Hot pot with salmon and cod

Delicious recipe prepared by my mother on a sunny February saturday.

Ingredients:

• 4 carrots
• 2 leeks
• 300g of cod filet, in cubes
• 250g of salmon filet, in cubes
• 100g shrimp
• 1 cube of fish stock
• 100ml of dry white wine
• 200ml cream
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 100g grated gruyère cheese
• butter
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven at 180°C. Clean the veggies and herbs. Cut the carrots in slices and the leek in rings.

Sauté the carrots and leeks in the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and stir in the cream. Crumble the fish stock cube on top. Leave to simmer until the carrots are soft.

Butter an oven dish and distribute the fish, shrimp and vegetables evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped marjoram and parsley, then add a layer of grated cheese. Take to the oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Waffles

A delicious recipe for waffles, courtesy of my friend's baking dad.

As for quantities, I made a double recipe for a party with 8 friends who ate waffles until they couldn't see straight anymore, and then I still had so many waffles left I ate waffles for the rest of the week. I then proceeded to make half this recipe for my family of four, and I think it sufficed. It really depends on how hungry your company is.

Ingredients:

• 500g self-raising flour
• 1/2 litre of milk
• 6 eggs
• 200g sugar
• 150g butter
• 2 bags of vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 150-250ml sparkling water (optional)

Mix the eggs, the sugar and the milk. Melt the butter and stir into the milk mixture, then add the flour, vanilla sugar and baking powder. If the dough is too thick, add some sparkling water. Bake in a greased waffle iron on medium-high heat.

Tips for topping:

• freshly whipped cream fresh strawberries and raspberries
• simmer chunks of pear in some water with a few drops of vanilla essence, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce
• nutella and chopped nuts or brésilienne nuts (my favourite!)
• banana and hot chocolate sauce (scratch the above, this is my favourite!)
• any combination of the above

Recipe links

A few great recipe links I encountered while surfing the web:

• one of the recipes recommended by The Minimalist, the NY Times food writer: pasta with fried eggs (includes also recipes for pasta with tomato sauce and pasta with anchovis and walnut sauce)
• vegatarian rice bowl recipe by A.Co.Est1984
• a fennel and celery salad idea, again by the NY Times Minimalist

Italian salad

I made this salad on a hard day's night, when I was in the mood for something fast and simple that didn't involve frying.

Ingredients:

• lamb's lettuce (isn't that a cute name for 'veldsla'?)
• a handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in 2
• 150g mozarella cheese (I use the perline, it already comes in little balls, no work!)
• 1 tbsp of sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp of pine nuts, roasted
• 2 tbsp of grana padano, freshly grated
• 2 tbsp of mayonnaise
• 1 red onion, chopped

Well, you know, wash what needs to be washed, chop what needs to be chopped, throw it all in a bowl, and done!

Salmon and Celery Salad

I made this salad as an appetizer for a dinner with friends, but in a bigger version it can be a salad to accompany a summer lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 celery plant
• 1 cucumber
• 150g smoked salmon
• fresh dill
• cottage cheese (what I refer to as 'bolletjeskaas'
• 2 spoons olive oil
• salt & pepper

Cut the celery and cucumber into little cubes and the smoked salmon into little strips. In a bowl, mix the celery, cucumber, salmon with a few spoons of olive oil, freshly chopped dill and salt & pepper. As a topping/dressing, mix the cottage cheese with more freshly chopped dill, salt & pepper. I served this salad in small tumbler glasses, with the cottage cheese on top.