Cheese cake

One of my favourite pies and  desserts. I like this very lemony, citrus-flavoured!

Ingredients:

• 500gr. of lean fresh cheese
• 250ml. of light cream
• 120gr. non salted butter, melted
• 6 tbsp. of sugar
• 2 bags of vanilla sugar
• 250gr. of speculoos bisquits
• 12gr. of gelatine sheets
• Juice of 1½ lemons and ½ green lime
• 4 apples

Preheat your oven on 180°C.

Break up the speculoos bisquits and put them in the mixer and mix untill you have a fine crumble.







Mix this crumble with the melted butter and stir well. Put a baking sheet in the springform and divide this mixture on the bottom, make sure to press firmly on the edges. put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Cut the apples into parts and bake them in a pan with a small knob of butter and a tbsp. of sugar untill brown caramelized. Cover the baked speculoos bottom with these appleparts.

Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla sugar firmy untill you get peaks and mix under the fresh cheese. Heat up the lemon/lime juice and dissolve the gelatine(that you have put in cold water for +/- 10 minutes before) in it. Pour this in the cheese mixture and mix.

Now pour all of this into the baking form and let it stiffen for about 8 hours in the fridge.

You can dress this with some fruit or top with some more speculoos crumble or whipped cream.

Enjoy,

Kev

Battered & fried plaice

Another easy dish prepared in little time. My kids managed to make this dish dissapear faster than I could prepare it!

Ingredients:

• 2 plaice fillets, cleaned
• 2 eggs
• flower
• breadcrumbs
• pepper & salt

Cut up the plaice in bitesize chunks.
Prepare 3 deep dishes, 1 with flower(mix in some pepper & salt) in it, 1 with the breadcrumbs and 1 with the eggs(beaten). Make sure you've got enough in them.

Cover the plaice first with flower and beat off the excess flower, then with the eggs and finally with the crumbs.

Put in the fryer (Max or 190°) and fry untill golden brown, takes about 1-2 minutes.

Serve with tartare sauce, mayo or aïoli.

Enjoy,

Kev

Brown sugar panna cotta and red fruit

Easy peasy dessert recipe! If I can make it everyone can!

Ingredients:

• 200ml cream
• 200ml milk
• 70gr. brown sugar
• juice of  a lime
• 2 sheets of gelatine
• 50gr. of cristal sugar
• one vanilla pod
• some handfulls of fruit: strawberry, wraspberry, blackberry,....

Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise in half and scrape out the seeds. Add the stalks together with the seeds to the milk.
Soak the sheets of gelatine in some cold water.

Heat up the cream together with the milk, brown sugar,vanilla and lime juice in a pan for about 5 mins. Keep it just under the boiling point. Stirr regulary cause this can burn quite fast!

After the +/- 5mins pas the mixture trough a siff and add the sheets of gelatine and let them dissolve in the cream.

Pour into 4 nice cups and set away in the fridge for about 2 hours.

You can serve this with some red fruit or make a coulis to nap over the panna cotta.

For the coulis:  Heat up some water in a pan and dissolve the cristal sugar in it. Don't use too much water you just want to make the sugar liquid. 

Add fruit till the pan is just full and let this turn into a nice compote in about 2 minutes on a high heat. Nap over the panna cotta, place some berries on top and serve.

Enjoy,

kev

Sugo al ragu is one of these Italian dishes/sauces I need to have once a month, in fact it might even be my favourite sauce. The Italians have many different versions and I like them all but the base is allmost every time the same: a good sofrito...a mixture of chopped carrots and celery fried in olive oil, meat, tomatoes (not too much normally, usually more meat than tomatoes).

My version is with minced meat.

Ingredients:

• +/- 800gr. of minced, seasoned meat. Half pork/half veal. This is quite a lot but I like my sauce meaty
• 750ml of good passata
• one onion, 2 garlic cloves, one red chillie. All chopped finely
• Some finely chopped carrots and celery. About 2 carrots for 1 celery. This is the sofrito
• a glass of red wine. Don't use that Chateau Petrus from your wine cellar but don't pour in vinegar neither! A good cheap wine will do
• Some chopped smoked bacon +/- 50gr.
• 2 bayleaves, about 4 leaves of sage, couple sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Chop up the sage and rosemary
• a tbsp.of tomato paste
• 1 tbsp of dried oregano
• 4-5 drops of worcestershire sauce
• some chicken stock

Heat up a drop of olive oil in a large pan and brown the bacon. Don't use too much oil cause the bacon will release some fat also. Let it fry until it starts to get brown and crispy and then add  the sofrito -carrots and celery -. Add a drop of EEVO if too dry and let this fry for about 10mins but don't let it burn. Throw in the sage, rosemary and thyme and let it release it's aroma's. Your kitchen will be smelling heavenly by now. 

  Pour in a couple of drops of red wine; just enough to deglace the pan and cook out the wine.

Throw in the onions, chillie and garlic and fruit these for a minute.

Now add the minced meat, turn up the fire and use a fork to squash the meat. Avoid any big lumps of meat. 

When all the meat is browned you can add the passata, worcestershire sauce and 2 bay leaves. Mix well and pour in the rest of the red wine.

Put on a low fire, the lowest you got and let this simmer for a bout 1½-2 hours. Stir regulary and add some chicken stock if it gets too dry. After an hour or 2 you'll get a nice dry but still moist sauce. You can let this rest over night, it will only get better!

Serve with the pasta of your choice and enjoy!

Kev

Spicy Thai mussels

You like mussels? You like Thai food? Then try this exotic version of our traditional 'Mussels a la marinière'. Quick and easy with a delicious result!!

Ingredients for 2 (or 4 as appetizer):

• 2 kg. of mussels
• 2 red chilli peppers
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• +/ 1 tbsp. of grated peel of green lime 
• 2 tbsp. of fishsauce
• 2 tbsp. of green curry paste
• 250ml coconut milk
• handfull of chopped cilantro
• handfull of basil (thai or normal)
• 2 small roughly chopped shallots

Wash the mussels under streaming water untill clean. Let them rest in the water and change the water one time to clear out the remaining sand.

Chop the red chillies finely, cut each stalk of lemongrass in 3 or 4 pieces and crush them.

 Heat up some peanut or sunflower oil in a large pan and add the chillies, lemongrass and challots and let them feel the heat for a few minutes.

Then add the cleaned mussels and shake these around. Let them bake for a minute or so, add the coconut milk, grated lemon peel, curry paste and fish sauce. 

Bring to a boil and cover with a lid. Leave it under the lid for about 5 minutes or untill all mussels are open. Stirr wel and add the chopped cilantro and basil just before serving (tear the leaves apart by hand when you add them).

Serve hot and eat!!!

You'll have a tasty dish and a spicy broth. Just drink the broth or use it to mix with some cooked rice.

Enjoy!

Kev

Beijingya - Brussels

Spotted this little asian restaurant in Brussels when I was browsing trough the Rest02-site, a handy site for locating(or avoiding) restaurants in the neighbourhoods of Brussels.
When they talk about authentic Chinese I am allways on my 'Qui-vive'....Eager to go discover and at the same time affraid for dissapointment. I love a good asian but too often these asian restaurants(don't even mention the numerous take-aways) do a lousy job at asian food, preparing something that doens't taste any different from the 'chinese' food in the frozen section of your local supermarket!
But this one was going to make a difference I felt!
The resto is located in the centre of Brussels close to the Place St-Catherine, a lovely neighbourhood to enjoy drinks and a good eat! Allways a good atmosphere in this corner of the big city!

Now lunch.....
I started with some Gyoza, shangai dumplings, filled with minced beef and chopped spring onions. They came with a tangy soy sauce to dip them in. Very good!! They had a nice bite and the sauce really went well with it! I used some sriracha hot sauce to spice it up a bit. You don't have to ask for the sriracha, every table has a big bottle on it! Complimentary! Although you're not allowed to take it with you ;(

My main dish was the chicken gong bao or kung pao. In french 'poulet Impérial'. I got a big plate with tender pieces of chicken in a spicy Gong Bao sauce, with chunks of bell pepper, scallion and cilantro. On the side a nice serving of sticky rice to suck up that delicious sauce.

Drinks?? What else than a good Tsingtao beer? That dry,crisp chinese beer is a better match than wine I think.
Cost?? A ridiculous 23€, GOOD DEAL I say!! ;-) I even thought of it as such a good experience that I decided to return the same evening with Madame to enjoy dinner. Also cause I spotted some dishes that left me intrigued, like : marinated jellyfish, chickenblood, chickenfeet, pork intestins,.... Now I tell you, those are not the dishes you find in your local around the corner chinese resto/take-away so let that be another sign of authenticity.

I started with spicy marinated cuttlefish and steamed spicy chickenfeet. The cuttlefish were served cold and had a nice crunch to them, so very fresh. But boy, was that sauce spicy!! I can take a good portion of heat, madame a bit less so she felt the burn during the whole dinner ;)

The chickenfeet was one of the dishes that I allready saw on the App.Foodspotting and had left me intrigued..Could this be any good?? But oh yes, this was very good. I was a bit reluctant to start this dish but besides all the tiny bones you have to deal with this is a very good dish. The feet have a good 'fatty' taste and are quite rich in taste. Don't hesitate to have them if you are in dubio!!

Our main dish was Hongkong-roasted duck for me which was sweet and crispy and an unforgettable succulent porkbelly in sweet Hoisin sauce served in a clay pot for Madame. This porkbelly was melt-in-the-mouth good, you could just suck it down together with that sweet hoisin sauce. This was a winner!  And yes, some more TsinTao's to wash it all down!
We finished with some jasmin tea, good for digestion.
Cost?? 57€!! Ridiculously cheap for 3 starters, 2 mains, 4 beers and 2 tea! But, Shhhhhhhtt don't say that out loud! I would like to keep it that way!
So this one is certainly going on my good chinese list! The interior is cheap(recollected IKEA-stuff) but  that doesn't matter one bit cause the food is A+++!!

Enjoy,

Kev

Hi,

I'm merely starting this blog to keep up with my slowly fading memory. As my memory won't be around for ever the net will be here untill eternity and beyond or untill the Chinese pull the plug on it!!!
You'll have the chance to read about my stuff....Being comics, music, travel, family, food, food & food. Mainly food ;)
I'm just a normal guy, loving his wife,kids, family and friends. I'm not a psychopath or maniac - but I suppose that's what Charley Manson also answers when they ask him about his personality....
Have a read or not...Comment as you wish but allways with manners or I will have to open up a fresh can of whoop-ass just for you!!
Enjoy!!

Kev