walnut sauce

walnut sauce by kattebelletje.

Although everyone is complaining about global warming and the loss of our true Dutch winters (if ever we had them), winter is far from over. We are stuck with a chilly, overcast, misty haze and a temperature of around 5 degrees Celcius, which chills you to the bone. The only thing I would like to eat are spicy chicken variations or comfort food, like mashed potatoes or so. A bean mash is also nice: it is hearty, healthy and feels good for you.

Prepare one by mashing up the contents of one large tin of white butter beans with a fried onion. Add pepper, salt and a huge amount of butter for that true mash-feeling. WIth it I made fresh wild spinach, sauteed and then chopped and sauteed again with butter and a little cream. For a nice colorful touch to this meal, I made red charred peppers in a 200C hot oven. Leave for 15 mins or until blackened; leave in a tight plastic bag to cool (15mins), then the skins come off easily. Put on a plate and pour on some olive oil.

First I thought I wanted home made pesto to go with the bean mash, but since I felt too lazy to go to the store again for basil, I decided I could do without, and opted for walnut sauce. For the sauce, you need: 100 grams of (peeled) walnuts, 50 grams of pine nuts, a clove of garlic, salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons of yoghurt and olive oil. Soak the walnuts in hot water, then peel off the brown skins. This is quite a chore, but it relaxes me. Put on some music and enjoy the zen-like state preparing food can give you... When done, mash them with mortar and pestle together with a clove of garlic, the pine nuts until you have a thick paste. Add the yoghurt, then pour on olive oil to combine. It will be quite thick, taste for salt.

Strangely enough, the walnut paste tasted the nicest with the chopped and sauteed spinach, but it was also good with the beans and the red peppers. One almost forgot there was no meat in this whole meal: I grilled some slices of haloumi cheese for extra bite.

Vietnamese nem rolls

Vietnamese nem rolls by kattebelletje.

Flickr is such an amazing site. You can find pictures of almost everything. Have you ever traveled to somewhere special? Type in the place name and you'll probably find thousands of photos which look like the ones you made yourself! Then click some more. If you find pictures you like, click on the favorites of the person who made them. I always search for things people cook and eat. There are so many foodies there, it is amazing, and they have such excellent photography skills. How do they do it? Sushi chefs, pasta lovers, Dubai sweets clubs ... anything, anything anything. People who make a snapshot of their food, every day. Or photograph things they have in restaurants. All of it is there, you just have to go there and look!

Not too long ago I found an amazing collection of Vietnamese food through a friend of mine who works for the Medisch Comité Nederland-Vietnam. He himself made Vietnamese 'spring' or 'summer' rolls with a couple of Vietnamese friends (here), and it looked so tasty I had to try myself!

Basically, you make a filling for these Vietnamese nem and wrap it in a soft rice sheet. Then you dip it in a sauce for eating. You can have them fried or unfried, I did the fried version, but they did become a bit greasy (I am no expert) so next time I will have them plain I think. You can also use spring roll wrappers for frying.

For these rolls, you will need: 1 package of rice sheets from the oriental supermarket; glass noodles; a selection of vegetables like bean sprouts, carrot (in shreds), cabbage (in shreds); cooked shrimp, a tin of crab meat (if you like) and pork mince (if you like) and dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked). Start to soak the glass noodles : pour boiling water over them and let soak until soft (about 10 minutes). Soak your shiitake mushrooms in a separate bowl - you can use the same boiling water. Cut glass noodles into 4 cm sections, cut mushrooms into small dice. Shred your carrots and cabbage (if using), and mix all in a large bowl. Add 100 grams shrimp, 100 grams pork mince (I didn't have it this time) and crab meat (if using). Add shredded spring onions and 1 or 2 cloves of chopped garlic. Add one or 2 eggs to combine, and a splash of preferably Vietnamese fish sauce.

Soak the rice sheets in cold water and dry carefully on a towel. Add filling and roll up. Then fry in a pool of hot oil until crispy on all sides. Turn carefully as they might break - I guess the ready-made spring roll sheets might be a bit more robust.

Eat with gem lettuce leaves and a chili and lime dip, made with the juice of one lime, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic and 1 teaspoon of fresh chili in small rings. Stir 3 tablespoons of water and a splash of fish sauce into the dipping sauce. Delicious and addictive, you can have at least 4!

gongxi facai!

Peking duck by kattebelletje.

Gongxi facai! Wishing you luck and many riches! Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year or 'Spring Festival' as they call it now. It is the start of a holiday period in China, everyone tries to be home with your family, as this is really a family feast of togetherness. Poor migrant workers are stuck in the snow somewhere in the middle of China halfway their journey, as the main North-South line between Guangzhou and Beijing is interrupted.

Here we had a feast of Chinese dumplings or jiaozi, definitely the dish to eat on the First day of the year. But I made a large plate of Peking duck (the easy way), and had it with Peking pancakes (baobing) which you can also buy frozen. Just heat in the microwave. That's not really cooking is it?

Next time I'll blog about the duck because I don't really have the energy to explain in a coherent way how to do this. Well, yes, in short: de-feeze duck (it comes in a pack from the freezer, 2 large chunks of duck with skin on and no bones), put in oven for 30 minutes until crispy, cut into shreds and have with microwaved Peking pancakes, slivers of spring onion and sweet bean paste (tianmianjiang, NOT hoisin) diluted with a little water and Shaoxing wine. That's it!

I completely overstuffed with the duck because I like it so much. Then we had jiaozi with sauce and a salad and 1000-year old eggs as a kind of side dish. And ice cream to finish it off. A good start of a year, don't you think?

fried chicken nuggets

fried chicken by kattebelletje.

Forget about any supermarket or fast-food chicken nuggets, these are much more wonderful! Crispy on the outside, succulent on the inside; this is a perfect dish to accompany pasta, potato or rice dishes with a salad on the side. Take 2 chicken breast fillets; 1 lemon; Panko (Japanese) bread crumbs, 1 egg yolk; salt, pepper, olive oil.

Cut the chicken breasts into chunks and marinate in a mixture of egg yolk, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a bit of white wine or Noilly Prat, and pepper and salt. Leave for at least 15 minutes. Then coat the chicken pieces in Panko bread crumbs and put on a plate until ready for frying. Panko bread crumbs come in a large bag and are from Japan, they are very white, quite chunky and without any nasty flavors supermarket bread crumbs can have; they fry very well and produce an absolute great crust with the egg-yolk, better than other crumbs on the market. Try to hunt them down in the Chinese or Oriental store, you won't regret it!

Fry in a mixture of oil and butter in a hot pan, and take out when crispy. This will take a couple of minutes, if you are not sure, take one out and cut it open to check for doneness. Serve with lemon wedges and sprinkle with parsley. But be quick if you are not eating them alone - they will be gone in no time!