On shoes, spice, and all things nice.

No, do not expect a post on Scary Spice et al, although I will readily admit that I too zigga' zig' aahed through part of the nineties. And of course there was this song:


But that's not the point of this post. Spring is in the air, people. It's time for a major overhaul. Time to do weird and wacky things. Paint your kitchen walls the colour of moondust. Buy purple shoes, for example. I did the other day.

For some reason, I am feeling a big fifties vibe at the moment, as I wear boxy cropped jackets, with ridiculously large floral brooches, etc. I want to wear pretty skirts, and look like a fifties' housewife, with florally or stripy dresses from Edith and Ella and a cocktail in one hand, with a cigarette in the other. Wait, maybe I don't really care for the cigarette.

Or how about bringing back sweater girls? I bought this little item the other day, only to be told by my significant other that she thought my gran of 88 would look acceptable in it. Paired with a pair of baggy jeans, and some 1930's white tennis shoes and the aforementioned jacket, it works though.

And what about jazzing up those tried and tested favourites, like cauliflower? This evening we partook of some spicy cauliflower soup, courtesy of Alice Waters.

Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large saucepan. Peel and dice a large carrot and an onion and toss in the oil, with 1 tsp of crushed cumin and coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, some chilli or cayenne (depending on what's available), chili flakes. Stir around over medium heat until your veg are soft (but not brown, mind). Then add a good handful of chopped cilantro. Trim and chop up a large head of cauliflower. Toss in, with 3 cups of water and 3 cups of chicken stock. I also used half a cabbage, as I only had a small cauliflower. Bring to the boil and then cover, and simmer until the cauliflower is nice and tender. Purée your soup with a blender. Some people like to leave some roughage in it; I prefer a nice smooth soup. Add water or stock if necessary. Top up your seasoning. Serve with some cilantro. And there you go: a classic vegetable, but which has been spiced up for delectable flavour.

So what was the point of all this bla bla? I am asking you to spice up your life! Because you know you're worth it.

Steak Tartare!

Just a quick post on a long-standing favourite of mine. I have been eating this since I was 7 in the old Parisian-style brasseries of Antwerp. (American readers, don't bother, as I know you have a fetish about the words 'raw', 'egg' and 'meat' when combined).

The meal is of course steak tartare. Ingredients as seen below:

250 g of raw ground beef. 1 onion. Some Hellman's mayonaise (cheating, I know, but I like it better that way). Organic Heinz ketchup. Ground pepper (red, white, black). Maldon salt. Worcestershore sauce. And I should add capers, but since I only actually like apple capers and I was out of them, I didn't use them.

Give the beef another good mincing. Chop and add onions. Crack egg, reserve yolk (and use the egg white for a Pavlova). Then the good stuff is added and you mix and blend until you have perfected the taste. The finished product sits below: unfortunately no French fries, since we are still on the hunting and gathering path, so I used celery stalks instead, which I sprinkled with some cayenne pepper for the hotness.

Et voilà: lunch is served. And it was delish! Try it, you might actually like it.

Two caveats: a good restaurant will let you prepare this yourself, bringing the equivalent of the middle photo and all the condiments to your table. And you always need to be very careful about the origin of your meat and eggs. Think about your sourcing, people!

Enjoy your Sunday.

Soup it is

Where do I start? Isn't it amazing how a few vegetables and bones can create a soothing, oozing, nourishing miracle that warms your heart?

It has taken me quite some time to wrap my mind around soup, but now I have come to understand that it takes relatively little time to prepare, that it can feed many, is wholesome, is a perfect way of cleaning out your fridge, and leaves your house smelling like a home.

So here is one of my favourite soups. Gobbled by small children and adults alike, it prompted my neighbour to ask for a pot to take home a few weeks ago, as she picked up her munchkins.

Cream of fennel soup

Finely chop 1 garlic clove and 2 medium onions.

Melt 50 g of butter and gently cook the garlic and onions in a covered saucepan. Make sure that the mixture does not catch or colour.

Take 2 heads of fennel (approx. half a kilo) and slice them finely.
Add to the garlic and onions, and cook gently for about 30 minutes.

Now, if you are addicted to roast chicken like we are, you will have some home-made chicken stock available. If not, use any store-bought variant, but be aware that there are considerable differences. My alternative is an organic cube stock which I buy at my local supermarket.
You need just another one litre of light chicken stock. Add it to the fennel.

Then take the finely grated rind (buy a Microplane, you won't regret it, really!) of half an orange and add that too the mixture.

Cover, bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat. Let simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the fennel is tender again.

Let cool, or if you are impatient like myself, put on oven gloves and an apron and pour everything in your Magimix or other kitchen contraption. Alternatively you can simply puree it with a hand mixer (you might need goggles though). Season to taste with pepper and salt, although I usually think that it's fine as is.

Before serving, stir in about half a pot of single or double cream (depending on whether you believe in a good dose of artery-clogging delight or not).

If you intend to store the soup for later consumption, then do not add the cream until you have reheated it and are about to serve it.

Enjoy. We sure did. In fact, we enjoyed it that much that I never was able to take a photo. So I leave you with a photo of the tree that's been on my mind for the last week.

Weekend hotness!

The weekend is here, and lo behold, even the sun has put in an appearance for us sun-starved Western Europeans.

Time to celebrate, and what better way to do so, then by rubbing one's body with some frangipani oil, some Nigella and a new gadget.

It's been some time since I sent the high priestess of Domestic Goddishness some love. Bad girl. Her appearance with some pink (!) glasses the other day means we can all feast our eyes on her some more.

Yesterday, by the way, I put in some cooking time with her steak slice with lemon and thyme (Nigella Express, p. 40, methinks). A definite thumbs up on that one. Not much planning required (buy good steak, ensure lemon is on hands and some thyme growing in a window box) and you are already past the half-way mark in the daily 'what can I razzle up fast' race. Top it off with some excellent Italian olive oil, imported by sibling last month from some obscure organic farm in northern Italy and you have a winner. Sides? If you are not an absolute carnivore like myself, then feel free to steam some broccolini or sugar snaps or any other green crunchy vegetable that takes your fancy.

On that satisfying note, I worked on getting the latest gadget in this household to work.

As you can tell from the state of my hair, it took me a while. But now that it's up and running, holy mackerel, why did nobody invent this phone sooner?

I balked at the price of the new iPhone and waited for quite some time before buying it. But I was fedup of having to rush home after frantic calls for answers from clients on a deadline, meaning the munchkin had to be yanked away from more pleasurable activities under loud and tearful protests. Now I can sit in the park, play with the babe, check my mail and read word docs on a decent-sized screen. I could even update my blog, if I wanted to. And I get to listen to cool music at the gym, like Barry White. Hmmm, then again, maybe not, since the torturemeister has vowed to have me bingeing on cardio for quite a while...

So from Monday, it's school for the munchkin, fast-forward work for myself, and considerably more time at the gym than I would have ever dreamt was possible. It's all in a working mum's day's work.

DDM Express

Frankly, I'm too tired at the moment to cook dinner. My lack of cooking appetite is expounded by the fact that the munchkin is doing her best to get on my nerves at dinner time.

So tonight I decided to try a different tack: dinner out of a bag. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. We had wild and white rice, with stir-fried asparagus (I added those for extra veg) and assorted oriental vegetables (no chopping, yeah!) and vegetable nuggets which I slapped on the griddle.
All done in a manner of 8 mins and doused in teriyaki sauce (heated in the 'wave).

And how did the munchkin react to my Express efforts? By plucking rice kernel after rice kernel off her plate and putting it on her spoon... ten kernels at a time to her mouth. It resulted in an immediate rescinding of all dessert privileges for tonight.

I'm not sure she liked it either in other words.

Quick fix: deeply chocolate brownies by Nigel Slater

Nigel, Nigella... what's the difference when chocolate is involved?

Following Suburban Mum's post on Nigel Slater's brownies, the domestic demi-goddess, in true form, rose to the challenge.

Deeply dark chocolate bliss on a dish.

I know what I will be eating for dessert tonight. Maybe with some double cream or some vanilla ice?


Some remarks:
- photo taken by webcam
- I used cane sugar instead of caster sugar
- our cocoa and dark chocolate might be somewhat higher in cocoa content, which explains the dark colour.
- they are very moist, because I fiddled with the recipe a bit at the beginning

Sunday night quick fix: a little bit of this and a little bit of that

Tonight's dinner was a bit of Express and a bit of Ramsay... and the two blended seamlessly.

Cauliflower-broccoli gratin
Blanch 1 mini cauliflower and 1 mini broccoli
Slosh some oil around an oven dish (you can also use butter)
Mix two egg yolks and 200 ml of crême fraîche or double cream.
Add salt and pepper.
Pour over veggies, mix, ensure all is coated.
Sprinkle layer of finely grated parmigiano, gruyère, etc. until you no longer see the veggies.
Bung in oven for 10 minutes or until fully golden on top (you can also use the grill, but keep your eagle eye trained on the crust)

Mustard pork chops
Heat some garlic oil in a heavy skillet
Fry the pork chops for 5 mins on each side
Set aside on a warm plate
Deglaze your pan with 250 cc of good apple cider (for those of you who live in Belgium or the Netherlands, Appelaere will do the trick and has great taste).
Add 1 tablespoon of moutarde à l'ancienne
Add 125 cc of crême fraîche
Keep stirring until you have a nice not too thick sauce

Serve with some rosemary and butter jacket new potatoes.

Dessert: I used the left-over egg-whites to make a mini clementine pavlova. Oh, those dieting days are so nigh.
As you can guess, I'm still the A-list endorser of a heart-attack on a plate. Ah heck, you only live once.

Because you should always have a must-have: hot cocoa

Some days you need the comforting unctuousness of a hot cocoa, gently oozing its way down your oesophagus to warm you up inside.

Here's a quick recipe:
milk
dark (and I mean really dark) chocolate*
honey or brown sugar
vanilla extract or vanilla syrup (in which case eliminate honey)
cinnamon

if so inclined, you may add dark rum (but since I associate rum with summer cocktails I don't).

Heat milk
Add all the ingredients in function of your liking, and the chocolate, which you should break up in chunks.
Keep stirring with a mini-whisk until the chocolate has melted.
Fiddle around a bit with the taste until you have what you are looking for.
Take out the cinnamon stick.
Pour into a large cup, while steaming.
Find some good mixed spice cookies and snuggle up in bed with a good book.

It will become a ritual. As it is in this household. So without further ado, off to the kitchen I go.

*I'm addicted to Green and Black's dark 85% but my next endeavour includes Marcolini chocolate bars to take it to an altogether new level. I have this hunch that Equateur or Fleur de Cacao will cinch it.

sunday night quick fix - macrobiotic prison gruel

Risotto with zucchini and cashews

Peel and slice/dice
1 large onion
2 celery stalks
1 zucchini (you can leave the peel on this one if you wish)

Chop a handful of flat-leaf parsley

Ground some coriander in a mortar and pestle

Heat up 500-1 l of vegetable stock

Heat some oil and butter in a large saucepan
Add the celery and onion
Make sure it doesn't catch, while cooking for 5 mins.

Add some carnaroli rice
Add the zucchini

Start ladling in the stock, and stir... and keep stirring while you add ladle after ladle of stock.

Towards the end, when the rice is 'al dente', drop 150 g of cashews in a pan, and heat them (make sure they aren't burnt), until the oil in the nuts is released. Remove from hob.

Add the coriander and the cashews to the risotto when the rice is to your liking. Stir and add salt and pepper if needed.

Spoon into bowls, adding some parsley.

Et voilà, you have tonight's healthy dinner following the Temple Food approach. Be nice to your body, feed it all the good nutrients, and treat it with love.

Buttermilk chicken by Nigella Lawson

The domestic demi-goddess has conquered another hurdle on the path to goddishness. I've spatchcocked my first chicken. It felt like playing 'operation' all over again... I'll admit to being squeamish about anything that involves cutting through bones, delving into innards, etc. As you can see, I would have failed miserably in the butcher's business.

But voilà: two spatchcocked chickens are now comfortably resting in their olive oil-garlic-maple syrup-maldon salt-crushed black peppercorns-buttermilk and rosemary marinade thanks to Nigella Lawson. Hopefully they will provide a bunch of hungry lunch guests with a good lunch in combination with some butternut squash and cinnamon mash (it's the light version of the Thanksgiving turkey fiesta, as Turkey Day is X-mas here and our poor turkey is still being raised somewhere in the green pastures of Ireland).

Will report back on the outcome of this extravaganza. But as for preparation, this is an easy one.

Update 1: have had to wash my hands three times already since I keep on smelling olive oil on my wrists, every time I lift my cup of coffee (did you know by the way that vanilla syrup is an excellent way to agrement a dull coffee?).

Update 2: they loved it. Only one drumstick left. The chooks were devoured in no time at all. The meat was moist and succulent, the skin fried to a perfect crisp; the buttermilk was in fact hardly discernible, while the maple came through, as well as the garlic, pepper and rosemary. Definitely a recommend here!

Sunday evening quick fix - Rice pilaf à la Lula

Ingredients: 300 g rice
1 onion, chopped
1 tin of tomatoes, cubes or other, 400 g
1 tsp of ground cumin
1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
1 eggplant, diced
8 dried apricots, chopped up
500 cl of vegetable stock

Dice the eggplant. Cover in salt, let sit until all liquid absorbed.
Chop onion, fry in some sunflower oil for 1 minute.
Add rice, stir until glazed.
Add tomatoes.
Add cumin, cinnamon, apricots and vegetable stock.
Let simmer for 15 mins.

Don't forget about the eggplant. Heat some sunflower oil and stir-fry the diced eggplant.

Serve with lamb or chicken.

PS - as I am writing this, I am pondering whether I should add some pistachios next time.