Placki Ziemniaczane (Polish Potato Pancakes)

GROUP A: Poland

First Country and first post for my European Championships Kitchen is this very tasty Polish recipe for potato pancakes. Can be eaten at any time of the day but for myself they are always on the weekend brunch menu with a poached egg on top.

Learn how to poach an egg here:

Makes 4 medium sized pancakes (or 2 huge ones like mine)

Pork Fillet with a Rosemary & Sage stuffing

I have memories of eating this quite a bit when I was younger so when I wanted to make something for Easter dinner this came to mind. The stuffing that I used is different than my regular basil one. This time I used Rosemary & Sage as they compliment the pork perfectly.

I was unable to find any bakers string so I took out a needle and thread to test those home economics skills when I wanted to bind it together. You wrap the pork up completely in Ton Foil & place in the oven for 50 minutes…you open it up for the last 10 minutes. Then let it stand wrapped in the tin foil before you serve it.

Also my apologies for the serious lack of photos at the end but in my haste to serve the Easter Dinner I completely forgot to snap the final product but you can trust me it was delicious. I serve it with Potato Gratin, Cauliflower with White Sauce, carrots, gravy and of course homemade Apple sauce.

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Minced Beef

The title to this recipe does not really do this beef mixture justice. I have taken the combination of garlic, onion & courgette and married that with a touch of white wine, tomato puree & some delicious Hungarian paprika powder I have. 

I then take the already roasting peppers and line with fresh basil & pinenuts. Add back the beef mixture, some more pine nuts and top with grated cheese. Pop back in the oven and away you go….it really is delicous

Prawn & Avocado Cocktail

This starter is an old favorite of mine. The Simplicity of it is such that it takes no time at all to get together. You can of course buy your sauce already made to make it even easier but in all fairness making the sauce yourself is also super easy and you really do taste the difference in my opinion.

Sauce recipe can be found here:

Prawn Cocktail Sauce

The only real rule of thumb here is to keep the Mayo: Tomato Ketchup ratio at 2:1. Personally I like to use more whiskey than others as I feel it gives the sauce a nice kick but again taste the sauce and add more or less half way thru adding your whiskey & judge for yourself. Others will often add Tabasco as well here but personally I prefer not too. Again just my personal taste.

This is added to my Prawn & Avocado Salad

Roast Pepper, Tomato & Chilli Soup

This soup really is an old favourite of mine, so much so I was  really surprised that I had not posted it already. The Soup has 3 simple ingredients (peppers, tomatoes & chilli) that all work together in the cooking process to give an amazing flavour.

I have tweaked the original recipe over the years to have twice as many peppers as when I first made it as I really love the sweetness that you get when you roast a pepper.

The only thing you really need for this soup is time, as you will find the process of just getting the ingredients ready can take almost an hour. The soup itself is ready quite quickly after that. As always when you use chilli’s the amount you use is really all about personal taste. Personally I hardly ever cook the soup with the seeds from the chilli included or if I do I only add a few as if you use too much chilli the heat/spiciness can overpower the other subtle flavours that are going on.

Sangria

I got this recipe from a Spanish friend of mine many years ago when we had a Tapas workshop together. Last weekend I had sangria again when watching the El Clásico in a Spanish Tapas bar so it gave me the idea to make it today for a Christmas party with friends.

Mix up your wine, lemon, cinnamon & alcohol the night before to let the flavours fuse with each other. Add your fruit the next day a few hours before serving to stop the fruit turning to mush.

Chicken Soup

My thoughts on food have always been that it should be practical and suit the need & purpose for what you want. This soup fits that bill perfectly. This recipe is more or less 100% 'a hangover cure'. Although it is mighty tasty I only seem to cook it to cure a bad hangover….hence the reason why I use the soup mixes. The soup is very easy to get together and when it is ready it will really come to your aid and make your recovery day that little bit more bearable.

On the Soup mixture discussion I like to make a 1.5 litre soup with half of the stock coming from the soup mixture. So use enough soup mixture to make 0.75lt of soup. If you can try combining cream of vegetable & chicken soup for best results

Irish Soda Bread

Soda Bread is one of those things I really do miss from back home. The recipe itself is super easy with the key ingredient being that of Bi-cardonate of Soda. In the past I have been unable to find it here in Amsterdam but a trip to an ex-pat shop was a success so happily I am able to make it again.
 
The recipe that I used is the one that my father used when I was a kid and I followed it to the letter. Modern versions of the recipe use butter milk and also add some porridge oats to the bread but to be perfectly honest the traditional way is easily the best. Also the whole process of getting the bread together takes about 5 minutes, so you really have no excuse not to try this.

Roast Turkey

With Christmas around the Corner I thought it best to upload the recipe from how I Roast a Turkey and also how I Honey-roast my Ham at Christmas. Whenever people go on to me about Christmas dinner they always say how stressful it is and also how dry the Turkey was etc.

Honey Roasted Ham

A real favourite of mine at Christmas but in all honesty it can be eaten all year round if you can get your hands on some good Ham. The Ham comes in 2 stages. Firstly you need to boil it – you can do this the day before.
 
Secondly you roast it – it only takes 60 minutes, so do this while the Turkey is resting in the Aluminum Foil

You will need aprox 250g per person – again cook more as it is really delicious  as leftovers

Mushroom and Mozzarella Burgers

I made these burgers many moons ago for a friend who is a veggie, they went down so well back then that they continually come up in conversation whenever we get talking about food together. The reason as to why I cooked them this time is that my girlfriend just loves Mushrooms & Mozzarella and also Sara has been asking for the recipe.

When serving I serve in a lightly toasted bun with some caramelized onions, I always serve whatever burger it is I make with Corn on the Cob and today I also made a Tomato stuffed with leftover red onion & mozzarella.

Seafood Quiche

To Quiche or not to Quiche that is the question. I got to say that Quiches have become a real addiction of mine recently so much so that I even created a Quiche label here at Food Devil.

Next up for myself was to try a Seafood Quiche. The below recipe can handle prawns, lobster or crab meat. Myself I used crab meat this time and it really worked a treat.

Smoked Turkey Filo Quiche with onion, potato, pinenuts, gruyere & sage

Some months ago I saw a friend make quiches with filo pastry and thought it was a much better alternative to the sometimes heavier pastry option. Last night therefore I decided to make a new quiche that I have never thought of before and I had 3 ingredients that I wanted to base this around.

Filo Pastry – Smoked Turkey – Gruyere Cheese

What I wanted to do with this quiche was to find complimenting flavours to go with the above so I went for the following: 

Filo pastry – Smoked Turkey – Caramelized Onions – Cooked potato – Roasted Pinenuts – Grated Gruyere Cheese – egg/crème fraiche/garlic/sage – Grated Parmesan

The result was stunning I got to say and it was a real melt in your mouth dinner…

Damn you Amsterdam 'Summer'

It is with much regret that I have some sad news on the Rooftop garden front

This Summer has been the wettest on record and my tomatoes just could not survive in these sorrowful conditions...if any on us could come ot think of it

I learnt alot this summer in respect to gardening & it is definitely something I will continue next year. I feel if i had of got off to a good start back in April things might of been different....but next year it is my intention to have a full crop of tomatoes by the middle of July so the lessons have been learnt.

But until then you can check out my sorrowful toms. As you can see the trees were full of little cherry tomatoes but the weather just worked against us

Fish au Gratin

I really love this recipe, so many things going all which all result in some amazing flavours.

You will start off my poaching your fish in milk. Once the fish is cooked you will drain the liquid and make a roux of butter & flour and slowly mix back in your warm milk mixture. This will thicken everything up into a sauce and by adding back the cooked fish, cream, wine, gruyere cheese & mustard you will give that sauce a real kick of flavour. Finish off under a hot grill with breadcrumbs & gruyere on top.

Pure Genius!

The moment of truth has arrived.......

The time has come to pull the first of my carrots...at the start of the Summer I really had no clue what I was doing. I have definitely enjoyed the whole experience of getting to understand how this whole gardening lark works.

Anyhow lets see how they turned out

Baked Tilapia

This recipe is incredibly simple. I was originally looking for a white fish recipe for on the BBQ but the weather did not oblige so I baked in the oven instead

Melted butter with lemon is brushed over your fish and finely chopped herbs are added…I used coriander from the garden. The cooked in a pre-heated 180C oven for aprox 10 minutes. Tonight I served with my cous cous salad but it will go with almost anything.

Rooftop Gardening: 8 weeks on

This Amsterdam Summer is one of the worst for a very long time but my garden continues to really love it.

Last night

8 weeks ago

As you can see from my picture of last night the Tomatoes, carrots & onions are really thriving. 
 
to be continued.......

Parmesan Encrusted Fish

I have not done this recipe in ages and I just remembered it as I wanted to have a salad tonight but wanted some fish to go with it. It is like a common theme here at Food Devil but this is remarkably easy. Your fish is first coated in white flour and then egg white 7 finally grated parmesan cheese. Then it is shallow fried in hot oil for about 2/3 minutes each side. This recipe also works great with chicken breast/slices courgette/eggplant