white wine soup

consider this post a proof, that a fancy-schmancy soup doesnt take much. not much talent. not many ingredients. really just a pot where you throw in a couple of things. stir. mix. serve.



even when doing the fancy stuff i like a homemade soup to be a little chunky and rustic. so dont overmix with your blender. if the finely cut onions remain little chunks, they'll just add a wonderful crunchy texture and are juicy and lovely when you bite into them.


RECIPE
enough for 4 people as a starter

1 tablespoon butter
1 white onion, finely chopped
3 dl white wine (use the good stuff!)
3 dl vegetable broth
3 dl cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch
salt, pepper, bay leave
some finely chopped chive or parsley, to serve

melt the butter in a pan and glaze the onions until shiny and soft. add bay leave and stir. deglaze with white wine, then add veggie broth & cream. let soup come to the boil. mix cornstarch with a little white wine and add to the soup. stir until you end up with a smooth and creamy soup. mix with blender until you have the desired texture (i like it a little chunky but do as you like it best).
garnish with some finely chopped parsley or chive. serve with crusty bread. tuck in.

dutch apple pie

some things take a while. and some things just take for ever. like me finding the perfect recipe for a dutch applepie. while i lived in amsterdam i made it a rule to eat a piece of applepie every day. the word "slagroom" - whipped cream - was one of the first i learnt cos that piece of applepie better came with a huge portion of whipped cream.
i moved back home... started to eat other things... live by other rules... but i never really forgot about the applepie. life was so sweet in amsterdam. pies. flowers. slagroom. bikes. more pies. and even more slagroom. but i never managed to find the perfect recipe. a recipe for the queen of applepies - the one that's served in villa zeezicht or bakkerswinkel. you know just the real mccoy.
recipes or advice was given to me from time to time. "make sure you add enough cinnamon" - or "skip the raisins, they are crap anyways". but no-one came up with the real thing.
until gaby the golden shrimp sent me her recipe. the girl used to live in amsterdam. she must know what i was talking about. and she was right. here we go: here is a decent dutch apple pie. one that would seel out at villa zeezicht in no time. one that can only be topped with a big portion of whipped cream. one that has the perfect mix of apples & raisins. one that doesnt come out of the oven as a brik, cos it has so much dough around the fruit. really just heaven on a plate. -i found it; dig in!


Dutch apple pie
For the dough:
250g flour
175g butter
pinch of salt
80g sugar
2 eggs

For the filling:
about 750g apples (Boskop, Elstar or something firmish)
100g sugar
100g raisins/sultanas
30g ground almonds
1 tablespoon cinnamon
a hand full of sliced almonds
rind of 1 lemon


Mix butter, flour, sugar, pinch of salt and 1 1/2 eggs to a firm dough. Leave to rest in the fridge 30 min. In the mean time, peel the apples, cut into chunks and mix them with the rest of the ingredients for the filling.

Roll out the dough, grease a high walled tin (10 inch/25 cm diameter) and cover it with the dough, cut off the overhanging bits and re-roll to use them later for the decoration on top. Fill the pastry with the apple mix, Add the lattice work (optional) and coat this with the leftover egg. sprinkle with the sliced almonds. Bake at 180°C for 60 min. Leave to cool slightly and serve with whipped cream.