But sometimes you gotta placate the dessert lovers around you. Especially when they are your girlfriend’s family, and you want to, no, you MUST, impress them with your kitchen-fu.

Ergo: tiramisu. With a difference.  

This is my version of tiramisu. I added some peaches (an idea I got from my uncle) and replaced the coffee liqueur with Amaretto and the chocolate with almonds, which I think works well with the fruit. Whipped cream and beaten egg whites slightly lighten up the mascarpone cream.

Before I continue, I have to clarify something about the portion sizes on this thing. Personally, I would say this feeds about INFINITY people. But according to Marbles’ family it probably serves about 8. I shared a piece with Marbles, and there was no way we were getting through that thing. So portion with caution!

Almond-Peach Tiramisu

• 450 gr/16 ounces mascarpone
• 2 egg whites
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 C whipping cream
• powdered sugar
• lady finger cookies – enough to cover the bottom of your dish, twice
• 2 shot espresso, cold
• 2 to 4 shots Amaretto liqueur
• 1 large can peaches, drained, sliced
• 1 C shaved almonds OR 100 gr/ 3.5 ounces extra dark chocolate

Mix the mascarpone with the egg yolks and beat until completely smooth en very soft. WHip the cream and mix into the cheese and egg mixture. Add sugar to taste. The cream should be quite sweet.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Lighten the cream mixture by stirring in a scoop of egg whites, then fold the cream mixture into the egg whites.

Mix the coffee with the liqueur. Dip the cookies into this mixture and arrange on the bottom of your serving dish. Cover with a layer of peach slices and about half the cream mixture. Top with another layer of coffee-soaked cookies, the rest of the peaches and the rest of the cream mixture.

Refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight.

To serve:

Toast the almonds (if using) in a dry skillet until golden, remove from heat and toss with 2 TB powdered sugar, until the almonds look “frosted”. Alternatively, shave or grate the chocolate. Sprinkle on top of tiramisu.

Cut with a hot, wet knife.

Notes:

• I’ve been thinking about different variations on the theme of tiramisu. I think I’d like coffee liqueur, fresh raspberries, and a thick layer of chocolate. I think I’ll try that next;
• I think using amaretti cookies for the bottom layer would be delicious. Even better would be bitterkoekjes! Using bitterkoekjes would make this a gluten free dish;
• since peaches and vanilla go really well together, you could make a children’s version by substituting vanilla syrup for the liqueur and using decaf coffee and sterilized eggs.

More tips after the break.Here are a few more tips  for making perfectly poached eggs:

• I always add a splash of vinegar to the poaching liquid to help solidify the egg whites. It does leave a slightly tangy flavor, but I like that;
• instead of trying to get your water at that perfect “not quite boiling” temperature, just give it a quick stir just as it starts to boil (this introduces cool air to the boiling water), wait until it calms down a bit, turn off the heat, and then drop in your egg (I always poach one egg at a time). Cover with a lid and wait for 3 minutes (a little longer if you don’t like a very runny yolk);
• serve on toast, topped with a bit of melted butter and some salt and pepper.

Really, people: IT’S NOT THAT DIFFICULT!

This soup is a hearty, seasonal soup. It’s pretty simple to make, and freezes well. It’s a bit sweet, a little creamy, with a slightly nutty flavor from the celeriac. The salad, on the other hand, is a bit on the fancy side. The bitter radicchio is grilled on a griddle pan, and is topped with slices of pear, crumbled blue cheese, and caramelized pecans. While they don’t need to be served together per se, they compliment each other very nicely.

Cream of celeriac soup

• 1 large celeriac (that’s “knolselderij” to Dutch readers), peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 1 medium floury potato, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 2 sprigs thyme, leaves only
• 400 ml/ 1,75 C vegetable broth (from a cube)
• 100 ml/ 0,5 C milk
• 1 to 2 tsp coarse grain mustard
• 100 ml/ 0,5 C cream
• salt, pepper
• 1/2 TB chopped parsley (optional)

Combine celeriac, potato, vegetable broth, thyme and milk in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Cook over medium-low heat, covered, until the vegetables are very soft. Turn off heat and allow to cool slightly.

Purée the soup with an immersion blender. You can make it very smooth or leave some chunks, whatever you prefer. If you like a very smooth soup you can pass it through a sieve instead.

Stir the mustard and cream in to the soup. Reheat over very low heat (don’t let it boil, or the cream may separate!), taste, and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve it with some parsley, if you like.

That’s it! That wasn’t hard at all!

Notes:

• Did you know that celeriac combines really well with truffles? If you happen to be in the posession of some truffles or some good truffle oil (YOU LUCKY BASTARD!), you can leave out the mustard, and serve the soup topped with some truffle grated on top, or stir in a drizzle of truffle oil. That would be the ultimate NOM!

Salad of grilled radicchio, pear and blue cheese

• 1 1/2 tsp French mustard
• 1 TB honey
• 1 1/2 TB white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dried dill
• 3 TB olive oil
• salt, pepper
• 1 small handful of unsalted pecans, roughly chopped
• 2 TB sugar
• 1 small head of radicchio, quartered, hard white cores removed (leave just enough so that the wedges of radicchio hold together!), all sides brushed lightly with olive oil
• 1/2 small pear, sliced very thinly
• 2 to 3 TB roquefort cheese, crumbled

In a skillet without any oil, toast the pecans together with the sugar until the sugar caramelizes to form a deep brown layer on the pecans. Remove to a plate and allow to cool. Crush slightly.

Heat up a cast iron griddle/grill pan (I mean the kind that had deep ridges). Marbles pan takes about 30 minutes over low heat. If you’re using non-stick, 5 minutes over high heat is probably more like it. Do whatever you need to to get that fucker SMOKING HOT!

Mix mustard, honey, vinegar and dill. Whisk in the oil until it’s a thick dressing. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Grill the wedges of radicchio in the SMOKING HOT grill pan for about half a minute on each side. There should be noticeable black markings, but the inside leaves should still be crispy and firm.

Place the wedges of radicchio on a plate. Drizzle on most of the dressing. Place the pear slices on top and drizzle with a few more drops of dressing. Top with the blue cheese and caramelized pecans.

Remember those hand-rolled canneloni I made a while ago? I liked them a lot, so I experimented with a different filling. This time, I used eggplant for the center filling and grilled red peppers and mascarpone for the outer filling. The canneloni were baked in a batch of D.I.Y. tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes and a few dried chili peppers for spice.

I think that these were even better, because of the mix of creaminess (from the mascarpone), sweetness (from the grilled peppers) and spiciness (from the sauce). Marbles slightly preferred the mushroom version, but will eat either version again, as long as there is tomato sauce in abundance. Try either version or make your own, but please do make a fresh tomato sauce. It will make all the difference!

Canneloni filling with grilled peppers, mascarpone, and eggplant

• large sweet red peppers
• 2oo gr/  7 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 1 medium or 2 small eggplants, cut into 1 cm/ 0.5 inch cubes
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• a few pinches oregano
• small handful of fresh basil, chopped
• salt, pepper
• 1 portion of D.I.Y. tomato sauce, made with cherry tomatoes and a few dried chili peppers, pressed through a sieve to remove tomato skins and chili peppers
• 6  20 by 30 cm sheets fresh pasta (8 by 12 inches)
• some freshly grated pecorino romano cheese

Broil the red peppers until the skin is blackened on all sides. Place peppers in a plastic bag or container, close, and allow to cool until you can handle them. Remove skins and finely chop the peppers. Mix in the mascarpone cheese and set aside.

In the mean time, place the eggplant in a colander, sprinkle liberally with salt, and let stand for half an hour. Press out most of the liquid and dry with paper towels (this will remove plenty of the salt so you don’t need to rinse the eggplant).

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet and brown the eggplant over medium heat until very brown and very soft. The eggplant will have an almost sticky quality, and the inside will be soft and almost creamy. Add he garlic and oregano for the last 3 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Take off the heat, allow to cool slightly, and mix in the basil.

Fill, roll and bake the canneloni as per my recipe for canneloni with spinach and mushrooms, using the eggplant as the inner filling, and the pepper-mascarpone mixture as the outer filling. Serve hot, topped with grated pecorino romano cheese.

Noms assured!

I’ve spent quite some time working on this recipe, and I really hope you like it! I’ve gotta say: while it involves a little work and a lot of time, boeuf bourguignon is the perfect comfort food for cold wintery nights. And it’s nearly impossible to have too many leftovers. Below the recipe I’ll explain how to turn boeuf bourguignon into little pies!

Boeuf bourguignon, Suus’ style

• 100 gr/ 3.5 ounces bacon lardons
• 1 kg/ 2.2 lb organic stewing beef, sliced into 3 by 3 cm/ 1.5 inch cubes, dried with paper towels
• a few baby carrots, sliced
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 TB flour
• 500 ml/ 2 C red wine
• 300 ml/ 1.75 C beef consommé
• 2 TB concentrated tomato paste
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 stalks thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 shallots, peeled and quartered
• 500 gr/ 1 LB brown button mushrooms, quartered
• olive oil
• butter

Sautée your bacon in a large stewing pot with a thick bottom until all of the fat has rendered out and the bacon is crispy and well browned. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add a table spoon of olive oil to the bacon fat and brown the beef. You have to do this is batches. Do not overcrowd the bottom of the pot, or the beef will not brown. Only brown, don’t cook the beef! Pour off most of the cooking fat.

Put the onion, carrots and garlic into the stewing pot and quickly fry for a few minutes, until soft but not brown. Return the bacon and the browned beef to the stewing pot. Add the flour and give it a few good stirs and shakes, until the flour has cooked. Add the thyme, bay leaves, tomato paste, all of the wine and enough of the consommé to just barely cover the meat. It shouldn’t be too soupy! Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to very low, and simmer (covered) for at least 1.5 and up to 3 hours. Until meat is very tender.

In the mean time, while the beef is stewing, heat a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet, and place the shallots in a single layer in the skillet. Brown on all sides. The shallots should still be firm (see picture). Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Heat another tablespoon of butter in the skillet and brown the mushrooms, together with a few pinches of salt, over high heat until very well browned and all the moisture has evaporated (see picture). Set aside.

To finish the boeuf bourguignon, add the shallots and mushrooms to the stew. Taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary. Fish out the bay leaves and the thyme if you can. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes, or (as I did) on its own with some crusty bread on the side. Garnish with parsley if you like.

PROTIP!

This recipe makes quite a lot of boeuf bourguignon, and considering the amount of work involved you may as well double the recipe and make a huge batch.

Leftover boeuf bourguignon is delicious as a filling for elegant little pies. To make them, oil small pie dishes and fill them with boeuf bourguignon. Roll out a few sheets of puff pastry and cover the boeuf bourguignon completely. Cut a few holes in the top, and decorate with the remaining pastry. Brush all over with egg wash and bake in a hot oven until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is hot an bubbly (about 30 minutes).

We agree on a few things: a great burger starts with great quality, organic beef. I’m sure i would be even better to make your own burger out of ground beef and flavorings, but as it is, our local supermarket sells very nice organic beef burgers, which is what we used for burger night. We also agree that a great burger needs to be served on a white sesame seed bun, which has ideally been toasted. And we agree that fried onions are delicious on a burger.

But it pretty much ends there. We disagree, for instance, on the proper sauce: Marbles sticks to ketchup alone, which must be of the Heinz Hot Ketchup variety. I, on the other hand, will not allow any ketchup but Heinz original, complemented by some mayo. Both may be forgone if there is Thousand Islands dressing in the vicinity. Marbles will accept some lettuce and tomato (but strictly for decorative purposes), whereas I like to accumulate as much roughage as possible on top of my meat, with the addition of pickles – Marbles will eat those as a side snack only. Crazy woman!

The main point of contention must be cheese. Technically, every hamburger I consume (about 2 per annum, I’d say) is a cheeseburger. I LOOOVE melty, nommy cheese on top of my burger. But not Marbles. She is a real burger purist.

So: can you tell which burger above was mine, and which was Marbles’? If you could, the below bonus recipe is your special prize. If you couldn’t, by all means, take the recipe. You’re going to need it.

BURGER TIME! grilled onions

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, very thinly sliced
• 1 medium sweet onion, very thinly sliced
• salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil in a non stick skillet. Place the onion slices side by side in the skillet and sprinkle a generous amount of salt on top. Grill the onions over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until they are starting to go soft. Flip them over and grill the other side for at least 10 minutes. When the onions are soft, add the sugar and vinegar and sugar and turn up the heat. Stir the onions around until the moisture has evaporated and the sugar has caramelized.

I am really proud of my soup, as I’ve always hated the bland, overly sweet flavor of many carrot soups. This one, instead, is zingy, zippy, zesty and all kinds of good things that start with z. It is also nutrient dense, without becoming something you eat only because it’s supposed to be healthy. It’s a filling soup without being to heavy, with light flavors that can be spiced up or mellowed down to your own taste.

This recipe makes a lot of soup, but it freezes well. While the soup in the picture is topped with a bit of Greek yoghurt, the rest of the soup is completely vegan. And while the recipe below is a little on the spicy side, you can make it much milder by using less chiles and less ginger.

Spiced carrot-lentil soup

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 generous pinch cumin seeds
• 1 small pinch coriander seeds
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed
• 1 generous pinch chili flakes (or to taste)
• 2,5 cm/ 1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
• 500 gr/ 1 lb carrots, washed and chopped
• 150 gr / 5,5 ounces red lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 liter / 2 pints vegetable stock
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 4 tablespoond Greek yogurt (optional)
• 4 tablespoons fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped (optional)

Dry fry the cumin and coriander seeds for a minute or so, until fragrant. Reduce heat and add oil, garlic, chili flakes and ginger. Fry until the garlic is soft, but do not let it brown. Add the carrots and fry for another few minutes, until fragrant. Add the lentils and broth and bring to a boil.

Cook until the lentils are soft, about 20 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, leaving some chunks. Add just enough lime juice to brighten the flavor. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top (optional), or try a drizzle of coconut milk if you want to keep it vegan (optional). Top with fresh cilantro (coriander) and serve.

The principle of these pastries is so simple that I feel embarrassed calling it a “recipe.” They are sheets of puff pastry, coated in cinnamon sugar, rolled up and cut into disks, then baked. I bet you could use the same principle to produce a whole range of sweet and savory pastries.

Rolled cinnamon pastries

• 2 square sheets of puff pastry, about 5 by 5 inches (13 x 13 cm), defrosted
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 225 C/435 F.

Mix the sugar with the cinnamon.

Lightly brush one side of each sheet of pastry with a tiny bit of milk. Sprinkle on a generous amount of cinnamon sugar. Loosely roll up the pastry sheets and cut them into 1 inch/2,5 cm slices. Pinch together the center and edge of each roll, to make sure they don’t unroll in the oven.

Put the rolls on a baking sheet spiral-side up, and treat the tops and outsides to a little extra milk and cinnamon-sugar. Bake for about 15 minutes.

NOMS GUARANTEED!

Which brings me to Belgian endives. Damn, I love those things, and they are cheap as what-have-you ate the moment. I know lots of people are terrified of them, and many think they are very bitter. But with the bitter cores removed and combined with a luscious, cheesy sauce, they are delicious.

This recipe for Belgian endives with ham & cheese is my version of a Dutch staple. It was one of my favorites when I was a kid. I updated it by reducing the béchamel and cheese and using fancier ham. Despite this being an oven baked dish, it’s really quick and super easy. And, not unimportantly, it’s CHEAP!

Belgian endives with ham and cheese

• 3 Belgian endives, cut in half lengthwise, firm, bitter cores removed
• 6 very thin slices of good quality ham (I used grilled ham)
• 1 tablespoon butter + extra for greasing the dish
• 1 tablespoon flour
• about 1 cup of milk (I used semi-skim)
• a few grinds of nutmeg
• 1 handful grated cheese (I used a semi-aged Gouda, Cheddar would work well) + a bit extra

Preheat oven to 200 C/390 F. Grease an oven proof dish that is large enough to hold the half-heads of endives snugly side by side.

Roll each half-endive in one slice of ham. Place cut side down into the baking dish.

Make a béchamel: Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook over medium-low heat while stirring continuously, until the mixture has a deep golden color. Gradually whisk in about 1/2 cup of milk, until all lumps have dissolved. Whisk in another 1/2 cup of milk and turn up heat to medium. Thicken the sauce until it clings to the back of a spoon. It should still be runny, not lumpy. (This is basic béchamel.) Take the béchamel off the burner and whisk in a handful of cheese. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Pour the sauce over the endives, making sure to cover well. Divide some extra grated cheese over the endives. Bake for about half an hour to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and bubbly.

Chomp away!

Notes:

• On its own, this recipe feeds Marbles and me as a dinner. Serve with rösti or boiled potatoes if you want a more substantial meal.

And since coq au vin is pretty much a chicken version of boeuf bourguignon, only the voters for lamb will be shit out of luck.

Don’t blame me, though! Blame the someone *cough*Marbles*cough* who rigged the poll!

PS Okay, she didn’t really “rig” the poll so much as tell lots of her friends and coworkers to go vote for her favorite. So welcome, new readers! I hope you all like beef!