For those of you who may not be aware: "Witloof Chicory (also called Belgian Endive) denotes the
blanched, tight heads produced by forcing (or growing in the darkness) the big
mature chicory roots in forcing structures." (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/endive.html).
Some people don't like Belgian Endives (witloof) because of the slightly bitter taste. There are ways of preparing it that make it taste less bitter. I've always loved the taste, even as a small child. Both of my children do, too, luckily (of course that may still change ;-)).
One day, my 3-year-old daughter asked me to make a vegetable pie with Belgian Endives. One of my favourite ways to eat Witloof is with smoked salmon (instead of the traditional ham) and cheese sauce. So putting smoked salmon and cheese in the pie seemed the way to go. The children and I love this pie (husband is not a big fan of Belgian endives), so we hope you'll like it, too!
Belgian Endives Pie with smoked salmon
- 1 puff pastry pie base (supermarket)
- small bunch of chives, finely chopped
- 5 stumps Belgian endive (witloof), chopped
- 200 g smoked salmon, in small strips
- 60 g grated Parmesan cheese
- 60 g grated (old) Gouda cheese
- 150 g cottage cheese
- 1,5 dl condensed milk, unsweetened
- 1 tbsp flour
- 2 eggs
- a pinch of cayenne pepper and/or nutmeg
- salt and pepper
- Fry the chopped endive in a little butter in a pan until they are rather dry. Add some cayenne pepper and/or nutmeg.
- Preheat the oven to 200° C of 180°C for a fan-assisted oven. Beat the eggs and mix them with the cottage cheese, flour and condensed milk.
- Add the chives, parmesan, Belgian Endives and smoked salmon.
- Put the pie base in a (silicone) baking tin, pour in the filling, sprinkle with the grated Gouda cheese and put in the oven for 15 to 20 mins.
Enjoy!
As a child (and even still as an adult) I was never very fond of pumpkin. After my daughter started eating solids at 6 months, I started 'teaching' myself to eat chunks of steamed pumpkin whenever I gave them to her. Now I wonder why I used to replace the pumpkin with zucchini in all of my recipes for years and years ;-). I still don't really like 'sweet' pumpkin recipes, but prefer the ones that have strong contrasting tastes. This recipe is a perfect example of that. I found it in my favourite vegetarian cookbook, Handboek Ecologische Voeding - Velt, and didn't change anything because I thought it was perfect ;-).
Pumpkin Pie with spinach, pecorino & goat's cheese
- 1 puff pastry pie base (supermarket)
- 500 g of (orange) pumpkin
- 40 g spinach (fresh or frozen, if frozen, defrost first)
- 1 onion
- a bunch of spring onions
- 100 g cottage cheese
- 100 g goat's cheese (buche)
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp. or 20 g grated pecorino cheese
- 1 tbsp.olive oil
- a pinch of rosemary
- pepper
- salt
- Clean the vegetables. Chop the onion and the spring onions and cut the pumpkin into small pieces (approx. 1/2 cms).
- Heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil and glaze the onion. Add the pumpkin, a bit of water and a pinch of rosemary and simmer until the pumpkin is soft enough to eat (but not too soft, since you still have to put it in the oven.)
- Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl and mix them with the cottage cheese and 2 tbsp. of the pecorino cheese (so half of the total amount of pecorino). Add small pieces of the goat's cheese and stir well.
- Allow the pumpkin to cool down and add it to the egg mixture once cool enough. Add the defrosted or fresh spinach (chop if necessary). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Put the pie base in a baking tin and and pour in the vegetable mixture. Sprinkle the remaining pecorino on top and immediately put the pie in the oven. Bake approx. 30 mins at 200°C (180° C for a fan-assisted oven).
I made this fantastic vegetarian taco dish a while ago and the children both loved it (and so did the husband and I), so I've decided to add it to my blog. You can serve it with guacamole and a Mexican salad, or with different salsas. I think a tomato salsa or Picco de Gallo would go very well with it, too. The original recipe can be found in the 'Handboek voor ecologische voeding', Velt, one of my favourite cookbooks. I changed the quantities so you can use a full box of taco shells instead of just 8.
Vegetarian Taco Oven Bake
Serves 4
- A box of Taco Shells (12 shells)
- 6 large potatoes
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 large onion (or 2 medium-sized ones)
- 1,5 dl cream
- 100 g grated Emmental cheese
- 1 tsp. Taco Seasoning
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
Can be served with:
- Scrub the potatoes and boil them in their jackets. Once cooked, put them aside to cool down. Once they have cooled down enough, you can peel them and slice them (slices should be approx. 0,5 cms thick). It's a bit of a messy job, but they taste fantastic this way. Sprinkle some salt on top of the slices.
- Chop the bell peppers into small squares. Put them in a pot and add some water until they are covered, then cook for 5 mins. (If your children are still very small, you might want to cook them for a bit longer, until they are soft.)
- Slice the onions so you get onion rings. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion rings and the taco seasoning. Fry the onions until they are glazed.
- Depending on the size of your oven dishes, you can make do with one very large oven dish, or use 2. I used 2, so I poured approx. 1 dl of cream into 1 oven dish, and 0,5 dl in the smaller one.
- Then put first potato slices, then onion rings and then bell peppers into each taco shell and put them in the oven dishes. Cover everything with grated cheese and put the dishes in the oven at 220°C (or 200°C for a fan-assisted oven) for15 mins.
