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

Radishes are a vegetable I’d always filed directly in the ‘resistance corner’ of my brain. I think, maybe, because I associated it with bitterness. When I read that cooking - sautéing, roasting or stir frying - softens the taste, I thought it worth a try. And what do you know, it’s true - stir fried radish tastes nothing like fresh radish and is actually quite refreshing. This dish makes a lovely side dish - not just surprising, but also and easy. Serves 2-4: 2 bunches radish both ends cut off, then halved 2 shallots, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon ginger, grated 1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon honey handful fresh cilantro, chopped Instructions: 1. Pour the sesame oil in a wok pan and add the radish, shallots, ginger and garlic. Stir fry over high heat for 3 minutes. 2. Add the soy sauce and honey and stir fry for another minute. 3. Serve warm topped with fresh cilantro.

One month ago - on March 16th - I decided to spend some of my quarantine time blogging. I wanted to see if I could manage to post a recipe per day. At the time, quarantine was set to last three weeks. It has since been extended for another three until April 28th, and next week we will find out what happens after that. It’s not unlikely we’ll be looking at another extension.  But that’s then, and this is now - once again the 16th. That means today is a bit of a milestone - with a whole month of once-a-day recipes behind me. And I haven’t given up just yet, so here’s another one for you :) When you remove it from the oven, this dish doesn’t look like much. In fact, it looked iffy enough to give me some serious doubts. But then I stuck the first forkful in my mouth, and I was sold. It’s insanely delightful and makes a wonderful side dish. Proves yet again what we already know: just how deceiving looks can be.  Recipe (enough for a side dish for 2): 1 large fenne...

As the world around me is locking down, I’m looking for ways to stay sane. There’s the books I haven’t read, and the movies I haven’t seen. And then there’s food, and this blog. A little for you and a bit for myself, I’ll be doing my best to provide you all with some comfort food in the weeks to come. Like this quiche. Recipe (serves 2): 225g puff pastry (I used a 275g pack of Backini fresh puff pastry) 2 cocottes, mini quiche tins, or mini pie pans (mine were about 12 cm in diameter) 3 medium-size potatoes 1/2 leek 1 large shallot 2 large eggs 60ml cream gouda cheese, grated (I used about 20g but seriously, you don't need measurements for this. Just do it to taste) parmesan, grated (enough to cover the top of both cocottes) fresh oregano 15g bacon (Serrano ham is nice too) salt pepper Instructions: 1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. 2. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices about 3mm thick. 3. Bring a big pot of hot salted water to...