Vlaamse karbonade/ Carbonnade a la flamande and stoemp(f)

Translation: A delicious beer and beef stew and mashed veggies from Belgium.

In preparation for my trip to Brussels next year, we delved into the wonders of Belgian cuisine... much to our satisfaction!

Making the Vlaamse Karbonade

Brown beef (1 kilo) and 2 slices of bacon in a dot a butter, fry 3 big onions (finely chopped), add 250g of small button mushrooms and add the meat back in with about 3 springs of fresh thyme and 2 bay leaves.

Add in a bottle (about 350ml) of beer to cover the above.

For the stove: If you need a bit more to cover the contents add 1.5 cups of stock to your dutch oven and simmer for 2-3 hours.

For a pressure cooker: add stock until the contents is just covered for half an hour. This is the meathod we used- pressure cookers are rather amazing!

Making the Stoemp(f)

Cook about 4 big potatoes and 6 medium carrots (all chopped) in water with 1 tspn salt (just covered) for 30 min until soft. Drain the veg and use the pot to fry a slice of bacon in a blob of butter with 2 finely chopped leeks. Once cooked, finely slice the bacon and put in back in the pot with the drained veggies. Mash well and add a bit of cream/stock/milk to make it a bit smoother.

Serve the Karbonade over the stoemp if you like. We enjoyed it with a 50% rye load from Pick n Pay. I give this meal a hearty 10/10!

smoked haddock onigiri with sweet and sour sauce

Hm, I love sushi rice... Today we had smoked haddock onigiri for lunch with a delicious sweet and sour sauce and a dollop of wasabi on the side.

This simple japanese recipe is easier to make than sushi because it doesn't have to be as neat. Basically it's a rice ball wrapped in a strip of nori and filled with a tasty something.

You simple make your sushi rice:

Place short grain white japanese rice and water in a 1:1.15 ratio on high heat until it boils.

Lower the heat for a further 8-10 minutes (for me it takes at least 15 min for the rice to soften - think I turn the heat down too low)

When the rice is cooked and all the water is absorbed, fan the sushi with a piece of cardboard or something like that, stirring it gently with a wooden/plastic spoon.

In the mean time, fry a haddock fillet plainly in a small square of butter.

If you have powdered wasabi, start mixing it with water and letting it heat up too.

Prepare a bowl of salty water to rinse you hands in before working with the rice.

Put your lefthand fingers at a 90degree angle with your palm and make an even layer of rice.

Select a small piece of the cooked fish and put it in the 'valley' area you created with your hand and the rice. Press it down as you close your hand and make the rice into a ball.

Once you are satisfied with the shape of your rice ball, wrap it with a strip of nori and make sure it's stuck down well all over.

If you want something different to plain soy sauce for dipping try this quick sweet and sour sauce:

Fry a small square of ginger and about 2 cloves of garlic (both finely chopped). Add about 40ml water, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons vinegar. Bring the sauce to the boil and sprinkle with corn flour to thicken it. I like it more runny than thick.

Serve your rice balls next to a dollop of that wasabi and your tasty dipping sauce.Yum!!!

Of course you can use basically any filling you like, even sweet and sour pork, teriyaki chicken or dumplings!

These can be stored in the fridge and are great for bento boxes or pick-nicks (fridging them settles the starch and makes the onigiri more firm).

sorbet adventure

I tried to make a berry sorbet... The recipe involved puree-ing berries with a dash of lemon juice and a swig of gin. I left out the gin and pulped up a granny smith apple (my favourite kind of apple) - to make the berries go a bit further -with a handful of blackberries and a double handful of strawberries. I added a squirt of lemon juice and then froze it.

It froze solid. So I defrosted it and then froze it partially, stirred it and froze it a bit more. It's very tasty indeed- yum! Although I realise now that the gin would have prevented the sorbet from freezing completely!