Kaasvlinders

Birthdays are always an interesting event to experience in the Netherlands, and if you can get invited to one, I encourage you to attend, if not for culinary reasons, then at least for the interesting developments as the evening progresses.

For starters, guests will be welcomed by the front door and have their coats taken, usually by a younger member of the family. They are then invited into the living room, garden area, or whichever room is chosen for the celebration. If they're the first ones to arrive, they will congratulate the host and hand over the gift or flowers they brought, and take place on the chairs that are strategically placed in a wide circle. As later guests arrive, they will do the same, but not before going around the circle, shaking everybody's hand, and congratulating them with the birthday of the host. This seems odd behavior, and unless you're born and raised doing it, you're not even aware of how weird it is. Seriously.

If the birthday host is considerate, he or she will wait with the first offering of refreshments until the circle has been completed, and the mayority of guests have arrived. The first round of refreshments will invariably be coffee or tea, and cake or pastries. If this is your first exposure to Dutch pastries, by all means avoid the tompoes and the Bossche bol! The late comers now have the inconvenience of a) shaking the hand of someone who is already trying to balance a cup of hot coffee and a plate of cake on their lap b) trying to find a place to sit c) possibly running out of cake or pastries to chose from.

After the first round of refreshments has been consumed, a second cup of coffee or tea will be offered. If there are no takers, the host will move on to the next round of food and beverage: bowls of potato chips, nuts, and other savory samples will be presented for snacking, and soda and alcoholic beverages will appear on the table. Much chatter and goodhearted ribbing of the host will ensue, and a good time will be had by all. After the second round, various people will call it a night. Junior, if still awake, will be asked to retrieve the coats and goodbyes will be said, but not before the mandatory handshaking around the circle has been completed.

It's the die-hards that stay. If you're lucky and your host is a bit of a culinarian, you may be partaking of some homemade foods during the third round of foods, usually after consuming several adult beverages: the food will traditionally be served hot and be more in the fashion of a mid-night snack: small pieces of frikandel, or some bitterballen, but also saté or even soup with bread.

Kaasvlinders, or cheese butterflies, are a traditional savory pastry that is served during the second refreshment tour. In case you don't have the opportunity to attend a typical Dutch birthday, or prefer to enjoy these snacks in the company of your own choosing, here's a recipe:

Kaasvlinders
1 large sheet puff pastry
1 cup shredded sharp cheese
1 egg
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper

Dust the counter with a little bit of flour, and thaw the dough. Sprinkle the puff pastry with the shredded sharp cheese, and roll each end up, toward each other. Beat the egg, and brush the pastry dough where the rollups meet, so they'll stick together.

Cover or wrap with plastic film and set in the fridge for about thirty minutes, while the oven heats up to 375F. Remove the dough, and slice into half an inch pieces. Place each slice on its side, brush with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with some cheese (optional). Season with salt and pepper (just a dusting) and place the butterflies in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until puffy and golden. Cool on a rack.

Congratulations!

And we have a winner!!! Jody from  Gypsyspinner was the 451st commenter on the blog, a random number that was picked. Jody, enjoy the book and we look forward to hearing all about your Dutch cooking adventures!

Bummed you didn't win, but still want a copy of the book? Amazon lets you pre-order it here: http://amzn.to/KrMLP8. 

Disclosure: if you order through this link, a small percentage will be credited to my account.

Mokkataart

Oh, how we love to party! Any good old reason to crank up the coffee machine, bring out the coffee mugs, the creamer and sugar and a couple of pretty plates to serve pastries on, will do. Good weather, bad weather, the soccer team won, the soccer team lost, start of the summer holiday, the end of the summer holiday, and any valid reason inbetween. Sometimes because we're sad, other times because we're happy. We just love to get together, drink coffee, eat cake and have a gezellige time.

And today we're celebrating over a thousand likes on the site! I've been thrilled to read everybody's messages. Some are a little sad, because the recipes remind the readers of their childhood, their grandparents, and the times they miss. Others happy, as long lost favorites have been re-found. Several of you emailed me privately to ask for a specific dish, and even others were excited to know some family favorites could be made easily at home! Please record these recipes somewhere, in a notebook, handwritten preferably, with your personal notes on the side. Too many of you write to me that family recipes have been lost - how wonderful would it be to leave this culinary legacy to your kids?

But today, we celebrate! With a creamy, sweet mocca cake no less. Easily one of the most favorite choices of the cake-loving Dutch, a mocca cake combines the pleasant flavors of sweet sugar, slightly bitter caffeine and the lightness of the sponge cake. This is an incredibly rich cake, and will take a little bit of effort to make, but it will be sooooo worth it!

Mokkataart
7 eggs, room temperature
8 yolks, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the buttercream*
2 sticks butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons coffee syrup**
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Chocolate sprinkles or nougatine
Chocolate coffee beans (optional)

Whip the eggs and the yolks with the sugar and the vanilla for a good ten minutes at high speed, or until the mixture is light yellow, has tripled in size and falls in a thick ribbon off the whip. Sift the cake flour and fold it through the mixture, making sure you don't lose much of the air you've beaten into it. Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans, and carefully divide the mixture between the two pans. Place on the middle shelf in an oven that's preheated to 350F. Bake for twenty five minutes or until done. If a toothpick comes out clean, the cake is ready.

Let the cake cool for ten minutes, then carefully remove it from the pan, and let it cool further on a cookie rack. In the meantime, cream the 2 sticks of butter with the powdered sugar, the coffee syrup and the vanilla for a good five minutes at high speed, you want that butter fluffy! Slowly pour in the heavy cream while you continue to whip: the buttercream will increase in volume and become a little lighter. If the mixture curdles, slowly melt a quarter of the mixture and return it to the bowl: give it a good whipping and the buttercream will come together. Taste. Add more powdered sugar or coffee, depending on how sweet or strong you want the cream.

When the cakes have fully cooled, cut off the top so you have two equally high pieces. Spread a thick layer of mocca cream on the top of one half, and place the other half on top. Spread cream on the side of the cake, and roll it through the nougatine or the chocolate sprinkles. Pipe the rest on top and decorate with chocolate coffee beans, malt balls or chocolate curls. Refrigerate.

Pour yourself a hot cup of coffee, or something else, and enjoy this in the company of good friends!

* If you prefer a lighter version,substitute the butter with a cup and a half of whipping cream. Adding the sugar and coffee will give you a lighter mocca option.

** Reduce a strong cup of coffee with two heaping tablespoons of sugar until you have two tablespoons of syrup left. You can also add instant coffee granules to this, if you wish for a stronger coffee taste. 

A thousand likes!

Just the other day I was on The Dutch Table page on Facebook saying that I was planning a surprise when the counter hit 1,000. That was April 12th. And in less than a month we've hit this milestone, I am so excited!!

So, in good Dutch fashion, we'll celebrate with cake. This weekend I'll post the recipe for a taart, but can't pick which one: mokka (mocca) or hazelnootschuim (hazelnut meringue)? You decide!

And to celebrate even more, I'd like to give the new Janny de Moor book, Recipes from my Dutch Kitchen (in English), to a random reader. The book is due August 12th of this year.

In order to get in the drawing, post a comment in the next ten days, until May 20th, with your favorite memory, favorite dish or request. Or just say hi and let us know you like the website! That can be either below this post, or on the post of your liking.

Past comments also count, so if you've posted in the past, no need to post again, unless you'd like to share something. I'll pick a random number, seek out that post and you may be the winner! Anonymous postings don't count.....

Thank you all for your likes, I am so grateful!

Gemberbolus

The last day in April, Queen's Day, with all its joyous festivities, is offset by a much more sobering and serious couple of days in early May.

It is on May 4th that the Dutch remember the victims, both military and civilian, of the war. Not just the Second World War but since 1961, Holland also remembers those who were killed during peace operations elsewhere.

On May 5th, the country celebrates Liberation Day, to commemorate the end of Nazi German occupation. Freed predominantly by Canadian troops, the war could not have ended soon enough for the Dutch citizens, as provisions were extremely scarce and many died during the hunger winter of 1944/45.

But for many, Liberation Day came too late. Amsterdam had a thriving Jewish population that influenced art, music, and all other aspects of life. Even the city's moniker, Mokum, was the Jewish name for the city: a "safe haven". Jews fled to the north from Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition, and found Amsterdam a welcoming city, hence the nickname. Until the war. Some fled, some hid, but many were taken away and were not heard from again. It's a dark page in our country's history. 

So today, in honor of those that lost their lives during those atrocious times, I'm baking a gemberbolus, or ginger roll. A traditional baked good that can still be found in many Dutch bakeries around Amsterdam, the ginger studded pastry is probably one of the most famous Jewish contributions to the city's baking repertoire. The bun is traditionally baked and served in an aluminum cup because it's very, very sticky.  

Gemberbolus

7 ounces of crystallized ginger

1 cup of water

3/4 cup and 3 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt

11 tablespoons sugar, divided

3 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons butter, divided, room temperature

Bring the cup of water and the ginger to a boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer for ten minutes. Set aside to cool. In the meantime, warm up the milk to 110F, add the yeast and let it proof. Mix it in with the flour and the salt, and add one tablespoon of sugar, and two teaspoons cinnamon. Mix well, add the egg and two tablespoons of butter, and knead the dough until it's soft and pillowy.

Oil a bowl, add the dough, cover and let it rise. In the meantime, drain the ginger but save the water. Add the ginger, 2 tablespoons of soaking water and 2 tablespoons sugar to a blender, and purée the mixture. Stir in a teaspoon vanilla.

Take four tablespoons of water, 4 tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of soaking water and 4 tablespoons butter and put it on the stove in a small saucepan. Bring it slowly to a boil, then let it simmer for ten minutes until you have a buttery syrup. Set aside to cool. The syrup will thicken as it cools.

Punch down the dough, and divide into 12 equal parts.

Mix four tablespoons sugar with one teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle a teaspoon on your countertop. Roll each piece of dough into a small ball, then roll it out into a rectangle on top of the sugar. Put a line of ginger purée in the middle of the dough, lengthwise, and fold the dough over to the top. Fold one more time, pinch the seams and carefully roll the dough in the sugar. Now take one side of the dough and roll it, roly-poly wise, onto itself. Tuck in the end piece. Do this with all the pieces of dough.

Turn on the oven to 350F. Brush the inside of the aluminum cups (or a muffin pan) with the syrup, and place each gemberbolus in a cup. You can put a little bit of ginger purée in the middle, if you wish. Cover the rolls and let them rest for about fifteen minutes while the oven heats up.

Before you place the rolls in the oven, pour a tablespoon of syrup over each bolus. Place your cups or muffin pan on a baking sheet, and bake the bolusses in about fifteen minutes. They don't need to be golden brown, just cooked in the middle. (Temp 190F, they're done).

Brush the rolls with more syrup when they come out of the oven, and let them cool. Eat warm, cold or heated up.

Oranjebitter

In April, on the 27th of April, the Kingdom of the Netherlands will explode into a big, orange frenzy. The whole country turns into one huge party: live concerts, yardsales and food, food, food everywhere. What's the joyous occasion? It's King's Day!

First observed as a national holiday in 1885, the celebration started as Princess Day, to honor then princess Wilhelmina's fifth birthday, on August 31st. When she became queen in 1890, at the very young age of 10, it was renamed Queen's Day, a title it has held since. When her daughter Juliana became queen, in 1948, Queen's Day moved from August 31st to April 30th, Juliana's birthday.

The logical step would have been to move the national holiday to January, the now former queen Beatrix's birthday, when she succeeded her mother Juliana in 1980. But by then, the traditional outdoor activities around Queen's Day had taken such root that moving to January would have quite possibly rendered all activities impossible to maintain. When William Alexander took the throne in 2013, and since then Queen's Day has become King's day, and celebrated on his birthday, April 27th. This Royal Day is, per definition, a festivity celebrated with others: outside, in parks, on the street, on the canals. It's the one day a year where, in a country that does not know weekly yard or garage sales, everybody displays all their sellable wares for others to buy.

It's also the one day a year, except for some national soccer events, that food will be colored orange: orange tompoezen, orange potato chips, orange cakes and, let's not forget that old traditional Dutch drink, the oranjebitter. Few like it, and even fewer people will order it outside of Queen's Day, but one cannot imagine this national holiday without a shot of bitter, orange-flavored booze.

Bitters are alcoholic beverages that are flavored with herbs, fruit and/or spices. Oranjelikeur, similar to a bitter but with the addition of sugar, was first heard of in 1620, but gained national appreciation after a member of the house of Orange, Willem I, became the nation's king in 1814. The drink was reintroduced, now as a nationalistic and patriotic beverage, and has remained as such ever since.

For a long time, bitters were very popular, but we like our beverages sweet nowadays, so slowly but surely the bitter manufacturers have been adding sugar back into the drink. Still nowhere as sweet as a liqueur, this oranjebitter does have some sugar to sweeten the flavor.

If you don't care for it as a beverage, try it sweetened over ice cream or in hot tea.

Oranjebitter
1 teaspoon whole aniseed
6 cardamom pods
1 large orange
1 large lemon
2 cups (500 ml) vodka
3 tablespoons sugar
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick

For the syrup
1 cup (236 ml) water
1 cup (200 grams) sugar

Scrub the orange and lemon, and peel thinly, without much pith. Juice the fruit and save the seeds. Dry the fruit peels and the seeds in a warmed oven or on a hot air vent, until crisp.

In a mortar, bruise the dried peel, the dried seeds, the aniseed, cardamom pods, and the three tablespoons of sugar with a couple of good stomps from the pestle: you're not grinding it, just breaking it up a bit. Scrape everything into a clean, large mason jar. Pour two cups of vodka on top and two cups of water, and the orange and lemon juice. Add the star anise and the cinnamon stick, give everything a good swirl and screw the lid on the jar.

Place the jar in a dark, room temperature area, such as your kitchen cabinet or in the broom closet by the water heater. Give it a careful shake every two or three days.

After three weeks, taste-test and see if you like the strength of the flavors. If yes, good. If not, screw the lid back on and let the jar sit for another week.

Now carefully line a strainer with a wet paper coffee filter on top of a clean jar, and pour the liquid into the strainer. Clear, golden orange liquid should now filter into the vessel below.

In the meantime, bring a cup of water and a cup of sugar carefully to a boil, stir it until the sugar has dissolved, and let it cool. Add enough to the oranjebitter to bring it up to the level of sweetness you like. Multiple tastings will be in order ;-). Whatever is left, serve cold over ice or straight.

Happy King's Day!!!

You can "enhance" the oranjebitter with a drop of red and yellow food coloring, to give it a more commercial orange look, or add a drop of orange essence to increase the orange flavor.

Rabarbermoes

As soon as we come out of the cold winter months, the first signs of spring (and of good eating) are on their way. Peultjes, or peas, are carefully poking their head out of the soil, and regardless of whether the IJsheiligen (the ice saints, more about these frosty figures later!) decide to freeze these first garden treasures or not, some vegetables are hardy enough to enjoy the cooler temperatures.

Rhubarb is one of those old-fashioned, ubiquitous vegetables that grows abundantly in fields, near homes and in gardens all over the country. It's a hardy plant that appeared on the Dutch gardening panorama in the early 1900s, and consequently showed up in the kitchen, although in a very limited variety: mainly as a side dish, jam, a compote or as a moes, or sauce.

Although rhubarb is an acquired taste, many do like the tangy, slightly astringent flavor. As a side dish, the stalks (either green or red, depending on the variety) are simmered down into a stringy, tangy supersour unsweetened vegetable moes and served either cold or warm with potatoes and meat. Not everybody's favorite choice of vegetable, I am sure, but rhubarb is supposedly very healthy, so there you go.

Sugar or other sweeteners like strawberries or pineapple are added during the preparation of jam, compote or sauce to add some additional flavor, although some will eat the stalk straight off the plant, often with a dash of salt. The leaves are poisonous, only the stalk is edible.

Rhubarb sauce can be made with just rhubarb (in which case the sugar is omitted and it's used as a savory condiment with meats) or with the sweet combination of strawberries, like in today's moes. Try pouring the sauce warm or cold over hangop, yoghurt, or make it into a fruit vlaai. A thicker sauce can be achieved by slowly simmering away some of the moisture, and can make a great rhubarb jam for beschuit or a slice of bread !

Rabarbermoes
2 lbs (1 kg) rhubarb stalks
2 cups (300 grams) strawberries
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
Pinch of salt

Wash and cut the rhubarb stalks into one-inch pieces. Wash the strawberries, hull, and slice them. Add the rhubarb and the strawberries to a Dutch oven or thick bottomed pan, add the sugar and salt, and toss. Pour half a cup of water in the pan, and slowly bring to a simmer. Cover the pot, and let the mixture simmer for twenty minutes, making sure the sauce doesn't burn.

When the rhubarb breaks up into stringy pieces, the sauce is done. Taste. Adjust the sweetness if necessary.

If you want jam, thicken the sauce with pectine according to the instructions on the package for canning, or with a little bit of cornstarch slurry for immediate consumption.

Gerookte Paling

"They'll be in next week", the fishmonger said when I called to see what happened to my order. "We're flying them in from Atlanta, so they'll still be alive when they get here. You don't mind killing them yourself, do you?". And he excused himself and hung up.

I sat there for a minute, wondering. I love food, and I love to eat. But I'm not very good at killing things. I mean, I don't mind squishing the odd ant that has found a way into my kitchen, or making a mosquito shaped splash on my bedroom wall, but anything bigger than that.....not so much.

So I talked to Frankwin, a Dutch friend who grew up in the province of Zeeland and had experience with these things. And to our sous-chef who was going to go into this eel adventure with me. And I looked online to see what the most humane way to have an eel go from icky slimey to yummie smokey was, and it seemed that there was no easy way.

All week I read about eels. How they start as little glass eels and swim their way around the ocean before finding a place to grow and get fat and tasty. How they have two skins, the outer one a slimy, icky one and a thinner black one, and that you have to strip the slimy one before you can do anything with the eel. And that there are very few eels left and so the price is high and the availability scarce. And how there's a better availability in other areas of the United States but somehow Idaho was not on the eel-map. Chris, a kind and encouraging reader of the blog, would even send me pictures of how to smoke eel (something he does frequently, and well!) and give me tips and suggestions for when the precious cargo would arrive.

Try to get the biggest pieces

But I did not get eel. Somehow the order was messed up, or they lost them on the plane, or something happened somewhere, but no eel for me. Which, quite honestly, was a bit of a relief, because I had not yet decided how I was going to tackle this whole eel-killing business. Phew!!

Nevertheless, the desire for smoked eel kept making waves in the back of my head, figuratively speaking. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the Asian market in Boise, shopping for completely unrelated items, and my eye spotted the word "eel" on a package in the freezer. Yes!!! Yellow eel steak from Vietnam, neatly cut into four inch pieces, peeled off its squishy coat, and best of all, frozen stiff. Deader than dead, and ready for cooking.

Smoked eel is a Dutch delicacy. The eel is long, fat and meaty, and one eel will easily feed two people. Gerookte paling, or smoked eel, is available at the visboer (fishmonger) or at one of the many local herring shacks around town. It's one of the many types of fish that people buy as a snack, much like the smoked mackerel or herring. Yellow eel is a younger, therefore thinner eel, but will do to get a taste of gerookte paling.

Gerookte Paling

Swimming in brine

2 packages (14oz each) frozen yellow eel
2 cups water
1 heaping tablespoon salt
Hickory chips

Thaw the eel, rinse it and place it in a container. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of salt in two cups of water and pour over the eel, making sure they're covered. Brine the eel in the fridge for at least three hours but not much more.

Pour off the brine, rinse the eel, pat it dry with some paper towels and allow it to air dry on a cookie rack or grill rack, something that will allow for air circulation. Smoke will adhere best to dry matter, so make sure the eel has a chance to dry on all sides. A small fan placed on the fish will speed things up. Don't spend more than thirty minutes.

Start the smoker and place hickory chips on your tray. Place the eel on the racks, close and smoke on low temperature for approximately 30 minutes. The skin will be golden and slightly wrinkly. Don't smoke the eel too hot, because the fat will cook out of it, and you'll be left with fish sticks, and not the right kind!

To eat the eel, especially the thinner yellow eel, it's easier to insert both thumbs into the rib cavity and gently pull the sides apart. Peel the meat off the skin (or the other way around, whatever comes easiest) and snack away! Bones and skin are not edible.

Eet Smakelijk!

Paasbrood

Previously published in the magazine Dutch, issue March/April 2012

The gathering of family and friends around the breakfast, lunch or dinner table is always a feast on First Easter Day. It was, especially for the Roman Catholic areas in the country, the first celebration after Lent and the one that broke the 40 day fast. For those that didn’t fast during that time, it was a Spring time event that warranted celebrating just for the sheer joy of better times ahead. The stark diet, whether for religious reasons or because winter rations were running out, was replaced by a day of abundance and good cheer. Children had saved their candy during Lent and were now allowed to dig into their sweet savings, and adults splurged on meat, eggs and fresh spring vegetables.

Eggs were, by definition, a sign of new life and a great source of protein to strengthen and gather energy after a cold, dark winter. Breads were enhanced with sugar, dried fruits and almond paste, and meat-filled soups were part of the tradition: all to celebrate with abundance the arrival of Spring, of new life and of warmer weather.

During these Easter days generally all stores are closed. Children are out of school during this time, and will dress in their "Paasbest" (Easter Best) with new clothes and shoes. Eggs are colored, hidden and if lucky, all found. Many remember missing at least one or two eggs: leave them be for several weeks and they’ll be hard to miss!
First Easter Day is usually celebrated with an extensive brunch. The table is set with the best china and some Spring flowers, and the spread will consist of luxury rolls and of course paasbrood, a cinnamon flavored rich bread, studded with golden and dark raisins, currants and citron and orange candied peels. The table would not be complete without various cold cuts, sweet bread toppings, a boterlammetje (butter in the shape of a small lamb), a couple of warm egg dishes and often a soup or something else savory such as a pasteitje (puff pastry shell) with egg or chicken ragout (gravy), and large amounts of coffee or tea.

Paasbrood can be served as a loaf or, as shown in the photos, as rolls, or shaped like paashaasjes.

Paasbrood (2 loaves)

1/2 cup (75 grams) golden raisins
1/2 cup (75 grams) dark raisins
1/3 cup (45 grams) currants
4 cups (600 grams) flour
2 1/2 tsp (7 grams) yeast
1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
Zest 1 lemon
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cup (300 ml) milk, warm
1 stick (115 grams) butter, melted
1 heaping tablespoon citron peel
1 heaping tablespoon candied orange peel

Place the raisins and the currants in a small saucepan, add a cup of water and bring to a simmer on the stove. Let it simmer for a good ten minutes, then turn off the heat and let the fruits sit. Proof the yeast in half a cup of the warm milk. Mix the flour, the sugar and the cinnamon, and slowly pour in the proofed yeast and the rest of the warm milk. Keep mixing and while the dough comes together, add in the egg, the melted butter and the salt, then mix and knead the dough until it comes together in a soft, pillowy dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turn it over so that both sides of the dough are greasy, cover the bowl and let it rise, away from cold drafts, for an hour or until doubled in size.

Drain the fruit and pat them dry with a towel. Toss the fruit with the candied peels and the lemon zest. Punch down the dough and carefully knead the fruit mix into the dough, until the mixture is well distributed.

Now divide the dough in half, shape them into loaves, grease two 9 x 5 (23 x 13 cm) bread pans and place the bread, seam down, into the pans. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes or until the dough fills the pans.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 350F/175C. Place the bread pans on the middle rack and bake golden in about 40 minutes. If the bread browns too quickly, tent the pans with a sheet of aluminum foil. Brush the tops with water when the bread is done and place them back on the rack for a minute, then take them out.

Paasbrood (6 large rolls)

Divide the dough into six equal parts, roll them into balls, cover and let them rise until puffy, about thirty minutes at room temperature. Make an incision in the top with some scissors and press an unboiled egg in the dough, making little nests. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, heat the oven to 350F/175C. Bake the breads for 30 minutes, or until done. 

Let the breads cool on a rack before you slice them. Serve with some good butter. Zalig Paasfeest!

Spekpannenkoek

All this talk about spekkoek last week left me with a taste for bacon! Luck would have it that yesterday, on March 30th, the Netherlands celebrated Pancake Day. The centuries-old tradition stems from the onset of Lent, a forty day fasting period that would lead straight into Easter. The Tuesday before Lent would be the last day that the believers were allowed to consume luxury items such as eggs, milk, butter, and meat. That day is known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, but has no particular name in Dutch.

And so neither is Pancake Day celebrated on that famous Tuesday, like in many other countries, but almost a month later, on March 30th. Schools engage in baking pancakes for the retirement homes in their neighborhoods, parents will bake pancakes for dinner that day, and kids are thrilled that there will be no Brussels sprouts, broccoli, or sauerkraut on the menu.

Lent or no Lent, pancakes are always a welcome sight at a lunch or dinner table, whether that's at home or at one of the many pancake restaurants around the country. The traditional flavor is sweet, with plain pancakes, apple pancakes or chocolate spread pancakes as the main favorites, but often savory pancakes are eaten as well. The most traditional of those savory delicacies is the spekpannenkoek, or the bacon pancake.

Choose your favorite bacon (thick sliced, peppered, hickory smoked, honey maple......the varieties are endless!) and experiment! This is a basic spekpannenkoek. To make it more interesting, you could sprinkle a handful of grated Gouda cheese on the pancake right before serving, or fry slices of apple with the bacon before adding the pancake batter.

Spekpannenkoeken
10 strips of your favorite bacon
2 cups (250 grams) flour
2 1/2 cups (500 ml) milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons (30 grms) butter, melted and room temperature

1 tablespoon (15 gms) butter for the frying pan (you may need more)

Cut the slices of bacon in three or four pieces, if desired. Stir the flour, two cups of milk, and the eggs together. Beat until the batter is smooth, and thin it with the remaining milk. Melt the two tablespoons of butter, let it cool a little bit, and stir this into the pancake batter. You are looking for a pourable batter. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat a 12-inch skillet, and add in ½ tablespoon of butter. Brown the pieces of bacon in the butter, turning them over as they crisp up. Remove them from the skillet and pour off any surplus fat, you want just enough to grease the bottom but nothing more. Add the bacon back in the pan, arranging it so that it's distributed evenly. Pour in half a cup of batter and carefully swirl the skillet so that the whole bottom surface is covered with a thin layer of pancake batter. Bake the pancake until the surface is dry, about two minutes. Then flip or turn the pancake over and cook the other side for another two minutes. Repeat until the batter is finished. If there is no more bacon left, bake plain ones, they are great with a bit of jam!

Stack the pancakes as you go and cover them with a clean kitchen tea towel while you bake the rest. Serve the spekpannenkoeken with appelstroop or pancake syrup.  Makes about ten large pancakes.

Spekkoek

For some foods you have to slow down, relax and take it easy. Long simmering stews on the back burner, bread dough slowly rising on the counter.... Hurrying will make it no better, or faster, and in the long run the patience exhibited is key to the wonderful, rounded flavors of the dish. So too with this Indonesian layered cake called spekkoek. Each layer is painstakingly spread, baked and brushed. Cakes will often count up to twenty layers: they sell for high prices on the market as time is money, and money is easily spent. One of these Sundays, treat yourself to some time in the kitchen. Get an easy chair, or a comfortable stool and park yourself next to the oven, monitoring each layer's progress carefully. You'll be so glad you did!

The name "spekkoek" initially doesn't sound very enticing: "spek" means bacon, or fat, and "koek" is cake or cookie. Fat cake just doesn't have that sort of  a ring to it where you want to drop everything you're doing and get yourself a slice. Much less two.

And yet, the Indonesian layered spice cake that is graced with such a...shall we say, unfortunate name, does look a little bit like bacon at first glance. The alternating light and dark layers could very well be considered a modernist rendition of a slice of bacon, but that's where all similarities end. For the rich, flavorful cake does not taste anything remotely like bacon, but contains a wonderful mixture of spices and sweetness instead.

The spekkoek is thought to be a Dutch adaptation to an Indonesian recipe, or perhaps a Dutch invention or an Indonesian rendition of a Dutch spice cake....who knows. Regardless of the fact how this tastebud-teasing cake came to be, it is a small work of art and a feat of patience. For each layer is to be baked separately, painstakingly slow. But not so slow that you can walk away from it. Because if you do.....dang! The whole thing burns and you have to start from scratch. Which is no fun.

This "thousand layer cake" is incredibly rich, and that's perhaps where its "fat" name applies. Ten eggs, two sticks of butter on merely two cups of flour, and a cup and a half of sugar......this cake is not for the faint of heart, neither in preparation nor in consumption. No wonder the layers are carefully counted in certain circles and if found lacking, considered to be the work of a "lazy housewife". Cakes should have at least ten layers or more in order to be respected and appreciated!

So, this time, no slicing thick pieces of spekkoek and devouring it in two bites or three. Neither the richness of the cake nor the time spent to make it allows for a quick snack. It is a cake to be taken in carefully, small bite by small bite, and shared with those we care most about.

Spekkoek

2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar, separated
10 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1/2 teaspoon cardamom, ground
1/4 teaspoon cloves, ground
1/4 teaspoon ginger, ground
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
parchment paper
1 tablespoon of flour

For brushing: melt 3 tablespoons of butter

Cream the butter with 1 cup of sugar until light golden and creamy. Carefully mix in two egg yolks at a time until all 10 have been blended in well. Mix in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, squeaky clean, whip the ten egg whites with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until stiff. Rub a little bit of whipped egg white between thumb and index finger to see if all the sugar dissolved: if not whip a little longer.

Sift the flour above the creamed butter mixture and carefully fold it in, until well blended. Then spoon the egg whites in the mixture and fold in. You should have a light, scoopable batter.

Divide the batter into two bowls, and assign a half cup measuring cup to each batter. Sift the spices above one and fold them in. Sometimes the fine spices do not fold in fully and create lumps: just squish them on the side of the bowl and fold them right back in.

Grease and flour an 8 inch spring form pan (the traditional form is round, but you are also welcome to bake the spekkoek in a bread pan or a square pan). Cut a circle out of parchment paper to cover the bottom of the pan and grease it as well. Flour the pan with a tablespoon of flour, tap the pan and remove any loose flour.

Heat the oven to 325F. Spray the inside of the measuring cup and scoop half a cup of spiced batter into the pan. Spread it along the bottom, so that it covers the whole pan. Now place the pan in the oven for several minutes and bake the first layer. Since it's a very thin layer, it only takes a few minutes. You want the layer to be baked and have a slight toasted top.

Remove the pan from the oven and carefully brush the layer with melted butter. Spray the inside of the second half-cup measuring cup and scoop out half a cup of the light batter on top of the baked layer, spreading it and making sure all areas are covered, preferably with the back of a spoon so the bottom layer doesn't rip. Put the pan back in the oven, but this time turn on the broiler.

Wait several minutes, remove the pan from under the broiler and check to see if the layer is baked and is lightly golden on top. If yes, brush with butter and add a layer of spiced batter. If not, return it to the oven and bake for a little while longer. On average, between brushing, spreading and baking you need about 8 to 10 minutes per layer. Keep track of which batter goes on top of which, you want to make sure you alternate the colors and flavors!

When the last layer is baked, brush it, and use a skewer to test the done-ness of the cake. Insert it in the middle, and if the skewer comes out clean, it's ready to cool down. If there is still some batter clinging to the skewer, turn off the broiler and bake the cake for several more minutes. Sprinkle the top with the powdered sugar.

Cool the spekkoek in the form, then carefully insert a knife around the edge and cut the edges loose: sometimes it will not release by itself. Carefully slice a piece of cake to admire and taste your hard work, then wrap it in plastic film and cover it with aluminum foil, to avoid the cake drying out.

Serve a thin slice with coffee, or as a well-deserved ending to a rijsttafel.

Saveur's Best Blog Awards 2012

Saveur, the top culinary magazine of America, is accepting nominations for their 2012 Best Blog Awards. If you enjoy reading the recipes and stories at The Dutch Table, please consider submitting us for a possible win! It would be a great way to get Dutch cuisine on the culinary map.

Click on this link: http://www.saveur.com/food-blog-awards/nominations.jsp and fill out the information, it will take less than a minute. Our website address is www.thedutchtable.com. Nominations close on March 29.

Thank you!

Zuurvlees

One of the drawbacks of living abroad is missing out on favorite foods. Sometimes it's not the food itself as much as the memory or the experience of eating it, and with whom. One such foods is "friet zuurvlees", a portion of french fries covered in a thick, sweet and slightly tangy beef stew. As soon as the smell hits me, I am transported back to two different places in time: one place is my grandma Pauline's small kitchen in Blerick, and the many, many times we sat at her table and ate this dish. The other place is, oddly enough, the Waterlooplein flea market in Amsterdam, where on Saturday mornings my friend Andy and I would often hit the patatkraam, a small stand that sold sodas, ice creams and french fries, to get a portion of zuurvlees with our fries.

Finding zuurvlees in Amsterdam is a treat in itself, as the tangy, sweet and tender beef stew is a traditional dish from the south of the Netherlands, more specifically from the province of Limburg. Traditionally made with horse meat, the current versions more than often uses beef instead.

Any southern frietkraam worth its name will offer "friet zuurvlees", preferably a homemade zuurvlees. Especially the city of Maastricht is famous for it, so as soon as the opportunity arose I took off to the Markt where I was told I could get a fantastic sample of my favorite food. Well.......not so much. The sauce was thin and riddled with dark specs, which I have yet to identify, and the flavor was off: not sour, not sweet.....it just tasted like a canned, watered-down version of the real stuff.

So, I figured it was time to hit the pots and pans again and make grandma Pauline's zuurvlees: nice chunky pieces of beef, and a thick gravy that clings to every golden french fry on my plate. Yum!!

Zuurvlees
2 lb (1 kg) beef chuck roast, cubed
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup (125 ml) white or red wine vinegar, or red wine
2 cups (500 ml) water
2 bay leaves
5 black peppercorns
2 cloves, whole
2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter
1 tablespoon appelstroop
2 slices ontbijtkoek

Put the beef in a non-reactive bowl, place the slices of onion on top and cover with the vinegar or wine and the water. Add two bay leaves, the peppercorns and the two whole cloves, cover and marinate for at least four hours, but preferably overnight. Make sure to stir the meat once or twice during this time so that all pieces have an opportunity to marinate.

Separate the meat from the marinade, and remove and discard the peppercorns. Pat the beef chunks dry with a towel, and salt and pepper them. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven and brown the meat. Drain the onions and brown with the meat, then add the marinade. Bring back to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the meat is tender, a good hour or two.

Now stir in the appelstroop, break the ontbijtkoek in pieces and add it to the sauce. Slowly simmer until the ontbijtkoek has dissolved. Taste, and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Serve hot over a plate of homemade patat and enjoy!

Vanillevla

Last week's recipe was hopjesvla, and I received great feedback on the blog, on Facebook and through email. Thank you all for your positive reactions, it looks like there are many vla-lovers out and about! Vla triggers childhood memories, as it is a comforting dessert, and one that is solidly engrained in Dutch culture. If you have been near, into, or grew up with Dutch cuisine, you have probably heard of, or even tasted, vla. It is the ultimate Dutch dessert.

But not everybody likes coffee, the predominant flavor in hopjesvla, so when I said I also tried a recipe for vanillavla, the requests came flying in. This is so easy to make, and tastes great. You probably  have all the ingredients at home already so let's get started! If you leave out the vanilla pod, you have the basic recipe for a simple vla: a great excuse to experiment with your favorite flavors. 

Vanillevla
1 vanilla bean
2 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 drop of yellow food coloring (optional)

Bring the milk to a simmer in a heavy saucepan. Slice the vanilla pod in half, lengthwise. Scrape the seeds from the pod and add both seeds and pod to the simmering milk. Leave it on a slow simmer on the stove for about ten minutes. Remove the pod.

Mix the cornstarch with the sugar and the egg yolks to a thick paste, stir in the vanilla extract. Add a tablespoon of warm milk to the mix, stir and repeat, as you want to bring the egg yolks up to temperature. Add a couple more tablespoons of warm milk, then stir everything into the saucepan. Bring up to heat, keep stirring until the vla thickens, about two minutes. (Taste to see if it's sweet enough or vanilla-ey enough, if not add a little bit more sugar or vanilla extract. Be careful though, it's hot!!!)

Take the saucepan off the stove. If you must have a supermarket yellow vla, stir in the drop of food coloring. If not, pour the vla a bowl and cover the top of the custard with food film: you don't want a thick skin to form as it cools. Let it cool, preferably overnight. Stir the vla with a spoon before serving. If it's too thick, add a tablespoon of milk at a time until you reach the right consistency. Enjoy it by itself, mixed with tangy yogurt or with fresh fruit. Lekker!

Hopjesvla

Vla is a dairy dessert that is so engrained in the Dutch kitchen, that you will find at least one or two packages of vla in every refrigerator. It's traditionally the most favorite dessert to finish a meal with, often poured into the same dish you were served your main course on (and some will say that the savory gravy leftovers on the plate will add that extra little "something" to the sweet vla), and eaten with a spoon.

Most often, people will have two or more favorite vlas: with a selection of over twenty flavors, it is easy to find several that you like. The most common flavors are of course vanilla and chocolate, but others like caramel, blanke vla (with a flavor that nobody has yet been able to define, it is simply called "white vla" or "blank vla", depending on how you interpret it), lemon, raspberry...you name it. Seasonal vlas include stoofpeertjes vla, or apple/cinnamon for the fall, and lighter ones, mixed with yogurt for the summer or spring.

But vla has always been one of those desserts that I didn't want to try and make at home: after all, how can you approach the flavor that has been carefully (and chemically) defined in dairy factories all over the country? Newer cookbooks don't mention vla anymore, but digging deep into the early and mid last century cookbooks brought up a few recipes. And I am so glad I did: it turned out to be much easier than I expected and definitely an improvement over any store-bought vlas!

Vla is, as far as I can tell, a typical Dutch dessert, and seemingly one of "recent" discovery. The cookbook of the Haagsche Kookschool from 1895 does not mention any vla: the closest recipe is one for vanilla sauce, but another cookbook, the Nieuw Praktisch Kookboek, first published in 1906 gives recipes for chocolate vla, vanilla vla and even almond vla. Hurray, the vla has been invented!!

And luckily for us, the coffee flavored candy Haagse Hopjes had been invented by then as well, so that the combination of flavor and dessert was just a matter of time......

Hopjesvla
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 cup strong, black coffee
2 teaspoons instant coffee (optional)
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 egg yolks

Heat a saucepan with a heavy bottom and add the sugar. Watch carefully as the dry sugar turns liquid and slowly colors golden. Monitor your heat carefully as sugar will go quickly from golden to burnt!

Mix the coffee with the milk and stir well to dissolve the instant coffee granules. When the sugar has caramelized CAREFULLY pour half of the milk in the pan. The sugar will seize up and harden, but by stirring and bringing the milk up to a slow boil, the caramel will soften and eventually dissolve. Continue to stir.

In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch with the two egg yolks and slowly add in the remainder of the coffee and milk. Now take a tablespoon of hot milk out of the pan and add it to the mixture, stir well and add another one. Do this three more times so that the egg/cornstarch mixture is up to temperature. Take the pan off the stove, and carefully stir in the egg mixture. Return the pan to the heat, and slowly bring up to boil, all the while stirring.

The vla will thicken in the next two to three minutes, and will be ready to take off the stove when it "gloops" i.e. air bubbles will come to the surface and instead of disappearing will leave small holes in the vla, making a "gloop" sound. That's the best I can describe it!

Pour the vla in a bowl, cover with plastic film to avoid the formation of a milk skin, and refrigerate until cold.

To achieve the pourable consistency, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of cold milk to the vla and stir it well before serving.

Poffert

Awwww.......it looks like the Elfstedentocht will have to skip another year. Again. The last time the Eleven Cities Tour race was skated (is that a verb?) was in 1997, and was won by Henk Angenent, a fine Brussel Sprouts grower from the province of South Holland. He finished the 200 kilometer race in 6 hours and 49 minutes and many a Dutch man, or woman, has been eager to beat his record since. But it looks like the weather is not cooperating this year either, so another year goes by without the excitement of Holland's largest speed skating event. Thankfully, there are still plenty of dishes from our northern regions to explore, so here we go!

The province of Friesland is proud of its province and its beautiful waterways, and it shows. As a matter of fact, the whole country is taking a larger interest in its own beauty, and several fantastic magazines dedicated to either outdoor living, backyard farming or covering certain regional areas have appeared on the store shelves.

During my visit this last January I came across one of those magazines, a beautiful publication called Noorderland. It covers the most northern region of the country, the provinces of Friesland, Drenthe and Groningen to be exact. Their winter photography of traditional Dutch landscapes was breathtaking, but what really got my attention was a gorgeous picture of a poffert. (Yeah I know, big surprise huh....what can I say!? I love Dutch food!!). The magazine itself was no longer on the shelf, but the editorial team was so kind as to send me a backcopy for which I am very grateful. Thank you, Noorderland!

The poffert, or boffert, is originally a northern dish. Not clear on whether it's originally from Friesland or Groningen, the poffert can also go by trommelkoek (tin cake) or ketelkoek (kettle cake), and is usually eaten as a meal, not as dessert or a coffee cake. It's heavy, thick and a real stick-to-your-ribs kind of baked good, but at the same time a fantastic and sweet discovery.

The Frisian cookbook "De Welkokende Vriesche Keukenmeid" from 1772 mentions the poffert and declares that the poffert is "zeer geschikt om op reis mede te nemen" (very suitable for traveling). And we're not surprised: besides being sturdy, it also holds well and becomes even better tasting after a day or two. Not to mention, whomever you will be visiting will be pleased to receive a slice or two!

While researching this recipe, I came across many different variations, as one can expect for a recipe that's been around for several centuries. The earlier mentioned cookbook adds six eggs to a pound of white flour, half a pound of melted butter, a spoonful of rosewater, a spoonful of yeast and some water. A later recipe adds raisins and apples. Other cookbooks suggest lining the cake pan with strips of bacon, then pouring in the batter so it becomes a more savory dish.

What most recipes agree on, though, is that the cake was meant to substitute a meal. No sugar is added to the initial batter, but the slices of bread cake are served with syrup, and if desired, some butter.

Poffert
1/4 cup dark raisins
1/4 cup golden raisins
3 each dried apricots
3 each dried figs
1 tablespoon preserved ginger
2 cups self-rising flour
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1 cup of milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground almonds (optional)
2 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons panko or breadcrumbs

For serving: pancake syrup, cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar

Soak the raisins in half a cup of water. Chop the apricots, figs and ginger and add them to the raisins, set aside to soak.

Add the flour to a mixing bowl and add three egg yolks, the milk, the butter and the salt. Mix well. Whip the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff, and fold them in with the batter. Lastly, drain and squeeze the dried fruits, then fold them into the batter, together with the brandy.

Spray some baking spray into your poffert pan (if you don't have a poffert pan, you can use a bundt or angel food pan and cover the top with aluminum foil). Add the panko or breadcrumbs and toss them around in the pan until all sides, and the little pokey part in the middle, are covered. Do the same with the lid. Tap out the remainder of the breadcrumbs. Carefully pour the batter into the pan and close with the lid. Only fill the form to about 75% of its capacity, as the batter will tend to rise.

Insert the pan into another pan with hot boiling water, but keep the water level at about an inch, an inch and a half,  below the rim of the poffert pan. Put a trivet on the bottom of the pan so that the surface of the poffert pan does not immediately touch the bottom of the water pan. Put something heavy on top so that the poffert pan doesn't float or tilt. Add hot water as needed.

Keep at a rolling boil for an hour. Remove from the pan, carefully (watch out for steam!!) remove the lid and insert a food thermometer or skewer to see if the cake is done. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done. If not return it to the water pan and continue to boil for another twenty minutes.

When the cake is done, replace the lid and put the pan in a 375F oven, middle rack for another ten to fifteen minutes. This will brown the panko and the outside of the poffert.

Tip the pan on a cookie rack, cool until warm, then slice and serve with syrup, butter or cinnamon sugar. If you feel adventurous, tie on some skates and get to practising, the next Elfstedentocht might be just around the corner!!