Ilse's Kitchen - culinary adventures of a girl who loves to eat

My local Turkish shop has delightful fruits and vegetables - and an array far broader than any supermarket around. The other day when I passed by I found fresh rhubarb, and couldn’t resist taking some home. Inspires by a great-looking Sainsbury’s recipe, this is what I did with it.   Ingredients (serves 2): 400g rhubarb (roughly 4 stalks), chopped into 7cm pieces 4 tbsp Greek yoghurt 80g maple syrup zest of 1 lemon Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the rhubarb on a baking tray and drizzle the maple syrup over. Take a baking brush and brush it over the stalks. 2. Place the tray in the bottom third of the oven and bake for approximately 12 minutes. 3. Remove and serve with the yoghurt, sprinkled with the lemon zest.

Here in the Netherlands, we’ve just lived through week 4 of quarantine. Nationally we like to call it an ‘intelligent lock down’, but that doesn’t change a whole lot - much like elsewhere it means no physical contact. No meeting up with friends, no hand holding, no hugs, no sex. All that can be a tough pill to swallow - video chats may go a long way in terms of social contact, but the sheer absence of physical contact makes me realise how important it is to me - what can’t be replaced by smiles over a screen. I crave hugs. My body misses being touched. But it is what it is - so I try to make the most of it and go for the next best thing.  If you can’t have sex, have ice cream ;) Ingredients: 150mL condensed milk 250mL Greek yoghurt 300g mixed fruit (I used a mix of blackberries, blueberries and red berries) Needed: one baking tray. (I used a small one, about 18 x 18cm, because my freezer couldn’t fit anything larger - and I ended up with relatively thick bark. If yo...

There it was: the first flip-flop day of the year. And flip-flop days, even in quarantine, call for ice cream. Ice cream it is. The recipe I dreamed up for you was inspired by a late summer day a few years back, when I took a detour on my bike ride to work and ended up passing by endless rows of blackberry shrubs full of ripe berries, ready for the picking. Struck by the rare phenomenon of berry bushes that hadn't been plucked bare, I returned after work that evening with a Tupperware box and set to work. This is what I did with them. Ingredients (makes 4 popsicles): 1/3 cup water 1/3 cup sugar 2 tsp honey 1 tbsp lemon juice 500g blackberries 1/2 cup yoghurt Popsicle molds (if you don’t have those, you can use mini paper cups and wooden popsicle sticks) Instructions: 1. In a saucepan, heat the water and sugar until the sugar is melted, then pour into a bowl and set in the fridge to cool.  2. Puree the blackberries using a food processor or hand blende...

Rhubarb - so pretty in the crate, but what do you do with it? Lots, it turns out - rhubarb pie, for one, or rhubarb jam, or... rhubarb yoghurt, to switch up your breakfasts a little :). Ingredients (serves 2): 2 sticks rhubarb 4 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp vanilla sugar Pinch of cinnamon 500mL farmers' yoghurt (any other creamy, unsweetened yoghurt will also do) Instructions: 1. Cut the ends off the rhubarb and chop the stem into 1cm long pieces. Place in a small saucepan and add a layer of water until the rhubarb is just covered. Add the sugar and boil for about 15 minutes, until the rhubarb has come fully apart. 2. Add the vanilla sugar and cinnamon and let the mixture cool down. If you move it from the saucepan to a different contained, it'll cool faster - I only waited for another fifteen minutes or so. 3. Layer it into a glass with the yoghurt, and voilà: a healthy breakfast, or easy weekday desert.

Ingredients (serves 2): 8 ripe peaches 1 cup Greek yoghurt 30g blanched (= white) almonds, halved 2 tablespoons maple syrup Honey and cinnamon to taste few drops of lemon juice Instructions: 1. Wash the peaches and quarter them. Brush each cut side with maple syrup. 2. Pre-heat a grill pan. Place the peaches in the pan until they’re ready but not falling apart. This only takes a few minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. 3. Take the almonds and toast them in a skillet. (You can also do it in the oven, but on top of the stove is faster and less hassle - no pre-heating needed, etc etc). 4. Take the Greek yoghurt and add honey and cinnamon to taste. Add a few drops of lemon juice and stir.  5. Divide the yoghurt over two bowls, top with grilled peaches and almonds and serve.