Our office flooded today! Or well, the building in which our office resides on the 2nd floor flooded today. Saying ‘our office’ adds a nice dramatic touch, which is always a good thing. Right?
There was a monsoon going on in Amsterdam. Or well, technically it might not have been a monsoon as we’re not in a tropical climate and there probably are all sorts of rules about when rain becomes monsoon which Dutch rain doesn’t adhere to. But still. There was a monsoon in Amsterdam. And then our office flooded.
Apparently some gutter hadn’t been cleaned very well and many, many, many gallons of water poured through whatever it poured through. In the collective hallway/staircase which also houses the elevator bucketloads of water coninuously poured from a ceiling lamp. I’m not kidding or exaggerating here. The weird thing was, the lamp didn’t break, it didn’t turn off, which actually meant it was kind of dangerous and we called the fire department.
The fire department was very busy. We weren’t the only building that was flooding.
The post office underneath our office received tons of water from another source and had to close.
And when I walked out to buy a sandwich for lunch, the record store across the street from ‘Het Kuyltje’ had flooded as well. And the shoe store next to it didn’t have the really really cute sandals in my size anymore. But that’s a whole other story, very much unrelated to the flood.
When I left the office to go home, it rained yet again. Once I got off the tram another monsoon had started. So I walked through the monsoon, was soaked to the bones, took a nice hot shower and settled in front of the TV to watch the elections.
We ate barbeque sausages from the grill pan, as that’s what I had in the fridge. I also made some biscuits and had a hard time deciding on a vegetable. L had placed the veggies in the fridge after shopping Sunday, which place my little gem lettuce somewhere else than I expected. I had totally forgotten about them. So I decided to use them for my veggie. And to grill them. I think I saw a picture of grilled baby lettuce somewhere before and it looked yummy. So I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.
I’d survived a multitude of monsoons, the possibility of electrocution and the loss of a pair of sandals I wanted. I figured I’d survive if grilled lettuce wouldn’t be tasty.
It actually was tasty. Very very tasty! And easy and quick. Make this if you don’t have time!
[print_this]Grilled little gem lettuce (recipe for 2)
- 2 small heads of little gem lettuce
- Crushed dried garlic
- Fresh ground mixed pepper
- Pink himalayan salt (or seasalt)
- olive oil (flavored optional)
- a grill pan
Take the outer leaves of your little gems and wash them. Shake them dry and cut them in half. Lay them open side down, so the remaining water can drip out.
In a small bowl mix the dried garlic, ground pepper and olive oil. Brush the oil mixture over the cut side of the little gems. After this I also sprinkled some oil infused with italian seasonings over the lettuce.
Let the oil seep in a little, while heating up your grill pan.Once your grill pan is sizzling hot place the lettuce on there, outside down. As soon as the part touching the pan is starting to wilt a little, turn them over. With the cut side down leave them to wilt more and get a nice light brown crust/marking. Serve immediately.
[/print_this]
I’ve stubmled upon a couple of blog posts and recipes that asked for lard. Now I know that in the US you can actually buy buckets of lard in the grocery stores. In Holland you don’t find that. I’m pretty sure you can ask a butcher for some rendered lard, but I figured, having a food blog and all, that rendering my own lard would be more fun and better even.
While browsing along, I’ve found that all the recent fat/grease related studies speak fondly about animal fats. Trans fats are bad for you, is the newest craze, and trans fats are found most in hydrogenated oils and fats. Lard is not hydrogenated, it’s just melted. So apparently lard is healthy now. To be honest, I didn’t do it for the health benefits. Every study, every year tells us different things about fats. It’s all fine. I just like my food to taste good. So I want to try out lard.
Browsing through several sites and articles about lard, I’ve learnt not only about the health benefits, but also that you can ‘stop’ the rendering process at several stages, which will give you a product that’s different in taste and purpose. If you buy your lard pre-made, you don’t know how far it’s gone, because every method and stage will still give you the hardened, white, crisco like end-product.
So I rendered my own, and stopped before the cracklings were completely crispy and hard. An in-between stage from the very clear, water-colored neutral fat and the darker, more nutty fat. It was quite the lengthy process, though it didn’t take much work. I went from a heap of cut-up pig fat, to a mushy, weird colored substance with gobbly chunks of fat, to a big layer of grease with some small little hardened pieces that just needed filtering out.
To filter, I chose the ‘coffee filter method’, which worked, though I’d probably prefer the ‘cheesecloth over a strainer’ method next time.
I bought a small (1 liter) glass bowl with lid, specifically for the lard. Glass, for the neutral taste and to prevent melting (who knows) and chemicals possibly leaking into the lard over time.
The end product was a beautiful, white layer of fat, ready to cook with. It looks beautiful and I can’t wait to make some cookies, biscuits, tortillas or pastry with it. Or to fry my chicken in it.
I will definitely render more, as soon as I’m (almost) out of this batch. I might even add a time-lapse movie that time (provided that I’ve moved to the new house by then.)
[print_this]So how do you do it, you might ask…
- pig fat (lard), preferably from around the kidney area (leaf lard) or from the back
(you’ll need to ask a good butcher for the lard to render)- some water
- a big cast iron pan
Cut up the lard in smallish chunks. Place it in a big cast iron pan and add a little water to get everything started. Put it on a medium-high fire. As soon as it starts to boil a little, turn the heat way down. (I used the smallest burner on the lowest heat.) The water has now mixed with the fat and has gotten all mucky looking. Don’t worry, the water will evaporate and with that the mucky-ness.
Keep the fat on the low heat, stirring once in a while. If you have the feeling it’s still starting to boil/simmer too much, put a simmer mat/heat diffuser under your pan.Once most of the fat has melted turn off the heat. Let it cool a little and then pour the fat into a bowl. Use a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter to keep the fat ‘clean’.
Let the strained fat cool down a little more, then move to the refrigerator. It will completely solidify and turn white. Use for anything that requires shortening![/print_this]
Yay, for summer! Yay for sunshine, for having the doors and windows wide open. For having lunch outside in the sun. For having salads for dinner. Yay for summer!
And yay for ice cream! Ice cream is awesome. I love the stuff!
And even better than regular old store bough ice cream, is home made ice cream.
The first time I ever ate home made ice cream was in Indiana. We visited my aunt Betty and uncle Jack for the first time during the summer I turned 12. (At least I think I turned 12, could be when I turned 13 as well, but that’s not the point here.) Now it sounds weird that I never visited my aunt and uncle before, but that’s because they’d only become part of my family the year before, when my dad married Dixie, aunt Betty’s youngest sister, aka my stepmom.
Aunt Betty had this mystical, magical, awesome device in which you could make your own ice cream. I had seriously never heard of that before. Making your own ice cream, yeah right?! Ice cream makers weren’t sold in Holland back then, or at least not to anyone in my vicinity.
But aunt Betty had an ice cream maker and made us ice cream. And it was awesome.
Every time I’ve visited aunt Betty since, she’s made ice cream. And it’s never ever disappointed me.
Now almost 2 decades later ice cream makers have become a normal thing in Holland as well. Yes I still don’t know anyone except for my aunt Betty who actually owns one. Or if someone else does, they’ve never made me ice cream (which, if that’s the case, would be evil, very very evil. And mean. And unfair. How could you do that to me, not make me ice cream when you have the machinery to do so????)
Now I haven’t bought myself an ice cream maker yet. There’s ice cream machinery on my kitchen wish list though. But that indeed means I don’t have one yet.
Now last week I was browsing around some food blogs, and I found this post by David Lebovitz. I figured, ooohhh, before I do that I’ll probably have bought an ice cream maker. I don’t need to try that.
Wrong!
Today was a gorgeous day. It’s a quarter ’til 11 in the pm, and we still have our doors wide open. I sat outside, on a terrace, no jacket, a short-sleeved shirt on, to have lunch with my co-worker.
And then I read the theme of the week on Tasty Kitchen, which was ice cream.
The sun was shining, through the window, while I was in my office. All I wanted to do was go outside and eat ice cream. So I decided to give it a try. To throw all caution in the wind and make my own ice cream.
Without an ice cream maker!!!
I made the custard with a slight bit of home made vanilla sugar, to add a slight hint of vanilla flavor to the ice cream.
I chopped up some slivered and whole almonds into different sized bits, and threw them into the heavy cream.
I drizzled melted dark chocolate on the mostly forzen almost-ice cream.
I whipped the heck out of the custard, the cream, the half-frozen stuff.
I burned my finders really bad.
I MADE ICE CREAM!!!!!!
Wonderful straciatella/vanilla/almond ice cream. Without the aid of an ice cream maker. And it tasted awesome.
Does this mean I’ll whip the heck out of it by hand for the rest of my life? Heck no! It’s only strengthened my conviction that I actually want, no NEED and ice cream maker.
I’ll need to make this every day, or at least weekly.
Yummmm!!!
[print_this]Straciatella vanilla almond ice cream
- 2/3 cup milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup caster sugar (replace 1 spoonful of sugar with vanilla sugar)
- a pinch of pink himalayan salt
- a handful slivered and whole almonds (chopped)
- A little bit of dark chocolate (melted)
Combine the milk, sugar and salt in a pan. Stir feverishly until it comes to a boil. In a freezer proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks (save the whites, freeze them and use them for something else some other time). Once the milk has come to a boil, take it from the heat and slowly, very slowly add it to the egg yolks while whisking it like your like depends on it. Once the milk and yolks are combined, pour the mixture back into your pan on very very low heat and keep stirring until you have a custard. DON’T let it boil, as it will curdle and will ruin everything. You’ll know the custard is done when it’s gotten a little thicker and doesn’t drip off your spatula right away, but leave a bit of a film.
As soon as the custard is done, take it off the heat, but keep stirring a bit to prevent burning or whatever. Don’t know why actually, just seems sensible.
Put your heavy cream in the freezer proof bowl you’ve used before. Add the almonds in there and mix. Now very slowly pour all your custard in there and whisk feverisly again. It’s the whisking that does the magic!Once everything’s been incorporated (scrape that custard out of the pan, into the cream) place the freezer proof bowl with the custard cream into the freezer. After about half an hour (as soon as the sides start to set/freeze a little) take it out and whisk again. Place it back in the freezer, wait another half hour, whisk again. Place it back in the freezer, have dinner, or do something fun, take it out, whisk again (by now it’s pretty set when you take it out!)
After the ice cream has set quite a bit, melt some dark chocolate in the microwave. Try not to be like me – don’t burn your fingers while removing it from said microwave!
Remove your ice cream and whisk again, drizzle the melted chocolate over the ice cream. Place the bowl back in the freezer.
Wait 15 minutes, remove from freezer again, and whisk again (you’ll break the chocolate, thus creating the straciatella). Place back in the freezer.
Check the ice cream again in about 15 to 20 minutes. Can you still whisk it? If so, do so and place it back. Keep doing that every 15 minutes as long as you can. As soon at it’s all set, enjoy (or put in a better container and save in the fridge for some other time — yeah right!)[/print_this]
Oh, and on a totally different note, while I was editing this post, I received an e-mail. I just won the French Women don’t get fat cookbook. A signed copy. I won it in the ‘Cooking is…’ competition. Very cool! I’m so excited. I never win anything, still haven’t won the lottery – even though I try all the time. But now I won something, just for sharing my love of cooking. Yay me!
If you want the book as well, it’s sold on the author’s website.
I have talked about my home-made pasta a couple of times. About how much I love it and how much better it is than store bought pasta. I might’ve even mentioned that since starting to make my own pasta, I refuse to buy the soft refrigerator pasta anymore. The refrigerator pasta is just filled with all kinds of additives to make sure it stays soft. The thing is, pasta, once finished making, does not stay soft. It dries very very quickly. Within an hour or so it’ll be dry, or mostly dry, but definitely not flexible anymore.
So whenever I don’t make my own pasta, I’ll buy dried pasta. It’ll actually give you a better chance of good quality pasta (obviously depending on the brand…)
Also I probably did mention that simple sauces are best with home made pasta, as that guarantees you still tasting the wonderful, wonderful fresh pasta. Especially when it’s cooked just perfectly.
So I made one of my favorites, Tagliatelle (aka Fettucini) with a gorgonzola cream sauce. It was cooked to perfection. If I didn’t have the decency to eat veggies as well, I would’ve just made a GIANT bowl and ate 4 servings and no veggies at all. Too bad I’m sensible.
The gorgonzola cream sauce is about the simplest sauce you can make. As long as you can find the right cheese, a 2-year old could probably make it (though I strongly discourage 2-year-olds working the stove, playing with fire is dangerous and such!)
Sometimes I wish I would make fresh pasta every day. I mean I could. It’s not hard. It doesn’t take much time. It doesn’t even take too much creativity, as there are about a zillion different pasta-sauce-recipes in my Italian food Bible (The Silver Spoon). I actually really wonder why I don’t, except the fact that there are so many other great recipes around which would not work all that well with a pasta starter.
Anyways, this dish is awesome! It’s the easiest, tastiest pasta ever. Try it, eat it, love it! (I do, very often!)
[print_this]Gorgonzola cream sauce (recipe for 2)
- a notch of butter
- 1 150 gram package of gormas
- about half a cup of cream
- a pinch of fresh ground pepper
Melt the butter in a small pan. Add the gormas (it’s a gorgonzola/mascarpone mixture, packaged together—if you can’t get that, just use equal amounts of mascarpone and gorgonzola bought separately). On low heat, stir the cheeses so they start melting a bit.
Once the cheeses have melted a little, add your cream. (Any cream will do, it’s just used to thin the sauce and with the powerful taste of gorgonzola, the difference between a low fat cream or half-and-half and heavy cream is not that noticeable.) I use about half a cup for my pasta sauce, which serves 2, probably a little less if I’d use the sauce on meat. If you like thin sauce or don’t want too strong a taste, just add more cream!
Stir the melting cheese, the cream and butter together on low heat. Keep stirring once in a while until all the cheese has melted and the sauce has come to a simmer, turn the heat way down, so it just stays warm, but doesn’t actually cook. Grind some pepper into the sauce (to taste), stir once more and serve over pasta, or anything else you can think of!
[/print_this]
The Pioneer Woman makes me jealous. Not when she posts pictures of scary snakes that sit in her yard. I can do without that nooo problem. I get very very very jealous when I see her kitchen though. She has a ‘baking station’ with ‘flour/sugar drawers’. Seriously, if I didn’t have L, she wasn’t married and it would be legal, I would totally marry her just for her kitchen. Seriously!
Now I shouldn’t whine. After August 31st I will have an awesome kitchen as well. It’s large and beautiful and has everything I need. Except for the baking station… with the flour/sugar drawers.
I already told L that I want those drawers too. We will have to remodel the kitchen a tiny bit, can’t we just include those drawers in there.
I included bribes like ‘baking every day’ and such, but L didn’t seem convinced.
So this morning I told my co-worker about the awesomeness of PW’s kitchen and drawers. I told her I’d checked about 3 million kitchen websites and none of them offered them. And then my wonderful wonderful co-worker said “oh, but they have those old fashioned cupboards that have those, they’re called ‘grutterskasten’, check furniture stores instead of kitchen stores”.
So I did a google search on grutterskasten and kruidenierskasten and there’s a whole giant massive collection of different types and styles of those cupboards.
So now I want a cupboard like this!
Or like this!
There are so many possibilities!!!
I’ll just have to go measure the empty wall space in my kitchen (I know exactly which wall I can use) and then I can go pick one up!
Soooo excited!!!!
(Which one is your favorite???)
Networks
