Frittata with Artichoke, Leek and Goatcheese

I'm sorry for being negligent for the past couple of days. The girls were on a 4-day sleep-over with their grandparents, so we just spent those days enjoying each other and doing things without the kids. Although of course I missed them a lot, it is always so much fun to just be together. We dinned out a lot, went shopping, stayed up way too late. In short, acted like we were 10 years younger.

Okay, back to business: Frittatas...

One of the reasons I love frittatas is because it is so versatile and easy. It is basically a large omelet. You can start out with all kinds of ingredients. I usually add thinly sliced potatoes to turn it into a full dinner. It is also a great way to make a meatless meal!

In this version I used artichokes, leek and goatcheese, but you can adjust it however you like. You can also make half a recipe. You can add different vegetables, different cheeses, add some bacon or ham, use fresh herbs or change nothing at all. Do whatever feels right to you!

Recipe

Frittata with Artichoke, Leek and Goatcheese

Yield: a dinner for 4 people

Ingredients:

10 eggs
2 - 3 large potatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped seperately
8 ounces of artichokes (can or frozen), quartered
2 leeks, sliced in rings
5 ounces soft goatcheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Parboil the thinly sliced potatoes for 3-4 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Preheat the broiler.

In a medium bowl beat loose the eggs with salt, pepper and 1 chopped clove of garlic.

Crumble the goatcheese and add this to the egg mixture.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and 1 clove of garlic. Bake for a few minutes.

Add the leek and artichokes and bake again for a few minutes. Add the potato slices and mix carefully to rearrange all the ingredients.

Turn the heat low and add the egg/cheese mixture.

Let everything bake for 15-20 minutes, then put the pan under the broiler to bake until the frittata is done.

Cut the frittata in pieces. You can serve this dish warm, but it is cold also very good. It is great to take along to a picknick!

Pizza with aragula, goatcheese and sundried tomatoes

The first time I made my own pizza I fell in love all over again with it. It is so simple to make. Granted, you need time, a lot of time, but since that is not an issue any more I have made quite a few pizzas. Most of them are simple, but I am also trying to think out-of-the-box.

I do feel a little awkward posting a recipe for pizza, but I've noticed that it happens quite often so I'm just going to give it a shot.

Like I said I try to make new combinations every time and if at all possible with ingredients I have left-over. So the last time I wanted to make pizza I had several ingredients at my dispossal, including my own home-grown aragula which had to be used before it grew too big.

I ended up with a combination of aragula, soft goatcheese and sundried tomatoes. A combination I would normally use in a salad. But you know what? It actually works great on a pizza!

I realize it is a very sloppy recipe, but you should consider it more as a guideline. Just let it inspire you.

So, if you're looking for a new, fresh combination for a pizza, that is great on summer days.... Look no further!

Recipe

Pizza with aragula, goatcheese and sundried tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 portion pizza dough
Pizza sauce (will post a simple recipe soon)
50-100 gram (2 ounces) soft goatcheese like Bettine blanc
Sundried tomatoes, to taste
A couple of handsful of aragula
A handful of chopped walnuts
Some honey

Instructions:

Prepare the pizza dough.

Preheat the oven (and your pizza stone) as high as your oven can go.

When you have laid out the dough, put on some pizza sauce.

Put chunks of the goatcheese on the pizza. Add the tomatoes and the chopped walnuts.

Bake the pizza for about 8 minutes.

When you've taken the pizza out of the oven, put the aragula on top and drizzle some honey over it.

Serve immediately.

Chicken wings for on the barbecue

These Chicken wings are really simple but oh so yummy! Perfect for a simple barbecue on a glorious sunny day! Make these a day ahead, but if that's not possible you can just as easily make them in the morning.

Oh, and if your feeling particularly energetic, you can make another batch of the marinade and glaze the wings while grilling them.

Recipe

Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken wings
250 ml (1 cup) sweet chili sauce
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon seasalt

Instructions:

Mix the chili sauce, coriander, cumin and salt together.

Cut each wing three times to the bone, to make sure the wings are done faster on the barbecue.

Pour the marinade over the chicken wings. Make sure all the wings are well covered by the marinade. Put the wings overnight in the refrigerator.

Drain the chicken wings and grill them for 10-15 minutes on high fire on the barbecue.

Basic Fried Rice

This recipe is a simple basic fried rice recipe (or Nasi Goreng as we call it). You can add all kinds of things like chicken, satay, shrimp, etc.

By making the bumbu in a foodprocessor it really becomes a piece of cake! And the best part is: it contains ingredients which you can always have in your pantry!

Recipe

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

400 gram (14 ounces) rice

For the bumbu:
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon sambal ulek
1/2 teaspoon trassi
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon sugar (palm or cane)
1/2 tablespoon kecap manis

Vegetable oil

Instructions:

Cook the rice a few hours ahead so it has time to cool down.

In a foodprocessor mix the ingredients for the bumbu until very fine.

In a wok heat about 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the bumbu. Stir fry well. Add the sugar and kecap and stir again. Add the rice, stir fry well until the rice is slightly crisp.

Serve with sweet and sour cucumber, satay, pickled gherkins, shrimp crackers, or whatever tickles your fancy!

Couscous salad

We just had our first summer-like day.  A whooping 24°C (75°F)! So to honor the beautiful weather I made a couscous salad, which to me always feels like a plate of sunshine.

It's a light, yet filling salad with a lot of cilantro and mint, which I love using, especially in the summer. Try this salad, you will not regret it! Oh, and it's really easy to make, which comes in handy on hot summer days!

Recipe

Couscous Salad

Ingredients:

200 gram (7 ounces) couscous

1 red bell pepper

1 cucumber

2 tomatoes

1 lemon

150 gram (5 ounces) feta cheese

a couple of spring onions

a big bunch of cilantro

a big bunch of mint

olive oil

pepper and salt

Instructions:

Start with chopping the bell pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, feta and spring onions in small pieces and adding it to a big bowl.

Now chop the cilantro and mint. It doesn't have to be to fine, it can be rather course. Set the herbs aside.

Follow the cooking instructions for the couscous. I'm always very lazy and use the foolproof couscous in small portions bags, works every time!

Let the couscous cool a bit before adding it to the chopped vegetables. Before stirring it together, squeeze half a lemon over the couscous then sprinkle some olive oil on top. Add some chopped herbs and some salt and pepper and stir everything together. Taste and if necessary add more lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper or herbs.

The end result should be slightly lemony and very aromatic with the cilantro and mint.

Even skeptic people and kids love this salad!

Shrimp curry

Last weekend I made a shrimp curry, to be specific a Mauritian prawn curry by the lovely Nigella Lawson. The recipe is from her book Forever Summer.

Because of the girls I didn't want it to be too spicy, but as the recipe only needs half a teaspoon of chili powder I thought it was safe to make. I have to admit that I have never made a curry before, but as I had most ingredients already I thought I'd give it a try.

Besides having never made a curry before I also had never cooked with curry leaves before, hence my mistaken opinion of this dish being not too spicy....

Apparently curry leaves make a dish spicy... and not just spicy but very hot if you throw in a lot more than the prescribed tablespoon. Of course I figured this out right at the end when the dish was finished.....

The curry was lovely, the flavors great but as was expected the girls didn't eat a lot...

They only ate white rice and sweet-and-sour cucumber. Off course this enabled them to eat a really big bowl of the chocolate mousse, so I didn't hear too much complaints!

Recipe

Mauritian prawn curry

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon kurkuma
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilipowder
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
a piece of fresh ginger (about 4 cm or 1 1/2 inch)
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
salt
2 tablespoon of peanut oil (or something similar)
1 can of chopped tomatoes (400 gram or 8 ounces)
peel (zest) and juice of half a lemon
1 stick of cinnamon
1 tablespoon curry leaves (fresh or dried)
750 gram (1 1/2 pound) shrimp or prawn
grated nutmeg
a handful of cilantro
3 or 4 green chili peppers

Instructions:

Put the kurkuma, coriander, cumin, chilipowder and mace in a bowl. Grate the ginger and garlic cloves with a microplane and add to the spices. Add a little water and stir to create a paste.

Chop the onion and bake in the oil until soft. Add the spices-paste and stir-fry for about a minute.

Add the tomatoes, fill the can with water and add that also.

Add the lemonjuice, cinnamonstick and curry leaves and let this mixture simmer for about 30 minutes so the curry gets thicker and the spices more flavor.

Just before you want to eat add the shrimp to the sauce and cook until done. Taste the shrimp to make sure they are well cooked.

Pour the curry in a shallow bowl and add the grated nutmeg and lemonpeel. Put the cilantro on top.

Cut the chili peppers in half lengthwise and arrange them on the curry.

Off course, I left out the chili peppers completely because it was already a little bit too spicy!

Oh and you can make this sauce in advance and just add the shrimp when you want to finish the curry. It just gives the flavors more time to develop!

Sort of spaghetti bolognese

I love cooking, but I have to admit I'm not a perfect cook. I'm very chaotic and though I like it if the food looks nice, I can't really be bothered to pay a lot of attention to looks. What I find more important is how it tastes. And the dish I'm making tonight sure tastes good!

It's very easy to make but does need to be put in the oven for 1 1/2 hours, so you really need to keep that in mind while planning to make this meal.

The recipe is one from Jamie Oliver, from his early work. I have to say that I like is early work best. Oh and, my cookbook is Dutch, so I translated it back to English. If I made a few mistakes.....sorry!

Recipe

Sort of Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingrediënts:

10 slices of pancetta or bacon

A few sprigs of fresh rosemary, only the leafs, finely chopped

Olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

455 gram (1 pound) of ground beef

1 glass of red wine

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 can of tomatoes

200 gram (7 oz) tomato paste of 1 small jar of sun-dried tomatoes

seasalt

black pepper

455 gram (1 pound) dried spaghetti

a handful of fresh basil

2 handful of grated parmesan cheese or cheddar

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350°F). In a large, hot fireproof 

dutch oven cook the pancetta and the rosemary with a little olive oil until slightly golden brown. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 3 minutes until its soft. Add the ground beef. Cook while stirring for 2-3 minutes and add the wine. Let the wine slightly boil down, then add the oregano, the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, cover with a lid and put in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours.

When the sauce is almost ready you can boil the spaghetti.

Just before serving, add some fresh basil to the sauce. Serve the sauce with spaghetti and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.