smallfood – My Whisk and I

Sweet Goat Cheese Puffs

December 3, 2023December 2, 2023by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Makes about 36 bite-sized puffs

1 packet store-bought puff pastry, thawed and at room temperature
egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 15ml water, whisked together
45ml sesame seeds
180g cream cheese, softened
60g goat cheese, softened
15ml lemon juice
1ml salt
30ml chopped chives
60ml sweet chilli sauce

Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Lay the pastry on a work surface and cut out 5cm rounds with a biscuit cutter.
Transfer the pastry rounds to the baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart.
Now score each round with a 2,5cm biscuit cutter, but do not cut through.
Brush the borders/rims of the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake the rounds for 12 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.
Remove from the oven and press down the centres of each puff with the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside to cool completely.
Add the cream cheese, goat cheese, lemon juice, salt and chopped chives to a bowl and beat together by hand until creamy.
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe into the centre of each pastry puff.
Drizzle over the sweet chilli sauce and serve.

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Biltong Borrelbrood

June 20, 2023June 16, 2023by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

1 sourdough bread
200g cheese spread
100g butter
4 cloves of garlic, minced
80ml parsley, chopped
200g biltong, sliced

Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Place the bread on a wooden board and place a wooden spoon on either side of it, in its length.
Slice the bread on the diagonal, into 1,5cm thick slices WITHOUT slicing through – the wooden spoons should prevent this.
Now turn the bread and slice again so that you are left with squares that are attached at the bottom.
Place the sliced bread on a large piece of aluminium foil and then onto a baking sheet. Set aside.
Add the cheese spread, butter and garlic to a small saucepan and set it over a medium-low heat.
Stir every now and then until the mixture has melted and is amalgamated.
Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley.
Spoon generous amounts of the cheese mixture in between the sliced bread.
Push the biltong slices between the bread squares and cover with the aluminium foil.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Serve immediately as a casual starter.

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Bitterballen / Kroketten

April 24, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

The difference between bitterballen and kroketten is the shape and only the shape. These Dutch delicacies are delicious as a snack, light lunch or eaten whenever the craving takes hold of you. Homemade bitterballen/kroketten are a mission to make BUT it is worth every ounce of energy that goes into the making!

1kg beef shin (beef shank), bone in
3 onions, sliced into quarters
45ml beef stock powder
salt and pepper
10ml parsley, chopped
250g butter
90ml flour
500ml panko/dried breadcrumbs
2 eggs
vegetable oil for frying

Place the beef shin (with the bone) and onions in a large saucepan and fill it with enough water to cover the meat. Add 10ml salt and bring to a low simmer.
Cook the meat for about 4 hours – it should literally fall from the bone. The shin benefits from being cooked low and slow in order to break down all the fibres and turn it into unctuous, gelatinous meat which in turn thickens the sauce in which it is cooked.
Take the meat from the saucepan and set aside.
Pour the broth through a fine sieve, season to taste with salt and pepper and then add the stock powder so that you have a salty broth.
Add the chopped parsley and set aside.
Pull the beef into very fine shreds and cut into small pieces necessary.
Now add the butter to a clean saucepan set over high heat.
Add the flour a little at a time while stirring constantly. Cook the mixture for 1 minute.
Pour the beef stock into the saucepan in a very thin stream, while whisking, JUST until you have a very thick sauce.
Take the sauce from the heat, stir in the meat and mix through.
Pour the mixture into a large roasting tin and allow it to cool.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl and break the eggs in another. Whisk the egg together.
Shape about 80ml of the beef mixture into cylinder/round shapes, dredge each one in the breadcrumbs, egg and breadcrumbs again.
Fry the kroketten in 180℃ oil, until golden.
Serve with a good mustard.