Brussels sprout and hazel nuts
Brussels sprouts are the best. The whole year long according to myself. One can suddenly crave for it. I love bitter vegetables, so that’s nice for the Brussels sprouts. This way of preparing them is a great addition. The sage from my garden blends in perfectly just like the roasted hazelnuts. Simply delicious.
Smothered radicchio
Bitter and sweet. A great bite. The taste stays with you. And that taste is so nice that you will find yourself preparing this again, soon.
Pasta à la Katrin
I had this pasta sauce for the first time when I was visiting my friend Katrin in Hamburg. It took a while for her to prepare it before she was satisfied with the taste. The quality of the sauce depends on your patience. It should be well reduced. That’s crucial for the taste and the substance. Patience it is, but it’s for a good cause.
Herb salad
This salad is made of fresh herbs and arugula. You can combine them at your own taste. It also depends on what is in the house or in your garden or on your balcony. Sometimes I go wild and choose oregano. You can make this salad as extrovert or subtil as you like. It depends on what you feel like and what is to be found on the menu.
Salad with artichoke, avocado and tomato
Soft, softer, softest. This is how you can best describe this salad. The avocado, artisjok, ripe tomatoes, they are all nice and soft. The pine nuts are a bit nosy in this salad. Just like the fresh basil. But it all works out really well between all of them.
Salad à la le frigo
This large salad actually never looks the same. It depends on what I find in ‘le frigo’, the fridge. Okay, most of the time the salad will have baby gems and tomato. And I always add some fried onions, garlic and red pepper. But after that it becomes free format. Avocado, corn, cucumber, carrot, pickle, pine nuts/ sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds, lentils, chickpeas, courgette, rice, potato .. I could go on for ever. A nice creamy dressing tops it off. I make that with vegan mayonaise, hummus and coconut yoghurt.
Bruchetta with olive oil and tomato
That’s what I love about the Italians. With just a few ingredients – often no more than cinque, so five – they create something incredible. This is a snack to accompany your drinks or something you can have for lunch. We do that all of the time. You have some great bread. Put some great olive oil on it. Then you cut real ripe tomatoes in two and rub the open side on the bread. While you squeeze out the juice and the seeds. You add some salt and freshly grounded pepper and some fresh basil. You pick up the bread, bring it to your mouth …
Hummus errrr beetroot dip
First there is hummus. And then comes …. hummus. And then there is hummus and then … yes ladies and gentlemen comes this dip which has also become the love of my kitchen life. You take a spoon, prepare yourself for disappointment – it’s not hummus – and next thing you know you just fell madly in love. Big time. So if you have a raw beetroot in the fridge and some tahina and garlic … salt and pepper. Let it happen.
Warak enab
It looks good. You cannot tell from the outside what you will find within. It is a delicious dish. It is always tasteful. And it’s slow food. To sum it up, totally my type of dish. Also, very versatile: lovely as part of a mezze, for lunch and as a side. This version is one of my favourites, but you will get to know other versions on this website. But, that’s something to look forward to right?
Crispy kale salad
Yes, that’s right, a crispy kale salad. How does the kale get crispy, you may ask? Well, that’s a good question … you fry it quickly in sunflower oil. That’s the trick. And the effect is huge. The effect is surprising. And delicious. Put an apron when you put the kale in the frying pan. This salad is crispy, fresh and sweet at the same time. Really worth a try.
Cauliflower chickpea soup
This is a typical soup to serve as a starter, to create some appetite. Quite a surprise maybe when you hear cauliflower and chickpea. But this is a light and tasteful little soup. Because of the cumin it gets a Moroccan swing to it. And the sumac takes it away.
Salad of lentils and quinoa
You keep on eating. This is a light salad, the lemon juice gives it a refreshing character. The parsley lifts it all up. The quinoa feels great in your mouth, and the lentils do exactly what they should do. On a warm summer day this is your salad.
Sunny spinach
The Dutch love mashed potatoes with veggies in them. Especially when they are full of taste. This one is great, light, full of taste. Nice in winter and in summer.
Ramen noodles soup
Could we have ramen noodles tonight, asked one of our daughters. She had travelled through Asia and longed for these tastes. I looked up several recipes in cook books and decided to try it this way. It was bulls eye. Such an amazing taste. A unique taste although I did detect my good old tahina while eating the soup. I never knew Asian cuisine also used sesame paste.
Pleasantly surprising walnut dip
This walnut dip appears on your table very often in the Middle-East. But not so much in other regions. That’s a pity because it’s so delicious. With drinks, as a mezze dish or even just on a cracker with some lettuce.
Peas salad
Fresh peas, home made pesto and pasta rice are an awesome combination for lunch or accompanying a soup for instance. It’s quite a hearty salad with a refined taste. Now peas are not so boring any more. Quite nice for them, right?
Couscous salad
Red peppers under the grill is optional in this recipe, but frankly it’s not… It is the difference between an unforgettable couscous salad and an ‘okay’ salad. Just take the time to grill those red peppers. You will get rewarded in many ways.
White gold, asparagus
White asparagus are the best when eaten in the classical way. Nothing special, as pure as possible. With a fresh sour sauce en maybe some nice sturdy potatoes.
Quinoa risotto with mushrooms
Risotto is comfort food to the max. It is full of taste, such a nice mouth experience and the taste stays with you for a long time. There are endless possibilities but this one is really great. And because this time we make it with quinoa instead of rice, it is a light version.
Rendang
Rendang is slow food 5.0. The longer it can simmer the better it gets. I have made it with oxheart cabbage. And a well balanced combination of spices, classic in the Indonesian cuisine. One of the sons declared the other day that this is one of his favourite vegan dishes. Need I say more?
Pjadra
I grew up with it when we were living in Lebanon. In my uni years it became very popular among my friends: healthy, cheep en delicious. And my kids grew up with it as well and often long for it, even when they do not live with us any more. And Joris, he is also a big fan now. Logic, it’s comfort food.
Broccoli salad
It’s the fresh ginger, the red chili pepper and the roasted sesame seeds that do their trick in this salad…
Kibbeh de Batata
You do not only find potato eaters in the Netherlands. They are also very much around in the Middle East. Although they have a very distinctive way of preparing potatoes. Like here with kibbeh de batata. A crunchy exterior with a very surprising content.
Platano for breakfast
El Salvador is the second home country to my oldest daughter. And naturally, eating habits from that culture find their way into our home. So now we eat several times a week plantain for breakfast. Nice and sweet and crispy and healthy and simply delicious.
Stir fried Brussels sprout
Brussels sprout, they are so versatile. More than you would think. These stir fried Brussels sprout are a very good example.
Best risotto ever with sweet garlic and tomato
A great risotto stays with you for a while. You keep eating because of the intense taste. Living on the edge, I know. Risotto is an attention junkie, you need to stay by its side all the time. It keeps on talking to you when you prepare it. The advantage is that your guest at the table will be silent for while, terribly enjoying what they’re eating.
Courgette soup
What goes for my zucchini soup, actually is valid for all my soups. Whatever vegetable goes in. I start frying some onion and garlic. Then the vegetable of the day, some vegan chicken broth… some dried or fresh herbs in the pan. Some green or red pesto … and then … you’re done…
Filled zucchini
These nice and round courgettes are not very common, but sometimes you encounter them at the little Turkish or Moroccan shops. If I find them I immediately by 10 of them, I can’t help myself. With the tasty and licht filling, you serve a stunning meal. A real Sunday lunch candidate, if you ask me. Oh, and because of their round shape they are easy to fill up.
Parsnip soup
Some vegetables have a structure that are so nice in your mouth, parsnip is one of them. If you add the right quantity of moist to it it changes into a velvet substance. Lovely. This variation is somewhat Arab because of the herb mix.
Beetroot salad
Usually there are some beetroots in my fridge. Sometimes they have to lie there for a while, but often they are quickly used. If I open up the fridge and ask myself what I should prepare for my lunch and I suddenly see that red package, the answer is immediately there.