Since we wanted to visit Laurens’ parents, who had just [...]]]> Laurens and I both had a 4-day weekend last week. Thursday was a nationally observed holiday in the Netherlands, and I had Friday off. Laurens decided to take Friday off as well, so we could have a nice long weekend together.

Since we wanted to visit Laurens’ parents, who had just returned from Italy, we figured we could finally go to the ‘Drunense Duinen’, a National Park near his parents town. The Drunense Duinen are beautiful. They are natural sand dunes in the middle of dry land. No water in sight. The only big problem in the Drunense Duinen is that nature is doing too well. Trees and bushes that aren’t supposed to grow in dunes have been thriving and a very large part of this amazing dune-land has been overgrown with forests. The preservation societies are actually cutting down trees there, to preserve nature. It’s a strange phenomenon.

I had never been to the Drunense Duinen before. We figured we’d walk around and grab something to eat and drink there, when I realized that I have a beautiful antique style picnic basket that I’d never even used. A picnic it would be.

My requirements for our picnic were simple. The foods needed to be easy enough to make and eat; filling enough to last us during a walk through the dunes and forest; and able to keep well during transportation.

I settled on wraps and sandwiches for our main lunch. Some hummus and bread and small baggies of chips to nibble on as sides, and chocolate-almond cupcakes for dessert. I baked the cupcakes the evening before and had a hard time not eating them before we left.

For the wraps I spread a layer of pesto over an entire tortilla, then added some thick slices of smoked chicken breast. I cut up sun-dried tomatoes and finished off with a good handful of rocket before rolling the tortilla, cutting it in half and placing it in it’s container.

The sandwich I made was a very simple roast beef and blue cheese sandwich. I got some nice, crusty white bread, sliced it in half and spread the bottom half with a thin layer of horseradish. Then thin-sliced roast beef was generously piled up and the sandwich was topped with a good dose of crumbled blue cheese. I cut the sandwich in half (so we could share) and wrapped it in plastic. Salt and pepper, slices of tomato, shredded lettuce and a drizzle of olive oil were packaged separately and added right before eating to prevent the sandwich from getting all soggy during the hour-and-a-half drive to the dunes.

I cut up some leftover bread to go with the hummus and packed everything with some ice packs in my beautiful picnic basket.

Once we got to the Drunense Duinen we quickly spread out our blanket on the sand, in the shade under a tree and enjoyed our picnic. The food held up wonderful during the trip. Everything was super easy to make and tasty to eat. I know lots of people think food tastes better when eaten outdoors, but I can honestly say these wraps and sandwiches would’ve been just as great when eaten at a table.

However, they weren’t fall-of-the-bone-tender. They [...]]]> We’d bought cooked (oven roasted I think), marinated spare ribs from our local butcher a couple of times. They were great, very flavorful, which is why we kept buying them once in a while. Just reheating them in the oven was enough to have nicely flavored ribs on the table.

However, they weren’t fall-of-the-bone-tender. They were always the same, adapted -flavor wise- to the general public’s taste. Tasty, but not extraordinary. Nothing extra special.

Another problem, if you want to call it that, was that the membranes weren’t removed from the bottom of the ribs. I knew that I could do better myself. Adapt them to what I like in a rib. What we like.

After smoking the chicken breast, I figured I could use that same method to smoke ribs. Sure, It wouldn’t be extremely smokey. It wouldn’t be the ultra slow barbecueing which I love in the US. But I figured it would give it some extra flavor. I still had an ‘award winning’ rib-rub I’d bought at the Savory Spice Shop in Colorado the summer before. So all I needed was a rack of not yet marinated, uncooked ribs.  Fortunately the butcher had some in the back that he hadn’t prepped yet, so I was good to go.

I really love that butcher. It’s really close to our house and they have everything I want, or can get it. I have their phone number and I can call in orders if needed. When they’re in, they actually give me a call so I won’t have to go to their store in vain. The girls who work there on Saturdays, which is the day I  usually go there, are all lovely. They recognize me and have fun with me. They joke and are friendly. They are amused by the fact that I ask for things to be a little different. Like the uncooked ribs. They hardly ever sell those. So if I have a reader who lives in the west part of Amsterdam and likes good cuts of meat, please go by the Keurslager at Ecuplein. They’re awesome.

Back to the ribs though. I started out prepping them to be cooked. This means removing the membrane and applying a rub. I don’t have pictures or a video of how that works, because Laurens was at work when I did this and I really needed both hands for this. It’s fairly easy though, once you know how it works. You just take a dull knife (butter or dinner knife or so), which you wiggle under the membrane on the bottom side of the rib. You then take a piece of kitchen towel to hold the little piece of membrane you’ve wiggle loose and while you hold the ribs with one hand, you pull the membrane off with the other hand. If the membrane breaks or splits, just start over with the piece that’s still attached to the ribs.

Removing the membrane is the key to true tasty, tender ribs. The membrane will be touch after cooking, and it won’t let flavors from your seasonings into your meat. So don’t skip the membrane-removal. Promise me you won’t!

Once the membrane is removed, apply your favorite rub generously over the front and the back of the ribs, then smoosh them in a bit. Especially with the membrane removed, you can stretch ribs out quite a bit. This’ll shorten cooking time, but will make the ribs tough and a little drier. Not tastier. So smoosh them together. Set the ribs aside while you prep your grill.

Start by grabbing some nice wood chips. I like hickory, personally, but I bet mesquite would be nice too, or apple wood. Break the wood chips into small pieces. Big pieces take a long time to start smoking, so make sure you have a lot of little pieces. Once they start smoking, larger pieces will start to work as well, but make sure you have some small chips as well. Soak the chips for 10 to 20 minutes.

Once the chips are soaked, drain them and place them in a shallow aluminum bowl. Small chips go on the bottom. Place the bowl of chips over the flames, under the rack of your grill. Then turn on the burner(s) under the bowl. Close the hood of your grill and let the temperature get to about 110C or 225F. At least not too much hotter. You want the heat to be enough to get the chips smoking and the pork cooked, but you want it to go slow!

Once the grill reaches the right temperature (and the chips have started smoking a little) you place your ribs on the other side of the grill. As far away from direct heat as you can. Again, smoosh them together a bit.

Let the ribs cook like this for about 40-45 minutes, then turn them over and wait another 45 minutes. Then flip again and move them a little closer to the heat, so they might get the tiniest hint of a crispy outer layer. After about 10 minutes you turn them again. If you have really thick ribs you might want to repeat this 3 or 4 times, with normal sized ribs they should be done after those 10 minutes or (almost) direct heat on both sides.

They’ll be delicious. They’ll have a subtle smokey flavor, they’re tender enough to tear them apart. We shared a rack, and honestly, from a nutritional perspective that’s more than enough. But we could’ve easily eaten a whole rack a person. That’s how good they are!

If you want the ribs a little ‘saucier’, you could put a barbecue sauce/glaze over them for the last 20 minutes of cooking (just brush it on each side alternately and turn after 5 minutes, so 2 glazes per side). It’s what I did with the ribs in these pictures. Honestly, I don’t think they need that (I’ve made them with and without the glaze).

Also featured in this dinner was roasted garlic. That garlic with some nice crusty whole wheat bread was perfect to accompany the ribs. A how-to on the garlic will be posted soon!

Thursday was moving day. At 8am the movers arrived at our old house and after a cup of coffee they started loading [...]]]>
As I’m writing this I sit at my kitchen table, in my new kitchen, with a stew cooking on the stove behind me. It’s wonderful.

Thursday was moving day. At 8am the movers arrived at our old house and after a cup of coffee they started loading our 120 boxes and some loose things and furniture.

Around 2 pm all our boxes were unloaded and we (and the movers) were sitting in our new backyard to rest a bit.

the move went super-smooth. At some point we started helping a tiny bit, but not even that much. IT was mostly us standing on different floors telling them ‘this goes there’.

The first thing I started unpacking, was the kitchen. At the same time L started working on computer and media stuff, so we could sit down and watch tv later that night. I got about half the boxes unpacked that evening and after that I just couldn’t do things anymore. I sat down on the couch, L joined me and we had a drink and watched some tv.

Saturday morning I went on unpacking the kitchen and started giving things more final places. It all worked out. Every cupboard is filled now. There aren’t any empty ones left (even though this kitchen is way bigger than my old kitchen) but that’s okay. Everything is nicely spaced out. No more lifting a stack of bowls and plates to get to that thing you need. Eventually we’re planning on buying a nice, old-fashioned, cabinet, in which we’ll have room for some more stuff. Also, later this week (probably) we’ll put shelves up in the pantry/laundry room we created, which means my stock-supplies move there and suddenly I should have some spare room in the cupboards.

I love love love my new kitchen. It’s just so spacious and nice. There’s room to move around. We can both stand there and walk around without bumping into one another. We don’t have to ask each other to scoot over to make it past the dishwasher. It’s just great.

While I was finishing the kitchen, L finished the bookcases. We have half a wall in our living room filled with bookcases. He even unpacked, sorted and placed the books already. Next Saturday my late grandma’s antique cabinet will arrive and moves into the living room as well and then we’ll be able to completely finish unpacking/decorating that room as well.

Then there’s our bedroom. That still needs a lot of work. We did put the shelves into the walk-in-closet today and I started unpacking the boxes of clothes. However, I just discovered I don’t have enough hangers, so I quit that and started cooking instead.

I love, love, love that I get to cook again. Since the reunion dinner, I hadn’t really done much cooking anymore. At least no chopping and adding tons of different fresh ingredients. With the closing on the house and then packing and moving, we just ordered in or got microwave meals. I made the occasional simple dish, like the chicken adobo, but that didn’t involve that much chopping either. I’ll tell you though, I really missed it!

So tonight, I’m making a stew. It’s fairly simple, but has tons of fresh veggies and a nice chunk of meat (which will be cut up after cooking. And I’ll set the table, with actual place mats and such and we’ll have the first fresh-cooked dinner in our new house.

It’ll be wonderful!

[print_this]New-kitchen stew (recipe feeds 4)

• big chunk of beef (brisket, rib roast or such, about 500 grams)
• 6 tomatoes
• 1 big onion, chopped
• some garlic (to taste), chopped
• 1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• your favorite stew/steak seasoning to taste
• a pinch of salt (pink himalayan preferred)
• 1 bouillon cube (or enough powder to make a quart)
• far to fry in (butter, oil, lard or a combination)
• flour for dredging and thickening
• A good pour of red wine (optional)
• water

Dredge the beef with flour and a bit of the seasoning. Place your fat in a Dutch oven (I use a combo of butter, lard and olive oil for flavor) and let it melt. Place the beef in the pan and brown it on both sides. Add the onion and the garlic. When the onion turns slightly glassy, pour in some wine (optional) and let it simmer for a minute or 2. Then add enough water to mostly cover the beef.

Get the liquid to a slow boil and add the green pepper and 2 of the tomatoes. Add the bouillon cube and let it simmer for close to an hour.

Taste the sauce and add salt to taste (the amount really depends on your seasoning and the amount of liquid you needed to cover your beef, if your seasoning has salt, wait until you serve to check it. You might not even need to add any, I used a salt free seasoning, so I needed a good pinch.)

Add the rest of the tomatoes and yellow and red pepper. Let it simmer for another 30 minutes or so, until the meat is very tender. Remove the meat and cut it into smaller chunks. Add the meat back into the pan.

In a small bowl combine 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour with some more seasoning and a some of the liquid from the pot. Mix well to avoid lumps. Add the flour mix to the stew to thicken it. Cook it for a couple more minutes, so it thickens and serve with some nice crusty bread.

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