoul be fun! If the mood is perfect, any dish prepared with care and love tastes great!
Proper Food, discovered on our recent trip to SF has an excellent food philosophy: fresh, local and organic
I don’t have to convince you of the benefits of healthy food, enough studies have been published on that and there are people far more qualified than I am to tell you something on those topics. I am not a fanatic, not in my general everyday life and behavior and not in my food. I don’t buy the expensive so-called superfoods, I believe in a balanced food plan, I like my piece of dark chocolate when I drink my afternoon tea, I appreciate a glass of red wine by the fireplace. Like another Flemish cook and author Jeroen Meus, recently said, it’s all about using your common sense. Keep it in balance, there’s no harm in eating a cookie or two or a piece of cake, just not the whole cake! Invite some friends over to share and enjoy the goodies of life 😉
That being said, all this food thinking made me really hungry, so made some of Jeroen Meus’ apple muffins today, the recipe is in dutch, however think it’s pretty clear and if not, just ask me, then I’ll translate for you. The apples have been diced and caramelized in a bit of butter and maple syrup before adding to the batter. The recipe mentions brown sugar, but I used half brown, half white, only because I was running low on brown sugar and it is pouring outside so another run to the shop was no option.
The other day I got inspired by a recipe in a German magazine called ‘Frau und Familie Ratgeber’. Well, I am a woman, I have a family and never say no to some good advice, especially if it involves desserts and some sweetness in life!
The article covered some desserts that didn’t need any baking: just your two hands, some time to spare and in the fridge it goes…sounds easy right?!
The cover showed a delicously looking blueberry layered cheesecake, well, had to test that one, being full berry season now!
If you’re thinking it might be just the thing for you to try, get your hands on the below ingredients and follow the instructions!
5 slices of pumpernickel bread (or use a mixture of cookies/chocolate or cookies/ speculoos like I did)
60 gr butter
2 tbsps honey
6 gelatine leaves (or 7 if you think your mixture is rather runny)
1 bio lemon (orange is an option too)
200 ml cream
500 gr cream cheese
250 gr quark cheese
1 vanilla pod
120 gr Sugar
4 cl Cointreau or another liquor based on oranges or just use oranje juice
500 gr blueberries or a mixture of red fruits as to your own taste or like
Line a springform pan(24 diameter) with parchment paper, break the bread into pieces and mix it with the melted butter and honey. Replace the bread by cookies if you prefer a sweeter cake bottom. Press with your fingers or the back of a spoon so the mixture is spread evenly and set aside in the fridge.
Dissolve the gelatine leaves in cold water and whip the cream up until stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese, quark cheese, vanilla, sugar, lemon or orange juice and zeste until you have a smooth mixture. Heat the Cointreau in a small bowl or pan, just gently, it doesn’t need to boil and then press out any water from the gelatine and place it into the liquor mixture. Add two big spoons of your cheese mixture to the liquor, mix and then transfer to the big bowl with the cheese and sugar mix in it. At this point you can add the whipped cream, making sure you have a smooth mixture without lumps in it. Transfer to your springform, spread evenly and set aside for at least 4 hours. You can add the fruit just before serving.
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Note1: preparation time is about 35-40 minutes, quicker if you make the cake bottom the day in advance and you can start straight away with the filling and topping.
Note2: I used 400 gr Philadelphia light and 350 gr cream cheese, as that was what I had in fridge at that moment, works fine!
Note 3: fun too, instead of using a large classic springform, to use tiny cups, great if you’re hosting a party as no fuss about who’s to cut the cake and gets the yummiest fruit parts…
Enjoy!
The Back Road Chronicles 