Author: Arrisje

Gumbo

Gumbo

Gumbo is one of those dishes you will find that numerous people claim to have the perfect recipes. (and I am one of them 🙂 No matter what ingredients you put into a gumbo you’re going to get a little bit of the four cultures living in Louisiana: Cajun, Creole, Indian, and African. Louisiana’s Creole cooking came from a European blend of its French founders and the Spanish who took over the territory from France. The French contributed classic techniques like roux, and the Spanish introduced tomatoes, peppers and garlic that were commonly used in their cooking. Cajuns were French, Acadians exiled from Nova Scotia. They were simple country folks who cooked with what was cheap and available. Slaves named the dish “gumbo” after the African word okra, used as it thickener. The native Choctaw Indians added file, their own thickener made from sassafras leaves.

Shoarma

Shoarma

The problem with making shoarma, shwarma or donner kebab at home (and the word can be also spelled schwarma or shawrama) is that the original versions are all made on a vertical spit that turns in front of an open gas or charcoal generated flame. A secondary problem is that the average skewer used is almost 1.5 cm. thick and holds between 8 – 10 kilos of meat. Cooking at home requires a different method and, of course, smaller amounts of meat.

Here, after a great deal of both rewarding and not all that rewarding experimentation, is the very best I can come up with. It may not be quite “the real thing”, but it will satisfy in many of the same ways.

Lasagna

Lasagna

 

Lasagna, also lasagne, is both a form of pasta in sheets (often rippled in North America and other countries, though seldom so in Italy) and also a dish, sometimes named Lasagne al forno (meaning “Lasagne in the oven”) made with alternate layers of pasta, cheese, and sometimes ragu (a meat sauce). While it is traditionally believed to have originated in Italy, evidence has come to light suggesting that a very similar meal known as “loseyns” (pronounced ‘lasan’) was eaten in the court of King Richard II of England in the 14th Century. The word “lasagna” is derived from the Greek word “lasanon” meaning chamber pot. The word was later borrowed by the Romans as “lasanum” to mean cooking pot. The Italians then used the word to refer to the dish in which what is now known as lasagna is made. The word lasagna or lasagne (plural) now simply applies to the food itself. The British (and Italians) generally use the plural “lasagne” to mean both the dish and the pasta while the Americans commonly use the singular “lasagna”

Ingredients

  • 1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
  • 4 hot Italian sausages
  • 1/2 tray of ground beef
  • 15 oz ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 5 oz Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 sprig of basil
  • 2 sprigs of oregano if you can’t get the fresh herbs, use 1 tbsp of Italian seasonings
  • 9 lasagna noodles

Instructions

  1. Cut up the 2 sprigs oregano, 1 sprig basil. Brown the ground beef and Italian sausage. If you don’t want to use Italian sausage then use 1 tray of ground beef. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, and the cutup fresh basil and oregano. Then add the spaghetti sauce, my preference is Prego.
  2. Mix the Ricotta cheese with the egg, sugar and Parmesan cheese. Put on the 1stlayer the meat sauce, the 2nd layer the lasagna noodles, layer 3 the ricotta cheese sauce, sprinkle with some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Start the process all over again till all the sauce is used up. Cover and bake in 350F oven for 30 min then take the foil off and bake for another 10 min. Let it stand for half an hour then eat.

 

*Arrisje’s Recipe Card 4×6 * Save to your hard drive, then print as 4×6 picture *

Lasagna

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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 8
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Ingredients

  • 1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
  • 4 hot Italian sausages
  • 1/2 tray of ground beef
  • 15 oz ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 5 oz Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 sprig of basil
  • 2 sprigs of oregano if you can't get the fresh herbs use 1 tbsp of Italian seasonings
  • 9 lasagna noodles

Instructions

  • Cut up the 2 sprigs oregano, 1 sprig basil. Brown the ground beef and italian sausage. If you don't want to use Italian sausage then use 1 tray of ground beef. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, and the cutup fresh basil and oregano. Then add the spaghetti sauce, my preference is Prego.
  • Mix the Ricotta cheese with the egg, sugar and Parmesan cheese. Put on the 1stlayer the meat sauce, the 2nd layer the lasagna noodles, layer 3 the ricotta cheese sauce, sprinkle with some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Start the process all over again till all the sauce is used up. Cover and bake in 350F oven for 30 min then take the foil off and bake for another 10 min. Let it stand for half an hour then eat.
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Gevulde Koeken (Almond Paste Cookie,Dutch)

Gevulde Koeken (Almond Paste Cookie,Dutch)

A gevulde koek is an almond cookie made of dough and butter with a sweet filling. Almond paste is the most common filler. An almond cookie with a diameter of about 10 cm, a half amandel on top. The top of the cake is shiny brown, an effect that is achieved through the dough to cover with beaten egg. It is a typical Dutch bakery item. The cookie is eaten with coffee, tea and hot chocolate.

The cheaper versions ( the one you mostly buy in the supermarket) are not always filled with almond paste, many of them filled with beans instead of almond paste.

Rondo (also called Amsterdammertje) and a canoe have the same ingredients as an almond cookie, but baked in a mold. Rondo is a round and an elongated canoe.

Stoof Peertjes (Dutch)

Stoof Peertjes (Dutch)

It is about time I start to post some recipes of my child hood. Recipes of the food my mother used to cook for us and still does. The picture below shows some shots of her well used cookbook :).

If you are Dutch you know what this is. This is a typical Dutch dish. I had to improvise with this recipe for stoofpeertjes, because some ingredients are not available here, like ‘Gieser Wildeman Pears’, I used Bosc Pears. Bosbessensap is not available here neither. I came up with one of my own concoctions.