Home Made Hamburgers

TGIF!! Yeah baby.. it is friday... it is summer - well for most people out there. In my beloved Amsterdam that I so was looking forward to moving to, it is cloudy, rainy & cold! Seriously NOT cool.

But once the sunshine is out, the whole Dutch population drops whatever it is they're doing and runs outside, dusts off their sunglasses to put them on their white little faces and right after they have a chilled beer they turn on a BBQ at home or in a park nearby to put on some juicy burgers!! That's summer for us, once in a decade... sigh!

Ingredients:

• a man
• 1-2 burgers per person
• 1-2 buns per person
• cheddar
• tomatoes sliced
• pickles sliced
• cucumbers sliced
• salad
• mayonaise 
• ketchup

How to make it:

Dust your BBQ and find a man to do the hard work of preparing the BBQ. Playing with fire is just their cup of tea so you shouldn't have any trouble in finding a volunteer. If you do, just say you will reward him with a big fat home made burger. No man on earth will resist you! (did I just come up with a new theory on how to seduce a man???)

Hmmmm meat!

Once the BBQ is hot and steamy, put on the rack and throw the burgers on there.

Twist and turn until done; this should take around 7-10 minutes depending on the thickness of your burger.

Add the cheddar on the burger a minute before it's done so that it can melt nicely.

While the burgers are cooking, open up the buns.

Build your burger to taste.

Home Made Hamburgers

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Cherry Fudge Ice Cream

Cherry Season!!!

When I left my old job at Adverteam, I brought my dear colleagues something to remember me by: Cherry Fudge Ice Cream, made of panna ice cream which is basically ice cream of whipped cream, fresh cherries and caramel sauce. It was divine!!!

I think I gave them a last good impression... and some pounds!

Cherry Fudge Ice Cream

 Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Perfect Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes, a vegetable so easy to use in so many ways and on top of that one that comes in so many forms. You have big, small and tiny, firm, fluffy and medium... you even have red and sweet potatoes. You name it and a the potato might exist in that shape or form. You can even pronounce this veggie in multiple ways: potAto or potAHto! ;)

But where does the potato originally come from? Good question... so I did some research.
It is well known that the potato is mostly eaten in the western world with an emphasis on the northern part of Europe. One might even think the potato originally comes from the Britain Islands as a bad crops created a famine in the 18th century. Even though the potato has become an important form of nurishment in northern Europe, it is actually originally from Southern America and was planted by the Inca's!!! Who would have thought!

Today I am giving you roasted potatoes....


Ingredients:

• small new potatoes including skin (4-5 pieces per person)
• fresh rosemary
• 3 crushes garlic cloves
• olive oil
• sea salt (big chunks give a better taste)

How to make it:

Turn on you oven on 200 degrees Celcius.

Cut up your potatoes in quarters to give them a french fry kind of shape and put them in an oven tray. My favorite potatoes are the small ones with skin as the skin contains the most vitamins and fibres, but you can take any potato you like. 

Add the rosemary leaves to your potatoes, as well as the crushed garlic cloves (you crush them with a big knive, take off the skin and voila you have crushed garlic cloves) and the salt.

Pour over a generous amount of olive oil. You want the potatoes to be crunchy and golden brown, hence the need of quite some oil. Olive oil however is better for you than ordinary sunflower oil. It is full of omega 3 fats which your body needs.

Toss the potatoes in order for all of them to be covered with oil, salt, rosemary and having touched the garlic.

Now put the tray in the oven for 40-45 minutes, but keep an eye on them after half an hour. You can also turn on the grill the last 10 minutes or so, to make them even crunchier.

Outcome: Perfect roasted potatoes. Many people boil their potatoes before which is also an option if you don't have a lot of time or when you have very big potatoes, but I discovered it is not obligatory to have perfect roasted potatoes.

Perfect Roasted Potatoes

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Super fast IKEAnized Salmon

Dear Peeps,

I can officially say: I am back!!!! It has been a crazy month as I mentioned before. I was so extremely busy with moving at first and then recuperating from it. I needed a little holiday from everything so I went to my parents house, or as I call it: Spa Hamilton! The only thing I do there is sleep, run and cook! This time was no different except that I still had so many things on my mind that I still had to do for the move and the start of my new job....

After my Spa treatment I finally finished my room, and it looks amazing! I feel super duper at home. The kitchen is really nice too and my dear roomies gave me a green card in the decoration so that I can cook the way I want to cook. Guess it is also in their benefit eh...;) The only left to complete is the living room but that will come with time.

Today I also started my new job, and even though it will be super busy there too I decided I needed to pick up blogging again as it gives me so much joy. So I am just going to try to keep it up but don't expect daily things. I will continue cooking daily though so at least I will have continuous material to post!

First things first: my first dish made for my dearest friends Julia & Stef cooked in my brand new kitchen and served on my little balcony.
Moving means going to IKEA right? And what else is there at IKEA besides furniture? The IKEA food section with the most famous swedish meatballs and the Gravlax sauce based on mustard and dill which is exactly what I got and that I served my friends.

Ingredients:

• 700 gr salmon steak
• salt and pepper
• Broccoli cut in florets
• Parmigiano 
• Gravlax sauce

How to make it:

You heat up your grilling pan to a sizzling heat while you salt and pepper your salmon steak to taste. When the pan is nice and hot, you start grilling the salmon. Depending on the thickness of the salmon and your personal taste you grill the fish 3-4 minutes on each side. I like my salmon nice and crispy on the outside and still a tad raw on the inside.

While grilling the salmon you cook the broccoli in boiling salted water. This doesn't take longer than 5 minutes but again this depends on the size of the pieces you cut the broccoli into. Sieve the broccoli once it's done.

Serve the salmon and broccoli on a plate and add the parmigiano on top of the broccoli and the gravlax sauce on top of the salmon.

Voila you're done in less that half an hour! 

Output:

Super good healthy dinner that will fill you right up after a day of moving and a visit to IKEA!

IKEAnized Salmon

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

How to make Hummus: part 1

Reading Andie's blog post on her favourite healthy foods, she made me think about my favourite health kick these days and I came up with: chickpeas!

You can make....

• Chickpea puree 
• Chickpea Tajines 
• Chickpea salad
• Chickpea pasta
• Chickpea con carne
• many other things that my mind can not think of at this second....

Or ... a million different types of hummus! Maybe some of you don't know this, but hummus is made with chickpeas, pureed chickpeas to be precise. And then you add whatever you feel like adding, that very moment.
As I know that a few of our readers are beginning cooks, I thought to have a little cooking series especially for them. This series is about 'how to make hummus'. We start of with part 1, making a very simply classic hummus. Then while we proceed in time, we are going to add spices, herbs and other kind of things to make hummus even more exciting.
By the end (if there is such a thing with cooking) you will be dreaming how to make hummus, and most of all, you will be craving hummus at a weekly base like I do.

Ingredients:

• one can of drained chickpeas 
• 2 tablespoons of tahini (sesamepaste) --> invest in this one as you will be needing it during the course!
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 0,5 clove of garlic 
• 1 tablespoon yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• pinch of chilipepper
• pinch of salt

How to make it:

It is the most easy thing ever!

Make sure you rinse the chickpeas after having washed them to take away most of the sodium that accompany canned foods.

Chuck everything in a high container.

Blend it down to a puree....taste.... add whatever YOU feel is missing... blend.....

Outcome: classic HUMMUS!!!

Get ready for part 2 next week or so; we will be adding some more exciting spices!

Hummus

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Cook to impress: Risotto Milanese

What is gold for a foodie??
Saffron is gold for a foodie....

Saffron is a powder extracted from a flower called the Saffron Crocus. They take it from the stigmas of the plant and seen that each plant only has 3 pieces of them, it is a rarity and difficult to cultivate and therefore so expensive. It is actually the most expensive spice that exists out there, hence the fact that saffron is a foodie's gold! Thank god that although expensive, the powdery gold is also very very powerful. The powder on each stigma is strong enough to colour and flavour a liter of boiling water into deep golden yellow, so you don't need much to cook a big bowl of risotto or paella!

And here is my link to the recipe of today.... Risotto Milanese! A simple yet impressive dish that is typical for the region of Milan. It is bright yellow risotto that I thought being boring at first, but when made right, it can be quite the taste-bomb! I made this a couple of weeks ago for Chef Stefano, and it was approved... few!

Ingredients: serves 4

• two garlic cloves peeled
• olive oil
• a big glass of white wine
• 4 cups of risotto rice and one for the guest (arborio rice is the best)
• one liter of vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 envelope of saffron powder
• 50gr parmigiano
• fresh parsley to serve

How to make it:

Contrary to what people think, risotto is actually quite easy to make. It just takes full attention for 20-25 minutes. So get ready to cook!

Prepare the broth and once it's boiling you can start making your risotto.

Heat the olive oil in a big anti-sticky pan and add the smashed garlic cloves (don't cut them up as you want to take them out after). Once they're turning golden brown and they are releasing their divine garlicky smells in your kitchen, you take the garlic out of the pan.

Add the rice and start stirring. You want to bake the rice until the grains get slightly transparant and start releasing a creamy white tail. At this point you add the white wine.

Keep stirring until the rice has absorbed the wine and releases the creamy white tail again.

Add a soupspoon of broth, keep stirring until the rice has absorbed the broth and releases the creamy white tail again. Repeat this process for 20 minutes more or less or until the rice is cooked. Some like their risotto firm and others like it more cooked - this is totally up to you, so make sure your taste it.

When it's almost done, add the saffron to the risotto and stir - this will turn your white risotto into a beautiful golden mixture of goodness. Then to finish it off, you add the parmigiano for a cheesy taste.

Outcome: GOLD! With a sprinkle of bright green if you serve it with the fresh parsley on top like I did.

Risotto Milanese

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Lunch: Tuna Salad Sandwich

Problems with inspiration for your lunchbox?? No particular idea on what you feel like having, and no desire to work your kitchen for hours today? My lunchbox today might inspire you a bit...

My seaside weekend inspired me to make a healthy 'seaside lunch'.
The salty water still in my nostrils reminded my brain of the existence of a tuna can in my cupboard and the sight of bread in my other cupboard then created the idea to make a fresh home made tuna salad!

Ingredients:

• tuna can (water based)
• 2 tablespoons of yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon mayonaise
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• pinch of salt
• pinch of dried origano
• two slices of whole weat bread

How to make it:

Mix the tuna, with the yoghurt, mayonaise, mustard and herbs.

Keep it in a separate container until you serve it, because otherwise your bread will soak up and it ain't particularly nice!

Once it was lunchtime I spread the tuna salad on my slices of bread and served it with a classic green salad with some balsamic vinaigrette and tomatoes.

Outcome: a very satisfying lunch if I may say so... next time I am going to add some fresh capers to give it a little hmpf extra!

Homemade Tuna Salad

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Crispy Catfish & Sweet Chicory

Many people don't like a lot of foods and to be honest, I don't like those people very much! Seriously didn't your momma teach you how to eat and try everything in front of you??

Adults that don't like certain foods act like kids. Because kids tantrum in order not to eat something they don't like, and if you, as a parent, give in to those tantrums it will result that once grown up, those kids will still not like the food! Instead, if you make sure your kid eats the food he/she doesn't like, they will most likely be cured from their aversion. Obviously you are not going to serve caviar or foie-gras to a 6 year old, as there are things that simply have too strong tastes for their young tastebuds to accept, but I do think you must slowly teach your kid to eat more and more vegetables and try new flavours in order for their pallet to develop itself. How else are you going to create foodies?! ;)

My memory about an episode like this is when my mom made this spinach casserole... I don't remember what exactly was in it, but I remember it had spinach!! And I DID NOT like spinach. I also remember that my parents had to leave that night, probably going out for a dinner or a party and that we were left with the sitter. My evil little mind thought 'briljant!! Def getting out of this one!' EEEEEEEHHHH WRONG! I was not allowed to leave the table unless I had finished my spinach, and I think I was still sitting there when my parents came back! In the end I ate the damn green things and obviously they weren't as bad as I thought but hell had to freeze over before admitting that to my parents, otherwise my tantrums wouldn't be as effective anymore - and I think my mom will confirm that they were quite embarrassing at times. Ops... I am sure there are several more episodes like this with chicory and fish!

Outcome of my parents insisting on me eating spinach, chicory and fish: I definitely like them much more now. Spinach and fish are a stable factor on my menu, however chicory is still not one of my favourites. But I can not preach what I don't believe so I looked and found a way to eat and like chicory: by adding sugar or at least something sweet in order to balance out the bitter taste.

Voila a magic recipe:

Ingredients: serves 2

•  300 gr catfish
• 3 slices of whole weat bread crumbles
• 3 teaspoons mustard
• 4 chicory
• juice of an orange
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• pinch of sugar

How to make it:

Heat the oven on 180 degrees.

Crumble the bread with a kitchenaid. Prepare the fish by seasoning it with the salt and pepper and place it in an oven tray. Spread the mustard on top (if you use spicy mustard, then be careful with the quantity you use) and sprinkle the crumbles on top of the fish. The mustard will make sure the crumbs stick to it. 

Put the fish in the oven for circa 20-25 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

In the meanwhile you clean the chicory by removing the ends and tearing the leaves apart. You can chop them in big pieces but I kept the leaves whole. 

Heat up the olive oil in a non-sticking pan and add the chicory. Bake for a couple of minutes until they get softer. Add the pinch of sugar and the orange juice and let them simmer for another 5-10 minutes. The sugar will caramelize the bitter taste of the chicory and will make them irresistible!  

Outcome: Place the chicory next to the fish, and serve with a fresh green salad or some bread, a potato... whatever you like! Or have it like that as a proteined dinner after a good workout! 

Crispy Catfish
&

Sweet Chicory

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Asian Cravings: Panang Gai Curry

Happy sunday peeps,

And yet another weekend is coming to an end. Why oh why do weekends pass by so fast?! And why oh why must weekdays be so long?! Is it because in the weekends you can do whatever the beep you want? Whereas the weekdays are filled with work and doing things one 'must' do, such as cooking, cleaning, sports to stay in shape?? 

Hmm could be, which is why I have decided that my goal in life is to have absolute pleasure in my work, and if I don't, well then I'll change. Because let's face it, you are stuck in the office or wherever a lot of hours of the week, so better make the best out of it. 

Another thing that I decided is to take away all the 'must do's' and turn them into 'wants': I must not do anything, instead I will do them because I want them. I want to clean the house because I want a clean house, I want to cook because I want a healthy and good dinner, I want to go running because it makes me look and feel good. Most importantly, if I want to see my friends I will see them no matter what day it is. Why limit yourself to the weekends? Let's make the best out of every day!!!

What do you like to do most on the weekends? 

Speaking about giving in on 'wants'..... once in a while, as we know from the beginning of this blog, I want and absolutely MUST give in on my Asian cravings. For these emergencies I always have my panang gai curry and coconut milk ready to turn into a yummy, fast and most of all easy curry. 

For Italians out there: check out the asian or international food stores near Centrale or on the borders of the city to get the ingredients...you'll be surprised about the number of things you can get there other than Italian shizzle.

Ingredients: serves 2

• 2 espresso cups of rice
• 300 gr of chicken cut in cubes
• 1 green pepper cut in cubes
• 1 paksoi cut in chunks
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
• 2 teaspoons panang gai curry
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon lime leaves

How to make it:

Bring a big pan of water with a fist of salt to a boil. Add the rice and cook it according to the pack - usually it's around 10 - 15 minutes.

In the meanwhile you heat up one tablespoon of sunflower oil (olive oil is too strong for asian food), and you add the curry. Stir until it slightly melts a bit into the oil. Then you add the coconut milk. Heat it up before you start adding the chicken and vegetables.

Once you added the chicken and vegetables (which you can do at the same time) you let the whole simmer for 5 minutes in order for it to cook and suck in all the flavors. Then you add the fish sauce, peanut butter and lime leaves. Stir for another 2-3 minutes. 

The rice should be done by now. If it's cooked before the curry is done, then you can take it out of the water and let it steam a bit. 

Outcome: serve the rice with the curry and simply enjoy... nothing else... just enjoy! 

Panang Gai Curry

Buon Appetito
Chef Steph & Chef Cathinka

Fun Facts about Holland & Bosnia

I have an announcement to make: I am moving back to Holland!!! Before you start yelling 'seriously??? you are leaving Italy, THE land of good food, for Holland, the land of cheese??!', I am posting these pics to convince you of the beauty of my country!

Simply Breathtaking...

Furthermore, this morning I had a taste of some Bosniac sweets! My colleague whom you can follow on his blog http://blog.katana.it/:  he posts really cool groundbreaking advertisement, marketing and communication activities from all over the world. If you are a marketing professional I'd suggest you follow his blog regularly as he collects the best ideas out there! Some are absolutely hilarious... check out this MacDonalds one.
Anyways he brought these cavity creating yummyness in the office this morning and around here you have to be fast because otherwise it is gone before you know it, so had a piece of baklava at 11am! MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....

I am not sure to be getting recipes, because I think Bosniac mamma's don't like to reveal their secretes, like Italian mamma's do, but I will try real hard to get them before leaving end of June!!

Bosniac Sweets

Bon Appetito

Chef Steph

Cook to impress: Coeurs Fondant Tout Chocolat

International cooking means going beyond Italian and Dutch cuisine, hence today I offer you: Chocolat Fondant! A little French chocolate cupcake that will melt your heart with it's melting heart....
Basically you don't bake the cupcake all the way through so that the inside remains liquid, smooth, hot & sexy chocolate.

Food can be sexy and this is proof! Mmmmmmmmm....

I made this with Chef Cathinka in Hamburg two weeks ago and she got the recipe from Nestle's new app that you can get on your phone, or simply go to their site: http://www.latableadessert.fr/
Obviously it's a site based on Nestle chocolate and has marketing intentions only, but heck, if that means we get easy going, real deal, sexy french chocolate desserts in our homes: je dirais que c'est tres tres tres bien! <3

Ingredients:

• 100 gr pure chocolate 
• another 8 cubes of pure chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 80gr powdered sugar
• 50 gr of butter
• 1,5 tablespoon of flour

How to make it:

Preheat your oven at 260 degrees Celcius.

Melt the chocolate au bain marie and add the butter once it's melting.

In a bowl you mix the eggs with the powdered sugar, after which you slowly add the flour.

When the mixture is homogenous, you add the chocolate and stir well.

Butter and flour your cups in order to avoid sticking and fill them up for 1/3, place one chocolate cube in each cup and finish it by covering up the cups with the remaining mixture.

Place the cups circa 10 minutes in the oven.

Outcome: Eat them when they are still hot and you will truely be in heaven for at least a couple of minutes! 

Coeurs Fondant Tout Chocolat

  Bon Appetit

Chef Steph & Cathinka 

Italian Fish

I am about to reveal something that is going to make a nation jump up and down and yell: TOLD YOU SO! This month's 'La Cucina Italiana'  publishes the announcement that the mediterranean diet/pyramid is the most healthy and most aspired diet everyone should be following. 


The diet became a fact when an English writer and chef Elizabeth David published a book in 1950 about the mediterranean diet explaining the sobriety and simpleness of the food the Italian people were consuming after the war. The sobriety was of course due to the fact that people didn't have the resources to feed themselves like rich men anymore, because let's be honest, I am sure the Giuseppes and Marias at the time were craving some more meat and fish during the week, but they simply couldn't. So they reached out to vegetables and legumes that they could grow in their own backyard, combined with their beloved pasta made out of flour and eggs and some olive oil extracted from the olives of the neighbours. Unnoticed and definitely unintentional, they created the perfectly balanced meals.


This pyramid is no surprise to anyone who is into food, or who watches the fat percentage on their bodies. But the real surprise in my revealing all these little facts to you, is that UNESCO has included the diet in their Humanitary Heritage list. So there, it is a fact: Italian food IS the best in the world!


Hold your horses Italian friends: this doesn't mean that other foods aren't good or just as pleasurable to make or eat! Plus, I am a firm believer of variety.. NAH! :) But on your behalf, here's a good oven baked Orata fish with some healthy salad to go with.


Ingredients: serves 1

• 1 whole sea bream (Orata) - cleaned
• 1 scallion sliced
• 0,5 lemon sliced
• little handful of parsley
• olive oil
• salt
• lettuce
• tomatoes chopped
• snowpeas 
• vinaigrette: olive oil, balsamico vinegar, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon honey

How to make it:

Heat the oven at 180 degrees Celcius. 

Prepare the fish in an oven tray: put a couple of lemon slices, salt and parsley in the belly of the fish. Place it in the tray. Then you pute the scallion on top of the fish and sprinkle the whole with some olive oil. Voila, you're done! You can now put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

While the fish is cooking, prepare the salad and the vinaigrette in a bowl.

Outcome: easy, fast and super healthy dinner! I usually have this one after a good run because it is the perfect dinner after a good workout session! For your male friends: add some potatoes with the fish or simply have some bread with it.

Italian Fish & Healthy Salad

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Introducing... International Catering Service

A couple of weeks ago my dearest friend Carmelo decided to throw a little rooftop aperitivo! really, the emphasis was on little!  Everyone out at midnight!

Another emphasis was on the invitation; Silvia, Katia and I were kindly invited to help out with the arrangements. Katia being russian, well that doesn't need a lot of maths to figure what she was in charge of ;), Silvia being spanish brought the frittata which was super good, and me being the cooking nerd as I am, was in charge of the buffet!

Seen the fact that I have some secret plans with Chef Kimberley to set up a catering service in Amsterdam, I am not yet revealing my recipes, but I do want to show you how it looked like. You might get inspired to throw your own rooftop party and hire me as your caterer.... have a look:

Salmon Ricotta Rols, Thai Peanut Chicken, Focaccia, Parmiggiano

Mozza-Tomatoes, Gorgonzola&Ricotta with Pears, Tomatonade, Brie&Jam

On top of the good food: it was the BEST night ever! Laughed my balls off.... nothing little  about that night.

So yeah a little message to my dear Carmelo, Andrea, Fabrizio, Luca and Rocco... 

I AM GOING TO MISS YOU!

Come and find me in Amsterdam!!!

Bacione Grande

Chef Steph

Fusion: Chickpea puree with grilled asparagus & tuna

Bonjour from rainy Milan!!

Must be honest that the rain is bringing a breath of fresh air, so it's not too bad...Because it has been quiet hot & steamy around here the last couple of days!

Don't have a lot of time because I am crazy busy with a million things but wanted to give you a treat of my cuisine happenings lately. I got the inspiration for this one, out of May's issue of the dutch delicious! Instead of combining the vegetables with meat, I went for tuna.

Ingredients: serves 2

• can of chickpeas 
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon kurkuma
• 250 gr asperges
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tuna steaks

How to make it:

boil the chickpeas for 5-10 minutes in a bit of salted water. Drain them and puree 3/4 of them with a blender or whatever you have at hand. Add the spices and mix some more. At the end you add the whole chickpeas you kept aside, to give the puree an extra bite.

In the meanwhile you cut the asperges in 5cm pieces and grill/ bake them in a heated skillet. It takes around 7 minutes to cook. But it depends on your taste, I like them crunchy.

Last but not least, grill the tuna that you salted and peppered, for a couple of minutes. Again, this depends on your taste. I like my tuna pink on the inside!

Outcome: easy fast, midweek or busy weekend dinner. But good and special enough to make your day end well! 

Chickpea Puree with grilled Asperges & Tuna

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Happy Birthday Chef Robert: Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake

Bonjour Y'all....

It is another beautiful day because it is my papa's B-day! I don't think he will be very thrilled with my announcing this tiny fact on the world wide web, but what he doesn't know- yet - is that this post is my birthday present to him!!!!

My papa is cool! I am proud that he is my dad, because he is a succesful, inspiring and wise man with patience and advice at any time of the day. He is my 'go to' in a million different situations and talking to him makes me think twice about whatever is bothering me - saves the € on a shrink eh?! Lucky me! Anyways, he has made his life his own, doesn't mind what others think, all the while remaining the most respectful man I know. I don't think I have ever seen him being rude or angry to anyone (outside of the house), and that makes him an inspiration.

Most importantly, I can share my love and passion for food and wine with him. I will never forget one of the best summers of my life where I spent a month at my parents house in Brussels because of several non- important-to-mention reasons. Many would ask me: 'seriously?? and you enjoyed this?', and I would honestly answer 'YES!' My daily tasks consisted of: sleeping in, breakfasting, choosing recipes to cook, do groceries, tan, walk the dog, sleep some more, read and start cooking.... and drinking once my dad came home and got the bottle of wine to match dinner from the wine cellar'. My idea of a SPA!

The coolest part is that I can enjoy lots of wine with my dad! How many peeps can say that? Priceless are the moments I spent in the garden, on a terrace, in a restaurant getting tipsy with my paps and talking about literally everything in life.

Dad, you're cool and I love you and I am proud to be your daughter!
Happy happy happy birthday!

A birthday deserves a birthday cake:

Ingredients:

• 200gr softened butter
• 200gr bio sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200gr whole weat flour
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 12gr baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 250gr strawberries chopped in little pieces
• 200gr chocolate chips

How to make it:
Start by heating up the oven at 170-180 degrees Celcius.
Grease a circular cake form of circa 24 cm diameter, with some extra butter.
Mix the butter and sugar into a light creamy mixture - make sure you use a big bowl because you need to mix in many ingredients.
After which you add the eggs one by one mixing while you add them.
At this point you add the flower and baking powders into the bowl. Mix well but not too long, as you don't want the cake to become too tall by rising too much.
At the very end, you mix in the strawberries and chocolate chips. Do this manually because if you use an electric mixer you will squash the fresh strawberries and that would be a shame.
Pour the mixture into you cake shape and place it in the preheated oven
Usually it takes around 30-40 minutes to bake a cake, but this one needed an hour because of the wet ingredients. Use pin to check when it's ready - if it comes out clean, it's done!

Outcome: MMMMMMMMMM.... one of the best inventions I have ever created. And many people, whom I made eat the cake can testify! The only thing that bothered me was that the strawberries en choc chips sank to the bottom instead of spread out in the cake --> any suggestions on what I can do to prevent this from happening?????

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Lemon Muffins

It's sunny, life is good and that deserves some happy cooking.
What makes you happy?? 

Yellow makes me happy and well answer me this: what is a happier color than yellow????
Yellow stands for creative and intellectual energy, it symbolizes wisdom, means joy and happiness. People of high intellect appearently favour yellow, maybe because it is linked to gold and smart people want the money money money.... lalala... money money money! Yeah yeah money might not be the only thing that makes you happy - cos food already does - but it is an important factor to happiness - how else are you going to buy that food that will really make you happy?
Back to yellow....  Yellow brings clarity and awareness. It helps you make decisions and gives relief to those who suffer from burnouts, panic, nervousness and exhaustion. Furthermore it stimulates your concentration skills and therefore sharpens up your memory.
Makes me think of why, unconsciously I have been wearing lots of yellow lately, and reading the above, I realise it has actually helped a lot. My mind IS clearer, decisions have been made and I am smiling and bubbeling again. It might have been the clothes, but it might also have been the LEMON MUFFINS!!!!! My god were those babies good. I will no longer withhold you with my psycho-babble and just give you the recipe alright.

I got these from the BBC Food site made by James Martin. Tweaked it here and there with my own healthy freakness - but didn't change the taste a bit.

Ingredients: for 9-10 muffins

• 2 eggs beaten 
• 85gr brown bio sugar
• 240ml half full fat milk
• 100ml vegetable oil - sunflower oil
• 300gr wholeweat flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 4 biological lemons, zest only

How to make it:

Heat the oven up to 200 degrees Celcius, grease up the muffin cups or use paper cases. 

As all muffins, the trick is to prepare the wet ingredients seperately from the dry ones and then once you are done, you mix them all together.

Wet ingredients: mix the egg, sugar, milk and oil in a large bowl.

Dry ingredients: mix the flour, baking powder, salt and add the lemon zest.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix roughly. Don't mix too much as you don't want too much air to get into the mixture as that will stop them from rise the way they should.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups and put them in the heated oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes until well risen and golden.

Take them out and cool them on a wire rack - if you can resist.

Outcome: Happy happy happy happiness!!! 

Lemon Muffins

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Birthday Present: Gizzi's Kitchen Magic

For my 26th Birthday, Chef Kimberley gave me a great present: a cooking book - as if I don't have enough.... but I don't because I didn't have this one yet! Gizzi's Kitchen Magic is THE new book to have. Without it, you are not a true foodie!

Gizzi is the new Jamie Oliver but then with boobies of course. She is a gorgeous and talented cook and knows how to mix talent and style like no other. Her cute and feminine look reminds us of a true housewife back in the fifties but her cooking is definitely not like in the fifties! In the book you can find for example; Keralan Egg Curry, Pavlova with Cream and Rubarb, Stilton Risotto with sausage, spring greens and crispy sage etc.... One by one mouthwatering recipes. But the book does not only contain recipes to cook from, she also describes everything from what a beginner needs to know in and around the kitchen, to little details a foodie like me didn't know yet. Furthermore she writes in a delicate and witty way that keeps you hooked to the book for a while!

In a nutshell: a delicious book! Thank you Chef Kimberley!

Get ready to see some of her recipes soon....

source: http://www.gizzierskine.co.uk/

First entry of a 26 year old: Spring Chicken

Hi everyone, I am back!
I was away for a while because I spent a long weekend in Holland with my friends and family to celebrate my 26th birthday (ssshhhhh don't spread the word!). Hence the absent note: partying! It was fantabulous! I went to this 80's party on saturday night where EVERYBODY was dressed up in crazy panther printed leggings and fluerescent colours and hair of like 5m tall, hilarious. Only the Dutch can do that and enjoy themselves while doing it. Wellll... maybe the brits or germans could too but...
Sunday was a family day: went horseriding with my sis after years and years of not having ridden - it felt great! In the evening I had dinner with my parents, sis, bro and gf at a cute little 'french bistrot'. Had a smoked duckbreast salad and a steak tartar, aka raw meat!!!! But let me tell you, it was divine. But most of all, the company made into a super birthday dinner.
Monday evening I spent it with friends and it made my birthday complete. Time to go back home....

I have literally 2 minutes to post this recipe but as it has been a little while that I haven't posted anything, I wanted to treat you with my spring chicken creation I made last week. Simply because it is such a nice midweek dinner, and who knows it might inspire you this week.

Ingredients: for 2 servings

• 2 chicken legs, or 4 drumsticks
• 0.5 kg carrots - peeled
• 1 red onion cut in rings
• 1 garlic smashed
• extra vergine olive oil
• splash of lemon juice
• herbs provencal
• salt and pepper

How to make it:

Peel the carrots, cut the onion, clean the garlic and place them all in an oven tray.

Salt and pepper the chicken. Place in the oven tray in between the veggies.

Sprinkle the lemon juice, olive oil and herbs on top.

Place in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for about 40-45 minutes.

Outcome: Easy peasy springy light chicken meal. Add bread or potatoes for your male friends! :)

Spring Chicken

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph