Reminscing, Part II: Culinary Tour of Belgium, France and The Netherlands

My in-laws were kind enough to care for our dog, cat and vegetable garden while we were on vacation for 3 weeks, so a fancy-type feast was in order to show our thanks. Since our trip was to Belgium, France and The Netherlands, I made a dish from each place. From Belgium: a traditional fish stew with an ultra-light, but creamy base. From France: a potato gratin with Camembert and bacon, based on a peasant-style crepe we ate for lunch. From The Netherlands: Dutch apple pie, of course.

Waterzooi: I pulled the basic recipe from the Belgian cookbook I bought, and just altered a few things along the way for my own tastes (I also doubled it for our crowd). We ate this at a tiny restaurant in Brussels called La Villete, that specialized in traditional Flemish food...highly recommended.

2 Tbsp butter
4 leeks (cleaned and chopped)
2 large shallots (chopped)
1 large carrot (chopped)
3 cups fish stock or seafood stock (I used a mix of both)
1 cup white wine
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Pinch of saffron threads (if you have it - won't kill it if you don't)
Salt & pepper to taste
1.5 to 2 pounds of white fish, cut into chunks (I used cod - shrimp or scallops would also work, clear out your freezer)
1 cup light cream
3 egg yolks

First, melt the butter into a soup pot or dutch oven on the stove, then add the leek, shallot and carrot, cooking until just softened. (Hint: I used my food processor to do all of my chopping at once). Next, add the wine, stock, bay leaf, thyme and saffron, then simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes. Test it at this point for seasonings - mine required a lot of salt and pepper. Now, add your fish, and simmer another 10 minutes (uncovered) until it is just cooked through. While it is cooking, whisk together the cream and egg yolks, then temper the mixture by adding a ladle-full of the hot soup to the cream/egg mix, while whisking, to bring the temperature up. Do this a few times, so the egg mixture warms up a lot, but gradually (so that when you add it to the hot soup, it doesn't scramble the eggs). Add the cream/egg mix to the soup, and continue to simmer just until it is fully warm - do not allow it to come to a boil, or the cream will curdle. Time to eat!

Norman Potatoes: we had a lovely crepe dish at a roadside cafe near Pointe du Hoc, where the crepe was topped with ham, potato chunks, and melted Camembert cheese. I've recreated that here, minus the crepe.

4 slices bacon, chopped
3 baking potatoes, sliced
1/2 cup light cream
1 package Camembert cheese

In a casserole dish, put a thick layer of potato slices, then a handful of the chopped bacon. Continue layering like this until the dish is nearly full. Pour the cream over the potatoes, then top with Camembert (I just tore it apart in chunks and covered it as completely as I could). Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. That's it! Add a side salad and your meal is ready. It was all delicious, and made the perfect background for travel tales.

Time for dessert! We had a wonderful apple pie at a cafe near our apartment in Amsterdam, that I would like to eat again...frequently. I used a standard pie crust recipe (first time I've made my own - it was AWESOME), and combined a few internet recipes for the apple filling.

Crust:
2 sticks of butter
2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
Ice water (start with about 1/2 cup)

Here's the trick: cut up the butter into small pieces, then put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. It has to be COLD for this turn out flaky. When ready, put the flour, salt and butter into a food processor, and mix until it looks like wet sand. Then add the ice water, 1 Tbsp at a time, and pulse until it sticks together in 1 lumpy mass (it won't be well mixed - you want the butter chunks). Put equal parts of the dough into containers (I used zip-loc bags), and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. They can then be rolled out on a floured surface. Place one in your pie pan, cutting any excess away from the edges, and cut the other into strips - these can be placed in a lattice pattern across the top once filled, and brushed with whipped egg whites so they turn brown and flaky.

For the filling:
4 apples (I used 2 Granny Smith and 2 Fuji) - peeled, cored and sliced THIN (I used the food processor)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (1/4 tsp if using ground)

Mix sugar, flour and spices together, then toss with apples. Layer the apples into the pie crust, then sprinkle any leftover dry mix over the top. Attach pie crust strips as noted above, then bake in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour. Easy as...(wait for it)...PIE! Ha! Honestly, it's a lot easier than I thought.

The feast was awesome, and lots of fun. Thanks again family for taking care of our furry kiddos, and for letting us relive our adventure one more time. Sigh...I guess it's really back to reality now. After one more slice of pie of course...

Christmas Dinner

Merry Christmas!! I am thankful to God tonight for the ability to provide my family a holiday feast, to be shared in our wonderful home with so much love at one table. Tonight, I'm praying for those who have no feast, who have no home, or who are lonely/far from loved ones. We celebrate Christ's birth as the birth of light and hope for all the world, especially those who most need it. My New Year's Resolution is to further endeavor to deserve the abundant blessings I have been given. Now for the food. :)

I made slow cooker butternut squash soup for an appetizer, from this blog: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/crockpot-butternut-squash-soup-recipe.html. The only changes I made were to add some cream and use chicken stock instead of broth. I served it in miniature martini glasses so we could walk around with it - I think it came out really tasty.

Duck Burgundy: (I do this every year - so hard to screw up a duck)- Hal cleans out the innards, then I rub the bird with a bit of oil/salt/pepper and stuff the cavities with chunks of onion, apple and orange. Then I douse the bird with Burgundy wine, leaving plenty in the bottom of the roasting pan, to baste with every 20 minutes or so. Always tender and flavorful. I used some of the pan juices, a shot of brandy, a cup of cider and a few tablespoons of cornstarch to make gravy.

I also made a scalloped potatoes recipe I got out of an old Irish cookbook I have called The Irish Isle. Start with 3 lbs of potatoes, sliced thin. Bring to a boil with 4 cups of milk, 1 tbsp butter, salt/pepper, 1-2 sprigs of thyme and some fresh grated nutmeg. Once it boils, simmer for 10 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir frequently to prevent a film forming at the bottom. Once tender, use a slotted spoon to pull out half potatoes, spread across a casserole dish. Top with a drizzle of cream and 1/2 to 1 cup of white or marbled cheddar. Repeat with remaining potatoes. Bake at 375 for 1 hour or until browned on top. These were awesome - everyone had multiple helpings.

I also roasted some asparagus in garlic and olive oil (with a bit of lemon zest over the top), and my mom made a salad with pears, walnuts and bleu cheese. Mmm-mmm.

For dessert, I made my first cheesecake! It was a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that I got from my sister's mother-in-law. I made a gingersnap crust and topped it with a cream cheese/sugar/hazelnut spread. The crust was good, but it was really crunchy - not what I expected. I may not have used enough butter. And the cheesecake fell a little more than I would have liked, but it was still incredibly tasty. It may not have been perfect, but it was still delicious.

Overall, I was thrilled with how dinner went. We had a semi-full house. Only 9 people, instead of the 16 (!) I'm having for brunch on Monday morning. Thanks as always to Hal, his parents, my sister-in-law Ginna and nephew Zane, my parents, and Granddaddy Stokes for making me feel like the Santa Claus of the kitchen. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!