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

I've been holding out on posting this recipe for a while because whenever I make them, I forget to write down the quantities - it's more of an "a little of this, a little of that" approach to cooking. I got back into stuffed bell peppers while visiting my parents in Mexico City over Christmas last year - we've had them often over the years, mostly because they're good but also because they're a very easy (and, cutting excepted, relatively fuss-free) starter to large dinner parties. Because they really are that convenient - this is pretty effortless as far as cooking goes - I made about ten of them for the goodbye lunch I threw when I left Mexico last January. It was my first attempt at cooking for fourteen people, and I'm proud to say it didn't go too badly. Planning was a big factor, and the great thing about these (like many other recipes I like to include on my list for dinner parties) is that you can make them ahead. And you probably should, ...

My go-to easy meals are almost always pastas - I can think of few feel-good meals that are easier and less time consuming to make. What I love most is that you can add just about anything you like. It doesn’t matter if you stray from the traditional, just combine the flavours that make your heart sing.  Here’s a lovely smoked salmon and cherry tomato penne.  Ingredients (serves 2): 120g penne (use 50-60g per person for dried pasta, or 90g per person if you use fresh pasta) 100g smoked salmon 250g cherry tomatoes, halved 1 small red onion 1 clove garlic 250 mL cream Dash of white wine 1 tbsp Olive oil Salt, pepper and parmesan to taste Instructions: 1. Chop the onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes. 2. Press the garlic over the onion mixture and add the cherry tomatoes. Sauté for another 2-3 minutes, then add a dash of white wine. 3. Sauté for a 2-3 minutes more, then add the cream. Heat, stir and add almost all the salmon (reserve a tiny bit for the en...

You can't get much more Dutch than 'stamppot'. Based on the most important of national staples, the potato, the stamppot has earned itself a place in history, and a firm place in the hearths and homes of most Nederlanders. There are few meals better suited for dreary winter weather. Say it the way it sounds, as stamped pot, and you should get the idea - the stamppot is basically a large pot of potatoes and some kind of vegetable, stamped to a multi-coloured mash. Favourites at our house were cabbage-based - andijvie, boerenkool, or sauerkraut, although we've made them with beetroot too on occassion. They were alright, but I was never too excited. They were always the same. Because we lived abroad as I grew up, I never got to try them at other people's houses - this was just not something the non-Dutch seemed to cook. 

I usually have yoghurt and cereal for breakfast on weekdays, normally with some raspberries, strawberries or blueberries thrown in. Or, if I'm fresh out of fruit, a teaspoon of jam to make it all sweeter. Maybe a boiled egg on the side. Lately though, I've been finding myself, more and more often, all out of time. So I thought I’d try something I could make ahead. The answer that came to me: energy bars. Except, unlike the store bought kind, you can make these to have exactly what you want in them, and leave out what you don't. And it turns out - making your own energy bars is easy, I don't know why I’d never done it before. Doing it at night and letting them set in the fridge shaves making breakfast right off my morning routine those extra early days :) This is one of those recipes that doesn’t require exact quantities. You can put in whatever you like - dried apricots or figs, any variety of nut, nougat, cereal, etc. Remember, they're going to be your e...

Ok, maybe 'healthy' is overselling it a little, but at least this version contains nearly all the food groups and definitely has more veggies than the average. I like to tell myself that makes a difference. Macaroni - with its fair share of cheese - has been in my family as far back as I can remember, but my mother knows better. She first made it as a student, when pasta was far from common at Dutch dinner tables. The instructions told her to prepare each of the ingredients, one by one. She followed them to the letter and served them all separately .   Luckily for us, her macaroni has come a way since then. When I left home, I took my mother's recipe with me and added a touch of my own here and there. The current version is a comfort food I'm happy to make in over-sized quantities and eat as leftovers for days. Ingredients (serves 2 with leftovers): 1.5 cups macaroni  1 red bell pepper 1 green bell pepper 1/2 leek 2 medium-size onions 150g h...

Tapenade 1 jar (240g) seedless green olives, drained 1 large clove garlic, minced 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp capers, drained 1 handful toasted almonds, halved 5 tbsp olive oil

                       The secret to a good curry, our Thai cooking teachers repeatedly emphasized, is in the curry paste. A curry paste can make or break a curry - which would partially explain why the green chicken curry I'd tried to make at home in the past didn't taste anything like the green curries in Thailand. So - for curry paste. In class, we made the Massaman curry paste - but I managed to convince them to give me their Penang, Green and Red curry paste recipes too. So, below, everything you need for a good curry. I will list the ingredients for the different curries one by one, and the instructions (which are essentially the same for all of them) will follow below. Massaman Curry Paste 8 big dried red chilis (skin only, seeds removed), finely chopped 8 small dried red chilis, cut into pieces, seeds and all (so don't remove the seeds!) 4 slices (of approximately 1 x 2cm) kaffir fruit skin (or 2 tsp, i...

Spaghetti is an ultimate comfort food for me, and when I make bolognese sauce I often make it in bulk. Growing up, spaghetti sauce was made one way and one way only - partly because as proper brats, my sister and I would complain when the recipe was changed.  But brats grow up, and this one learned to appreciate the changes life brings - even to my beloved bolognese sauce. Here’s a double meat ricotta version to make your mouth water.. :) Ingredients (serves 4): 500g minced meat, half beef, half pork 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 4 shallots, finely chopped 250g ricotta cheese 100mL red wine 800g canned chopped tomatoes 250g mushrooms, sliced and quartered 1 teaspoon Italian herbs salt and freshly ground black pepper 200g dried spaghetti (about 50g per person, or 80g if you use fresh spaghetti) Freshly grated parmesan to taste Instructions: 1. Take the shallots and fruit them in olive oil for 1-2 minutes in a large skillet. 2. Add the minced meat and gar...

I followed an Indonesian cooking course a while back and with my fellow class mates we made one from scratch - not the kind I was used to eating when I dined out with my parents as a kid, but a lavish version with only one dish I'd ever tried before. Ajam ketjap (chicken), shrimps boemboe bali,  gado gado (vegetable mix with peanut sauce), kerrie telor (curried eggs), nasi kuning (a gorgeous yellow coconut flavoured rice) and sambal goreng tempeh kering (spicy tempeh).

Fresh, tangy and easily made at home. Until I tried it, I never would have guessed - but once I did I’ll think twice about about buying prefab lemon curd. Willing to bet you will, too... Ingredients: 3 large eggs 150g granulated white sugar 80mL fresh lemon juice 60g unsalted butter, at room temperature 1.5 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest Instructions: 1. Start by grating the zest from your lemons. This is MUCH easier to do if you do it before, rather than after squeezing them.  2. Set the zest aside and juice the lemons. 3. Combine eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a heatproof, stainless steel bowl that is big enough to stand on top of a pan of boiling water. 4. Bring the water to a simmer and leave the heat on low. Place the stainless steel bowl on top (so that the bottom of the bowl only just touches the water) and stir to combine the ingredients properly. Keep stirring constantly while the mixture ‘cooks’ to prevent it from curdling. ...