Les verrines,… a very French thing to impress your guests with and it has a stylish presentation!

Ohhhh and maybe the best part of all, you can make these in advance so you have time to enjoy your visitors,…no stress in the kitchen!

Verrine with tuna and mango guacamole

Ingredients (4-6 servings)
-2 avocados, peeled and pitted
-1/2 mango, peeled and cut in small cubes
-1 small red onion, minced
-juice from ½ lime
-salt and cayenne pepper (or small chile pepper) to taste
-fresh coriander, chopped
-150 g fresh tuna (or salmon), cut in small cubes
-vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice and 1 teaspoon of wasabi

Directions

1.Prepare the guacamole
Cut the avocado in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Mash the avocados. Add the mango, onion, lime juice, spices and koriander.

2.Prepare the vinaigrette 
Add together all the ingredients: olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice and wasabi.

3.Prepare the tuna
Mix the vinaigrette with tuna and let sit for 15’.

4.Assemble the verrine
One layer of guacamole, one layer of tuna, a layer of guacamole and finish with tuna.

Optional: You can garnish with fresh coriander, sesame seeds or something green.

Tips
-You can make the guacamole in advance. Save guacamole in a long container and cover with a plastic wrap so no air can get in. Leave the pit of the avocado in.
-The verrine can be made several hours in advance.

Verrine with quinoa, eggplant tapenade, prosciutto and pinenuts

Ingredients (4-6 servings)
Quinoa
-100 g quinoa, rinsed
-vinaigrette for quinoa: 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 tablespoon lemon, pinch of pepper and salt

Caviar
-3 eggplants
-100 g tomatoes (from a can is ok)
-1 onion, ruffly chopped
-1 clove of garlic, chopped
-spice mixture: 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander,1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, pinch of cayenne pepper
-handful chopped flat leave parsley
-1/2 lemon: juice and zest
-pepper, salt to taste (if needed)

-3 piece of prosciutto, cut up in small pieces
-handful of roasted pinenuts

Directions

1.Prepare the quinoa
Cook the quinoa following the instructions on the packaging. I usually use 1 cup quinoa and 1 1/2 cup of water. Make sure you don’t use too much water or the quinoa will be too mushy.
Let the quinoa cool down and mix with the vinaigrette (olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper).

2.Prepare eggplant tapenade

Preheat the oven to 180 C and poke the eggplant six or seven times with a fork so steam can escape and roast the eggplant for 30-40’. The eggplant is ready when the inside of the eggplant is soft.
Let the eggplants cool down and cut the eggplant in 2 (in the length) and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.
Heat one tablespoon of olive oil and saute the minced onion and garlic (~2 minutes at medium heat). Add spices, tomatoes and eggplant flesh and let simmer for 5-10’.
Add lemon juice/zest and add salt if needed.
Let the eggplant tapenade cool down. 

3.Assemble the verrine
One layer of eggplant caviar, one layer of quinoa, some prosciutto and pine nuts and repeat the layers. Garnish with some parsley or another herb or green.

Tiramisu with a Belgian twist- speculoos tiramisu

Ingredients (~6 servings)
-250 g mascarpone 
-50 g powdered sugar
-12 speculoos cookies (I like the Lotus brand)
-2 egg yolks
-1 egg white
-2 or 3 tablespoons Amaretto
- ~20 cl strong black coffee (espresso)
-2 tablespoons cacao (for decoration)

Directions
1.Prepare the mascarpone mixture
Whip up egg yolks, gradually adding the powdered sugar (until foamy
mixture) and add amaretto and mascarpone. Mix well.

Beat egg whites until quite stiff and fold egg whites into the mascarpone mixture.

2.Prepare espresso

3.Assemble the verrine
Dip speculoos cookie briefly in the coffee, do not oversoak the cookies so they remain a little firm. Place cookie at bottom of verrine and add a layer of mascarpone mixture and repeat the layers 2 to 3 times. Finish with mascarpone mixture.
Add cocoa powder to the top when you are ready to serve the tiramisu.

Tabouleh salad with lentils and quinoa

Lentils are one of those ingredients that I have in my pantry for quite some time but that never made me excited to cook them,… so I challenged myself to prepare a dish that I would enjoy with lentils,...

Happy with the result, I decided to post the recipe.

Ingredients (~ 8 people)

-30 g quinoa, rinsed and cooked

-30 g green lentils (I prefer the ‘Lentilles Vertes du Puy), rinsed

-1 sprig of thyme

-1 bay leave

-250g cherry tomatoes, chopped in 4

-1 cucumber, peeled and chopped in small cubes

-6 spring onions, sliced

-2 lemons, juich only (you can add some lemon zest as well)

-2 bunches flat-leaf parsley (~100 g)

-30g mint

-4 tablespoons of olive oil

-pepper, salt, ras-el-hanout (optional)

Directions

1. Cook quinoa based on instruction on the package. Don’t use too much water or the quinoa will be soggy. Let cool down.

2. Cook the lentils in a large saucepan, add thyme and a bay leave and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Be sure not to overcook. Let cool down and remove thyme and bay leave.

3. Juice lemons and add the olive oil and spices (pepper, salt, ras-el-hanout (optional))

4. Wash the herbs in cold water, chop most of the stalks off the parsley (roughly), and slice it as finely as you can. 

Pick the leaves from the mint and do the same. The best way to chop the herbs is to gather them into a tight wad then using a chef’s knife to chiffonade them, cutting them in thin strips.

5. Add the herbs, tomatoes, cucumber, spices, lemon juice to the lentils and quinoa mixture. Add salt, pepper and ras-el-hanout if you like to spice it up a little bit.

The 

6. Serve at room temperature. The flavor will improve if the tabouleh sits for a few hours.

Tips:

-You can use it as a salad, a side dish or serve it as a dish with grilled chicken or fish.

-You can also scatter pomegranate just before serving or add some feta.

-You can keep this several days in your refrigerated. Perfect as a quick lunch the day after.

Fresh cranberries have arrived!

Yeah it’s that time of the year,…

the fresh cranberries have arrived ,…it gets me in the mood for the holidays!
Cranberry juice with apples and ginger

Ingredients
-250 g (~1 cup) fresh cranberries
-3 apples
-piece of fresh ginger (~optional)

You can also swap apples for orange juice and carrots or another piece of fruit with a sweet flavor

Directions

1. Wash all ingredients well and put in your juicer

2. Serve with a fresh mint sprigs and done!

Note: I use a slow juicer but you can also use a regular blender

Have you already tried Pumpkin Soup with Turmeric and Coconut Cream?

Around this time of the year you probably have plenty of pumpkins lingering around,…

Ingredients (4-6 persons)

-1 medium sized pumpkin, roughly chopped (~4 to 6 cups)

-1 tablespoon coconut oil

-1 onion, chopped

-2 garlic cloves, chopped

-1 tablespoon finely grated ginger

-1 small red chili, seeds removed and diced (start with ½ or ¼ for less spicy version)

-1 tablespoon coriander

-2 teaspoon turmeric

-salt to taste

-1 liter vegetable stock

-200 ml coconut cream

-fresh coriander (optional)

Directions

1. Saute the onion for a few minutes and than add the garlic, ginger, chili pepper and spices (coriander, turmeric and a pinch of salt) in coconut oil for a few minutes.

2. Add the pumpkin and sauté for 5 minutes.

3. Add vegetable stock and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes (~until pumpkin is cooked).

4. Puree with a hand-held blender or food processor until smooth, than add the coconut cream

5. Serve with some fresh coriander.

Tip: I’ll add some garlic bread crumbs for the kids.

Kids Friendly Dish - Shepherd's Pie with Sweet Potato

My daughter Sienna is convinced that the candy 'Fruitella' has tons of fruit in it and therefore doesn't need to eat her fruits,…

Long way to go!

However my picky eater loved this recipe,...

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

-500 g ground beef or lamb

-1 onion, chopped

-2 cloves garlic, chopped

-spice mix: 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt

-500 g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

-1 tablespoon olive oil

-1 teaspoon salt

-2 tablespoons milk

-500 g mushrooms, chopped

-1 tablespoon olive oil

-1 small onion, chopped

-1 clove of garlic, chopped

Directions

For the filling:

1. Add olive oil to the pan along with the onion, garlic, cumin, ginger, chili powder, salt and cinnamon and cook for 8-10 minutes on medium heat until the onion is softened.

2. Add the meat to spice mix and brown the meat over medium heat. 

For the mashed potatoes:

1. Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes, or until tender.

2. Drain well and add the olive oil, milk and salt.

3. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or food mill (passe-vite), blend until they reach a creamy consistency.

For the mushrooms:

1. Add olive oil, onion, garlic to a pan and brown the mushrooms. Add peper and salt.

Assembly:

1. Preheat the over to 180° Celsius.

2. Fill a casserole dish with the meat filling, add a layer mushrooms and spread the mashed potatoes mix on top.

3. Bake for 40 minutes until the topping is beginning to brown.

Tips:

-This is a perfect make ahead dish. You can prepare everything in advance and basically just heat it in the over when needed.

-There are plenty of variations you can make to this dish (use duck confit as filling or chicken) or make a vegetarian version of this dish (replace meat with lentils, chickpeas, etc).

Want to decrease the sugar content of your breakfast cereals? Try this homemade granola

Ever wondered what the 24 g sugar/portion size on some of the breakfast cereal or several brands of granola mean,…???

I don’t know why but until very recently I did not realize that this is actually 6 teaspoons of sugar,….yes!!!!!! 6 teaspoons of sugar,...

That’s why I decided to make my own granola thanks to the recipe my good friend Peggy De Coeyer shared with me.

I tried many different versions but this is the recipe of the one I make most often.

 Ingredients:

-300 g oats

-2 tablespoons coconut oil

-4 tablespoons maple syrup

-handful of almonds, cut in pieces

-handful of hazelnuts, cut in pieces

-handful of walnuts, cut in pieces

-3 tablespoons chiaseeds

-3 tablespoons flaxseeds

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1/2 teaspoon cardamon

-handful banana-chips

Directions

1.    Heat the oven to 150 C and mix all the ingredients, except banana chips.

2.    Put the granola onto 1 or 2 baking sheets and spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes, stir and bake for another 20 minutes (until light brown. Remove and let cool.

4.    Serve with almond milk (or other type of milk), fresh fruit, apple sauce, yoghurt, etc.

Tip

-Store in an airtight container for up to a month.
-For a sweeter version of this recipe add some natural sugars from dried berries, dried raisons, dates, etc. Add to granola after you take it out of the oven
-Fun part about this recipe is, you can use as little or as much ingredients as you want and add plenty of other ones as well (coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, honey, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, raisins, dates,…)

Cutting back on carbs

Given the big success of our quinoa dish tasting at the openhouse in Torenhof, I decided to post this recipe.

Quinoa salad with chicken, apples, celery, raisins and curry vinaigrette

Ingredients (~4-6 people)
-150 g of quinoa, rinsed and drained
-1 chicken breast, poached and diced
-1 apple, peeled, cored and diced in small cubes
-2 medium celery stalks, cut in small pieces
-handful of dried raisins-handful fresh herbs: flat-leave parsley, cilantro or what you have available
-handful sliced almonds, toasted
Vinaigrette:    
  -4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil    
  -1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice and some lemon zest    
  -2 scallions, diced in small rings    
  -1 teaspoon curry powder or ras-el-hanout    
  -1 tablespoon honey

Directions
1. Prepare quinoa based on instructions on the package. Set aside to let cool.
2. Prepare the vinaigrette: mix all ingredients: olive oil, lemon, scallions, curry powder, honey.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together vinaigrette and all other ingredients and serve with toasted sliced almonds.
4.  Serve at room temperature or chilled, if you like.

Note: 
-Great make ahead dish: perfect for busy evenings
-Cook once, eat several times:  you can keep this for several days in the refrigerator, perfect to use left-over as a lunch the day after