Ingredients

• 8 endives
• 8 slices of ham
• 40cl milk
• flour
• 150g butter
• 300g grated Gruyere cheese
• 1 tsp sugar
• grated nutmeg
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash the endives and remove any damaged outer leaves. Trim the bottom of the endives and remove the bitter root base. Heat 50g of butter in a saucepan and add the endives with a few drops of water and the sugar. Leave to braise for 15 minutes lid on. The endives are cooked when tender and when they start to caramelize slightly. Remove them from the saucepan and leave them to drain for half an hour. In the meantime, prepare a Béchamel sauce and stir in some of the endive cooking juice. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and add 200g of the grated Gruyere cheese little by little. Wrap each endive in a slice of ham. Put them into a gratin dish. Pour the Béchamel sauce over the wrapped endives and place the gratin dish in a 180°C oven for about 20 minutes. After 10 minutes in the oven, add the remaining grated Gruyere cheese over the preparation and leave until the sauce is bubbly and golden brown.

visit.brussels

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 pounds Muenster cheese, shredded
• 1 egg white, beaten
• 2 tablespoons whole blanched almonds

Preparation

Heat milk and butter or margarine over low heat until very warm.

Combine sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 cup of flour in a large bowl. Stir in hot milk mixture, and beat with mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Beat in 1 more cup of flour, and continue beating for 2 more minutes. With a wooden spoon, stir in enough flour (about 2 cups) to make a soft dough.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary. Cover dough with bowl, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, shred muenster cheese. Combine with 1 egg and 1 egg yolk.

On a lightly floured surface and with a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 24 x 6 inch rectangle. Spoon the cheese mixture into a log shape lengthwise along the dough. Fold the dough over the cheese making a 1 inch overlap, and pinch seam to seal. In a greased 9 inch round cake pan, place roll, seam side down, to make a ring. Overlap the ends, and pinch to seal. Cover with a towel. Let rest 10 minutes.

Brush loaf with egg white, and garnish with blanched almonds, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove bread from pan immediately. Cool for 15 minutes before slicing into wedges.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp. white vinegar
• 1 tbsp. lukewarm water
• 2 tbsp. sharp mustard
• 4 dl peanut oil or fine salad oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Put egg yolks in a bowl and beat them for a moment. Add the vinegar, water, and mustard. Whisk (or use a mixer) briefly. Whisk in the oil in a stream. Taste and season with salt and pepper. If the mayo is too thick, you can add extra vinegar, lemon juice, or water.

Dagelijkse kost, translated

Ingredients

• 1 medium-size firm eggplant, a little over a pound or so in weight
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 teaspoon fennel pollen or seed
• 4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
• 1 small onion, grated or very finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
• 1 chili pepper – Italian red cherry or Fresno, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• a generous handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 pound short-cut pasta, whatever shape you like
• Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Peel half the skin off the eggplant. Dice very finely into 1/8-inch pieces. Sprinkle with salt and reserve. Place a large pot of water over high heat for the pasta. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve a half cup of the starchy pasta water for the sauce. Heat the olive oil, 3 turns of the pan, over medium to medium-high heat. Add pork and lightly brown while finely crumbling it into tiny bits. Season with fennel, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, thyme and the chili pepper. Squeeze any liquid from the eggplant then stir it into the pork. Cook about 10-12 minutes, stirring frequently until eggplant is tender. Deglaze with white wine, stir a minute then stir in cream and simmer over low heat while pasta cooks. Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce, adding liquid to combine. Stir in parsley.

Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen

Ingredients

• 2 large onions, chopped
• butter, cubed
• 1 kg round steak, in equal 1–1.5" pieces
• 250g of bacon (thick slices, not lardons; optional)
• fresh-ground black pepper
• salt
• 2–3 bottles of Sint Bernardus Abt 12
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 whole clove
• 1 tbsp. Liège syrup [CP: this was 2 tbsp., 1 tbsp. needs testing] OR 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• enough slices of brown sandwich bread or pain d’épices to cover the surface of your pot
• 2 tbsp. (sharp) mustard
• dash white vinegar
• 1 kg potatoes
• mayonnaise

Preparation

Heat a large stew-pot over medium heat and melt a knob of butter. Cook the onions for around 10 minutes, covered, and make sure not to let them brown. If using the bacon, add it now, raise the heat a bit, and stir regularly, still keeping it covered as much as possible. When the bacon is cooked (or if you’re not using it), take everything out of the pot (leaving the juices) and reserve.

Add another knob of butter. Sear the meat cubes on all sides until golden brown, seasoning with a bit of salt and pepper. Reserve the meat. If you are using cassonade instead of Liège syrup, add it to the pot now, mix with all of the meat and onion juices, and let it reduce by half to make a “syrup.”

Return the onions (and possibly bacon) and the meat to the pan. Deglaze with the beer, adding enough just to cover the meat all the way, and bring to a boil. Tie the thyme and bay leaves together and add the herbs, clove, and Liège syrup (if using) to the pot. Smear the bread with the mustard and add it to the pot, smeared side down.

Let the stew simmer for three and a half hours, uncovered. The cooking time will depend on the quality of the meat. Stir occasionally to check doneness. Cover only when the sauce has sufficiently thickened.

Finish the stew with a dash of white vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

For the frites:

Peel the potatoes and cut them into strips (ideally, 1.3cm). Do not wash them, as this rinses off the starch. Heat the fryer to 140C. Fry the fries for the first time, but do not let them brown. Cool them in a baking dish with some paper towels. Heat the fryer to 180C, and fry the fries until golden brown and crispy. Drain the fries over some paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

Serve a portion of stew with fries and a spoonful of fresh mayonnaise.

Dagelijkse kost + Marmiton, translated and adapted and etc.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken
• 100g celery (4 or 5 ribs), in large pieces
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 tbsp thyme (or a handful of fresh thyme branches)
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 tbsp butter, divided
• 200g (1/2 lb.) white mushrooms, in pieces (around 1cm or 1/2")
• 1 leek, minced
• 1 or 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 200g (1/2 lb.) ground veal
• 5 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 200 mL (1 c.) cream
• 2 egg yolks
• Freshly ground pepper and salt
• 4 round puff pastries (bouchées à la reine)
• Parsley

Preparation

Place the chicken in water with the celery, onion, thyme, and bay leaf. Season heavily with salt and pepper. Let it simmer for around an hour, removing the foam regularly.

In a separate pan, cook the mushrooms and the leek with 1 tbsp. of the butter and the lemon juice. Season heavily with salt and pepper (this mixture should be a bit overseasoned, by itself), and add some of the stock from the chicken pot if they start to dry out.

Form the ground veal into meatballs about the size of marbles (around 1/2" or 1cm, maybe a little bigger), and cook them for two or three minutes in boiling salted water. Plunge them into cold water to stop their cooking.

When the chicken is done, bone it and cut it into pieces. Sieve the chicken broth and discard the solids. Make a roux with the remaining 4 tbsp. of butter and the flour. Slowly add the chicken broth until you get a slightly thick, smooth sauce, the consistency of a quite thick gravy. (It should take around 3 or 4 cups, 75 or 100 cL; it should also be a bit too thick, as you’ll thin it with the cream in a moment.) Cook the sauce for a bit.

Add the chicken, the meatballs, and the mushroom mixture. Let that simmer for a second to blend flavors. Add half of the cream and bring back to a simmer. Mix the egg yolks with the remaining cream, and add this to the sauce. Warm it just until it thickens, but do not let it boil.

Serve over the puff-pastry rounds, garnishing with parsley.

visit.brussels, edited heavily

Ingredients

• 1 whole suckling pig, around 20lb/10kg
• salt and pepper
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh sage
• 1 tsp. juniper berries, chopped
• 2 bay leaves

Preparation

Preheat oven to 275 F. Chop together the garlic, rosemary, parsley, sage, and juniper berries, and stir in 2 tbsp. of oil. Rinse the pig inside and out, pat dry. Season inside and out with oil, salt, and pepper. Place the herb mixture inside the cavity of the pig. Cover ears and tail with tin foil to keep them from burning, and put a ball of tin foil in the mouth if you want to add an apple later.

Roast until an instant-read thermometer reads 160 F at the deepest joint (the shoulder near the head), around 4 hours (or less). (If you want to hold the pig, you can tent it with foil at this point until ready to continue.) Increase oven temperature to 500 F and cook for 30 minutes more, until skin is crisp all over.

[Consider serving this with Czech potato pancakes.]

Serious Eats and Recipe 4 Living, edited

Ingredients

Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 limes, juiced

Wontons

• 2 cups vegetable oil (for frying)
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
• 2 ripe avocados, peeled, seed removed, and diced
• 1 package won ton wrappers
• 1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, lightly beaten

Preparation

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together cilantro lime dipping sauce ingredients. Set aside.

2. Heat vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat (should reach 350 degrees).

3. While oil heats up, whip the cream cheese with a hand mixer until fluffy and smooth. Add in the diced avocado and gently fold in with a spoon.

4. Lightly brush both sides of the wonton wrapper with the egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water). Put about a teaspoon of the avocado cream cheese filling in the center of each wonton. Fold the wonton wrappers in half, forming a triangle, and seal the edges. Fold the very ends of each point of the triangle over.

5. Fry wontons in the hot oil 4 at a time until golden brown. This will only take about a minute.or two. Using a slotted spoon, remove the golden brown wontons from the oil and put on paper towels to drain.

6. Divide the dipping sauce into individual bowls and serve with hot wontons.

The Stay at Home Chef

Ingredients

for the bread

• 1 c. warm water
• 1 Tbsp yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 c. bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp lard or vegetable shortening
• sesame seeds
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp cold water

for the olive salad

• 1 1/2 c. green olives, pitted
• 1/2 c. kalamata olives, pitted
• 1 c. giardiniera
• 1 Tbsp. capers
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/8 c. celery, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh oregano
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 c. roasted red peppers
• 1 Tbsp green onions, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 to 1 1/2 c. olive oil

for the sandwich

• 1/4 lb genoa salami
• 1/4 lb hot capicola (or regular ham)
• 1/4 lb mortadella
• 1/8 lb sliced mozzarella
• 1/8 lb sliced provolone

Preparation

to make the bread Combine the water, yeast and sugar in the workbowl of a stand mixer, stir well and let stand for 5-10 minutes or until good and foamy. Meanwhile, combine the flours, salt, and lard in a bowl and work in the fat with your hands until broken up into very small pieces. When the yeast is foamy, fit the mixer with a dough hook attachment and gradually add the flour on low speed until its all incorporated. Scrape the sides down between additions. When the dough comes together, turn it onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 5-10 minutes, adding more flour if necessary.. Alternatively, you can let the machine do the work, but for me, bread is a touch thing. Coat a large bowl with the Olive Oil, then put the dough in, turning once to coat both sides. Cover loosely with a clean dry towel, or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours. Punch the dough down and shape into a flat round about 9 inches across (it will expand to about 10″.) Place the dough on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds, about 2-3 Tbsp should do it, then press them lightly into the dough. Loosely cover the loaf and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. When the dough has risen, remove the cover, gently brush with the egg wash then gently place into a preheated 425 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 375 degrees F for an additional 25 minutes or until it’s golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

to make the olive salad Crush each olive on a cutting board with your hand. Combine all ingredients. Cover with oil. Put into a bowl or jar, cover and let the flavors marry for about one week.

to assemble the sandwich Cut the bread in half lengthwise. Brush both sides with the oil from your 1 week old Olive Salad, go a little heavier on the bottom. Layer half of the salami on the bottom half of the bread. Then the mortadella. Then the mozzarella, then the capicola/ham, provolone, and the remainder of the salami. Top this with the olive salad. Put the lid on and press it down without smashing the bread. Quarter it.

NOLA Cuisine

Ingredients

Chile-Scallion Oil

• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 star anise pods
• 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
• ½ cup vegetable oil

Noodles and Assembly

• 6 oz. Japanese wheat noodles (such as ramen, somen, or udon)
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• ½ large English hothouse cucumber, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced
• 4 radishes, trimmed, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cilantro leaves or any sprout

Preparation

Chile-scallion oil Cook all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling pan occasionally, until scallions and garlic are just golden brown, about 3 minutes. Let cool; transfer oil to a jar.

Noodles and assembly Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling water according to package directions; drain. Rinse noodles under cold water, then shake off as much water as possible. Whisk soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and oil in a medium bowl until sugar dissolves. Add noodles, chicken, and scallions; toss to coat. Toss with cucumber, radishes, and cilantro and drizzle with chile oil just before serving.

Bon Appetit