Easy Homemade hummus - herb version

I woke up and saw a post on 9gag with recipes for hummus. When I saw how easy it was to make this, I wanted to give it a try. I made the herb version and gave it a twist. This is all you need.

Ingredients:
1 can of (organic) chick peas
1/2 cup basil
1/2 cup parsley leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
Salt to taste

Rinse and drain the chick peas, add everything in a mixer and pulse till it has a smooth consistency.

Serve it with flat bread or what I was planning to do... on a pão de queijo! Enjoy!

FAT PAO - Pão de Queijo

Last Sunday was another edition of the Sunday Market in Amsterdam (every first Sunday of the month) and I was there with FAT PAO and shared a stall with Saporiti Wines (www.saporitiwines.nl). This was the first test to see whether people would like Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Breads), so I woke up at 5:30 AM and made more than 200 Pão de Queijo!

I was so surprised by all the positive feedback and even 3 Brazilians said that it tasted how it should be! It was sold out within 3 hours and I still had 3 hours to go!

Please like FAT PAO on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hellofatpao or follow on Instagram: @fatpao_  http://instagram.com/fatpao_ www.fatpao.com 

Braised pork belly buns

I have been craving for braised pork belly for ages. All these pictures on Instagram made me hungry, but could not find a place that sell these pork belly buns. So, what do you do then? You make your own! The end result is a very soft and not too sweet chunks of pork belly! 

Ingredients: 

- 2 pounds pork belly 

- 1 cup water

- 1/2 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)

- 2 tbsp sugar

- 1 big slice of ginger

- 3 gloves of garlic 

- 3 tbs soy sauce 

Cut the pork belly in chunks of about 4 cm. Put the water, mirin and sugar in a pan, stir and add the pork belly and cover it with a lid. When it starts to simmer, add the ginger and garlic and cook it on low heat for 1 hour. 

After 1 hour, add 3 tbsp of soy sauce and cook for another hour, add water if needed, the pork belly does not need to be covered in water, just about 0,5 cm above the water is enough. 

I also turned the pork belly in between so it's even coloured on all sides. Enjoy! 

Brazilian Cheese Bread & Bacon

Everything tastes better with bacon right? Cheese goes very well with bacon, so I added bacon to these chewy Brazilian Cheese Breads! They are gluten free too!

Where is the mushroom?

My made-from-scratch bun with a mushroom burger, melted mozzarella and yoghurt garlic sauce. I LOVE VEGGIES! 

Because... PANCAKES

Because a mint leaf is too mainstream, I use mint chocolate instead. ;)

Pancake Burger 2.0

Pancake Burger 2.0. I made some adjustments to the original version and did some research and science to come to this version . The burger is served between 2 thick American pancakes, home ground beef, mozzarella, cheddar, caramelised red onions and topped it off with bacon.

Let me know what you think, would you eat it? :) 

I want pancakes and I want bacon

I was dreaming and I wanted to have pancakes and also bacon, so I created pancake balls filled with a piece of bacon, topped it off with syrup!

Ingredients:
350 gr flour
3 eggs
300 ml milk
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp melted butter or olive oil (plus extra for the pan)
bacon pieces
syrup

You will need a takoyaki pan to make these balls. Mix all the ingredients till it's smooth, heat the pan and brush it with some melted butter.

Add the batter in the pan and add a piece of bacon in the ball. Wait till it's dried up and use 2 tooth picks (those long ones? I used a knife) to flip the balls. Wait for another few minutes till the ball is dried up and serve!

HOMEMADE buns, HOMEMADE bacon, HOMEMADE ground beef!

Fluffayyyy pancakes!

My pancakes need to be FLUFFAYYY and I found this a-ma-zing recipe from BBC. Because I didn't have baking powder, I used 2 parts of cream of tartar and 1 part of Bicarbonate to make baking powder.

The below recipe is from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fluffyamericanpancak_74828.

Ingredients

• 135g/4¾oz plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 130ml/4½fl oz milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp melted butter (allowed to cool slightly) or olive oil, plus extra for cooking

To serve

• Maple syrup
• Butter

Preparation method

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.
2. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm (½in) thick.
4. Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.
5. Serve with lashings of real maple syrup and extra butter if you like.

If you want to see what I make and eat, follow me on Instagram! UserID -> kelvinw

Instagram - kelvinw

WHOA! Haven't blog for a while! I'm using Instagram a lot more to blog now, so follow me there! Userid is kelvinw :) 

(Tiramisu I made yesterday :)) 

I won the Kitchenaid! :D

Yeahhhhhh!!!! Foodiesmagazine chose my Brioch French Toast as the best photo! :D I'm so excited!!

Tarte Tatin

Hope you all had a nice Christmas! I ate way too much and I still have food left from Christmas :D.

               

             

I saw a kid making this (upside-down-apple-tart) in a cooking show and thought that I should be able to make this too! haha I used apple, but you can also use pears or apricots.

Ingredients:
- Those green sour apples, 4
- 60 gram butter
- 160 gram sugar
- 3 tbs water
- 400 gram puff pastry (mine are square)

Pre-heat the oven on 175C / 347F. Cut the apples in 8 parts, start from the middle. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the sugar, water, cook and stir till it bubbles and brownish.

Add the apples and cook it for about 7-10 minutes till the apples are soft. Then move the "mix" into a mold that doesn't leak and cover it with the pastry.

Bake the tarte tartin in about 15-20 till it's golden brown and the pastry lifts up. Now comes the hardest part, you have to turn the tarte tatin in a plate.

Enjoy! And happy new year! :D

ps: I also made a video! Check it out, it's in HD 1080p!

This is the last time I eat lamb!

I was looking which part of the lamb I was using and I saw this really cute picture of a lamb.. man... I never thought it this way, but I have decided not to eat lamb, calf, porkling or any other baby animals anymore. Is that weird? Maybe... but it's just really sad I think.. It's just a baby! 

Please re-think before you eat baby animals again the next time! Thank you! 

So, shall I give you the recipe for this piece of lamb? Well, it's the last time, so here it is. I got it from the Foodiesmagazine, but slightly different. 

- 1kg lamb -> number 11, the saddle? 

- 2 tbs soft butter

- Some fresh oregano and garlic like below 

- sea salt and ground black pepper. 

Pre-heat the oven to 175C / 347F, cut the skin crosswise and rub the lamb in with sea salt and pepper and then the butter. 

Half the garlic and lay the oregano and garlic below the lamb. Roast/grill/toast/bake the lamb in the oven for 30 minutes. 

Let it rest in aluminum foil for 15 minutes, with the shiny side on the inside, this will help to retain the heat. 

That's it! No more lamb for me! Enjoy and I probably see you after Christmas! Happy holidays! 

Torta Caprese

Torta Caprese! Did you know there were more Italian desserts than only Tiramisu? :p This is one of them,  I've also noticed that Italian recipes use a lot of almonds! It's normally round, but I made a square one...

Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs almond liqueur
- 65 g sugar
- 100 g ground almond
- 65 g dark chocolate
- 65 g butter
- powdered sugar

Split the eggs in 2 bowls. Mix the egg yolks with the liqueur. Ground the chocolate and mix it with the ground almond. Melt the butter in the microwave and add it to the chocolate-almond mix.

Pre-heat the oven to 175 C / 347 F. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks forms. Add the chocolate mix to the egg yolks, then fold the beaten egg whites in the mix.

Pour the mixture in a square mold and bake it in about 25 minutes. Let it cool and finish it with powdered sugar.

Enjoy (your weekend)!

Brioche French Toast with Vanilla Ice Cream

I also sent this for the competition, they better give me the Kitchenaid! hehe This one is really easy, no baking and stuff, but oh so yummy!

By the way, I bought the Bose QC 15 and I'm using it right now while I'm writing this post. I'm soooo happy with these headphones (no noisy neighbors anymore! :p), I just had to share this with you. It was either the Beats or the QC 15, but after trying the Beats, I knew which one to get! It's like comparing a DVD with Blu-Ray. ;)

The only con I can think of is that you can't hear how loud you are singing... haha

Ok, back to the recipe.

Ingredients: (makes 4)

- 4 thick slices of brioche

- Vanilla ice cream

- 2 tbs sugar (I find this optional)

- 1 tsp cinnamon powder

- 1 egg (I used 2 eggs and less milk)

- 150 ml milk

- 1 tbs butter

Whisk the egg, milk, sugar and the cinnamon. Heat a pan with the butter and soak the bread in the batter on both sides. Then fry the French toast for about 4 minutes on both sides until golden brown and yummy.

Scoop as many ice cream you want on the hot French toast!

Enjoy and enjoy your weekend!

Vanilla Cookies

I have a subscription to foodiesmagazine and this is where I got the recipe from, but the only vanilla that was in the recipe is the vanilla sugar that is added in the end... There is also a competition this month and the best picture wins a Kitchenaid! Well.. I cross my fingers...

Ingredients: (makes about 15 medium sized cookies?)

- 50 g almond flour

- 135 g whole wheat flour

- 33 g sugar

- 1 egg yolk

- 100 g cold butter

- pinch of salt

- powdered sugar

- vanilla sugar (if you wish)

Knead the almond, flour, sugar, egg yolk and the butter with a dough hook and then with your hand. It looks weird, but it works! It will form a smooth firm dough.

Make a ball of the dough and wrap it in cling film (is this word correct?) and place is it in the fridge for an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 175C / 347F. Make rolls of the dough with a half inch (1,5 cm) thick and slice it in pieces of 1 inch (2,5 - 3 cm) of length. Form a moon out of the pieces with the ends to each other.

Bake the cookies in 15 minutes until golden brown. Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla sugar on a plate and roll the cookies gently in the sugar and cool.... Enjoy!

Spring Onion Pancakes

I like chewy things! Sometimes I just feel like making this, it's a great snack and this pancake is a little bit chewy.

You can also order this in restaurants, but the one in the restaurants are much thinner and I don't really like the taste.

There is a special folding to create this pancake.

Ingredients: (I made 5 with this)

- 150 grams flour

- 125 ml lukewarm water

- 4 stalks of spring onions - diced

- 3 tbsp (olive) oil

- salt by taste

Mix the flour with the water and knead until soft, not too firm. If it's too sticky, add a bit of flour. Devide the dough in 4 or 5 portions. Roll the dough as thin as possible in a round shape, spread some flour to prevent it from sticking.

Brush the pancake with oil on 1 side. Sprinkle salt and add the spring onion. Now comes the folding.

Roll the pancake from both sides to the middle, it will look like this ||, then roll it up like a snail and turn it on it's side to flatten it a bit.

Heat a frying pan with oil and bake the pancakes until golden brown!

Enjoy and have a nice weekend!

Soft Almond Cookies

TGIF... I'll leave you with a recipe adapted from James Peterson's book and go to bed.. ZZzzzZ.

Ingredients:

- 100 grams almond flour

- 120 grams powdered sugar

- 4 medium sized egg whites

- strawberry marmalade or nutella spread

Pre heat the oven at 190C. Mix the almond flour and 100 grams powdered sugar with 2 egg whites in a bowl. Beat the other 2 egg whites with the rest of the sugar until stiff peaks forms.

Fold the egg whites through the almond mix. Scoop the mixture in a piping bag with a tip of an inch and a half. Make circles of an inch and keep the tip low.

Let them rest for 15 minutes and bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Let it cool for 5 minutes before making sandwiches with the marmalade or nutella spread.

Enjoy and have a nice weekend!

Quick Potato Wedges

Ten years ago when I was in Spain (no hablo Espanol) for an internship, me and my class mates almost ate this everyday. I remember that I llllloved it! Actually it was my class mate who cooked all the time and she was very good at it!

In the meantime I have changed it a bit and I have left the potato skin on, which has the best nutrition and I have added rosemary.

The following ingredients serves 2, or 1. hehe

- 500 gram medium size potatoes

- like 10 cloves of garlic (team Edward would be so scared!)

- water to cook the potatoes

- Sea salt by taste

- a bit Black pepper

- a bit Rosemary

- around 3 to 4 tbs olive oil

First clean the potatoes, you can brush them a little, but watch the skin. Then cut the potatoes in wedges, cut it in half and then another half of the half. (?)

Place the potatoes in a medium sized pan with water, just about till it covers the potatoes, cook this for 25 minutes.

In the meantime you can prepare the garlic, you can press the garlic with the flat side of your knife to remove the skin easily.

Then dice the garlic or use a garlic press and set it aside.

Drain the potatoes and heat a non-stick pan with olive oil. Fry a bit of garlic and then add the potato wedges to the pan. Give it a shake, add salt and pepper and the rest of the garlic and fry till it's golden brown.

Serve in a warm bowl and sprinkle the potato wedges with rosemary.

Enjoy! (Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers!)