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

I grew up in South Korea. From my 8th until my 13th I lived in Seoul, in a neighborhood called Hannamdong, right behind the popular tourist shopping street Itaewon. It was an age at which I wasn’t much used to change, and I wasn’t a big fan of the crazy smells of Korean food. But nothing lasts forever, and if there’s anything that’s subject to change it’s taste. My adult self is oh so thankful for that.  Ingredients (serves 2): 500g lean ground beef 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup reduced salt soy sauce 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 2-3 teaspoons sesame oil 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (I didn’t have any, so I used freshly grated ginger) 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 scallions, chopped 2 cups hot cooked white or brown rice sesame seeds to garnish Instructions: 1. Add 1 teaspoon sesame oil to a large skillet and cook the beef and garlic, breaking the beef into crumbles until it is no longer pink. 2. In a bowl, mix the remaining sesame ...

Lunch, in the Netherlands, means bread. And most of us Dutchies eat it the way we were raised - open faced, with some ham or cheese and maybe some butter, but very little else. Or for the sweet breakfast version, with apple syrup, butter and chocolate sprinkles, or jam. And while as a Dutchie I’ll be the first to say that all that can be pretty wonderful when the bread is fresh and warm, and the ingredients are good - it’s not exactly exciting.  But these days, I’ve got some extra time on my hands - which generally means good things as far as food goes. And while I generally wouldn’t really consider sandwiches to be blog-worthy, I was so happy enough with this one that I wanted to share. Ingredients (serves 1): 1 rye wheat parisienne or half baguette 50g cold roast beef (rare) 1 large pickle 2 tbsp mayonnaise 1 tbsp yoghurt 5 cherry tomatoes, sliced handful of lamb's lettuce couple of tablespoons of a sweet onion relish (try my Red Onion Compôte ) ...

I spent four years living in Mexico, and tacos de bistec con queso were one of my ultimate feel-good foods. There are a lot of great Mexican recipes, but this is one of my favourites: it’s super easy and one of the few things that I still make on a very regular basis. So yesterday, when my boiler quit on me and I was left without heating or hot water and full of fear of the possibility of an impending lock-down & the implication that this meant I might be left in the cold for the length of quarantine, this was naturally what I turned to. And it worked to reassure me for a while - the familiarity was comforting and the spiciness warmed up my insides. Ingredients (makes 4): Salsa Roja 3 medium sized plum tomatoes 1 small yellow onion 1 clove garlic 2 red chili peppers, deseeded (or more, if you prefer it extra-spicy) few decent dashes olive oil pinch of salt Tacos: 200g beef steak 1 medium-small yellow onion, chopped. Few good handfuls grated cheese 1 lime, cut i...

Ahhh, the joys of meatballs in tomato sauce. They serve them in just about a dozen different countries - as albondigas in Spain, polpetta al sugo in Italy, or just good old meatballs for the native English speakers out there. And yes, the meatball is a common phenomenon here in the Netherlands too. My grandma’s generation served them the size of a small fist (gehaktballen) with potatoes and gravy, or smaller (gehaktballetjes) in vegetable soups. And yet, they never really had me convinced. I wasn't a meatball kinda gal. Meatballs, to me, seemed boring. Until one day, when a friend came over and made some meatballs with a packet of minced meat and a handfull of leftovers from the fridge and the pantry. The sauce was amazing. So were the balls - succulent, aromatic, mmmm. I became an instant convert. Of course, I had to try a repeat. With the pantry fully stocked with nuts for the breakfast bars I made earlier, I decided go a little nuts myself and toss some in. It goes with...

Having just returned from 3 1/2 weeks in Mexico, my first post of 2014 was inspired by things Latin. In Mexico City I spent some time at the house of a friend whose mother was known for her empanadas. No better time and place to learn the tricks of the trade - and as with most things I hadn't tried before, after a bit of practice it turned out to be easier than I had expected.