Poached Tuna #54

It was a rainy afternoon,and absolutely no weather for the grill,my porch is still under construction,so we have to make diner inside.We decide to make a poached tuna.
You need a Fresh part tuna (one piece)from around 500gr (4 persons). You also need 1Kg ripe tomato's , 3 gloves garlic sliced,handful capers,rosemary,1tsp oregano,2 Spanish red peppers sliced,1 piece of cinnamon,salt and pepper to taste.
To peel off the skin you have to Do the tomato's in a pan and add some boiling hot water for a few minutes,then let the tomato's cool down quickly in cold water,now you can peel off the skin easily.In the meanwhile you can make some notches in the tuna,and stuf it with the sliced garlic,pepper and rosemary.Fry the rest of the garlic and pepper in a pan witch fitted for the tuna (not to big)add the peeled tomato's and let it cook.Now you can add the tuna,push it to the bottom,so you just couldn't see the tuna en bring everything to it starts to boil.Let it cook for 20 minutes.Serve with crostini or Italian bread,and a good glass of wine.Enjoy!!

Tetrazzini #53

This was a very rainy day,so i decide to make a pasta Tetrazzini.it's a traditional Italian dish with chicken and mushrooms.I picked a part of it from Jamie Oliver,and a part of my self.
For 4 persons you need 250gr biologic spaghetti,500gr chicken breast,Spanish pepper,250gr mushrooms,15 gr porcicni,25cl white wine,500ml whipped cream,pecorino (cheese),courgette,onion,garlic,pepper & salt to taste.Preheat the oven to 200C.
Cook the spaghetti as you do as always,in the meanwhile slice the Spanish pepper,onion and garlic,and fry them.Slice the chicken as well and do them in the pan with the onion,garlic and pepper.Add the wine and let it boil down.After 10 minutes add the whipped cream and bring it back boiling..add the cheese and put the spaghetti and sauce together..stir well and bring it in a backingtray.Put some cheese on top and put it in the pre heated oven for about 15 minutes..enjoy!!!

Weekend grilling #52

I had a serious busy weekend with the kids,we went to our old hometown ''Haarlem'' for some good old shopping in special stores for coffee,meat and skateboard merchandise.There was also "Haarlem jazz town" with a lot of music in the streets.We also see in different restaurants that they discovered the grill...Weber smokers and big green eggs in the "better restaurants" fun to see,but way to expensive for a lunch.Back home we decide to do some grilling with ordinary skewers from chicken marinated with a honey oil from Sweden.Friends of us brought it for us...Thanks Richard & Ineke,it's good oil;-).
For the saturday we had a nice tenderloin with veggie skewers,with mushroom,tomato,asparagus and zucchini.The tenderloin was perfect with only a little bit of sea salt and grounded pepper.medium done.
On sunday we had some Thai curry,not from the grill....but homemade in the kitchen.
The ingredients for the curry are,cocos milk 400Ml,2 fresh Spanish red peppers, lemongrass,1/2 lemon, 1 thumb ginger,handful coriander, 4 cloves garlic and 2 onions.Blend everything with oil and 3Tbsp soy sauce in a kitchen machine except the coconut milk. Bake the chicken in a hot wok,add the paste,and add the coconut milk.
In the meanwhile make the basmati rice, cook the rice in water with lemon and some coriander.
Serve with a white wine.. Enjoy!!

Grilling @ work #51

Today i do the "take the grill to the office" serie from Grillgirl
We don't have enough facilities to do a big grill fest,so i prepared only hamburgers at home last night.This morning i put the "smokey Joe" the charcoals and the rest we need to do some grilling. At 12:30 i heated up de Weber,You have to see those faces,What's that guy doing;-) The whole garage smells like hell...But i can tell ya the guys loved it.Back to the hamburgers,
the minced meat was prepared with 2 cloves garlic , 1 onion cubed, bread-crum,2 egg ,2 Spanish pepper,1Tbsp brown sugar and some tabasco. when they are done you can put some cheddar on top and a salad.Everywhere came my colleagues from to watch the "bbq show" It was really fun..gonna do this more often..Enjoy!!

Matambre #50

Yesterday was a perfect day for a good time with friends,drinking wine talking about big boy's toys,holiday's ,good food & grilling of course.
We made a great "Matambre". It's a flank steak filled with carrot's,sweet potato,Spanish,red pepper,onion,thyme,garlic,
cheddar and Spanish sausage,but you can stuff it with almost everything,let your imagination get the free hand and make something special...
Take a flank steak from around 1,5Kg and fold it open till you have a long piece of meat,but be careful if you do it yourself !! Add some pepper and sea salt. Now you have to slice the ingredients in long small pieces and fill the flank steak with it,after filling you have to roll the steak,and tie it up.Prepare the grill for indirect cooking
(150 C ) wait for about 1,5 hours if you want a well done "Matambre" or 1 hour for medium...We waited too long,so we had it well done... you have to check the grill sometimes, and not only talk and drinking....yeah time flies.. serve with a rose, or a white Muscat and enjoy!!

Chicken Pesto #49

Chicken pesto is the favorite of my son Rik.He called me at work if an friend of him could stay for dinner,he would like the chicken pesto too,with some veggies and pomme duchesse.
First i have a great tip for you to undo the inside seeds of an paprika.First you have to make a notch on the top side of the paprika bun, then turn around gently the top of it.Now you have an clean paprika bun.Great to stuff it,or sliced it for the wok.
Slice your veggies like i do, in big pieces,and do them in a bowl with oil and a veggie rub.
For the chicken i used the breast, (tip from Steven Raichlen) Cut of the fillet and save them in the freezer. if you have enough of it you can make sate of it!!
Stuff the chicken with pesto and tomato and tie it up.Grill everything direct above a medium heated grill (160 degrees)
We had a great blackberrie vine with it...Enjoy !!

Tenderloin on the grill #48

Wow, this was a great way to make a quick tenderloin on the grill.We had 2 pieces of tenderloin medium done on the grill,with only salt and pepper on a very hot grate (250 degrees for the grillmarks) turn 45 degrees after 2 minutes,after another 2 minutes you can turn the tenderloin for 3 minutes. Let it rest in foil for about 5 minutes and serve with some potato's from the grill and a salad.
Don't forget the rose of course.Enjoy!!

Men's Weekend Vianden

I had an outstanding camping weekend with my son Boris at Vianden Luxemburg.It feels like you had a week off.Last year i was there with my oldest one Rik and having a great time with throwing axe's, knights fight's and do some walking/climbing.Now it was Boris his turn. After a 5 hour drive we build our base camp on a camping we were last year,simple and a place to make a campfire.(It is not allowed everywhere) We came there especially for the Festival Médiéval. It's a party with knights and lady's , with a lot of music, dance and handcrafts.Boris wanted to do the falconery,and shooting with the bow and arrows , and see "little Suisse" a mountaineering area. This is really fun to do with your kids (without their mom;-) ) A lot off quality time ,dine, walking and talking.
Actually, you have to do this every now and then with the kids,they appreciate it very much,and is good for the father / son relation...It was a weekend he always remember he said to me...and so do i.

Grilled Tuna #47

Life is good....Today I made a wonderful fresh tuna with veggies. After spending my day at the hospital it was time for something good,so i decide to make a fresh tuna on the grill.I also grilled some veggies like paprika, onion,garlic,zucchini and basil.For the fish you need a really hot grill,otherwise your fish will stuck on the grate's , and you don't want a messy grate..So i heated up the grill to 250 degrees, and grilled the tuna 2 minutes on each side,(after 1 minute you have to turn the tuna 45 degrees for the grillmarks) But first you have to wok the veggies till it's done, then grill the tuna.Let the tuna rest for about 5 minutes,in the meanwhile put the wok back on the grill and heat up the veggies.You can also put some cherrywood on the charcoals for a smokey flavor to the veggies.Serve with a light wine, Enjoy !!

Fusilli #46

After the first working day, after my holiday in France, i decided to make something Italian (I don't like the French cuisine)....We had some Fusilli with an tomato sauce. Very easy to make if you had a little time.I used the usual stuff like 2 part's of garlic,500gr tomato,1 onion,a handfull of fresh basil,1 tsp oregano,2 paprika's (green/red), 3Tbsp Aceto balsamico,1Tbsp brown sugar,pepper,sea salt,cheese flakes from parano,200gr mushrooms and 300gr minced meat.

First bake the garlic and onion glassy,then add the minced meat and stir till it's done.In the meanwhile peel off the skin of the tomato's (Do the tomato's in hot water for a minute,and cool down immediately in fresh cool water,the skin will come off easy).
Do the peeled tomato's with the paprika's in the pan and crush the tomato's.Add the oregano,balsamico aceto,brown sugar,mushrooms and the basil, stir till it's done.Cook the fusilli (following the packaging).
Serve with a fresh salad and a pinot noir rose. Enjoy !!