Ma Cuisine

Cooking with Jan at Vygeboom Dam

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 05:49:00 +0000

On 10 September we kicked off 'Cooking with Jan'. A while back, we decided with four other couples to organize monthly cooking days where I would be the guest chef and teach the group some culinary secrets. This fantastic initiative was brought to life with the passionate drive of Bertus and Danny Vos, two first class gourmet lovers. Danielle, a Belgian globetrotter, inherited a family tradition in gastronomy, having dined in some of Europe's best restaurants. This passion only got fired when she met Lambertus Petrus Vos, a South African with the same love for the good things in life (such as cooking a stuffed 'Beeshart' (Beef heart) in a 'Potjie' (a cast-iron pot used to cook on open fire) and water-ski with open mouth).

Anyway, too cut a long story short, it is now 7h30 and I am watching the sun rise over Vygeboom Dam in the Highlands Meander in Mpumalanga, enjoying the coffee after the first cooking session yesterday evening. Hans and Tine's daughters successfully revived a half-dead Bat on the beat of Kurt Darren and just as it managed to fly out, it got caught by a Fiscal Shrike in front of the Dam. This is Africa! Yes, it was Kosie Vos' (Bertus' cousin) cooking night, giving it a few unforgettable extras:

it didn't remain a cooking night as first agreed, but a weekend breakaway;
Kosie having the finest collection of Single Malt Whisky, along with a collection of concert DVD's that can wake up South Africans on the other side of the Dam;
water-ski end jet-ski sessions to warm up for the dinner.

So next time you hear Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Mark Knopfler or Amy Belle, and you are remembered of the Whisky cream sauce, here are the tips and hints to take away from this dinner:

Smoked Trout and Mango chutney tart with Lagavulin cream

Ingredients

Trout Tart

Wafer-thin sliced Smoked Trout
Smoked Trout fillets
Fresh Mango
Cucumber
Tomato

Vinaigrette:

1/2 teaspoon French Mustard
2 tablespoons Balsamic reduction with Blueberries
1 squeeze Lemon juice (to taste)
1/2 Red onion
Freshly chopped Parsley
6 tablespoons Canola Oil
2 tablespoons Virgin olive oil
15 pink peppercorns
Salt
Black Pepper

Sauce

2 dl Full Cream
4 tablespoons Lagavulin
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1 squeeze/tablespoon of Lemon juice (to taste)
White pepper
Salt

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and let it rest in the refrigerator (if the sauce becomes too thick, dilute it with some water). Mix the cucumber, mango and tomato cubes with the vinaigrette and fill the trout tarts in alternating layers of chutney and smoked trout fillet. Decorate with some finely sliced cucumber skin that has been in ice-water for 30 minutes (it will get crunchy). Drizzle the sauce around the tart and finish with a few drops of Balsamic reduction.

For the frying of steaks and red meat, please see my previously published article: 'The art of frying red meat'.

Gratin of sweet potato

Ingredients

Sweet potato
Firm cooking potato
Full cream
Milk
Garlic
Salt
White pepper
Nutmeg

Preparation

Slice the peeled potatoes and place them in alternating layers (sweet potato - potato - sweet potato) in a buttered oven dish (you can rub the dish with a garlic clove first).
Mix the cream with nutmeg, pepper, salt and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly crushed garlic. The mixture should taste hearty and slightly salty. Add a little bit of milk if needed to make it lighter (maximum 1/5 of the mixture). Poor the cream mixture over the potato slices (the level of liquid should be barely covering the slices) and place in a pre-heated oven at 230 degrees Celcius. Bake for 1h30 until the potatoes are done, yet not mushy. Most of the liquid should have been absorbed by the potatoes. Just make sure the top layer of potatoes is covered with cream and does not burn. Note that you can make this dish beforehand, e.g. the day before.

Custard Cream

Ingredients

12 egg yolks
300 grams of sugar
1 litre of milk
a vanilla pod

Preparation

Bring the milk to the boil with the opened Vanilla pod. In the meantime, beat the egg yolks with the sugar so it becomes a white mass. Pour the boiling milk onto the mixture and then return it into the casserole. Stir with a wooden spoon until it reaches about 65 degrees Celcius and it thickens without resulting in an omelet on the bottom. Cool down.

Enjoy!
Jan

Willow Warbler

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:11:00 +0000

If a butterfly has landed on my flowers grown
If my bushes have provided sheltered rest
to a Willow Warbler during Summer months alone
If I have planted trees on which a bird could nest

This very thought would let me go in peace
if I were to close my eyes a final time tonight
Though even if I might have made a lot of enemies
I will have changed the world for friends in flight

Jan

Don't bee afraid

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:23:00 +0000

Last week I was having my morning kick-start coffee with a colleague at work. I noticed he was distracted from our joyful conversation, since his coffee cup seemed to form the major interest of a bee that had just woken up.

I changed the topic and bravely stated: "there's no reason to be afraid of these bees, they won't bite you..."

Last summer, I had been burning straw around a large bee nest under the pool filter in the garden, in an attempt to reduce the size of the massive colony of bees, by now taking the proportions of a Hitchcock movie scene when flying out. (being a nature lover and totally against chemical pesticides, at least I decided to use fire, a very common natural phenomenon in Africa)

Nonetheless, I myself had made the very same mistake: under-educated about these small flying creatures that provide us with sweet nectar, I did not want somebody to end up in an anaphylactic shock when having a fruit juice (or beer, a very likely event) in my garden.

Only two weeks ago, I was browsing trough an interesting encyclopedia that covers Wildlife in Southern Africa. To my great surprise, I discovered that the bees in my garden - the same coffee-loving species from work - are so-called stingless bees. They can't sting!

That morning, my colleague screamed "Noooo!" as I enclosed the bee in my hand. He looked at me as if I was kissing a hungry lion or a disorientated hippo.

I explained to my colleague what I had learned: that not all bees form a danger for those who are allergic to their sting, as some of the bees are even physically not capable of hurting a fly - they are called 'Stingless Bees'.

I suddeny realised that this was a perfect example of how humans tend to over-react, how human life is very often lead by fear. The fear of the unknown. The fear of something that is different. Having lived in 'The rainbow nation' for almost four years, I figured it must be this same fear that causes hatred amongst people. The hatred between black and white. Because we simply don't know each other. If only we would speak each other's languages, we would understand that we are - all of us, with the odd exception - stingless bees, struggling for survival and looking for love on this lonely planet.

It is with great exitement that I study the spiders in my garden, who are abundantly present since my ecological efforts in turning the garden into a botanical paradise. I do no longer experience the screaming childhood spider-fear and have absolutely no problem moving a large spider with my bare hands if it is staring at my wife before bedtime. Because I have read about these wonderful creatures. (Did you know that some spiders construct underground trap-doors to cach their prey? Did you ever watch an Orb spider's web in the morning dew?)

Knowledge is power. And maybe, unfortunately, that is why many countries in Africa and other third-world countries around the world remain unstable - because of a lack of education and knowledge.

We all have our story. We all have a friend that died, a love that ended, a neighbour that annoys us. The strange thing is, we usually only realise how important someone or something is in our lives if we have to miss it. In the same way, we often only discover how ridiculous our fears were when we are finally confronted with the very thing we feared all this time.

So don't be afraid and never stop learning. Let me finish with one of the poems that forever changed the way I look at life:

Instantes (Instants)

If I were able to live my life anew,
In the next I would try to commit more errors.
I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more.
I would be more foolish than I've been,
In fact, I would take few things seriously.
I would be less hygienic.
I would run more risks,
take more vacations,
contemplate more sunsets,
climb more mountains, swim more rivers.
I would go to more places where I've never been,
I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans,
I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones.

I was one of those people that lived sensibly
and prolifically each minute of his life;
Of course I had moments of happiness.
If I could go back I would try
to have only good moments.

Because if you didn't know, of that is life made:
only of moments; Don't lose the now.

I was one of those that never
went anywhere without a thermometer,
a hot-water bottle,
an umbrella, and a parachute;
If I could live again, I would travel lighter.

If I could live again,
I would begin to walk barefoot from the beginning of spring
and I would continue barefoot until autumn ends.
I would take more cart rides,
contemplate more dawns,
and play with more children,
If I had another life ahead of me.

But already you see, I am 85,
and I know that I am dying.
Jorge Luis Borges

Twenty 2 Eleven

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:21:00 +0000

If you are under 18 stop reading now. No don't even try it, I know you are continuing!

Well, OK, this article is about the famous mathematician Bourbaki. I thought it might not be the proper topic for those below 18 years old.

It's now 20 minutes to Eleven O'clock here in Johannesburg. Madredeus is playing on the background. This means, even in the bestest of moods I'm in, it asks for melancholy. Memories. Re-living distant experiences that converted the ego in myself into what it is today. Ah, music. Apart from fragrance, the sense of smell - there is nothing that can make you travel further back in time.

Gosh, I didn't write for at least 8 months. Shame on me. But nobady even noticed or asked me: Jan, what's going on? (just like nobody saw the major spelling mistake in Nobody)

Yes, that"s life in this man-made metal-concrete-polluted world. Even the environmental-friendly dishwashing liquid is sold in non-recycable plastic. And the world keeps turning...

So here come the excuses (please start feeling sorry for me now if you never did before):

March: my wife Katrien had a Double and quite complex (it both suits her character) Tibia Fracture (let's not talk about relationships further). But hey, don't start crying, she's since worth so much more, given the Titanium plate and 11 screws in her leg. (Not for the sensitive reader, warning, no don't read - : she had never been screwed so many times in one night (while her husband was waiting for the guy in green)... and I cannot remember anyone being so extremely interested in her legs before...)

May: I get a new Job and need to learn a lot.

June: My 25 year old gardener, with whom I've spent probably more time in the past three years than any of my family members or fiends, is hit by a drunk driver. His wife is left alone in Malawi, pregnant of a second child. Good news: the plants are still flourishing. The grass is long though I'm sure Bob Marley and Jim Morrison would have loved it. Talking about gardeners, for those who haven't seen the movie 'The Constant Gardener' yet, please rent it this year. You have to watch this one twice to really grasp the emotion (at least that's my experience, but it might be because of the Titanium radiation ;-), and because I keep on seeing Ralph Fiennes as the Psychopath from his appearance in Red Dragon). That reminds me of the fact that, inspired by Auguste Escoffier's high class cooking, I might create a new dish: Foie de Veau 'Lecter': Liver with Port and Taragon ('Dragon' in my mother tongue Flemish).

September: just after turning 34, I hear that a close former colleague got murdered.

Novenber: My wife gets a new Job (no it does not involve her legs). I need to act as Serotonin Inhibitor. Not much Dopamine there for me.

December: My beloved uncle dies after a long battle with cancer. He leaves many loved grandchildren behind. There goes the final Dopamine and all the rest.

Anyway, I wish you all a fabulous 2011!

The Ronda Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:17:00 +0000

Six years ago, I decided to obtain a teaching certification in Belgium. Like with many things in my life, just like my life itself, it all started because of my father.

Until then, I had sworn that I would NEVER (read: never ever) go teaching, since half of the family (grandfather, mother, father, brother, aunt, uncle, ...) had been teaching and I decided “I did not want to become just like one of them”, remembering the all-too-loud family reunions with endless discussions destined to change the world. I had been unwillingly excused for most of these remarkable events, since I ended up working in the hotel and restaurant industry, where the grass was green and the girls were pretty.

At some point in time during my career as a young Chef, I realized that earning all that money and working up till 16 hours a day in a stressful environment wasn't bringing me all the answers in life. Although I had everything one could possibly dream of, I was not completely happy. So I asked myself: “Can you remember a time when you were happy? What where the circumstances? Why where you happy then?” And this personal quest brought me back to the days were I had almost no worries: the days I spent at school. Why? Life at school is organized, structured. There is routine. There are rules. With the occasional exception, that means your official part in the modern slavery system only happens from nine to five.

So when my father, administrative director of a hotel school, asked me if I was willing to temporarily replace a teacher on sick leave, I decided it was time to accept my family legacy in the education department.

In my 4 years of teaching, I probably learned as much as all my pupils together. I widened my interests. That is what I like about decisions: they create some sort of snowball-effect. Usually, we end up covered by the snow because of unexpected circumstances or other people's decisions, e.g. somebody ending a long-lasting love relationship. The nice thing about taking decisions yourself is that you are in control. Once in control, you are better prepared for the unforeseen situations in life, since you learned to be responsible and accountable. It somehow makes it easier to recognise the events that happen beyond your control, and it helps in order to accept them. Being adventurous and taking that doubtful decision broadens your horizon. You will always be able to look in a direction where the sun or the stars are shining.

I like the way Leonard Modlinow talks about how “people like to exercise control” in his book The Drunkard's Walk, a book that deals with randomness in our daily lives (and that is also what this article is about):

“many of the same people who drive a car after consuming half a bottle of Scotch will freak out if the airplane they are on experiences minor turbulence”.

During my extremely turbulent ride as a newbie teacher, I met Koen. Koen was taking his teaching certification at the same institution, and one afternoon, during a coffee break (or was it a beer break?), we ended up talking about our shared passion for hiking in the mountains. A few months and beers later, we spent two weeks in the snowy mountains of central Norway, with a magna cum laude certification in our dangerously overloaded backpack.

We still laugh about the scene where I simply said “No thanks!” to this most beautiful Norwegian blonde girl that, clearly interested, asked if we needed any help, standing in front of a street map in Oslo.

It might be Koen's educational background in back-end computer programming that sharpened his mind to pull off those notorious jokes with perfect timing. He is a really funny guy, with a good sense of humour. My favourites are his exceptional impersonation of Sean Connery with the sentence “On screen I look older” ([On 'Ssqueen Ije Loek 'Aulde] or something like that.) and the unforgettable 'Shrimpin' business' scene with Bubba from the award-winning movie Forrest Gump (see picture).

In Norway, somewhere on the highest point in the mountain range we were climbing, we did a mysterious archoleogical discovery (see picture).

How and why did these extremely heavy, strangely shaped and decorated objects end up in a place that is at least a full day hike away from civilization? Maybe the blonde girl in Oslo would have known the answer... If you know what this is, please mail us. No, you will not win that Samsung flatscreen TV, since we ourselves don't know what it is so we cannot verify your answer.

In the meantime, the Belgian brewery company Interbrew had grown into one of the world's biggest breweries InBev. Koen and I decided to organize a short city trip to Rome. Organizing meant: booking flight tickets, and that's it. Maybe because I was gradually gaining more control over my work life, I started enjoying the poor planning and the unknown, thus leaving plenty of room for sheer adventure in my spare time.

In Rome, we lingered in the streets for 3 days, being led by the scents of the city, the wind in the trees, the local inhabitants and their houses. We did not go to the main tourist attractions. Of course, we inevitably saw some of the monuments, but we deliberately avoided being 'the average tourist'. Ever since our journey in Norway, we found that this 'more natural' way of travelling, of following our instincts, could make a trip so much more interesting and rewarding, whilst the world famous tourist venues, apart from being over-crowded, often left us with a feeling of disappointment. One can read all there is to know about the Sistine Chapel in a book, but how can one experience the atmosphere and odours of the streets in Rome, the glow of the sun on the face of a local as it is setting in Tyrrhenian Sea? I decided to honour this way of life by inventing the saying:

'Visiting Rome without seeing the Colosseum'.

Just back in Belgium from the capital of Italy, I realized that Koen must have said a lot of silent prayers at the Vatican, since I received an e-mail from my aunt: “is anybody interested in flying to Andalucia for the weekend? We had bought these tickets, but due to act of God, we can't make it...”

We landed on a sunny morning in Malaga, barely recovered from our Roman indulgences the week before. We had no accommodation booked, no plans... actually, we had no idea at all where we were. So after an hour walk and two legendary Sean Connery impersonations, we came to a bus station. Instead of storytelling on the bench with a box of chocolates, we decided to jump on a random bus.

The bus must have taken us through one of the most ugly parts of Spain: the entire coastline of Malaga seemed one big building project, catering for the British and German tourists and pensioners. This seemed to go on for miles and miles, until the bus took us inland, through the mountains. Our final destination was Ronda.

In Ronda, which turned out to be one of the most beautiful towns on this planet, I suddenly realized that I was not far from the production region of one of the top wines in the world: Sherry. (Jerez/Xerez); a wine with no match that had previously gained my interest and favour since I had been both learning and teaching about it in hotel school. It didn't take me long to convince Koen that the typical dry Fino and Manzanilla wines are the ultimate accompaniment to Tapas, the typical counter food from Spain. This lead us to Cadiz, Jerez and finally San Lucar de Barrameda, where, while enjoying a Fino and looking out over the Atlantic, we suddenly decided to catch a train to Sevilla.

In Sevilla, we happened to have arrived in the midst of the Semana Santa festivities, and all kind of strange things were happening around us. The oddest thing of all was that I encountered two colleagues from work, which amongst themselves, had accidentally run into each other in Sevilla. And all of this was happening because my uncle could not make it that weekend... Now, if you read The Drunkard's Walk, you will understand that situations like that are actually all very normal, they are even statistically predictable to a great extent. With a romantic soul like mine, it is hard to believe that such encounters would not happen for a reason and that they would not be orchestrated by some divine force.

Since I emigrated to South Africa 3 years ago, Koen and I virtually didn't see each other, apart from a few catch-up-over-a-beer-sessions we had whenever I was visiting family in Belgium. That finally changed when Koen flew over to South Africa last month. And of course, we focused on regions that attract fewer tourists than other parts of South-Africa: the Karoo and the Cederberg area. In Tulbagh, temperatures were reaching almost 40 degrees Celcius. When Koen was taking pictures of the area, he would bring up Sean Connery and say: "On screen it looks colder". You can have a look at our pictures in my photo gallery.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. And I truly hope that next time, in your travel, you follow your instinct and not the tourist guide. That you may explore unvisited places and try new things, by letting that random factor lead you. By 'Visiting Rome without seeing the Colosseum'.

By allowing that Ronda Factor.

Leaven

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:39:00 +0000

In the beginning of this week, I received one of the nicest e-mails one can probably get. It was entitled 'Leave' and came from my manager: 'you have an excess of unused leave. We appreciate your dedication, but from now on, we would like you to stay home one day a week...'

Since sitting still is not really my thing, from the evening I received the e-mail, I started doubling my sourdough starter (natural leaven) every day and decided to bake a larger batch of Portuguese mountain rye bread today, just like the ladies in Sabugueiro, a village in the Serra da Estrela would do it:

Talking about leave and mountains, I went on a splendid hike in the Magaliesberg mountains the other day:

After a long hike, there is nothing better than a good meal. A Karoo leg of Lamb for instance. I received the nicest compliment about the below recipe from a lady I recently invited for dinner: "Normally I don't eat lamb, but this is simply delicious".

Slowly roasted leg of lamb and sweet potato gratin

Description

This is a perfect dish to serve if you are inviting people for dinner as everything can be prepared well beforehand and is cooked in the oven; this leaves you with a clean stove and kitchen while your guests arrive.

Ingredients

a leg of lamb (1,2 kg)
6 cloves of garlic
2 onions
1/2 kg potatoes
750 g sweet potato
400 ml cream
150 ml milk
olive oil or grapeseed oil
50 g of butter
5 bay leaves
3 juniper berries
fresh rosemary (2 branches)
fresh hyssop (3 branches)
ground cumin
ground curcuma
dried or fresh savory
thyme
dried oregano
sweet paprika powder
nutmeg
salt
pepper

Tools

Two oven dishes: one for the leg of lamb and one for the gratin.

Preparation

The night before, mix 5 tablespoons of olive oil with 5 crushed cloves of garlic, a full teaspoon of cumin, a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of curcuma, a teaspoon of paprika, the freshly chopped rosemary and hyssop leaves, a tablespoon of oregano, some thyme, the crushed bay leaves and juniper berries and some freshly ground pepper.

Rub this mixture well into the leg of lamb, cover and let rest in the fridge overnight.

Take the leg of lamb out of the fridge 6 hours before serving.

Peel the potatoes and sweet potato and make slices of about 2-3 mm thick.

Mix the remaining crushed clove of garlic with the cream and the milk, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Place the slices in a buttered oven dish in alternating layers: potato - sweet potato - potato... and poor the cream liquid over it until all the slices are completely covered (if needed, add a little more milk/cream to the mixture)

Cooking

4 hours before serving, drizzle some olive or grapeseed oil into an oven dish and place the marinated lamb on it. Cover with thin slices of butter.

Place in the lower part of a preheated oven at 180 °C.

Reduce the heat to 140 °C and let roast for about 2 hours. Spread the roughly cut onions around the roasting lamb; they will release their unique aroma to the lamb and the juice. Regularly spoon some of the juice over the lamb to prevent a dry crust.

After 2 hours, remove the lamb from the oven, cover it with some foil and put the gratin in the oven at 200 °C. After 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 160°C and leave for another 40 minutes. Remove the gratin from the oven, turn off the oven and put the lamb inside to heat it again (25 minutes). You are now ready to serve; if reheating is needed, leave the gratin with the lamb for another 10 minutes.

Serving

Slice the lamb on a preheated plate; it should be beautifully pink and tender; spoon some of the roasting jus over it. Serve with the sweet potato gratin and seasonal vegetables.

Hints and tips

Add enough salt to the gratin cream mixture. Taste the mixture; it should be very hearty. Alternatively, replace the milk with chicken or veal stock.
Use freshly ground nutmeg
Freeze the remaining meat jus if any is left; it can serve as the perfect sauce for your next roast.

Bread and Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:13:00 +0000

In the past years, I have felt this ever-growing sensation of 'wanting to go back in time'. An urge for times where the word pollution was not in our dictionaries yet, a deep longing for purity, nature, balance. Three years ago, this quest brought me to Africa, where somehow, my heart came at ease.

We live in a harsh world, where honesty and freedom are often losing the battle against short term gain. We live in a fast world, out of control, yet controlled by revolutionary technology and powerful politicians claiming immortality. More and more people have this restless feeling of being incomplete, of betraying their true self. Mindfulness training sessions are the sell of the day. That is if one has time after the 16 hour work day. And the baby keeps crying.

There is a climate change. There is an increasing awareness amongst the educated within the 6 billion of us, that this is not it. There is more. Or, let's rather say: there can be less. A global warming of the hearts. We no longer want more. We want quality. Small things, slow things, ... old stuff. Or am I being idealistic here?

Personally, I discovered a slice of heaven by exploring the secrets of the old days' bread. Nothing better than kneading a dough after a stressfull day in the office.

Well, anyway, we live in an incredible era; anyone having seen the 3D movie Avatar will undoubtedly have praised the Lord for being born in a time like this. What an honour. A true privilege. Especially when thinking about the thousands of people that are currently suffering from famine, war and disease. I have learnt that even the best wine can have two flavours: Sweet or Bitter. It depends what you are thinking of.

So let's make the best out of 2010, and add some sugar where there's bitterness.

I organized dinner for some friends last weekend, here is my latest creation:

Lasagne of lightly smoked Trout and Nori, crispy Sesame salad basket with a Wasabi and Fennel mayonnaise

New Year's letter

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:10:00 +0000

Christmas and New Year... a time spent with family and friends, with your most beloved ones. A time for introspection, to think, learn and forget about the past year and to make at least a few good resolutions for the year ahead. Waw, this is 2010. Did your past ten years go as fast as mine? I can still remember the taste of the delicate Cuban Rhum I was sipping on the night of 31 December 1999 in a famous Brussels bar... as if it were yesterday.

2010 started rather strangely for me, with the discovery of a medium sized crab in my highly-chlorinated swimming pool (see picture). Did somebody have a similar experience or can one of you tell me how this can happen? It reminds me of that one day where I saw a snow-white rabbit sitting next to a black cat in front of my gate (not joking). Well, it promises to be a special year. I can't wait for the fresh lobster and oysters to appear in my swimming pool.

As usual, it takes me at least the month of January to adapt, that is: writing 10 on all my correspondence instead of 09. And as usual, one of my New Year's resolutions is following a healthier diet, with more room for organically grown vegetables and fruits. I couldn't resist buying the book 'Sumptuous' though, a new release from the hand of Marlene Van Der Westhhuizen with unique photography by Gerda Genis. Didn't see too much focus on veggies in there yet, but let's face it, if the years are flying by as fast as they are, why don't we try to make them as enjoyable as possible? And probably that's the only resolution I'll stick to: make more time for quality moments. That started yesterday by baking a Blueberry Clafoutis (see picture) together with my love, inspired by Marlene's book.

Talking about quality, the other fantastic book new to my library is called 'Home Baking' by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. In this book about bread and pastry, Jeffrey and Naomi reveal the secrets of the traditional sourdough bread, superbly illustrated with their worldwide travel stories about bread. I started my recipe with a Poolish for the 'Portuguese Rye' on Friday and tomorrow (Tuesday) I will finally be able to bake bread. Now, where last did you read a 5-day recipe? No wonder the years fly by in my kitchen.

Well anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful time during the festivities, with plenty of new gastronomical discoveries (crab?). I hope, after this well-deserved break, to be contributing in making 2010 an even more tasteful year for you and your beloved ones.

Thank you for your support and a I wish you a happy and healthy 2010.

Love,

Jan

The Royal Green

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:07:00 +0000

Basil (Ocimum Basilicum (Lat.), Basilicum (Nl.), Basilic (Fr.))

Basil is often referred to as 'The king of herbs'. Whether that is because of its history or its culinary value, I know one thing for sure: I treat Sweet Basil like a queen in my kitchen. And that is exactly how one should use the delicate herb: with care and respect. There are few herbs as capable of making a simple ingredient, e.g. a tomato, shine like a star.

One can argue if Basil is worthy its title as 'King of herbs', but we cannot take away its prevalence in the herb kingdom throughout history: remains of Basil have been found in Egyptian burial chambers. In India, the sacred Basil ((Tulsi, Vrinda, Goddess Radha) still plays an important part in the Hindu religion, whilst oddly , the ancient Greek considered a symbol of Poverty and even associated it with hatred. Maybe that is because they discovered the Romans liked it so much. The famous botanist Nicholas Culpeper wrote about Basil: 'It helps the deficiency of Venus in one kind, so its spoils all her actions in another. I dare write no more of it'. Yet, he attributed a lot of medicinal and other beneficial properties to the herb that are widely accepted today; Basil aids digestion, can relieve headaches and is an excellent insect repellent.

More importantly, in Italy, Sweet Basil is associated with Love, and I was once told that on the island of Malta, single girls would put a pot of fresh Basil on the balcony to indicate that they are available. At least they have something ready to throw at the stubborn young man that insists on marrying after being rejected.

Reasons enough to love Basil. Do I still need to tell you what to do with it in the kitchen? I don't think so. We have all experienced its unique aroma and flavour on a Tomato and Mozzarella salad or in a Pasta with Pesto. Let me rather tell you what you should not do with Basil:

do not cook it; Basil looses its fragile aroma when heated. Sprinkle fresh leaves over your dishes just before serving;
do not cut it; rather tear the leaves by hand so the essential oils do not evaporate;
do not add it too long in advance to sauces that are high in acidity (e.g. vinaigrette); it will turn brown;
do not dry it. Use it fresh. I guess that's what the Greek must have hated: dried Basil leaves!

"I will show you a philtre without potions, without herbs, without any witch's incantation--if you wish to be loved, love."

Seneca

Pork and Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:31:00 +0000

Last weekend, I visited a coffee roastery. Nothing better than the sweet smell of freshly roasted Arabica beans. When I asked the shop owner where the organic beans originated from, he proudly announced they were from the region of the Kivu lake in Rwanda.

Now, this made my heart beat faster (it was probably already doing a few extra beats after my caffeine intake), since my Mother lived the 12 first years of her life at lake Kivu in Congo (the other side of the lake). My beloved grandfather August Pas owned a coffee plantation in the subtropical hills about a day's drive from Bukavu.

Waking up in the morning is something really special now; when I am grinding the coffee beans, the perfume carries me away to the footsteps of my mother's childhood at the shores of the Kivu lake. I think of the youth memories she shared with us about mangoes she picked from the trees at the age of six. I think about my truly missed grandfather, the great mathematician and teacher, who used to tell us riddles and stories about the Wild Africa (like the one where they nearly got killed by a Hippopotamus). I am far away from home, yet I am closer then ever to my roots.

On special request, I have published my famous 'Fillet of Pork in red wine' recipe as recipe of the week. See 'Recipe of the week' in the sidebar.

Dear Michelle, you understand like nobody else what the business is asking from us; there hasn't been much room for experimenting with plum tomatoes. And let's be honest, the past weeks haven't really been tomato wheather. But I promise that I will spend some time to try out your submission and publish it with your approval. You are hereby invited to join me in my kitchen and we can even organize a small Tomatina (1 tomato each because the last thing I would do is play with food).

The smoking kitten

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:29:00 +0000

I was planning to write a weekly article about herbs, but I decided to dedicate my time to another, rather unexpected topic: cats. Well, I could write about the culinary use of Catnip, but its use is rather uncommon and limited to soups, sauces and salads. But don't worry; as you will see, this article will contain a culinary term here and there, and I promise: we're not making 'Cat à la King'

One night, I came home from work and it had been one of those days where everything that possibly could have gone wrong had gone terribly wrong. I had been living in South Africa for just over a year, and one of the things enjoy about South Africa is its biodiversity. So, as usual, upon coming home, I would go straight to my garden and inhale the fresh air and the perfumes of indigenous plants and herbs. Having had such a bad day at work, I looked up at the sky and said: "God, give me one good reason to stay in this place". When I lowered my head, my attention was immediately drawn to a whitish, mouse-like creature. After closer inspection, it turned out to be a just-born kitten, apparently abandoned by its mother.

I immediately kept it warm au bain-marie and in a panic, searched the Internet on 'what to do with abandoned kittens?'. So, if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, here is a website that tells you all you need to know: Kitten Rescue. This website saved the life of Gorby. Yes, since it had a little rusty spot on its head we named it after Michael Gorbatchev. While Gorby was happily sleeping on the stove, we went outside, thinking: "Only one kitten in a nest, that is impossible". A thorough search brought us to a second screaming kitten: Ninja (you can see Ninja fully grown in the sidebar of this blog).

We took our two orphans to the Vet the next day, and he claimed never to have seen such a small kittens. Their eyes were still closed. After two weeks of bottle-feeding the youngsters, he ensured us that their chances of survival were very realistic, and that we had made a miracle happen. About five months later only, we encountered the mother and two other kittens of the nest in our garden. The similarities in their appearance were amazing, but one could clearly see the results of the struggle for life in the wild in comparison to the Whiskas treatment at home; we called them Nanji and Gyrbo. Last week, Gyrbo, our feral friend, died.

But the mourning didn't last long. The day after Gyrbo's departure, we found a nest of five kittens in our garden. One of them was smoking a Havana cigar (see picture). You can have a look at their adventures in my Photo Gallery.

The art of preparing a choke

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:13:00 +0000

If you tried out my last recipe Toucinho do céu, you might need something to assist your liver in recovering from it.

Some vegetables, spices and herbs are known to assist the liver and bile function. In my opinion, there is one particular ingredient that deserves much more attention than it currently gets: the artichoke. Artichokes are not only very healthy, they are a true delicacy.

In Italy, Carciofi serve as a very important ingredient in many typical dishes. Also in Southern France, people know what to do with the thistle flower. The more Northly we travel, people seem to be scared of this strange-looking 'vegetable'. Some have undoubtedly encountered the beautiful artichokes on the vegetable market, but simply don't know how to prepare them, whilst others kept wandering what the dull green-yellow slice was that made the Quattro Stagioni pizza so special. So let's bring an end to this mystery of how to cook artichokes and let's hope they may soon bring more variety to your diet. I'll give you my quick version:

Preparation

1 Cut away the stem as close as possible to the flower

2 Remove all outside leaves that are hard, small or have opened

3 Cut away the tips with a strong pair of scissors (you can use garden pruning scissors)

4 Wash thoroughly

Cooking

1 Mix a teaspoon of white flour per artichoke with enough water to cover the artichokes

2 Add 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, half a lemon and a bayleaf

3 Bring to the boil and let cook for 20 minutes

4 Let the artichokes cool down in the liquid

Eating

Peel away the outer layer of leaves. The rest of the leaves can be eaten; well, that is: the wider section can be pulled of when squeezed between the teeth. Very nice with a garlic dip sauce. The most valued part of the artichoke is the heart. Once all the leaves are removed (they become smaller and smaller towards the inside, but more and more edible), gently pull off the 'hair' (the choke, still edible in smaller specimen). You are now left with a round base, the artichoke heart.

Hints and tips

Raw Artichoke leaves can be very sharp, use protective gloves if needed.
The flour, vinegar and lemon serve to prevent the artichokes from turning brown while cooking. The fresher the artichokes, the less acid will be needed to prevent oxidation.
Artichoke leaves are very decorative and can be used to garnish a plate.
You can add parsley stems to the boiling water to add more taste.
Cut a few artichoke hearts on a slice of bread and season with salt and pepper; Simple but delicious!

Recipe: marinated artichoke hearts

Ingredients

Freshly cooked artichoke hearts
a handful of fresh coriander
a handful of fresh parsley
1 garlic clove
1 cup of Extra virgin Olive oil
a teaspoon of White wine vinegar
a squeeze of Lemon juice
Salt, Pepper

Preparation

Blend all the ingredients (first start with the garlic, add the fresh herbs in the end) in a blender. Marinate the artichokes in the dressing overnight.

Hints and Tips

Add some freshly roasted sesame seeds to create a surprising taste.
Bring to room temerature prior to serving.

'Bacon from heaven' (Toucinho do céu)

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Ladies (and gentlemen), this is what you have all been waiting for. No, don't be mislead by the title of this recipe; this is one of the nicest sweets I know and it comes from the traditional Portuguese cuisine.

Portugal has very strong culinary traditions, and every region or city in the country has its own typical pastries and sweets. Very often, these culinary delights originated in the monasteries and have sound names like: Fatias de Tomar; Palha de Abrantes; Bolos de Dom Rodrigo; Nozes de Cascais; Brisas do Lis; Pudim do abade de Priscos; Queijadas de Sintra... a single trip to Portugal is probably not enough to taste a tenth of the variety of sweets the country has to offer. One thing they usually have in common: they contain plenty of egg yolks and sugar.

In the early 8th century, Portugal was invaded by Moorish conquerors. Apart from beautiful building styles and traditions, the Moors left the Portuguese with something else: a taste for sweets. The most famous Portuguese pastry is undoubtedly the Pastel de Belém, of which the original recipe is confected at the Fábrica dos Pastéis de Bélem near the capital of Lisbon, at an average of twenty thousand little tarts a day!

A few years ago, I was attending a concert of one of my favourite Portuguese music bands, Madredeus. I had noticed a beautiful long dining table at a remote corner of the theater bar where we ended up after the concert. From the way the table was dressed up, I could only guess that the band had been invited to have dinner at the theater. It happened to be a Portuguese theme evening and typical Portuguese dishes were being served. One thing struck me: there was no dessert on the menu. Well, a Portuguese meal without a dessert, that is unacceptable! I immediately called the restaurant manager, and proposed to make a typical Portuguese dessert for the music band. He agreed. A restaurant worker took his bycicle and I balanced on the back luggage holder to the closest nightshop in Antwerp, where I bought the necessary ingredients to make Toucinho do céu, served on a layer of custard cream. An hour later, I was sitting alongside and chatting with Teresa Salgueiro, the beautiful lead singer of the band.

That was a night to remember, and now you understand even better why Toucinho do céu is one of my favourite desserts, and its name already suggests why: it comes from heaven. Literally translated, it reads: 'bacon from heaven'. The original recipe from the monastery at Odivelas (near Lisbon), was extremely rich, and might even have contained bacon, hence its name. There are many varieties of this recipe, some contain flour and others don't. I created my own version, and adapted it a little bit to be closer to its origins: I made it very rich (much more egg yolks). If you indulge yourself, you better do it right:

Toucinho do céu 'Madredeus':

Ingredients

200 g sugar
100 g freshly ground almond powder
10 egg yolks and 3 entire eggs
a tablespoon of ground cinnamon
vanilla

Tools

A low round cake form (18cm)

Preparation

Beat the eggs end yolks and butter the cake form.

Baking

Put the sugar on a medium hot stove with 3 tablespoons of water. Let it simmer until the moment where another 2 minutes would turn the sugar into caramel (before it starts colouring).Add the almond powder and let it simmer for 2 minutes under continuous stirring. Turn of the heat and incorporate the eggs, cinnamon and vanilla. Turn the heat back on and let it simmer until it thickens. Keep stirring so its does not burn. Poor the batter in the cake form and bake for 15 minutes at approximately 190 degrees.

Serving

Leave to cool and decorate with icing sugar. Serve just like that or with ice-cream, custard, chocolate...

Hints and Tips

Use freshly ground almonds.
Never touch the sugar while it is on the stove. It is extremely hot. (in case you are tempted)
Add a pinch of salt. Salt will make many desserts, including chocolate desserts, taste better.
It is better to remove the Toucinho from the oven to early than too late. Extended baking will result in a dry pastry. Leave it a little moist at the center.
Although this recipe is heavenly as it is, you can experiment: replace some of the almonds by coconut or add a little lemon peel; decorate with flaked almonds and sugar before baking in order to create a unique caramelized almond taste...

Time for Thyme

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Common Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris (Lat.), Tijm (Nl.), Thym (Fr.))

When I smell the sweet aroma of Thyme, my thoughts are immediately carried away to the mountains in the Provence: that is where, probably at the age of 7 or 8, I had my first encounter with this amazing herb, in its best form: in the wild. We could find Wild Thyme after a beautiful hike to La Chapelle de St.-Médard. There, many years before I would become interested in its Latin name, the harsh habitat and unusual growing habit of the plant was most surprising to me; it looked like the herb was simply growing on the rocks, without any soil. Indeed, Thyme is a very hardy plant and enjoys a well drained soil in a very sunny position.

I use Thyme practically every day. It accompanies any soup or stew I make and is happily releasing it's aroma whenever I need to glaze some onions or braise some vegetables. And if I am not using it in the kitchen, it serves as a powerful tonic or my number one medicine: Thyme has very effective anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and its infusion, if drunk a few times a day, will cure colds, respiratory disorders and relieve digestive problems. A strong infusion of wild Thyme will increase athletes' performance.

Thyme is one of the predominant herbs in the famous Herbes de Provence mixture. I gave this mixture my own name: 'Neighbour herbs'. Yes, next time when you are having that poolside barbecue ('braai' for the South-Africans), generously poor some of the mixture over the meat or fish you are grilling - and you will understand why.

There are many varieties of Thyme, of which some are purely decorative and have a lesser culinary value. But Lemon Thyme undoubtedly deserves a special place in your herb garden; next time you feel like offering your guests a special treat, try making Lemon Thyme sorbet or simply have Bacon and Thyme:

"Those herbs which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but, being trodden upon and crushed, are three; that is, burnet, wild thyme and watermints. Therefore, you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread."

Francis Bacon

The art of frying red meat

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:55:00 +0000

If you are reading this paragraph I assume that you are not following a vegetarian or a vegan diet and that you enjoy a tender, juicy steak that is grilled to perfection. Anyway, I promise that I will disclose some of my favorite vegetarian tofu and seitan recipes in the future.

Few disciplines in the kitchen require so much attention to detail and many years of experience as the frying of red meat does. Every cow is different, and so is every piece of meat that resulted from its grazing; hence we can not treat two steaks as if they were exactly the same. What I am trying to say here is that there is no standard formula as the one we know for boiling an egg (and still, we would have to take variables into account such as the size of the eggs, the altitude at which we are cooking, the food the hens were fed (as this will affect the thickness of the shell and the composition of the egg)). Frying meat is more than throwing a steak on a frying pan. The art of frying meat is: meeting the perfect frying conditions.

1 Preparing the meat

Call this my first meat-secret: take the meat out of the fridge at least 2 hours before frying time so it can adapt to the room temperature. Unpack it and put it on a little grill to make sure any blood can leak away in a plate without the meat resting in the blood. For large portions such as roasts, you can take the meat out of the fridge up to 4 hours in advance. Just make sure the room temperature is not too high and cover the meat with a towel to prevent contamination by insects.

2 Choosing the right tools

Meet secret two: a (usually black) cast iron frying pan with a relatively thin base. Make sure the base is level and choose a pan that is just big enough for the job; there should be no free space while frying, as this will result in burned, carcinogenic fats and smoke.

3 Seasoning

Generously rub both sides of the meat with salt and freshly ground pepper 10 minutes before frying time.

4 Using the correct grease in the right amount

Nothing can replace the taste of real butter, that should not be a secret anymore. Ideally, you should use clarified butter. Normal butter contains approximately 18% Milk solids, and these burn easily when heated, almost as if you were pooring low-fat cream in heated olive oil.

5 Frying technique

Heat the pan very well before you add the clarified butter and before you start frying. After having added a small spoon of butter, immediately sear the steaks by pressing them against the pan. Do not use excessive butter, but rather just enough to avoid meat sticking to the pan. Leave at the highest stand for approximately one minute, then lower the heat so the steak continues to fry without burning. If the temperature drops too much, the meat will start cooking in its own juices; if the temperature is too high, the meat will most likely burn and become dry. Leave the meat frying on this one side for at least two thirds of the frying time. Once you turn over the meat, put the stove on full heat again for half a minute, then remove the pan from the heat and spread a few chunks of fresh (unclarified) butter over it. For big portions, put the meat in a pre-heated classic oven at 155°C until the point where another 5 extra minutes would take it to perfection (= the way you want it). Remove the meat from the oven and follow step 6.

6 Let it rest

Frying drives the juices from the exterior of the meat to the center and the sides. The result of this sudden heat is that the meat tends to be dry and hard. By letting the meat rest on a warm spot (in the opening of the oven) on a little grill (make sure the meat does not rest on a flat surface), the juices will redistribute evenly over the meat and the meat will become tender.

7 Serve

Serve the meat on a hot plate. Add few fresh grinds of pepper if required.

Enjoy!

Keep it simple

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:16:00 +0000

Very often, the simplest creations can take us to heaven. One does not need to be an expert 3 star chef to bring a smile on someone's face in the kitchen, as long as the following 3 (star) basic rules are respected:

choose the best and the freshest ingrediënts;
respect the product;
present it nicely.

Choosing right the product often comes down to some basic knowledge of the seasons; again, one does not need a degree in nuclear science to know that salad naturally will not grow in your backyard in the freezing winter months. So instead, go for those cabagges and hard fruits that preserve well after the autumn harvest. When you have the choice between a quality product or a class B cheaper variety, never let your wallet take the decision. If your basic ingredients are poor in quality, so will most likely be the food that you prepare with it.

Respecting the product means: do not cover your delicate fresh oyster of Normandy with a garlic and chili sauce; otherwise, you might as well have chosen to prepare frozen chicken. You won't taste the difference anyway. The bottom line is: combine ingredients in such a way that the secondary flavours will enhance the typical characteristics of the main ingredient instead of covering it. It's like putting a frame around a picture. It's all about the picture, not about the frame (unless you have recently watched episode19 of How I met your mother) Here, you can play with the basic taste sensations known to man: sour, salty, bitter, sweet and umami) and make sure there is balance.

Presenting it nicely is exactly what the frame in the previous paragraph is all about: unlike most inhabitants of the animal kingdom, people 'taste' food with their eyes, and there is undoubtedly an enormous and often underestimated psychological aspect when it comes to taste. Add a red colourant to plain yoghurt, put a strawberry on the label... and some people will believe they are eating Strawberry yoghurt. Of course, I don't want to send you the message: 'go and put some colourants in your food'. No, we have to use the natural colours that nature provided us with: fresh green herbs, shiny red peppadews, black eggplants... and it are these contrasting colours that will make the gastric juices flow in the audience!

So here's my recipe for the day, it is simple and 'ooooh so good':

Bread with chunky cottage cheese and radish

Ingredients

Brown bread or Health bread
Chunky cottage cheese
Radishes
Spring onion
Chives
Freshly ground black or mixed pepper
Salt

Preparation

Wash the radishes and cut the bread in slices. Roughly spread a nice layer of cheese over the slice of bread. Grind the pepper over it and sprinkle some salt over it according to taste. Now slice the radish on top and garnish with freshly chopped spring onion and chives.

Serving

Serve just like that, on a wooden board. Or serve it like I would do it, that is: with a nice beer, preferably a Trappist

Hints and Tips

For the bread, the best option is Pain de Campagne (see recipe of Carbonade à la Flamande. In South Africa, this bread is available from e.g. Ile de Pain in Knysna, in Belgium and many other countries from Le Pain Quotidien)
Take the cheese out of the fridge and open it beforehand; this way, it is not to cold and the delicate taste will be more pronounced.
Just when you think it has enough pepper, make a few more twists with the grinder; it is also the pepper that makes this recipe so special and surprising.
Finally, you can also add some fresh sprouts (e.g. of Radish or French Leek - see picture) to add more colour and taste.

Enjoy!

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Generations of people have been inspired by Herbs and Spices, and even wars have been fought over it. Today, as a result of a modern transportation economy, we can find almost any spice we want in each corner of the world.

Whilst the most common herbs such as Parsley, Rosemary and Thyme are readily available from the supermarket, we often have to rely on our own backyard or some pots behind a kitchen window if a more varied or exotic range is preferred, in order to give that special touch our dishes. Because that is exactly what herbs do: they turn ordinary recipes into exciting 'I want more'-formulas. But our green friends can do much more: they can prevent ilnesses and cure diseases, perfume our skin or make it velvety soft. Some plants keep away mosquitoes or flies, others are even believed to bring good luck. That's why I thought there are reasons enough to invite you to my herb garden. Each month, I will try to discuss one of the herbs that grows in my garden.

This week, I will discuss Sage.

If you are aware of a traditional use of Sage that I failed to mention, or if you have that winning recipe with sage and you are willing to share it, please do not hesitate to post it in the comments, or simpy send me an e-mail - I will test the recipe and gladly give it a special place on this blog.

Sage (Salvia Officinalis (Lat.), Salie (Nl.), Sauge (Fr.))

One of the oldest culinary and medicinal herbs, Sage was highly valued by the Greek and the Romans, who dedicated its domestic virtue to Zeus and Jupiter. In medieval times, Sage has long been used as a hair tonic, as it was (and still is) known to darken greying hair.

Since I have hair with character - it prefers falling instead of turning grey - let's talk about what we can do with Sage in the kitchen:

Sage is an ecxellent accompaniment to both fish and meat dishes, but is particulary at home in the mediterrenean cuisine, together with lemon or white wine. It is a key ingredient in Saltimbocca alla Romana¹, a traditional veal recipe that gained popularity in the provinceof Italy's capital city Rome, but originated in Brescia. In England, the semi-hard Sage Derby cheese gets its typical flavour from the ancient herb and even porridge is sometimes sprinkled wih freshly chopped leaves. (did a drunk Englishman mistakenly see his plate of porridge for a veal escalope and decided to bring back some memories of a visit at the Colosseum?)

Medicinally, Sage is best known for its antiseptic properties, and the fresh leaves are used to create gargles, mouthwashes, and tea ice-cubes that are useful in the treatment of ulcers, sore tongue, laryngitis and tonsillitis.

Sage is an excellent remedy against excessive transpiration, and infusions can assist in relieving symptoms of depression and nervous anxiety, which might be due to its positive effect on liver disorders.

To conclude this first chapter on herbs, let me finish with a famous Turkish quote:

The Sage speaks of what he sees; the fool of what he hears

(1) Saltimbocca literally means 'jumps in the mouth' and traditionally consists out of rolled veal strips with Prosciutto and Sage in a white wine sauce.

A passion for food

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Praet) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:52:00 +0000

When people hear about the different things I have done (I am talking jobwise) over the past ten years, they probably classify me as 'crazy' or otherwise as a 'Jack of all trades'.

Yes, I have a wide area of interests. This is for instance reflected in my music collection: cantatas from Bach and sacred works of forgotton composers like Dietrich Buxtehude and Diego Melgaz are happily squeezed between limited edition records of The Sisters of Mercy and maybe the early works of Serge Gainsbourg.

I studied as a chef and obtained a graduatation in Hotel Management about twelve years ago. Yet, that part of me seems long gone since I find myself working now for one of the biggest IT companies in the world.

But the love for food has never been gone. And strangely enough, although I have not been working as a professional chef for the past years, this gave me different insights and a much clearer vision on some secrets of the industry. And the passion kept boiling under the surface. In fact, while I write this, there is a famous Flemish stew with dark beer (Stoofvlees op Vlaamse wijze) simmering on the stove.

For me, that is the true 'cuisine': the pure, untouched, old, slow-cooking recipes from our grandmothers' days. Or sharing a plate of Tapas and Manzanilla with some friends. Food is much more than nutrients. It is art. It is pleasure. It is history, culture, it lives. It brings out that smile on my sister's face. It defines us.

The famous chef Auguste Escoffier (†1935) who once cooked for the greatest kings and emperors, expressed the same love for the traditional, uncomplicated recipes that were passed on, generation by generation. Towards the end of his life, he published a book, somehow different than his previous, almost scientifically precise works: this last book he ever published, entitled 'Ma Cuisine' , unveiled his all-time favorite culinary creations. Auguste had undoubtedly written this book with all his heart.

Hence the title of this blog. It is a blog about the love for food and I want to invite you to share your favorite recipes, to ask me questions, to browse and enjoy.

Welcome to Ma Cuisine