yum – Page 44 – My Whisk and I

Potato Croquettes / Aardappel Kroketten

May 6, 2022April 2, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

The word croquette is derived from the French word croquer which means “to crunch” and that is exactly what these potato bites are: a soft, cloudy potato with a heavenly crunch on the outside. Makes about 50 balls and is an excellent way of using leftover mashed potato.

4 x 250ml mashed potato
125ml Dutch smoked sausage or chorizo sausage, finely chopped
150g cheddar cheese, grated
45ml chives, chopped
5ml garlic powder
2 eggs
250ml panko breadcrumbs
vegetable oil for frying

Scoop the mashed potato into a mixing bowl.
Add the chopped sausage to a dry pan and cook until done and slightly crisp on the edges.
Add the sausage, cheese, chives and garlic powder to the mashed potato and mix through.
Scoop about 15ml of the mixture into your hand and shape into a firm ball. Place the balls on a baking tray. Keep going until there are no mix left.
Refrigerate the potato balls for at least one hour, it will be easier to work with.
Add the eggs to a shallow bowl and whisk to break it up.
Add the breadcrumbs to another shallow bowl.
Now dredge the balls through the egg and then the breadcrumbs to cover evenly and completely.
Warm the oil and fry the balls in small batches until beautifully golden and crisp.
Serve the croquettes with a good mayonnaise or mustard.

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Boerenkool Stamppot

May 5, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Boerenkool Stamppot is probably the oldest and most authentic of Dutch dishes and could be considered the Netherland’s national dish. Comfort food for those cold evenings when you do not want to spend too much time in the kitchen but need something to feed your soul.

1,5kg potatoes, peeled and diced
2 onions, peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
500g kale, trimmed and roughly chopped
500g rookworst (or any other smoked sausage)
125ml milk
45ml butter
salt and plenty of black pepper, to taste

Add the potatoes, onion, bay leaf, kale and a teaspoon salt to a large saucepan and pour in enough water to cover the ingredients. Cover with a lid and simmer for 25 minutes.
Slice the sausage into thick slices and fry it off in a hot pan. You want the edges to caramelise and become crispy. Set aside.
Remove the bay leaf from the veggies in the saucepan and drain off the water.
Add the milk and butter to the saucepan and stir through.
Lightly mash the potato-kale mixture but be sure to keep some texture.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Stir in the fried sausage.
Serve the stamp pot with a traditional Dutch beer or a glass of wine.

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Dutch Apple Tart/Appeltaart

May 4, 2022April 11, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Pie Crust:
375ml flour
125ml sugar
125g butter, cubed
1 egg

Filling:
4 large apples
83ml raisins
83ml brown sugar
2,5ml ground cinnamon
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Eggwash:
1 egg and 15ml water whisked together

For the pie crust:
Combine the flour and sugar in a mixing bowl.
Add the cubed butter and rub in with your fingertips until it is clumps the size of peas.
Whisk the egg with a fork and add it to the mixture.
Mix the pastry with your hands and add a few drops of water if it is too dry to come together.
Shape the pastry into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

For the filling:
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray a 22cm pie dish with cooking spray.
Peel the apples, core them and cut into small chunks. Add them to a large mixing bowl.
Add the raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest and mix through.
Cut the pastry into 4 equal pieces and set one piece aside.
Press the rest of the pastry into the bottom and sides of the cake tin – you can roll it out and patch wherever it breaks.
Spoon the filling into the pie crust.
Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the remaining pastry.
Cut into strips and make a lattice pattern for the tart.
Brush the pastry with the egg wash.
Place the apple tart in the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
Serve the tart with a dollop of cream.

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Avocado Pear with Cheese and Pangrattato

May 2, 2022April 2, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Pangrattato:
15ml olive oil
15ml butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
125ml panko breadcrumbs
30ml thyme leaves
60ml cashew nuts, chopped

2 avocado pears
60ml cream cheese, room temperature
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, seeds scooped out and cut into small cubes
250ml grated cheddar cheese
balsamic vinegar reduction

foil nests to rest the halved avocado pears in while baking

For the pangrattato:
Add the oil and butter to a frying pan set over medium heat and allow the butter to melt.
Fry the garlic for 1 minute while stirring.
Add the breadcrumbs, thyme and nuts and stir around in the pan until toasted and golden.
Take the mixture off the heat, spoon it into a bowl and allow to cool.

Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Prepare foil baking nests for the avocado pear by scrunching strips of aluminium foil into circular shapes where the avocado can rest without tilting. Be careful not to cut your hands!!!
Place the nests on a baking tray.
Cut the avocado pears in half and remove the stone.
Place each half on an aluminium nest and spoon 15ml cream cheese into the hollow.
Mix the chopped onion, tomato and cheddar cheese and divide the mixture in four equal portions. Pile the mixture onto the avocado halves.
Place the baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes or until the avocado is warmed throughout and the cheese has melted.
Spoon a generous amount of pangrattato onto each avocado portion.
Drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction and serve slightly warm.

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Beer and Cheese Pies

April 29, 2022April 2, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

If you have ever been to Oktoberfest, this is the taste version!!

1 packet phyllo pastry
125g butter, melted
190ml cream cheese, room temperature
83ml beer
30ml granulated mustard
2,5ml garlic powder
190 ml grated Boerenkaas (or Gouda)
190ml grated Cheddar cheese
1 egg

Preheat your oven to 220℃ and brush a 12-hole muffin tin with the melted butter.
Lay the phyllo sheets flat on a large chopping board and cut it into six squares – all the sheets at once.
Brush the top sheet with melted butter.
Lay a phyllo square into a muffin hole and pat it down.
Lay another square at an odd angle onto the first and pat it down. Finish the phyllo cup with a third layer of pastry.
Fill all 12 muffin holes in the same way and set aside.
Add the cream cheese and half the beer to a small saucepan set over medium heat.
Stir the mixture until the cheese has melted.
Add the rest of the beer, stir and lower the heat.
Add the mustard and garlic powder.
Add a small amount of the grated boerenkaas and cheddar and wait for it to incorporate and melt into the mixture.
Keep adding small amounts of cheese and stirring until all cheese are incorporated.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk until completely smooth. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
Add the egg to the mixture and whisk to incorporate.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared phyllo cups and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. The tops should be slightly burnt.
Serve the tarts warm or at room temperature with an ice cold beer.

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Dutch Banana Fritters

April 27, 2022April 2, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

200g flour
10ml baking powder
30ml icing sugar
1,2ml salt
170ml buttermilk
1 egg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
vegetable oil for frying
45ml caster sugar
10ml ground cinnamon

Butterscotch Sauce:
200g sugar
100g butter
62ml cream

Mix the flour, baking powder, icing sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl.
Add the buttermilk and egg to a jug and whisk together.
Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and stir together.
Add the mashed banana and mix through. Set aside.
Heat about 7cm deep vegetable oil in a saucepan.
Mix the caster sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
Mould the banana batter with two teaspoons and fry in batches for about 3 minutes, until cooked and golden.
Drain the fritters on kitchen paper and immediately roll them in the sugar-cinnamon mixture.

For the butterscotch sauce:
Measure the sugar into a small saucepan set over medium heat and allow the sugar to melt without stirring. Allow the sugar to caramelise and become golden while watching it with a hawk’s eye – you want a light caramel colour at this stage.
Add the butter and stir until melted.
Simmer the mixture over gentle heat for 2 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the cream. Whisk vigorously until smooth.
Decant the sauce – it will thicken as it cools.

Serve the banana fritters with the butterscotch sauce on the side for dipping.

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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.

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Meatball Soup / Groentesoep met Balletjes

April 22, 2022April 2, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

The base of this soup is a delicious vegetable broth and therefore it is very important to either make your own stock or buy the best quality you can lay your hands on. In the traditional recipe the meatballs are cooked in the broth. In my version the meatballs are first roasted in the oven to add another layer of flavour before adding it to the broth.
This recipe feeds 6-8 people – you may half the ingredients when preparing the soup or alternatively freeze one half.

Meatballs:
1kg ground beef
20ml salt
1 egg

Soup:
3 litres vegetable stock
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into discs
220g vermicelli pasta, broken into small pieces
125ml fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

For the meatballs:
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and lightly spray 2 roasting tins with cooking spray. Set aside.
Combine the ground beef, salt and egg in a mixing bowl and mix through.
Scoop a teaspoonful of the mixture into your hands and shape into mini balls by rolling between your palms. Place the meatballs in the prepared tins.
Bake the mini meatballs in the oven for 10 minutes.

For the broth:
Pour the stock into a large saucepan, add 10ml salt and bring to a simmer.
Add the carrots and vermicelli and simmer until the carrots are fork-tender.
Now add the mini meatballs and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the parsley to the soup and taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve the soup piping hot with fresh, crusty bread.

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Salmon Pancakes (Zalm Pannenkoek)

April 21, 2022April 2, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

Pancakes:
250ml flour
1ml baking powder
2,5ml salt
250ml milk
125ml water
62ml vegetable oil
2 eggs

Filling:
cream cheese
avocado pear, sliced
smoked salmon ribbons/strips
pickled cucumber, cubed
dill
lemon

Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Pour the milk, water, oil and eggs into a large jug and whisk together.
Turn the mixer on a low speed and add the egg mixture in a thin stream.
Turn the speed higher once the mixture comes together and keep adding small amounts of liquid until you have a thin, smooth mixture.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for at least one hour.
Heat a non-stick crépe / frying pan over medium-high heat and allow the pan to get hot.
Pour enough batter into the pan to cover the bottom. Swirl the mixture around to coat the pan evenly and bake for one minute per side.
Allow the baked pancakes to cool.

Place a pancake on a serving plate and spread some cream cheese onto it.
Scatter the avocado, salmon, cucumber and dill over and squeeze some lemon over.
Fold the pancake in half and serve with a glass of bubbly.

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Whipped Coconut Cream

April 20, 2022April 2, 2022by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This is a dairy-free and vegan alternative to Chantilly cream and delicious with most desserts.

1 x 400ml tin coconut cream, chilled for at least 8 hours
30ml icing sugar, sifted
5ml vanilla

Scoop the hardened coconut cream into a mixing bowl.
Whisk the cream with an electric beater on high speed for 1 minute so that it loosens up.
Sift the icing sugar into the bowl, add the vanilla and whisk again on high speed for another minute.
Dollop the coconut cream onto your favourite dessert.
Keep refrigerated.