Appeltjes onder de deken

Sometimes recipes are hard to resist: either they have adorable names, or they are made with delectable ingredients. This week's recipe combines both: the name of the dish is Appeltjes onder de deken, meaning "little apples under the blanket", and the dessert dish has both apples and a thick, creamy, vanilla sauce, a winning combination. How can you say no!?

These "tucked in apples" as this recipe is aptly called, make use of a staple in the Dutch household: apples. It's a perfect dessert to get in the oven as you dish up the evening meal: by the time you are done and the plates are cleared, your apples will be baked and ready to be served. They are wonderful eaten warm, but will do just well at room temperature.

Apples are not foreign to the Dutch kitchen. We love our apple pie, apple turnovers, apple beignets and appelbollen! It should therefore not be surprising that yearly, over 300 million kilos of apples are harvested in the Netherlands. Of all those apples, a whopping half were of the Elstar variety alone. It is easily the most popular apple among the Dutch.

The Elstar apple was developed in the city of Elst, in the province of Gelderland, by a man called Arie Schaap. The Elstar combines the name of the city and the two first letters of Arie's name, in his honor. Since the apple's introduction in the seventies, it has quickly become a Dutch favorite and continues to be so to this day. The Elstar is a red and green apple, with creamy white flesh and a sweet and slightly tart taste, and is a cross between the Golden Delicious and the Ingrid Marie apple.

Other traditional Dutch varieties, which are becoming more and more difficult to find, are Notarisappel, Groninger Kroon, Sterappel, Dubbele Zoete Aagt, Eijsdener Klumpke and the more accessible Boskoop apple, also know as Goudreinet. This last one was developed in  1853 in Boskoop (South-Holland) by fruitgrower P.A. Ottolander. 

Elstar apples are hard to come by here in the United States, so I've used little Gala apples instead. The Elstar has a sweeter taste but the Gala will do for tucking in, so to say. If you have space in your garden, you may consider planting an Elstar tree or any of these other old fashioned Dutch varieties! It takes a bit of looking but they can be found at nurseries.

For this recipe, you traditionally do not peel the apples. I used a packaged vanilla pudding for the sauce, but you are welcome to use your favorite custard recipe, or vanilla vla, or make your own.

Appeltjes onder de deken
1/2 cup mixed dried fruits*
1/2 cup (125 ml) apple juice
2 tablespoons brandy (optional)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
4 small size Gala apples
2 packages vanilla pudding (cook and serve, 4.6oz/130gr each)
6 cups (1.5 liter) milk

Mix the dried fruits with the apple juice, brandy, brown sugar and the cinnamon stick and let it soak overnight if possible, but at least a few hours. 

The next day, heat the oven to 375F (190C) while you prepare the hot sauce. Wash the apples and cut in half, top to bottom. Remove the core (I use a teaspoon sized measuring spoon for a nice, even round). Pour half of the sauce on the bottom of a large baking tray - the tray has to hold 8 apple halves- and keep the rest warm and covered!**

Place the apples, cut side up, on top of the vanilla. Stir the dried fruit and put a heaping tablespoon in each apple hollow. Continue until the fruits have been distributed evenly.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve the apples hot at the table, and pour the rest of the hot sauce over the apples right before you serve, tucking them in under a nice, warm blanket.....

Eet smakelijk!

* Use what you have: mix up dark raisins, golden raisins, currants, cranberries, chopped up walnuts, almonds or pecan.

** It's a little bit more work, but I prefer making the second batch of vanilla pudding when the apples are baking - right before they come out of the oven. That way, I have piping hot custard to pour over the apples! 

Pruimenvlaai

"Aan een boom zo volgeladen mist men vijf, zes pruimen niet" wrote Hieronymus van Alphen, the known Dutch poet, pointing out that "on a tree so richly filled five, six plums will not be missed". That must be what the squirrels are thinking as, each day upon return from work, I find half-eaten, half-buried plums in my gardens. The tree, however, does not seem less laden for it.

As cute as the little rascals might be, and as willing I am to share the wealth, it is time to put the ripe fruit to good use. Plum jam is always an option, but I am rather partial to vlaaien, the Limburg version of tarts or pies. And seeing as how this afternoon I am expecting company for coffee, a plumb tart or pruimenvlaai seems to be just the ticket!

Limburg vlaaien use a rich yeast dough for the base of their tarts and pies instead of a flaky crust. It is reminiscent of the fact that these particular pies originated from the leftovers of bread dough at the bakery, and at home. The last remaining pieces of dough would be rolled out, flattened and covered with jam, pieces of fruit or sometimes even just a sprinkle of sugar.

The province of Limburg has a large variety of vlaaien, from sweet and tangy (apricot) to rich and creamy (rice), and just about everything in between. The traditional black plum tart, zwarte pruimen vlaai, is made with dried Italian plums, or prunes, and was made during wintertime when fresh fruit was not available. But since this is (late) summer, and plums are abundantly available, we'll make a fresh plum vlaai instead.

As for Dutch plums, there aren't many, which might explain why there is a distinct lack of plum recipes in the many Dutch cookbooks from the last century. Some varieties are Vroege Tolse, Eldense Blauwe, Reine Claude van Schouwen, and the Dubbele Boerenwitte that was mentioned as early as 1790 in J.H.Knoop's "Pomologie of Kennisse der Vruchten" publication. If you have space for a fruit tree, it might be fun to plant one of these Dutch varieties!

Pruimenvlaai

1/3 cup milk and 2 Tbsp (100 ml), lukewarm

1 1/2 teaspoons (5 grams) active dry yeast

1 3/4 cup (250 gr) all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons (30 grams) sugar

1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) salt

1 egg

1/2 stick butter (55 gr), soft at room temperature

For the filling:
1 package vanilla pudding, prepared with half the amount of liquid
About 15 ripe plums, washed, pitted, and quartered.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, and let it proof while you measure out the rest of the ingredients. Add the flour to a mixing bowl, sprinkle the sugar on top and give it a stir. Now pour the milk with the yeast on top and start mixing. As the dough comes together, add in the egg and a bit later the salt. Add the soft butter and let the whole mixture come together while you need it into a soft dough. (You may need to add a tablespoon or two of milk in case the dough turns out to be a bit dry).

Form the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl, cover and let it rise.

In the meantime, make the filling. You could use a package of vanilla pudding to make it easy on yourself but if you have the time, try making this pastry cream - half the recipe will do.

Grease a large pie pan (11 inches/28cm), or vlaaivorm, and roll out the dough into a large circle. Transfer it to the pan, and cut off any excess dough you may have. Poke holes in the dough so that it doesn't seize up while baking. Pour the vanilla pudding or pastry cream on top, then arrange the quartered plums. Bake at 400F/200C for 25 minutes - sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the plums and bake for another five minutes. When you take the vlaai out of the oven, sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar over the fruit and let it cool.

It's great served by itself, with a big dollop of whipped cream or, the American way, with a scoop of ice cream!

Happy King's Day everyone!

What better cake to celebrate with - a traditional Dutch slagroomtaart!! 

Janhagel

These first days of Spring - as the first flowers awaken and the most courageous of the birds dare to sing their song - make a Dutch housewife antsy. After a long, cold and dark winter it is time for the Grote Schoonmaak, otherwise known as Spring cleaning. It's time to open the windows, to bring out the furniture and to let the fresh air blow the cobwebs away! Nowadays, we don't have half of the work our grandmothers or great-grandmothers had to do. In those days, all the furniture would be put outside, the heavy mattresses on the beds would be lifted and aired out and every single corner of the house, every room from top to bottom, would be washed down from ceiling to floor with buckets of sudsy water.


Curtains and bed linens were washed and dried out on the "bleek", a grassy area behind the house that was mowed short for that purpose. Sunshine and fresh air would help to remove the yellow hue and washing liquid odors from the fabric and give it a fresh smell. This was also the time that heavy rugs and mats would get a good beating to get rid of all the dust. Who remembers those rug beaters?

Spring cleaning was also the moment that the ceilings would be whitewashed, all the wood furniture would be rubbed with oil or wax and the rooms would be redecorated with new wallpaper. As you can imagine, it would sometimes take several days to get it all done. Many of the neighborhood women or relatives would come over and help with the heavier loads, especially the mattresses. It was therefore custom that the woman whose mattresses were put out that day would offer this particular cookie (beddenkoek, another name for janhagel) with the afternoon coffee.

Advertisement in paper from 1925.

Not many women had the time to bake during this period of intense cleaning, so bakers in the area would bake and sell Schoonmaak Janhagel during a couple of weeks at the end of winter. After all, Spring cleaning had to be done before Easter, because that was the time of renewal, of new life. It was also the time of year that plenty of family members would be coming over for Easter lunch and you would not want to be caught dead with year-old wallpaper, nicotine and smoke yellowed ceilings and dirty rugs! Oh the shame!!!


But not everybody enjoyed Spring cleaning, as this site confirms. Instead of working up a sweat cleaning and scrubbing, some people would move house during the weeks before Easter and so avoided having to do any cleaning or wallpapering in their current house. Housing regulations stated that all newly rented homes should come with freshly painted and wallpapered walls and a month of free rent, courtesy of the housing agency. It still meant taking out all the furniture and rugs, but instead of moving it back in the same house, they would move it into a freshly painted and wallpapered house, often two doors down from the old one! Smart, or cheeky? You decide!

Either way, all this (reading about) cleaning might have made you tired, so it's time to put your feet up and have a cup of coffee. This cinnamon flavored cookie is quick to make and will make your house smell wonderful, so treat yourself to a janhagel, whether you've cleaned the house or not!*

Janhagel 
2 sticks butter (230 gr)
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
Topping:
1 egg
1/3 cup shaved almonds
1/4 cup coarse sugar**


Heat oven to 350F. Using the paddle on a mixer, combine the butter with the sugar  until it looks like coarse sand, then add in the egg. Combine the salt, flour, cinnamon and baking powder and add it to the mixer and let it turn, on medium, until the dough comes together - all the dry ingredients should be incorporated and you should have a cohesive whole.

Remove the dough, pat it down into a circle and wrap it in plastic - then refrigerate for about 30 minutes. This should allow the butter to set up (better baking results). When it has rested, roll the dough out (not too thin!) into a square (or trim the edges) onto parchment paper or a silicone mat. Beat the egg and brush the top of the dough, then sprinkle almonds and sugar on top. Don't forget to sprinkle all the way to the edge! Don't cut the cookies yet, you will do that when they come out of the oven.

Bake the slab of cookie dough golden in about 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven and cut with a knife or pizza cutter while they are still warm. The average size is about half a playing card - but you can divide the dough into equally sized rectangles and make them as big as you wish! The cookies will harden as they cool.

By this time, whomever is in the house will come and see what you are up to - these cookies smell amazing! Explain to them that these are "schoonmaak" cookies and that you can only get one if your room is clean. Just kidding....but hey - it might just work!

Makes about 25 cookies. 

*There is always tomorrow, but if you really would like some motivation to get started, I can highly recommend this website. BabySteps!

** This is the coarse sugar I use for these cookies. We are Amazon Associates so any purchase through this link will provide is with a tiny compensation which helps to keep the website running. 

Citroenlimonadesiroop

I've been wanting to make ranja, lemonade syrup, for a while now and when I spotted these Meyer lemons I knew I had the perfect fruit for it. Meyer lemons (Citrus × meyeri) are hard to find and only have a short season but when they make their appearance on the shelves in grocery stores and produce sections, they disappear quickly. These lemons are thought to be a cross between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange, and were discovered in China by Dutch botanical explorer Frank Meyer (née Frans Meijer). The flesh of this fruit is less acidic and a tad more sweet, lending it perfect for our purpose today.

Lemons aside for a moment, this Frans Meijer was an interesting man! Born in Amsterdam in 1875 as Frans Nicholaas Meijer, he showed an early interest in plants and worked in the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam. Meijer emigrated to the United States in 1901 and started working for the United States Department of Agriculture. He naturalized in 1905 and changed his name to Frank Meyer. Frank lead several plant exploring expeditions into Central Asia until his death in 1918: and on one of those expeditions he discovered the lemon that is now named after him. That's his picture next to the glass of lemonade. Quite the handsome fellow!

Now, ranja is one of those childhood memories that are hard to forget. The sweet orange or lemon flavored lemonade was a special treat during birthday parties and summer festivities when we were kids, long before commercial carbonated beverages made their way into the household. A splash of sweet syrup was mixed with cold tap water in a glass and stirred, and you were good to go! Nowadays, only the youngest of children will sometimes get ranja: most kids will prefer carbonated lemonades or colas over the sweet, non-sparkling beverage.

The actual name for the syrup is limonadesiroop, but Ranja was a brand name that became the common name for all lemonade syrups, regardless of their flavor. Popular tastes were lemonade, orange, reine claude (a bright green syrup!) and strawberry.

Limonadesiroop, or ranja, is very easy to make.  You can substitute the amount of of lemon juice for orange or strawberry juice, or make your own version with fresh herbs (mint, lavender, basil) to make a refreshing drink this summer. I often use carbonated soda water to mix with ranja for that extra refreshing zing.

"Zij dronk ranja met een rietje, mijn Sophietje" sang Johnny Lion happily, in the 1960's. Now you can, too!

Citroenlimonadesiroop
2 cups (475 ml) lemon juice (from about 8 to ten Meyer lemons)
4 cups (800 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid

Strain the lemon juice through a coffee filter or cheese cloth to get a clear juice. Bring the lemon juice and sugar to a boil in a non-reactive pan on the stove. Turn down the heat to low and skim the foam off the surface several times. Let simmer for a good five minutes, then stir in the citric acid. When the granules have dissolved, cool down the syrup to room temperature and store in clean, sanitized bottles.

The syrup should be refrigerated and used relatively quickly - within a couple of weeks. The citric acid will prevent rapid spoilage, but any signs of mold, foam or discoloration on the syrup after storage indicates that the syrup is not fit for consumption and needs to be discarded. If you don't drink ranja that often, it's better to cut the recipe in half and make small batches.

Proost, Frans!

 .

Happy New Year!

The last day of 2015 - thank you for a wonderful year! 

The Dutch Table is planning some new and exciting changes for 2016 and we can't wait to share it with you. In the meantime, have a wonderful, safe and gezellig New Year's Eve, make fun plans for 2016 and above all, stay happy and healthy. 

We'll see you on the other side!!!

Tijmsiroop

The taste of tijmsiroop always brings back a particular memory from my Dutch childhood. I must have been around eight or nine years old. It's cold outside, and it's late in the evening. It's a school day but I'm pretending to not feel very good. My throat hurts a little. "Mom," I call out, "my throat hurts. I don't think I can go to school tomorrow." I even try to make my voice sound a bit raspy, a bit scratchy. For good measure, I throw in a cough or two: uche-uche.... "See? I think I'm too sick for school." 

My mom, of course, is not deceived by my pathetic theatrics. I can't see her but I'm sure she's rolling her eyes at me. Another bout of fake coughing..uche-uche-uche... this time a bit louder so I can be sure she hears me. "Mama! I'm still coughing. Maybe I could have a little bit of hoestsiroop? I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow!" I can hear her chuckle before she comes upstairs with the bottle of cough syrup. She obviously doesn't believe me, and she knows that I know. That's alright though, because I am about to get my prize: a spoonful of thyme cough syrup!

Tijmsiroop, or thyme syrup, is a cough medicine that is safe for kids to take and it's the flavor of many Dutch adults' childhood, much like cherry-flavored cough syrup is here in the United States. Thyme syrup is available over the counter at the local pharmacy, apotheek, and it tastes great! It is sweet, sticky and has that typical herbal thyme flavor to it - not too much, but just enough. It used to be sold in small brown bottles and make us feel oh-so grown up when we were sick enough to get a spoonful!!! Of course, you would never get more than the recommended dosage, because even though it was safe for kids, it was still supposed to be medicine and make you feel better. Especially if it was obvious that you just coughed and sputtered so that you could have a taste! Ahem....

And it's been around for a long while - an advertisement from the Graafschap Bode, from March 2nd 1932, shows that J.W. Kroon recommends tijmsiroop, among other interesting sounding concoctions, against "hoest en verkoudheid", coughs and colds.

Best of all, it's easy to make. If you've never had it before, it may become a safe addition to your natural medicine cabinet - if you have, it will be a pleasant memory from days past. You can take a spoonful directly from the bottle, or stir it into a glass of hot tea, or milk - it's sure to soothe any sore throat, upcoming cold or nasty cough (even fake ones!). Beterschap!

Tijmsiroop
1.5 oz of fresh thyme, rinsed (preferably organic)
3 cups water
2 cups sugar

Bring the water to a simmer and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Lower the heat on the stove, and add the thyme (stems and all) to the pot. Cover and simmer on low for twenty minutes: don't boil, but just barely simmer.

Remove the thyme from the liquid. Test the remaining liquid to see how syrupy it is. If it's too watery, just let the liquid simmer uncovered and reduce it to about 2 cups. Cool and store in a jar, in the fridge. Don't hold it for longer than a month or two.

If you wish, you can use honey instead of sugar, or add fresh ginger, a pinch of cinnamon, or a splash of lemon or lime juice to make this thyme syrup your own. 

Rabarbervla

We tend to think of rabarber, rhubarb, as a typical Dutch vegetable. Many of us remember the ubiquitous rhubarb plant in the moestuin, the garden, of our grandparents. Some of us chewed on a stalk or two when thirsty, others stayed away from it as far as possible. And not without reason: the astringency of rhubarb is enough to make your face pucker!

Rhubarb made it to the Netherlands in the early 1700's - not the stalks, but the root of the rheum rhabarbarum was popular at the time: it had laxative properties for those in need of such medicine and was much desired by merchants and apothecaries alike. Het Nederlands Magazijn, a popular publication in the 1900th century, discusses both Chinese and Russian rhubarb, and mentions several other varieties. In the Netherlands, once rhubarb was introduced, through the English, who already mention recipes with rhubarb stalks in the mid to late 1800's.

However, the Dutch did not embrace this plant until the late, late 1900s. Although recipes are still limited to sweet concoctions such as rabarbermoes, rabarbersiroop, rabarbercake and rabarbervlaai, the country is slowly but surely tapping into the many possibilities of this versatile tangy, oxalic-acid rich vegetable. The people at the famous Historische Groentenhof, the historical vegetable courtyard, are returning Dutch heirloom rhubarb varieties from elsewhere, with names as Donkere Bloedrode, Scheemdermeer, Amersfoorter Roem and Zwolse Rode.

Restaurants in the country are getting ready to celebrate their second annual Dutch Rhubarb Week, from the 18th through the 28th of June. And these chefs are not just cooking pastries and pies with it, but branch out into every aspect of their culinary experience: rubs, marinades, soups and even a rhubarb liqueur is on the menu!

As for us here at The Dutch Table, we're making one of our most favorite summer desserts: rabarbervla, or rhubarb pudding. It's a tangy, sweet, creamy type of pudding that is easy to make, and is very refreshing! We don't add sugar to the rhubarb until after the warm sauce is made and cooled off: this way it takes less sugar to sweeten it.

Rabarbervla
1 lb rhubarb, washed and diced (approx. 4 cups)
1/2 cup water
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Optional: strawberries*

Put the diced rhubarb on the stove with the 1/2 cup of water, and simmer slowly, for about fifteen minutes, or until the pieces are soft and falling apart. Mash them with a fork until all the lumps are gone. In a separate bowl, stir the two egg yolks with the corn starch. Add a tablespoon of hot rhubarb sauce to the eggs and stir until the rhubarb is incorporated. Do this two or three more times: you are tempering the eggs to the temperature of the rhubarb, so that when you stir in the egg yolks you don't end up with scrambled eggs! Now, stir the egg yolk mixture into the remaining sauce in the pan and stir, on medium heat, for a minute or two until the mixture thickens. When you are able to trace a line on the bottom of the pan and the sauce does not immediately fill in the void, it's done. Set aside and cool.

When the sauce is sufficiently cooled, stir in the 1/4 cup of sugar. Taste. If it's too tangy, add a little bit more, but not too much, as the whipped cream is also sweetened.

Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form, adding two tablespoons of sugar** at the end. Save about half a cup, and fold the rest into the cold rhubarb. Sometimes, the acidity of the rhubarb will cause the whipped cream to curdle: you'll see small dots of white in the sauce. If this happens, don't panic: take a stick blender to the sauce and the lumps will disappear.

Pour the vla in four chilled cups, add a dollop of whipped cream on top and garnish with a strawberry or a lange vinger. 

** You are welcome to add up to half a cup of chopped strawberries to the sauce: it will make it sweeter and more red.

*You can also use sweetener or vanilla sugar, if you'd like.

Spruitjesstamppot

Your kids will most surely not be impressed when they hear you're serving spruitjes for dinner. And let's face it, quite a few adults will also pout at the thought. The thing with Brussels sprouts is that you either love them, or you hate them, but few are indifferent to the enticing (or revolting, depending on what side you're on) taste of spruitjes.

Brussels sprouts, those little miniature green cabbages on a stalk, have been grown for centuries in Europe, reportedly brought in with the Romans, presumably grown in Brussels (hence the name), although the history is a bit lacking on the initial provenance of the vegetable. I guess even back then spruitjes weren't all that much to get excited over. It never deterred the Dutch, though. Whether you prefer them boiled, mashed, shredded..... the Dutch have a recipe for it. We love our spruitjes!

And why not? The good-natured sprout is chock-full of vitamin C. One cup of these lovely green leafy marbles provides you with one and a half times your daily value of vitamin C. I mean, really! That's more than an orange will give you any day.

And this wintry weather sure asks for plenty of vitamin C. Many of us are still trying to recover from a nasty cold *cough*. Another thing we can never get enough of is a good stamppot. Let's face it, it's the ultimate Dutch comfort food: a plate of steaming stamppot , whether it's hutspot, zuurkool, boerenkool or hete bliksem, has chased many a winter blues away. And today we're adding spruitjesstamppot to the list!

The key to spruitjes cooking is time: not too long, so as to maintain the amount of vitamins, but also to avoid the well-known "spruitjeslucht", the smell of overcooked sprouts. Mixed in with the vegetables, spruitjes lose some of their dreaded bitterness and become palatable even to the most fervent sprout-hater. And if it doesn't? Well, hey, more for you! ;-)

Spruitjesstamppot
1 tablespoon (15 grams) butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced
4 fresh bratwurst
1 cup (250 ml) water
1/2 beef bouillon cube
1 bay leaf
2 lbs (1 kg) potatoes
1 lb (500 grams) Brussels Sprouts
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Melt the butter in a skillet and fry the onions until golden brown. Take out of the skillet and set aside. Now fry the brats in the skillet until brown. Lower the heat, add the onions back in the pan. Add a cup of warm water, half a beef bouillon cube and a bay leaf to the pan, cover and let the meat simmer on the back burner.

In the meantime, peel, wash and quarter your potatoes.  Wash the sprouts, cut the hard bottom end off if needed (after being cut off the stalk, the bottom end of the sprout will dry out and become hard) and cut the bigger sprouts in half. Put the potatoes, with a generous pinch of salt and just enough water to cover them, on the stove and bring to a boil. Cover with a fitting lid.

After ten minutes, add the Brussels sprouts on top of the potatoes, cover and boil for another ten minutes. Lift the lid and see it the potatoes are done - the sprouts should be bright green by now! If the potatoes are done (it should be easy to poke a fork right through the potato) and the sprouts seem tender as well, take the pan off the stove. Drain the cooking liquid but do not throw it away!

Mash your potatoes and sprouts - if you have a potato masher, that's great, if not just use a large fork. Blending or whipping potatoes in a mixer will turn the whole thing into a glue-like paste! Pour a quarter cup of cooking liquid into the mashed potatoes and fold in the liquid. Taste (careful, it's hot!!). Do you like the texture, or is it too crumbly? If you want it smoother, add another quarter cup of liquid and fold it in again. Also adjust your salt at this time.

Mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with a quarter cup of cold water and stir well. Take the brats and the onions out of the pan, bring the gravy to a boil and stir in the cornstarch slurry until the gravy thickens.

Serve a steaming plate of spruitjesstamppot, add a bratwurst and pour some onion gravy over it, and eet smakelijk!!

Kwast

We're sick. Well.....not full-blown sick, but we have a case of the sniffles and the coughs. And we're not feeling very good. We're a little bit ziekjes. And our throat also hurts a tiny little bit, too. So tonight we're going to bed early and see if we can sweat it out. Usually, we have a cup of anijsmelk as our night cap, but not tonight. Tonight, we're having a mug of kwast. Oma's orders!

The Dutch have a small variety of hot beverages that all seem to serve a purpose: anijsmelk (sweet hot milk flavored with anise) to lull us to sleep, zopie (warm Bock beer with cinnamon, sugar and eggs) to warm us up after hours of skating on the ice, and kwast to knock out the evil spirits of upcoming or lingering colds. Kwast especially is one of those beverages that has become a much-relied-on home remedy, a grandma staple, for when you're suffering from a cold. Whether it *really* helps or not is disputed - but the extra vitamin C and the increased body temperature that comes from drinking something hot while covered with blankets may have very well something to do with it.

Kwast is a hot beverage made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, hot water, sweet and comforting honey and, for those that desire a bit more fortitude, a splash of alcohol. It's especially popular during this time of year when a good night's sleep, an extra dose of vitamin C and a way to sweat out those first signs of a cold are needed!

So without further ado, we're heading to bed, mug in hand. And while we sip our hot, lemony kwast carefully, we tuck ourselves in under het dekbed, the duvet, looking forward to a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is another day!

Sleep well and beterschap!

Kwast
Small lemon, half
8 oz water or lemon-flavored lemonade (240 ml)
1 heaping teaspoon honey
Optional: splash of whisky, rum or brandy

Juice the lemon half and add the juice to a mug or heat-resistant glass. Bring the water or lemonade to a simmer, pour it over the lemon juice. Stir in the honey. Let it cool a little bit and taste. If you'd like it sweeter, add a bit more honey. Stir in the splash of whisky, rum or brandy, if desired.

Sip slowly while covered with blankets, and feel better in the morning!

We made the Top Ten of Hottest Dutch Food Blogs!

We hope that 2015 is going to be a very happy and amazing, creative, tasty and gezellig year for all of our readers!

For The Dutch Table, the year starts well. We are proud to be listed in Trendbubbles Top Ten of Hottest Dutch Food Blogs! Click the link to see who the other nine are, and find some great blogs for Dutch food and recipes.

http://trendbubbles.nl/de-10-hotste-nederlandse-foodblogs/

Bisschopswijn

Sometimes, when it's really cold outside and you need a serious boost of warmth, a cup of coffee will simply not do. Those days that a frosty winter wind chills you to the bone, little to nothing will satisfy the need for heat, unless it's a glass of steaming, sweet and spicy mulled wine.

The Netherlands, as many other Northern countries, has its own version of a warming, citrus and spice flavored wine drink. It's perfect for warming up after spending a blistery cold afternoon skating on the canals! The concept of hot wine is thought to have been introduced by the Romans, who already heated wine for drinking as early as the 2nd century. During their travels, they brought their beverages with them, and the rest as they say is history. Virtually every country that has access to wine and cold weather has some variety of mulled wine, as can be seen here. Each country used particular fruits and spices: the Scandinavian countries for example often add cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger: three flavors that are also readily found in their baked goods.

The Dutch call their mulled wine bisschopswijn, or bishop's wine. It is a sweet red or white wine, flavored with citrus (but oranges only), cloves, star anise, and cinnamon. The warm wine is predominantly consumed during those early days of December, when that other bishop, Sint Nicolaas, is in the country. Surely Sinterklaas is quite fond of the sweet concoction himself!

Nevertheless, don't let the time frame hold you back. Bisschopswijn can be enjoyed any day of the year you need a quick, comforting and warming drink!

Bisschopswijn
1 bottle of sweet wine or juice (red or white) (750 ml)
1 orange
3 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise pods
5 whole cloves
Sugar or honey (optional)

Add the red wine to a small saucepan on the stove, and add the cinnamon sticks and anise pods. Cut the orange in half lengthwise and stud one half with the cloves. Cut the other half in even slices. Add everything to the pan, and let it simmer for thirty minutes. Don't allow it to come up to a boil as the alcohol will evaporate - a large warming feature of this mulled wine is the fact that the alcohol content is preserved.

Taste and adjust the sweetness, if needed, with sugar or honey. You can add some hot water if the wine is too strong, or substitute half of the wine with cranberry or pomegranate juice for a lower alcohol level. Using only juice in combination with the fruit and the spices makes it a child-friendly drink. Serve warm or hot!

Amandelbroodjes

The month of December could just as well be called "almond month". It's when specialties such as gevulde speculaas, banketletter, banketstaaf, and kerststol show up in bakeries and cafés, and at coffee time with friends or family. For many, these Dutch pastries and breads signify the welcome arrival of the winter festivities, such as Sinterklaas and Christmas.

These baked goods all have almonds in common: they're filled with the sweet, slightly sticky substance called "amandelspijs" or almond paste, that is so loved by many. Almonds have been part of our baking history for many centuries: the earliest Middle Dutch cookbook "Wel ende edelike spijse" already mentions a variety of almond dishes, such as almond butter and almond bread porridge. It seems that we developed a sweet tooth and a craving for almonds early on!

Today's pastries are called "amandelbroodjes". These almond filled treats used to be so popular that a Protestant church in The Hague sold them by the thousands to finance their new chapel! Its name literally translates to "almond rolls", but they're hardly rolls. They're more like the apple turnovers, or appelflappen, that we're familiar with. The good thing is that they're easy to make, and quick to bake. The bad news is that they'll disappear in no time, as they are absolutely delectable. It's hard to deny yourself the pleasure of biting into a warm piece of banket!

Amandelbroodjes

1 lb (450 grams) almond paste

or
8 oz* (225 grams) slivered almonds
8 oz (225 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon almond essence or extract
1 large egg
Zest of 1/2 lemon

8 squares of puff pastry (approx. 5x5 inches/12 x 12 cm)

Coarse sugar

Divide the almond paste into 8 equal pieces. If making your own paste for the recipe, add the almonds, the sugar, the almond essence, one large egg and the lemon zest to a food processor, and pulse repeatedly until the paste comes together. It should be sticky but stiff, and you should still be able to see itty-bitty pieces of almond and sugar crystals.

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Take each piece of almond paste and roll it into a small log. If it sticks, sprinkle a little bit of powdered sugar over it. Lay out the pieces of puff pastry on your counter. Brush the inside of the puff pastry with a little bit of water, and place each log slightly to the right of the middle (see picture above). Fold the dough over so that the long ends meet, and pinch the dough together or use a small fork to push the tines into the dough and sealing it. Brush a little bit of water on the top of the turnover and dip it into the coarse sugar.

When all turnovers have been filled and folded, you can place them in the fridge until you are ready to bake. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and cover with plastic so they don't dry out. You can wrap and freeze any leftover almond paste. 

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and puffy. No worries if they look too big, the dough will slightly collapse as it cools!

Almond paste gets really, really hot, so don't bite into a hot amandelbroodje just yet.....let it cool until warm to the touch - that's when they're at their best!

* Volume ounces are different than weight ounces. A full measuring cup of 8 volume ounces does not necessarily equal 8 weight ounces: imagine the difference between a cup of feathers and a cup of lead! The ounces for this recipe are by weight, not by volume.  

Koffie Verkeerd

The enjoyment of coffee drinking is nothing new to the Dutch. Public coffee houses, where the caffeine-laden beverage could be enjoyed, have been part of the city landscapes since the early seventeenth century. Traditionally, only men visited these koffiehuizen, to talk about politics, read newspapers, smoke pipe tobacco and do business while drinking cups of hot, steaming coffee. Women seldom, if at all, entered these public houses, and preferred to consume coffee and tea at home.

Slowly but surely, coffee became an integral part of the day as it was served with breakfast, then with lunch, and as the integration of the black beverage solidified over the years throughout all layers of society, coffee was also served with dinner at six, and again at 8pm. The country became a coffee-loving nation, which it is to this day. According to The Atlantic magazine, the Netherlands is the world's most-coffee-drinking nation, with an average of 2.4 cups a day.

But 2.4 cups doesn't sound like all that much, to tell you the truth. On average, we consume four to five cups a day (one cup at breakfast, another one at work around 10:30, possibly a third one to wrap up lunch time or at 2:30pm as a pick-me-up with a cookie or a koekje, maybe a cup with dinner, and another cup at 8pm). On those days that the buurvrouw comes over, you drink at least two or three cups, while you visit and talk about well...the other neighbors, I guess. With an average of 2.4 cups, either people have stopped visiting or somebody's not pulling their weight!

The persistent rumor that the Dutch are so stingy that they will only offer a single cookie with coffee is one that is hard to kill, but so very untrue. Nine out of 10 Dutch people insist that serving coffee without cookies is just "not done": the cookie is part of the coffee drinking experience. This explains why, when ordering coffee at a café, one usually gets a cookie or little piece of chocolate with the order. And since, especially in company, the Dutch will seldom only consume one cup of coffee (that's just not gezellig!), it is very doubtful that a second cookie is not offered with a follow-up cup.

Koffie verkeerd, or "wrong coffee", is a typical Dutch way of consuming coffee: half coffee and half warm milk. It's called "wrong" because traditionally coffee only contains a "wolkje", a small cloud, of milk. 

Koffie Verkeerd
4 oz (125 ml) strong drip coffee, hot
4 oz (125 ml) milk
Sugar or sweetener as desired

Warm the milk to the point of boiling, and add to the hot coffee in the cup. Stir. Serve. With a cookie. Or better, make it two!

Appelkruimelvlaai

It's not quite fall yet, but our local orchard is already announcing the ripeness of their first apples. We pick varieties as they ripen, so towards the end of the month, we always end up with a couple of apples of each flavor. Some are sweet, some are tart, some hold up well in the oven and others become jammy and tender. I don't mind as it's a perfect mix for apple pie!  

Vlaai, a broad and flat yeast dough pie, is originally from the province of Limburg. During the weekly bread baking duties, women would often flatten out a piece of leftover bread dough and cover it with slices of fresh fruit or a ladle of sweet jam, so that they had something to eat with their coffee (and you know how much we like our coffee time!). When the bread baking was delegated to the village baker, who baked and brought it to the house, vlaaien would only be baked for Sunday visits, during village fairs and for the holidays. 

Baking vlaai on Sunday is still a bit of a tradition in the South, and a piece of warm vlaai straight out of the oven is often eaten for lunch, with a cup of coffee or two. Depending on what fruit is seasonal and ripe, you could get apple vlaai, cherry vlaai or plum vlaai. If there was no fruit to be had, or it was a special occasion, sometimes you'd get kruimelvlaai, a sweet custardy vlaai with crunchy streusel on top. 

Today's vlaai, appelkruimelvlaai, or apple crumble vlaai, is similar to the Dutch apple pie that many are familiar with, albeit it with less sugar. The natural flavor of the apple is allowed to shine through, and because you only bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, some of the apple still has a bit of a bite. Fantastic!

The vlaai dough is easy to make. The average vlaai pan is 11 inches (28 cm) wide and a little over 1 inch (2.5 cm) high, but any similar size will do,  so don't let that hold you back!

Appelkruimelvlaai
For the dough

1/3 cup milk and 2 Tbsp (100 ml), lukewarm

1 1/2 teaspoons (5 grams) active dry yeast

1 3/4 cup (250 gr) all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons (30 grams) sugar

1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) salt

1 egg

1/2 stick butter (55 gr), soft at room temperature

2 tablespoons breadcrumbs or panko

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, and let it proof while you measure out the rest of the ingredients. Add the flour to a mixing bowl, sprinkle the sugar and salt on top and give it a stir. Now pour in the milk with the yeast and start mixing. As the dough comes together, add in the egg and the soft butter and let the whole mixture come together while you need it into a soft dough. (You may need to add a tablespoon or two of milk in case the dough turns out to be a bit dry).

Form the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl, cover and let it rise. In the meantime, make the filling.

For the filling*
4 to 5 large apples, various flavors
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons (50 grams) sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 heaping tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch
2 tablespoons panko

For the topping
1 cup (150 grams) all purpose flour
1 stick butter (110 grams), cold
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar

Peel and core the apples, then cut into dice. Slices are okay too, but for this pie I like the cubes, they add a bit of texture. Toss the apples with the lemon juice, the sugar, cinnamon and the cornstarch. Keep the panko aside until you are ready to assemble the vlaai.

Grease your pie pan, or vlaaivorm, and roll out the dough into a large circle. Transfer it to the pan, and cut off any excess dough you may have. Poke holes in the dough so that it doesn't seize up while baking, cover and let it rest while you make the kruimeltopping.

Cut the butter for the topping into small pieces. Mix the flour and the sugar in a bowl, and rub the butter between your fingers in the flour. I tend to put flour and butter between the palms of my hands and rub them together (I have no patience!) until the mixture resembles wet sand.

Heat your oven to 400F/200C. Sprinkle the panko on top of the dough (this prevents too much juice going into the dough and making it soggy). Pour the apple mixture on top of the vlaai dough, flatten it out a bit and then top with the crumble. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, and check to see if your kruimeltopping is browning. If it's not already golden, give it five more minutes and then finish it under the broiler for a nice golden color. Do not walk away at this point, these broilers are fast!!

Let the vlaai cool so that the filling can settle, cut into generous pieces and enjoy it by itself, with a dollop of whipped cream or a la mode, with a big scoop of ice cream.

*If you would like, you can add raisins, currants, boerenjongens or boerenmeisjes to the filling.

Kersenstruif

Kersen, or cherries, are grown abundantly in the Netherlands. Old-fashioned varieties with fun and mysterious names such as Mierlose Zwarte, Udense Spaanse, Meikersen, Dikke Loenen, Pater van Mansveld and Morellen (pie cherries) can be found in fruit-rich areas such as Limburg, De Betuwe or the Kromme Rijnstreek, close to Utrecht. During the eighties and nineties, many of the cherry orchards were eradicated because of urban development, but in the last several years, a new movement to bring back some of the old-fashioned varieties is quite successful.

Until the 1970's, the small village of Mierlo in the province of Brabant was THE place for all cherry lovers to travel to during the season. Because of its calcium-rich soil, the Mierlose Zwarte, the black cherry of Mierlo, was a favorite indulgence, popular because of its particular flavor and sweetness. It was also the cherry of choice to bake kersenstruif with, cherry pancakes, a traditional dish during the short cherry season. People would beg, bargain or steal to make sure they obtained a pound or two of the harvest so that they did not have to miss out on this treat!

The Mierlose Zwarte also suffered from the urban sprawl and during these last thirty years, production was minimal. Fortunately, growers like the Van Der Linden family at the Kersenboerderij kept a small part of the orchard with original trees, and are currently very successful in grafting and expanding this heirloom orchard.

The season for Dutch cherries is short, starting around June 1st, and barely making it to mid-July. Cherries are best eaten fresh, and are most often consumed that way by the Dutch. It is therefore not surprising that there are only a few recipes that involve cherries in a different fashion: kersenvlaai (cherry pie), kersenpap (cherry porridge) and today's recipe, kersenstruif. These recipes work best with slightly overripe, dark, sweet cherries. Since we don't have access to the Mierlose Zwarte, the Bing cherry is a usable substitute.

I read somewhere that, traditionally, people left the pits in the cherries for this dish: I am unsure as to how this would contribute to a better flavor, and can only imagine what harm it may cause. Therefore, I highly recommend pitting and halving the cherries before you add them to the pan! 

Kersenstruif
Four cups (500 grams) pitted and halved sweet, dark Bing cherries
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) self-rising flour*
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup (300 ml) milk
Pinch of salt
Butter

Beat the flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs with one cup (250 ml) of milk and the pinch of salt, until you have a silky smooth batter. Stand for ten minutes, covered. If the batter thickens too much, add a little bit more milk, a tablespoon at a time.

Melt a little bit of butter in your favorite non-stick pan or on your pancake skillet. Distribute half a cup of pitted cherries on the melted butter, then pour approximately a fourth of a cup of batter (approx. 75 ml) over the cherries. Bake at medium heat until the pancake bubbles up and starts to dry on top. Use a large spatula to flip the cherry pancake and continue to bake it on the other side.

Serve with powdered sugar. Makes approximately 8 pancakes.

* if you don't have self-rising flour, add a scant tablespoon of baking powder to all-purpose flour, or two teaspoons of active dry yeast. If you use yeast, warm the milk to 110F, and allow the batter to sit for twenty minutes, then stir it down.

Aardbeienjam

Strawberries, or aardbeien, are a welcome sign in early summer. The moment the first crate of these zomerkoninkjes (called King of Summer because of its little green crown) hit the market, you'll see strawberries in everything: on beschuit, on fresh fruit tarts, or on slices of fresh, white, buttered bread if you're lucky!

The actual natural strawberry season only lasts for a good five to six weeks, from early June until mid July, but the Netherlands is able to produce about 20 million pounds a year because of their ingenious greenhouse and plastic tunnel systems. It keeps us in strawberries practically year round, except for the first two months of the year, when the runners are being refrigerated for up to 10 weeks before being put in the soil. The strawberry that is most popular in Holland is the Elsanta variety.

It goes without saying that strawberries freshly picked in the field, that are still a little warm from the sun, are hands-down the best for eating fresh. So if you're growing your own, or have the chance to get your hands on some, enjoy them while you can! If you are not able to get around to eating all of them immediately, but don't want them to go to waste, making a quick jam* is a second option.

If you find yourself in the country during this time of year, you may enjoy visiting Het Aardbeienland, a small theme park in Limburg. Its main focus is, you guessed it, strawberries! There is plenty of opportunity to pick your own, learn about new and heirloom varieties, have the kids play in the playground or walk around the Strawberry Forest.

Aardbeienjam
1 lb strawberries, hulled and chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon pectin powder

Add the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and water to a small saucepan. Bring the pan up to heat, and let the mixture simmer for about twenty minutes, on low, until the fruit is soft. Mash with a fork or potato masher. Stir in the pectin, bring up to a boil and stir for a whole minute, then take off the stove and let it cool. Pour the jam in a clean container and refrigerate*. Eat within two weeks.

*This jam is meant for quick consumption and is not to be stored outside of the fridge, or for a long period of time. If you wish to omit the pectin powder, just continue to simmer the jam until it's thick. If you wish to preserve the jam for shelf, or long life holding, please follow canning instructions for your area (depends on high altitude) and from an approved source: either your local Extension office or here. If the jam shows any sign of spoilage (mold, acetone smell) please discard the jam immediately. Food safety is key: it's not worth sacrificing a couple of dollars or your family's health for. I will be doing a proper canning article later in the year.