My recipes

I love eating. And cooking. recipes from cook books (Jamie Oliver is one of my favorites), but I like to experiment as well. On normal weekdays, Marieke and I normally cook pasta in a variety of ways (pasta never gets boring!), but every now and then, especially in the weekend, we take our time and cook whatever comes to mind in whatever way sounds good.

Sometimes you make something that's really delicious. Either from a cook book, or just like that, with some creativity and whatever's in the fridge. The only problem is that the next day I never remember what it was I did exactly. So I decided to start a recipe book on my site. Now, whenever we make something that's worth to remember, either from a book of on our own, and whenever I am not too lazy to write it down, I'll add it to this page.

By the way, Marieke is vegetarian, but since we do cook meat for friends, and we normally try to make something special when friends come by, I'm sure there will be a meat dish or two here as well... A nice mix between meat & vegetarian!

Cheesy caper tomatoes from the oven

By Daniel de Rooij

regular tomatoes, on the small side (not cherry tomatoes)
capers (2-3 per tomato)
chili (a quarter chili or a few flakes per tomato)
cheese, finely chopped (match tomato flesh). I use Fontina cheese. In general, the tastier the cheese, the better your tomatoes!

Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the flesh. Mix tomato flesh with capers, chili and cheese. Cut all very fine, until you get a nice pulp. Top with a slice of cheese and put in the over for 5-10 minutes (dial to 6, or 180 Celcius) until the cheese is properly melted.

Feta basil tomatoes from the oven

By Daniel de Rooij

regular tomatoes, on the small side (not cherry tomatoes)
capers (2-3 per tomato)
basil (a small leave per tomato)
feta cheese (a teaspoon per tomato)

Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the flesh. Mix tomato flesh with capers, basil and cheese. Cut all very fine, until you get a nice pulp. Put in the over for 5-10 minutes (dial to 6, or 180 Celcius).

Couscous with Grilled Summer Vegetables and Loadsa Herbs

By Jamie Oliver - Serves 4

255g/9oz couscous
285ml/1/2 pint cold water
3 red peppers
1 handful of asparagus, trimmed and peeled if need be
2 or 3 small firm courgettes/patty pans, sliced
1 small bunch of spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
2-4 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
3 good handfuls of mixed fresh herbs (basil, coriander, mint, flat-leaf parsley)
2 x Basic oil and lemon dressing
salt and freshly ground black pepper
red wine vinegar

This couscous recipe is quite a bit different from the norm because instead of boiling or steaming the couscous you just feed it from raw with a really tasty dressing. This means it keeps a slight bite which I think is more interesting for a salad.

Method
Place the couscous in a bowl with the cold water. This will start to soften the couscous and you will see the water disappear as it soaks in. While the couscous is softening, we need to blacken the peppers. I do this by placing the peppers directly on to the naked flame of my gas hob. If you don't have gas, then blacken under the grill. Both ways you need to blacken the peppers on all sides, so turn when need be. When fully blackened, place in a sandwich bag, wrap in clingfilm or cover in a bowl for 5 minutes until cool. This will steam the skins and make peeling and deseeding easier. Remove the skins and seeds and roughly chop.

On a very hot ridged grill pan, lightly char the asparagus and courgettes or patty pans on both sides then toss them into the bowl of couscous with the peppers, spring onions, chillies and ripped-up herbs. Mix well. Add the olive oil and lemon juice dressing and toss well. Finally, taste and season with salt and pepper and a couple of dribbles of red wine vinegar for a slight twang. It's a beautiful thing.

Oil, lemon and white wine vinegar dressing

By Daniel de Rooij

Half a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine vinegar
Half a clove of garlic
Sugar
Pepper

Mix 4 parts olive oil with 2 parts lemon (half a lemon) and 1 part white wine vinegar. Add 1 teaspoon sugar (assuming half a lemon) and half a clove of garlic. Season with ground black pepper. Shake well to mix. Tastes better if you let it sit in the fridge for a day.

The measures used above will give you enough for 2 persons.

Basic oil and lemon dressing

By Jamie Oliver

A lemon
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the halves into a glass bowl. Pick out any pips and then cover with three times as much olive oil as there is lemon juice. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and whisk or stir well before using.

Salmon with coconut, ginger and fresh herbs

By Daniel de Rooij - Serves 4

4 salmon filets
coconut milk
fresh ginger
lemon grass
coriander
chilli peppers
lemon (for juice)

I haven't worked this one out yet - basically you take all ingredients above, put them in a piece of aluminum foil and bake in the oven or on the barbecue. I think it was originally a Jamie Oliver recipe. I'll write it down properly some time.

Fish sauce (successfully tested with grilled tuna)

By Daniel de Rooij - Serves 2

quarter block of fish stock (normally good for 125 ml stock)
100 ml milk
10 peppercorns (broken, smashed or ground)
1 star aniseed
about 10-12 sticks of marjoran
about 10-12 basil leaves
1 onion
1 smashed clove of garlic
40g butter and
10 g of starch
10 chopped capers
Half a lemon

Dissolve the quarter block of fish stock (normally good for 125 ml stock) in 250 ml water. Add 100 ml milk, the smashed peppercorns, aniseed, 7-8 sticks of marjoran and 7-8 basil leaves, 2 slices of onion and 1 smashed clove of garlic. Bring to a boil and let it cool down (officially till completely cold again, but notmally don't have the time and end up putting it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes).

Seave the stock, add the butter and starch and bring back to a boil. Add 3-4 chopped sticks of marjoran, 3-4 chopped leaves of basil, about 10 chopped capers and the juice of half a lemon. Let simmer for 5 minutes and you have a great sauce for fish. We ate it with tuna in june 2007 and it was delicious! (Tuna was grilled with just salt and pepper)

Tray-baked Pork Chops with Herby Potatoes, Pears, Parsnips

By Jamie Oliver - Serves 4

8 pork chops, or 4 double pork chops
1 x rosemary, garlic and lemon marinade
3 parsnips
3 smooth-skinned pears
680g/11/2lb potatoes, scrubbed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 x minted bread sauce recipe

When I make this dish I ask my butcher to slice me a two-rib pork chop. I then ask him to lose one of the ribs and a little of the fat and to bat the meat out slightly, leaving me with a huge pork chop that looks fantastic.

Method
Rub and massage the pork chops with the rosemary marinade and, ideally, leave for 1-6 hours for maximum flavour. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.

Wash the parsnips and pears and slice into quarters lengthwise, removing the cores from the pears, then cut the potatoes into 0.5cm/1/4 inch thick pieces. Dry them with kitchen paper, then put them into an appropriately sized roasting tray with the parsnips, pears, pork chops and the marinade.

Toss over to lightly coat everything then season and roast in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the chops.

While the chops and veg are cooking, make the minted bread sauce. It's great smeared all over the pork.

Izmir Köfte

From a random internet site - Serves 4

Ingredients
for the meat
500 g ground beef or lamb
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped
fresh parsley, finely chopped
1-2 slices of white bread (or piece of french baguette)
1 egg
2 teaspoons of cumin
salt and pepper
flour
milk
olive oil/butter

for de sauce
2 cans of peeled tomatoes
2 green paprikas, chopped
2 teaspoons of sugar
salt and pepper

Method
Soak the bread in milk.
Mix the ground meat with the garlic, onion, wringed bread, egg, cumin, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Knead the mix very well.
Roll the meat mix into small balls and roll them through the flour.
Fry the meat balls in a combination of olive oil and butter until they are golden brown. Remove them from the pan.
In the same pan, fry the paprikas shortly and add the peeled tomatoes. Simmer for a few minutes, add salt, pepper and sugar and bring to a boil.
Add meat balls and let simmer for about an hour on a small flame. Stir occasionally.

Rosemary, garlic and lemon marinade

By Jamie Oliver

Ingredients
2 good handfuls of fresh rosemary, pounded
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
10 lugs of olive oil
3 lemons, halved, juiced and skin squashed
freshly ground black pepper

Method
Mix everything together and massage on to your chosen meat. Leave the meat in the marinade until you're ready to cook it.

Sour lemon dip

By Daniel de Rooij

1 cup of sour cream
juice of half a lemon
half a handful of chopped coriander (cilantro)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise (more or less, taste to decide)
(sea) salt (if you like, taste to decide)

Just throw it all together and stir well! The mayonnaise is to take off the sourness and add a bit of sweetness. Don't overdo it - just taste the dip and if it's too sour, add a bit more mayonnaise. Remember, the purpose of this dip is to be a bit sour - it will really add to your crisps, chips (not fries!) and crudites.

Breaded mint sauce

By Jamie Oliver - Serves 4

3 handfuls of mint
1 handful of chopped bread
extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons mustard
red wine vinegar

Finely chop 3 parts mint to 1 part finely chopped bread and stir in some olive oil until the mix has 'loosened.' Then balance the flavors by carefully seasoning and splashing in some vinegar to taste. The flavor improves with time as it sits.

Great with Tray-baked Pork Chops with Herby Potatoes, Pears, Parsnips

xxx