Let the sun shine! Stuffed fish on the bbq with red pepper sauce

Ouch my head... too much wine, heavy night :s
Some mornings you just wish you had been a little less eager on the glasses of cheap wine at the party. Or a little less enthusiastic on the free sangria they hand out… Dangerous stuff!
Ouuch
But oh well... we had fun. Great party! Good dancing, just like the old days.

And luckily I have the perfect cure for the hangover: a long wonderful brunch with my girlzzz.
Plus the day is tropical: warm wind, clear blue sky, sun sun sun! Nothing to do but enjoy and gently recover.
The day continues in hanging, chilling, laughing...

 What shall we have for our alfresco dinner tonight? Something light, healthy and barbecue-ish! I'm not in the mood to be inside with this beautiful weather.
I head to my favorite shop (the fishmonger) and go for their suggestion: beautiful fish fillets stuffed with pesto.
What else?

Birthday treat at Nzet

Where does a foodie like me go for her birthday?

Without wanting to sound presumptuous, without wanting to brag, I think I can say I’ve been around. I’ve done top restaurants (Noma - Copenhagen - DK, Oud Sluis - Sluis - NED, Per Se - New York - USA, Olivier Rollinger - Cancale - FR, Nobu - London - UK, Joël Robuchon - Paris - FR, ) around the world. And those are just the big names, with that I haven’t even mentioned the small unique ones.

So when my birthday came up and I had to chose a place to celebrate with my loved ones you might wonder what will she pick now the spoiled little brat?
El Bulli in Barcelona? No way!
I choose local with an international twist, I choose old habits, I choose established values, I choose a time-proven restaurant. I choose my all time favorite place. I choose NZET. It’s a wonderful little restaurant right in the heart of Ghent.

I’m cycling to the restaurant on an early spring evening in March. Just for this setting one would go there; the little cobblestone streets, the old medieval houses soaked in a golden sunset, the smell of spring in the air. Although it’s my birthday (and existential questions tend to come up on such moments) I feel like eternity is on my side.

The restaurant itself is very unique too. A lovely eccentric couple, Anne Camberlin & Mauro Menichetti, runs it. I love their decoration; it’s art deco with an interesting mix and match. It’s reminds me of the set of an Edith Piaf movie. Anne loves to nose around flea markets to find authentic silver and tableware. Tables are set with real linen cloths, real silver ware and true china, but don’t expect to have the same set as your neighbor. Everyone and everything is unique.

Then there is Mauro’s cuisine: top quality ingredients with interesting and exotic twists.
As a real Italian he knows that less is more. A delicious tuna carpaccio doesn’t need a fancy espuma; it just needs a touch of high quality soy sauce, a twist of fresh ginger and a hint of toasted oil. A fresh foie gras is rich and unctuous to the top. So he serves it raw and at the dinner table he oozes it with a perfect steaming dashi bouillon. The foie gras is raw and cold on the inside but melting delicious on the outside. Simple but brilliant.
 And finally the wines, les vins naturels... Anne guides you expertly through their grand selection of exclusive wines and the whole philosophy that’s behind this movement. The spirit of natural wines is that they are opposed to normal. They are pure. No two bottles are the same. The vignerons work the vineyards and the wine by respecting nature with all its benefits and its defaults. It’s an intensive labor, but a labor with love. And this you can feel and taste in the wine.

 Mauro recently started his own production “Closerie de la belle poule”. He gave me one as a present. It’s a pineau d’aunis. It has wonderful pepper, clove and spice hints. Il est pétillante, méthode champenoise. Except he didn’t do the second corkage. The wine still has the lees (or yeast particles inside). To help develop the taste continuously even when it’s all ready to serve at your table. To serve it you need to store it upside down so all the lees is in the top and then with a big sabre/sword fly off the cork and the lees. Adventurous… I like la!

As an Nzet sample I present to you smoked eel with cucumber and toasted sesame. This is an appetizer Mauro likes to serve to tease your taste buds. The rich smoky flavor of the eel works beautifully with the fresh sweet and sour taste of the cucumber. The toasted sesame oil finishes it off flawlessly. I have tried to recreate it the best I could. It still won’t be the same as at Nzet, but getting out my grandmothers china to serve it sure helped!

Anyway I feel very lucky to have such a culinary high in my hometown. Prices are not democratic here but you get top quality for sure!

Nzet
 Oudburg 58
9000 Gent

Smoked eel with cucumber and toasted sesame 
Inspired by Mauro Menichetti 
Serves 6
2 small cucumbers 
1 smoked eel 
2 tbsp mirin 
2 tbsp rice vinigear 
1/4 tsp icing sugar 
½ tsp salt 
1 tsp sesame oil 
1 tbsp sesame seeds
fresh ginger, thinly sliced 


Cut the cucumber into very thin julienne stripes. Then put in a bowl and marinade with the mirin, rice vinegar, icing sugar, salt and sesame oil. Place in the fridge for half an hour. In the meantime toast the sesame seeds in a pan. Serve a piece of the smoked eel with a spoon of the cucumber julienne and finish off with a few extra drops of sesame oil, fresh ginger and toasted sesame seeds.

More Snow! Kaiserschmarrn

One snowy country isn’t enough for me. 

Ghent- January 2012

So we packed our bags. 

We stamped our tiny little car full.

--- Quick question… How do you get 4 girls with luggage, 1 snowboard, ski boots, culinary essentials and a manicure set in a Renault Clio? You call your darling uncle cookie-monster to borrow his skibox and you bring him a portion of the Kaiserschmarrn when you’re back! ---

Lech- February 2012

Fully, I repeat, fully packed we drive off to Austria. --- And if we were to wonder why we are the only Clio, between Touaregs, Audi’s, BMW’s or Volvo’s heading towards the Alps… Think again when you are climbing up the mountain in second gear. The luggage didn’t help of course! ---

---Last anecdote on the trip… It was bound to happen with 4 girls in a car. But we actually managed to drive 180K of 850K trip through das Schwarzwald behind a tractor!---

When finally arrived in the promised land the adventure could begin. 

I won’t bore you with descriptions of

-Marvelous scenery

-Generous friends’ parents

-Double rainbow snow

-Argentinian jumps

-Royalty trivia

-Tango dancing in the snow

-Raclette food-coma

-More snow, powder snow maximus

-Warming Glühwein

-Laughing your butt off 24/7

-Nightly sledge rides

-Kamikaze skiruns

-…

But I will tell you about this new dessert I discovered.

Kaiserschmarrn is as rich as its name (Kaiser=Emperor). Soggy thick pancake cut up in pieces finished off with icing sugar. Served with plum compote or any other compote for that matter. I used rhubarb and raspberry compote that was very nice too!

It’s perfect after a long day of skiing. Or even as a lunch.

I promised my companions I would try to make it for them again at home. Cause what idiot would want to wait another year before you can eat this sinful dish again!

Back home, back to reality, I knew immediately whom I should turn to for a recipe. Deliciousdays.com! I trust Nicky and Olivier blindly when it comes to good food! And I must say it’s even better than what we had up in the mountains! You see, it’s not all bad coming home!

Kaiserschmarrn

Recipe source: adapted from Delicious:Days

Ingredients

125 ml milk

125 ml buttermilk

4 eggs

1 tbs sugar

150g flour

pinch of salt

raisins soaked in rum/water

butter

half vanilla pod, slice lengthways

icing sugar

-Soak the raisins in a warm rum/water bath for approximately 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry.

In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, a pinch of salt, sugar, and vanilla. Gradually stir in the flour. Once well blended, add the raisins.

-Heat larger pan and add two tbsp of butter. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 5-8 minutes (depending on heat). Check every so often to see if it gets solid at the bottom. Don’t worry about making a mess :), eventually this super sized pan cake will be torn into pieces anyway. Be careful though to not let the bottom burn.

-As soon as the bottom side develops brown patches and the mass starts to solidify -not all the way just yet-, try (!) to turn the pan cake and then start breaking it up into larger pieces, they’ll turn to bite-size pieces in the process anyway. This is really the chaotic part, as the top was probably still liquid. Turn the heat up to brown the pieces on all sides. Turn the Schmarrn frequently for a few minutes. It should not become dry, however.

-Now comes the critical part, which can make or break a good Kaiserschmarrn. Since there isn’t a lot of sugar in the first place, sprinkle a layer of icing sugar on the Schmarrn and turn it until the sugar turns into glaze.

-Arrange on plates with a little more icing sugar (more for the looks) and serve immediately, preferably with some homemade Zwetschgenröster (a traditional plum compote).

Mexican Heat for North Pole temperatures! Mole Poblano

Snow is finally here!

So what shall we conjure in our little kitchen to celebrate the icy temperatures?

What shall we make to forget the long traffic jams? Unbelievable how a few drops of snow can mess up a whole country. Friday February 3, 1145K cars moving slower than the laziest turtle on earth! In a country that's only 350K long!

I’ll bring you a Mexican dish, something dark and intense with exotic flavours. It will fill your body with warmth and you’ll want to go dancing in the snow.

Because, although snow is a nightmare “traffic-wise”, it’s absolutely mystic.

Once your mole is simmering away on the stove, step outside in the magic.

Feel the silence that this virgin white snow blanket brings around you. It’s the most peaceful momentum in the world. Look up in to the endless sky and be dazzled by the little snowdrops twirling down. Let the meditation take your worries away, transport you out of this cruel world and bring balance to your soul...

Enough philosophy now back to the kitchen!

Looking for a last minute christmas gift? The book is here!

HO HO HOOOO... I made the deadline!
The book is here before Santa is here!

Order now! This unique special limited edition cookbook will be your perfect Christmas gift. Waltzing in kitchens as a user friendly softcover pocket-size.
Set price is 29,95€.
Let your rumbling tummy seduce you and take a look at the sneak peek!

Contact me for further details and/or ordering.

What is your favorite recipe? by Ariane Annicq | Make Your Own Book

Paris without Writer's Block!

Writer's block one might wonder? My last home post has been at least four months ago.
Nono! Au contraire mon frère! It's more like infidelity... I’m writing somewhere else…
A cookbook!
My own cookbook! How cool is that!?

Here’s the concept.