Casserole with Meatballs & Carrots

Ovenschotel met gehaktballetjes en winterpeen

(English: Casserole with Meatballs & Carrots)

translated from the Albert Heijn website

When we were in the Netherlands over the holidays, I was happy to notice that most of the groceries stores provided free magazines filled with recipes. I brought about four of these home and dog-earred all sorts of possibilities. Even though my Dutch has improved quite a bit since meeting my husband, I still needed a little help translating the recipes.

I've had my eye on this one for awhile and WOW! It's is SO good. It has quickly become my favorite Dutch meal. It's not complicated, though you will save a LOT of time if you have a food processor. It's basically (turkey) burger, carrots and potatoes seasoned with thyme, salt and pepper.

The secret ingredient is...
...ketjap mantis, which would I would describe as a thick, Indonesian sweet soy sauce. It's a bit tricky to find here in the States, so we brought some home with us. I would think you could maybe find it in an Asian grocery store, otherwise you can find a good homemade recipe here or here.

Ingredients:
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1lb (2 cups)meatballs ( used ground turkey)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 2 Tablespoons ketjap mantis or soy sauce (I think if I used soy sauce, I might add 1/2 Tablespoon brown sugar and a pinch of coriander).
• 700g carrots, sliced.
• 700g potatoes (about 5), sliced
• Pepper and salt to taste
• 5oz cold water or broth

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350F.

• Use a food processor to chop up your veggies.

Use big fat carrots so you don't have to peel this many carrots.

• Heat up the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions in about 3 minutes.

• Add the meat balls/burger and cook until the meat balls are nice and brown.

• Add the garlic, thyme, soy sauce, pepper and salt.

• Add 150 ml water (or broth) while stirring and deglazing the pan.

• Bring to a boil.

• Add the mix from the pan into the oven dish using a slotted spoon, so the juice remains in the pan.

• Add the carrots.

• Then the potato slices.

• Spread the frying liquid over top.

• Cover and bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown.

Eet Smakelijk!

Paasbrood (Dutch Almond Raisin Bread)

A few weeks ago, my friend Jen made a special trip for us to one of the Dutch stores in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I used to live. She picked up a new "NL" sticker for The Hubs, and asked if there was anything else we'd like. The Hubs requested some almond paste because it's hard to find around here. When it arrived, I asked him what he wanted me to make with it. The verdict: Paasbrood.

Paasbrood, which means "Easter Bread" is a very popular Dutch raisin (or currant) bread that includes a large log of almond paste in the center. The authentic Dutch almond paste is a little less refined that what you find in the states, but it tastes the same. The bread also often includes bits of fruit. Think of it as the Dutch version of fruit cake, only much, MUCH better!

I've been looking for a good recipe for quite some time, but haven't been able to find one that wasn't too complicated or intimidating. Since I've been having so much luck with BudgetByte's Cinnamon Raisin Bread, I thought I'd use her recipe as a starting point, and then improvise.

That said, here is my version of Paasbrood.

Paasbrood

inspired by Budget Byte's Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2.25 cups bread flour
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1.25 tsp salt
• .75 Tbsp yeast
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 Tbsp orange peel
• handful of slivered almonds (optional)
• approximately 1/3 pound almond paste
• 1.25 cups warm water

Instructions:

• In a large pot or bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, salt, yeast, orange peel and raisins.

• Stir everything until evenly mixed (break up any raisin clumps).

• Add the warm water and stir. If the dough does not come into one cohesive ball (with no dry bits left at the bottom of the bowl) add a little more water, one tablespoon at a time, until it all comes together.

This is my secret to not killing the yeast.

• Loosely cover the bowl and let it rest for 2 hours at room temperature. (Jen says: I'm not sure why the dough is supposed to be covered and I've read that the towel should be wet, dry, hot and cold. I usually use a warm, wet cloth.)

• Let the dough rise for two hours. After two hours, it should be roughly double in size.

• Turn it out onto a floured surface. Give it maybe one or two turns or "kneads" in the flour just to work in enough flour to keep it from sticking to your hands. Flatten and stretch the dough into a long rectangle. The short side of the rectangle should be the same length as your bread pan, the long side double that.
  
• I sprinkled the dough with slivered almonds. This is the not traditional, just my own improvisation.
• Next, roll your almond paste into a log the same width as your dough, and place it close to one end. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Roll the rectangle up and place it in a bread pan coated with non-stick spray.

• Let the bread rise for 1.5 hours or until it has risen up and out of the pan.

I love how the sun shines on my pretty loaf!

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Brush the top of the bread with water to give it a nice crunchy top.

• Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
• After baking, turn it out of the bread pan onto a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing.

Eet Smakelijk!

Hutspot

Note: My note yesterday about The Hubs having Hutspot for dinner last night prompted me to pull this modified post from our family blog. This was posted there on May 6, 2010.

In our household, every year has had a theme. 2006 was "Fall in Love." 2007 was "Adjust to Marriage." 2008 was "Pregnancy." 2009 was "Adjust to Parenthood."

2010 is "Family Fitness." In addition to making an effort to be more active, both The Hubs and I are trying to get to a healthy weight. This makes meals interesting, because he is trying to gain weight, while I am focused on losing it! And, now that our kiddo eats what we eat, we've been much more mindful of what we serve. Last year we started a habit of trying three new recipes a week. We didn't always make our goal, but we did greatly expand our menu options. We've continued this tradition this year, and as my confidence has grown, so has the variety of our meals.

One of The Hubs' favorite Dutch meals is hutspot, which is basically potatoes and carrots mashed together:

Hutspot

(follow the link for nutritional information)

1¼ hours | 20 min prep

SERVES 8 -10

Ingredients:

6 onions
6 carrots
8 potatoes
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
salt
pepper

Directions:

• Dice & boil onions and carrots 20 minutes. I actually found some rainbow carrots. They come in shades of red, orange and yellow. I thought they'd add a festive look! Aren't they pretty?!

• Drain.
• Boil peeled and quartered potatoes 20-25 minutes, til tender. We use red potatoes because they taste great even with the skins on them, and I'm all about saving the time of peeling them!

• Drain and dry thoroughly.
• Add onions and carrots mash well.
  
• Add salt, pepper, butter and milk.
• Mix.
• Warm all together and serve hot.

In Holland, this is usually a meal by itself. Occasionally, it is served with sausage, but that's more for stampot, which is a recipe for another day. I've started playing this recipe by substituting sweet potatoes, rutabega, and parsnips for some of the potatoes to make it a little healthier. Eventually, I will figure out a way to make it in the crockpot.

Fun (kinda somber) fact:

Hutspot is more then just an answer to mashed potatoes - it is a dish full of history and tradition. The ever-helpful Wiki says: According to legend, the recipe came from the cooked bits of potato left behind by hastily departing Spanish soldiers during their Siege of Leiden in 1574 during the Eighty Year's War, when the liberators breached the dikes of the lower lying polders surrounding the city. This flooded all the fields around the city with around a foot of water. As there were few, if any, high points (and September in the Netherlands is not exactly a warm month), the Spanish soldiers camping in the fields were essentially flushed out.
The anniversary of this event, known as Leidens Ontzet, is still celebrated every October 3 in Leiden and by Dutch expatriates the world over...During the Nazi occupation the dish came to represent freedom from oppression since its ingredients could be grown beneath the soil and thus somewhat hidden from sight, and the carrots gave the dish an orange colour, which represents the Dutch Royal Family.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

I found this recipe while off a cooking blog bunny trail. Since we've been cutting down on processed foods, we haven't had a lot of chips around the house. I bought a jar of locally made salsa a few weeks ago for the Super Bowl, and forgot to buy chips. When I found this recipe, it sounded like a match.

And...WOW! Super duper easy, and really, really tasty. Not so good for the diet, but it does offer automatic portion control. As the hubs said, "I think we can put corn tortillas on the staple list." I'm looking forward to making the again and playing with the seasonings.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Adapted from How to Cook Everything

Ingredients:

• Lard or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, for deep-frying. (I used veggie oil, because that's what we had).
• 12 corn tortillas, 6 or 8 inches in diameter
• Salt

Instructions:

• Put at least 1 inch of oil in a deep pan on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high; bring to 350°F. The broader the vessel, the more of these you can cook at once, but the more oil you will use. (They cook very quickly, so don't worry if your pan is narrow.)

It took about ten minute for my oil to get to 350 degrees.

• Stack the tortillas and cut them, pielike, into 4 to 8 wedges.

I should have taken a picture of my brand spankin' new Wusthof knife that made quick work of these tortillas.

• Fry as many at once as will fit without crowding, turning if necessary. Total cooking time will be about 2 minutes; the chips should not brown but just begin to darken in color.

Sizzle, sizzle!

• Remove with tongs or a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels or paper bags. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot or at room temperature.

Not diet friendly.

Eet Smakelijk!

Jacci Hilton's Stromboli Recipe

***Note: I haven't made this yet, I've only enjoyed it. Since the recipe wasn't out there on the internet, I made a post of it to help anyone having a virtual dinner party with us this week.***

Jacci Hilton's Stromboli Recipe

Ingredients:
• Frozen Bread dough (works best to thaw in the refrigerator overnight)
• Melted Butter
• Garlic Power
• Italian Seasonings
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 4 Slices Each: Baked ham, sandwich salami, sandwich pepperoni
• 4 Slices Each: Mozzarella cheese & Provolone cheese

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Roll out thawed dough.

3. Brush melted butter in center section of dough and sprinkle with garlic powder, Italian seasonings and Parmesan cheese.

4. Place the following slices on top of prepared dough lengthwise to cover middle section that you brushed with butter and seasonings (in order):

• 4 slices of baked ham
• 4 slices of Mozzarella cheese
• 4 slices of sandwich salami
• 4 slices of Provolone cheese
• 4 slices of pepperoni

5. Cut DIAGONAL slits on both sides of the remaining dough approx. 1” apart to the center where the meat and cheese are. Take the slits and criss-cross to the center of the dough, alternating sides to make a braid. (Note: Jacci's recipe didn't say to cut diagonal, but I saw it on another recipe and I think it will make the braid look nicer).

6. After you have criss-crossed all sections, fold both ends/sides (tends to pop up so try to make sure it holds).

7. Brush top of loaf with melted butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

8. Place loaf into sprayed 9 x 13 jelly roll pan or baking dish with sides.

9. Bake for 35-45 minutes (depends on your oven).

9. Slice into sections and serve with the warmed spaghetti sauce of your choice.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

I first discovered sun dried tomato pesto when I started making our favorite Elegant Orzo recipe. It's pretty pricey at the grocery store, so I was quite interested in trying it out when I came across the recipe on Sara's Imafoodblog.com. Turns out I had everything on hand and it's really quick and easy. I'm still getting a feel for it, so it comes out a little different each time, but every time it tastes better than the kind you buy at the store.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
Adapted from At Home with Magnolia by Sara at Imafoodblog.com
Yield: About 1 Cup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup packed basil leaves
• 1/2 cup toasted whole almonds
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt
• 1 generous packed cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 1/4 cup grated parmigianno regianno
• 1 cup olive oil

Instructions:

• Drain your sun dried tomatoes, lightly rinse them, and then pat them dry with a paper towel. (I buy my sun-dried tomatoes in bulk, without oil. So I skip this part).
• Toast your almonds in a dry shallow pan. They will take about 10 minutes, and you will smell when they are done.

• Zest your lemon.
• Juice your lemon. (I always keep lemons in the frig. You can use the zest in recipes, the juice in others, and throw the peel in the garbage disposal to give your kitchen a burst of lemony scent).
  
  
• In a large food processor, combine the basil, toasted almonds, garlic, lemon zest, and salt. Process until coarsely chopped.

• Add the sun dried tomatoes and parmigianno cheese and process until the tomatoes are coarsely chopped.

• Now stream in the olive oil slowly and process until the pesto comes together. Don't pour too quickly or the mix will be oily.

Serve immediately or store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

Indonesian Pilaf

Sometime I'll have to make a post about how I organize my recipes, both online and at home. I started tearing recipes out of magazines long before I started cooking them, and this recipe for Indonesians Pilaf came from Real Simple a few years ago.

For a long time, I kept skipping over this one because I thought I had to buy the Kashi packet. Finally I read the fine print and realized I could use any grain I wanted. Dutch cuisine includes a lot of Indonesian foods, given the whole Dutch occupation thing. Politics aside, it sounded yummy and I loved all the colors.

Indonesian Pilaf

adapted from Kashi.com

*notes*

I halved the original recipe because it seems like a massive amount for the 2.5 of us. Both of the adults had two bowls (!) and we still had two generous servings for the hubs to take to work for lunch.

Also, we don't necessarily buy labeled organic produce, but we do buy from a great local grocery store/farmer's market-y type place.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Kashi™ 7 Whole Grain Pilaf (I used 2 cups dry couscous--4 cups when cooked)
• 1/2 cup whole peanuts
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1-1/2 cloves organic garlic, sliced
• 1/2 medium organic red onion, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 cup organic raisins
• 1 small organic carrot, cut into match sticks (1 diced mine)
• 1/2 cup organic red cabbage, diced (buy the smallest one you can find, because you'll have a ton left over. The hubs helpfully pointed out that in Holland you can get this pre-shredded in small amounts).
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/8 cup water
• 1/2 organic red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/4 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped (I used a couple teaspoons dried)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoons brown rice vinegar (I used white rice vinegar, because that's what I had)
• 1 teaspoons fresh ginger root, grated (I used ground ginger)
• 1/2 teaspoons crushed red chili flakes
• 1 teaspoons evaporated cane juice crystals (I used raw sugar)

Instructions:

• Cook Kashi Pilaf (or couscous, or quinoa, or rice) according to directions on the package and set aside.

• Dry toast peanuts in a small skillet until golden brown and set aside.

• Sauté garlic and onion in first 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in a large skillet until limp.

The food processor went a little nuts with the red onion.

• Add cumin, coriander and stir.

I love my cute little steel bowls from Ikea.

• Add raisins, carrots, cabbage, salt, water and stir well.

• Cover with lid, reduce heat to low, simmer for 3 minutes then remove from heat.


• In a large mixing bowl, combine sauté mixture with cooked Kashi Pilaf, red bell pepper, cilantro, toasted peanuts and mix well.

• In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients, whisk together, add to pilaf mixture, stir well and enjoy.

Nutrition Facts:

Serving Size: 2/3 cup

Calories: 180