Making wine #2

After three days of yeast in a bucket,you can put it in a yeast bottle.
Make sure that you've added the sugar in three parts first,Stir everyday 3 times in the bucket and add every day the same amount of sugar.
Now it's time to clean the yeast bottle,the waterlock and the cap.Do it with a sulphite solution.Rins with a lot of water...
Now the hardest part.It took me 3 hours for 9Kg grape's to get it in the bottle..
Press the pulp yeast out of the bucket with a clean special towel and a sieve.Fill the bottle not till the end but till the shoulder.
Don't add sugar or something else in the bottle,measure the sugar/weight with an hydrometer.
For a medium sweet rose wine the mass is around 1035.Just close it with the waterlock and let it stay there for a few weeks, or till the wine is clear,and stopped to yeast.
You can see on the waterlock if the wine is still yeast,if the waterlock is in the middle, then the yeast has stopped.

The making of wine #1

Last summer we were in France, and see a lot of wine ranks,we had some tastings on a winefarm,we love wine.
A friend of us had a garden full of grape's.... Wow I had always a wish to make homemade wine,so this was a great opportunity..
First I had to buy was a set of bottles,yeast,brush,bucket and a bunch of chemicals.After cleaning the bottles & buckets it was time to clean the grape's in some sulphite and rinse it very good..We had 9Kg of grape's I can tell ya, it is a large amount of fruit,and still have some..gonna make some juice of it.After the rinsing you have to remove the bad grape's out of it,and pick the grape's and do them in a large bucket.Now you can crush the grape's with your clean feet or hands.(you can also use a crushtool)
After mixing the chemicals with the grape's and crush them it was time to wait till it gonna yeast,this will take a few days( 3-5)
For now I have to stir 3 times a day and add some sugar for the yeast and make some alcohol.

BBQ party

Today we celebrate my wife and son Boris his birthday party.Almost everybody stay's over for dinner (30 people).Off course it has to be something special on the BBQ,because everybody expect it from us.I start with preparing and grilling on friday afternoon because Rik had a soccer match on saturday morning and don't have the time to made that much of food on the day itself. So we made 2 meatloafs on friday,Between the 2 meatloafs I made a quick dinner for us,the grill was still hot enough to do some fajita's.The chicken skewers with cumin-yoghurt and satay we made on the day self. The meatloaf's were made with onion,jalapino's, garlic and cheddar.The first one was with an mesquito chippotlle to glaze it, and the other one was smoked on cherrywood for about 2,5 hours...But first we have a nice tart, and a great snack on the stick-it,After a great talking about food,wine and toys for boys,with a few friends,it was time for the satay.The rest of the evening was very nice at the fireplace and grill.My wife and son had a great day filled with presents and good friends..

Ribeye green peppersauce #59

While I was drinking a glass of red wine,enjoying the Umami experience with my wife and kids,Thinking of what we want to eat tonight.
I tried something different with the ribeye,we made it with homemade green pepper sauce,pomme duchesse and a salad.
For the "snack" I used a part anchovy,old Amsterdam cheese and a tomato on a skewer, as we gonna present it next week on my son's birthday party,for 30 people.This is really great!!! you've got to try this...

Back to the ribeye.I tried it with a homemade green pepper sauce,it was tasty but I prefer it without any sauce...just pepper and salt, just 5 minutes on the grill.For now we had it served with mashed potato's and a salad.
We also had an onion diced,2 gloves garlic (sliced) 250 gr mushrooms (sliced)and 3Tbsp whiskey ,fried in a pan as a side dish,because not everyone of the family loves mushrooms..
For the pepper sauce you need 30gr soft green pepper,250ml cream,sea salt,1Tbsp brown sugar.Enjoy!!

Boris birthday pizza #58

Today we celebrate Boris his 9th birthday,he want a homemade pizza....his favorite is the one with ham,mozarella,paprika and pineapple,the rest we made with pepper,salami,mozarella on the grill.
Make the dough as usual,this time i did some sage with the dough like in a focaccia.
Roll the dough to fit the grate or the plate for the oven.
Prepare the grill for indirect cooking and let the pizza there for about half an hour.The one in the oven is ready in 20 minutes on 200 degrees.enjoy with a rose Zifandel or like my wife did... with a sake!!

Meatloaf & abbey bread #57

On a rainy sunday start of the morning,i went to the gym for a great workout,and thinking of what to make tonight.No bbq in the rain,so i was thinking of a meatloaf & abbeybread from the stove.After i made the dough for the bread and put it in the stove, the sun was going to shine,so i can prepare the meatloaf on the Weber !!
We smoked it with a smokerbox wich i get from a friend of mine JW from picture a recipe
For the meatloaf you need:1Kg minced meat,2 eggs,2 onions diced,2 gloves garlic crushed,2Tbsp breadcrum,1Tbsp brown sugar,cheddar,red and green whole peppers,tabasco,salt,pepper to taste.Mix it in a large bowl,and make a bread of it.
Prepare the grill for indirect cooking,put the smokerbox on top of the charcoals,and let the meatloaf there for 2 hours,in the last 20 minutes mop the meatloaf with a chipotle to glaze it.
Serve with the abbey bread, a salad and a nice bottle of Zifandel rose..Enjoy!!

Sake Event Amsterdam 2010

We,Jan-Willem and i were invited by VCC to come to a sake party,for tasting 60!! different kinds of sake,and the umami experience.It were all premium Daiginjo sake's. What a flavors, some of them taste better then the other ones.The greatest one i have taste was the plum sake with an ultimate Umami.(anchovy,old Amsterdam (cheese)and tomato)It was heaven on my tongue.
It was a fun evening and like to thank Guus & Saskia for a great event..Arigato!!

Normal bbq for the kids #56

Oh what a great day, nice weather, watch a soccer game from Rik,gardening and of course a good BBQ and a bottle rose.A friend of my JW ,is trying to do some bbq too with a "smokey joe". The setup is good, the food is ok, (lamb chops and duck) but heating up a weber with Ecobrasa for indirect cooking.... is serious high school cooking;-) After a bottle of wine and still no heated charcoals sucks... I'll give him a clinic for his birthday;-)...Back to my grilling adventure,the kids wanted a "normal" bbq dish.. sausage from the grocery and no culinary thing..
Ok i bought some sausage for the kids, and for us a great tenderloin with salad and grilled potato's.Do the potato's with a oil ,salt ,pepper and rosemary in a Weber drip pan,and grill direct for about 20 minutes,shove it to a cooler place on the grill and grill the sausage as normally.Do the same for the tenderloin(total time 4minutes turn once),and enjoy it with a bottle of cabernet sauvignon rose...enjoy!!

Thai satay #55

Just another friday,day off from work,build a new home for our rabbit,did some gardening,and enjoying the nice weather. I was thinking of a Thai satay with basmati rice and homemade satay sauce.
For the marinated skewers you need 500gr.chicken breast,3gloves garlic crushed,100ml coconut milk,1tsp turmeric,2tsp coriander powder,fresh coriander,fresh Spanish pepper sliced and 3 Tbsp soy sauce.Mix it in a large bowl and let the chicken marinate for an hour.In the meanwhile put some wooden skewers in water.
For the veggies i used beansprouts,leek,chinese cowl,Spanish pepper(if you like it hot!! don't remove the seeds) for the kids it was too hot!!(they like spicy food but this was too much).wok it on high fire.Make the rice as the package say so.Serve the veggies,rice and satay separate
and drink a nice glass of rose with it, and enjoy the late afternoon sun.....