Oven-baked egg

For ➊
1 egg
1 slice smoked salmon, chopped
chopped parsley & chives
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 220°C. Butter a small, shallow ovenproof dish and scatter the smoked salmon* over the bottom. Add the chopped parsley and chives. Break an egg over the top and season with salt and pepper.
Bake until the egg white is set but the yolk still runny, approximately 5 m. **
Serve with crusty bread.

*Replace by 1 slice of ham, chopped.
*Replace by a handful of mushrooms, sauteed. Or minced into a rough puree.
**Alternatively, put in microwave oven for 50 s.
***Alternatively, omit the filling, add a tbs of cream on top of the eggs, and cook for 10 m in a bain-marie in a moderately heated oven.

Bob Dylan's perfect meatballs

For ➍
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbs vegetable oil (for frying)
250 g ground meat (equal parts beef, pork, veal)
4 tbs Parmigiano cheese, grated
9 crackers, finely crushed*
½ ts salt
black pepper
oregano
dried basil
1 tbs chopped fresh parsley
4 tbs water
1 egg**
1 ts tomato paste

“Heat the oil over a low heat in a large Dutch oven***. In a big bowl, add the meat, garlic, cheese, crackers, and spices. Mix lightly with your fingers. Don’t be shy, get into it.

In a small bowl, whisk the water, the egg, and the tomato paste.

Add the egg mixture to the meat mixture. Mix it lightly with your fingers. Form it into drum shapes, or balls.****

Cook in batches, over medium high heat, until it is browned on both sides. That will be about five minutes total. Serve ‘em up with some potatoes, or some spaghetti, or just make a sandwich out of them. You're gonna love 'em.****" (Transcript from Dylan's Radio Hour show).

*Use old bread crumbs instead.
**Use only yolk to make firmer balls.
***When using a preheated oven, make an ersatz Dutch oven by folding aluminium foil under and around the balls. Bake for 25 m at 185°C for the spoon-sized balls, 20 m for the medium balls. Otherwise, use a deep frying pan.
****Use 2 overlapping tbs to make a ball, then roll it in your hands. This will make about 10 large-sized or, when cut in 2, 20 medium balls.

In the wonderful radio show, Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, the host not only explored the music he loves and was influenced by, but also dished up some basic recipes, like these tasty meatballs. The recipe seems to be influenced by local Minnesota cooking.
Read more Bob Dylan suggestions: Bob Dylan's finest mint julep,  his mother's fudge bars here.

Cuban bean soup

For ➏
500 g dry red kidney beans, soaked overnight, rinsed & drained
2 medium onions, cubed
1 whole medium garlic, crushed & peeled
2 tbs grape seed oil
2 l hot water
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 medium sweet red bell peppers, cubed
2 ts smoked paprika
3 large bay leaves
1 pinch Cayenne pepper or other chili powder
1 ts dried oregano
sea salt to taste
2 handfuls of freshly chopped coriander
lemon/lime wedges to serve
fresh bread to serve

Fry onions and garlic in oil until translucent on the bottom of large pot.

Add chopped peppers and fry some more.

Add water, then add beans, vinegar, hot water, smoked paprika, chili powder, bay leaves and oregano.

Bring the soup to boil over large fire, let it bubble for a while, then reduce the fire, cover and simmer for about 2,5 h.

Mash beans in the soup with potato masher, season with salt and cook 10 m longer.

Remove from fire, stir in coriander.

Serve with lemon/lime wedges on the side and some fresh, crunchy bread.

Boeuf à la gueuze (Brussels beef with gueuze)

For ➋
2 beef fillets, 150 g each
300 g chuck beef*
50 cl gueuze
15 g soft butter
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 leek
½ tomato
1 clove of garlic
peanut oil
1 thyme stalk
1 bay leaf
15 cl veal stock (fond de veau) or chicken stock
salt & fresh black pepper

Peel, wash and cut vegetables.

Cut beef into 3x3 cm cubes*. Braise in a pan with oil until brown..

Add onion, carrot, celery, green of leek, tomato and garlic.

Braise for a few m. Add thyme and bay leaf.

Add gueuze. Reduce for 3 m.

Add broth and simmer for 20 m on low fire.

Peel potatoes, cut into small pieces, put in a large baking tray. Cover with water. Add salt and 30 g of butter. Cook for 10 m on medium fire.

Meanwhile prepare the stoemp à l'oseille, a sorrel potato mash.

Put the beef and vegetable braise through a sieve and collect the juice.* Put juice in a pan and reduce with ⅓.** Put aside.

Braise the fillets of beef in butter, or grill, according to taste. Add salt and pepper.

Serve the beef fillet on a warm plate. Add some stoemp, and decorate with some sauce. Serve remaining sauce and stoemp in preheated dishes.

*Use only vegetables and beef fillets for a lighter, modern dish.
**This is the classic way. Alternatively, thicken the mixture without sieving, and serve as a meaty sauce.

Stoemp à l'oseille (Brussels sorrel mash)

For ➋
100 g fresh sorrel*
300 g potatoes
30 g soft butter
salt & fresh black pepper

Peel potatoes, cut into small pieces, put in a large baking tray. Cover with water. Add salt and 30 g of butter. Cook for 10 m on medium fire.

Clean sorrel. Add to the potatoes. Crush the mixture with a fork. Add salt and pepper, mix well.

Serve with Brussels beef with gueuze, grilled chicken or meat.

*Use good quality sorel in glass bowl or tinned instead. Adjust seasoning.

A quick Alfredo pasta

For ➍
125 g butter at room temperature
4 tbs cream
50 g Parmigiano cheese, grated
250 g fettucini or any broad ribbon pasta

Mix 125 g of butter at room temperature with 4 tbs of cream. When creamy, add 50 g of grated cheese. Put in the refrigerator. Divide into small cubes. You can keep them for a few days, or even freeze them.

Cook 250 g of pasta. Drain and serve in a warm dish. Add the cubed mix and toss quickly.

Serve with a green salad.

Roasted Brussels sprouts

For ➍
500 g Brussels sprouts, trimmed & halved
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs unsalted butter
50 g crisp rice cereal or plain rice**
1 fresh red Thai chili, thinly sliced crosswise*
coriander sprigs*
mint leaves, torn*
scallions, chopped*

Preheat oven to 220°C with rack in upper third.
Toss Brussels sprouts with oil. Arrange them, cut sides down, in a shallow baking pan. Roast, without turning, until outer leaves are tender and dark brown, 30 to 35 m.
Add butter and toss to coat.
For the Vietnamese dressing, stir together all ingredients until sugar has dissolved. Or make a quick dressing by mixing 2 tbs of fish sauce, 1 tbs of clear syrup or honey and 1 tbs of water. Add other ingredients according to taste.
Prepare rice with a little oil in skillet until puffed. When using plain rice, cook first, then bake the rice in a skillet for 3 m.
Put Brussels sprouts in a serving bowl, then toss with just enough dressing to coat. Sprinkle with puffed rice and serve remaining dressing on the side. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, torn mint leaves and chopped scallions.
Serve as a starter or as a side dish with Asian-style roasted beef.

*Garnish ingredients.
**Replace with chopped and roasted nuts.

The Brussels sprout is originally a wild cabbage, cultivated for its small leafy green buds, which resemble miniature cabbages. Their ancestors were likely cultivated in ancient Rome, and appeared around 1200 AD in the duchy of Brabant, around Brussels. During the 16th century they became popular in the southern Netherlands, and spread throughout Northern Europe. In 1800 they were cultivated in the USA for the first time.
Read a Western modern roasted Brussels sprouts recipe.
Read a tip on cooking Brussels sprouts.

Vietnamese dressing

For ➍
2 tbs (6 cl) (Thai) fish sauce
2 tbs water
50 g sugar
1 tbs finely chopped mint
1 tbs finely chopped coriander stems
½ garlic clove, minced

Stir together all dressing ingredients until sugar has dissolved.

This Vietnamese-style dressing or sauce works well with stirred vegetables (like roasted Brussels sprouts) or with fried fish. Adjust quantities.

Gentse perentaart (Ghent pear cake)

For ➓
125 g butter
150 g sugar
2 eggs
½ beaten egg
210 g flour
salt
1 tbs grated lemon peel
30 g ground almonds
± 8 half pears (can)*
1.25 dl cream
ground vanilla or vanilla essence
apricot glaze**
shaved almonds

Mix 100 g butter, 100 g sugar, 1 egg, 200 g, salt, flour into a smooth dough. Cover and put in fridge for 1 h.

Prepare a loose-based cake tin of 20 cm.

Roll out the dough, put in the form and return to fridge for 30 m.

Heat the oven to 180 °C.

Mix the rest of the flour with 30 g sugar and ground almonds. Add beaten egg and 25 g butter to the mixture. Whip until creamy.

Spread over the dough. Put the pears in a circle on the mixture.

Mix 1 egg, vanilla and cream.

Pour over the pears.

Bake for 30 m in the centre of the oven.

Remove and let cool on rack.

Glaze with (warm) apricot and shaved almonds.

Add a dot of whipped cream, if you feel like it. Serve with a fruit-based drink like cider, a medium dry white wine like Vouvray, or an old Flemish jenever (gin). Or a dark brown sweet beer. Or tea (without sugar or milk), definitely not coffee.

*When using fresh pears, poach them for 15 m in water and sugar.
**Prepare by mixing 1 tbs of water through 1 tbs of apricot jam.

Yam nua (Thai beef salad)

For ➋
350 g beef
salt & pepper
½ lettuce (iceberg)
2 tomatoes, cubed (or halved cherry tomatoes)
1 cucumber, quartered & seeded, thinly sliced
(Asian noodles for ➋)

Heat the pan. Grill the beef in the pan until done, but still rosy inside. Rub with salt & pepper.
Cut the beef into thin slices. Put on a plate and put in the freezer to cool (it should NOT be frozen).
Prepare cucumber and tomatoes. Tear the lettuce in to small pieces. Put into 2 bowls or on 2 plates.
Cook the noodles. When ready, rinse with cold water to prevent further cooking.
Meanwhile, make the Thai cold sauce. Put the chopped onions and pepper, the pressed garlic in a mortar. Grind. Add 6 tbs of fish sauce, 8 tbs of lime juice and 5 tbs of sugar. Mix.
Take the beef out of the freezer. Sprinkle with the sauce.
Add to the salad. Garnish with the coriander.
Serve as a starter or as a light dish with the noodles.

Thai cold sauce

For ➋
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 small red onion, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
6 tbs nam pla fish sauce
8 tbs lime juice
5 tbs brown sugar

Put the chopped onions and pepper, the pressed garlic in a mortar. Grind.

Add 6 tbs of fish sauce, 8 tbs of lime juice and 5 tbs of sugar. Mix.

Serve with luke-warm grilled beef, Thai beef salad or firm fish.

Oeufs à la Meulemeester (Brussels' eggs & shrimps)

For ➋
4 fresh eggs
125 g North Sea grey shrimps, peeled
10 cl fresh cream
25 g grated cheese (Emmenthaler or Gruyère)
20 g butter
25 cl white beer of Hoegaarden
1 tbs Ghent mustard *
1 tbs chervil
salt & black pepper

Butter 2 small gratin dishes.

Slightly heat the beer to let evaporate the alcohol. Add shrimps and let stand for 1 h. Separate beer and shrimps.

Bring water to the boil and cook 3 eggs for 7 m. Meanwhile, separate yolk from the other egg and beat it.

Cool the boiled eggs with water and peel them. Slice them into delicate rounds.

Meanwhile, heat the butter. Add the beer, the cream and the yolk. Mix well. Add mustard and chervil. Add salt & pepper.

Preheat the grill to maximum heat.

Spread the shrimps in the dishes. Cover with sliced eggs, pour sauce over them, cover with grated cheese and a few pieces of butter.

Grill for 10 m.

Serve with some rye bread, a small salad and a wine vinegar vinaigrette.

*Or a good Dijon mustard.

Father and son Meulemeester are characters from an immensely popular Brussels' theatre comedy Le Mariage de Mademoiselle Beulemans (Young Lady Beulemans' marriage). Her parents are wealthy Brussels' brewers, hence the beer reference, and she falls in love with the wrong (French) man instead of the young Meulemeester. From its start around the Brussels World Exposition of 1910, the play in authentic Brussels' dialect, mixing French and Flemish, stayed popular into the 60's, when it was still performed at the Brussels' Théâtre des Galéries and was made into a popular movie several times. (The picture shows a fragment of the 1960's version poster.)
The name could also be derived from a Flemish dish in the Bruges' countryside, near the port of Zeebrugge, where it is still served today in several variations, then meaning eggs in the miller way.
Read more North Sea grey shrimps dishes: baked endives with shrimps, tomate crevettes, kerremelksmeus.

Quick guinea fowl with endives

For ➍
4 guinea fowl fillets*
2 tbs butter
2 sliced shallots
1 kg of witloof, endives, roughly chopped or cut lengthwise
(1 ts sugar)**
3 juniper berries
1 tbs white or blonde beer
4 tbs of jenever (gin)

Heat the butter in a skillet. Brown the fillets.
Add shallots, witloof, (sugar)** and juniper berries. Add 1 tbs of beer. Stew for 20 m.
Add 4 tbs of jenever (gin), turn up the heat for 2 m.

*Use chicken fillets instead.
**Optional.

Read the braising endives without water tip
Read the cooking endives @ microwave tip.
Try the Belgian classic version.

Soupe aux pois ardennaise (Ardennes' pea soup)

For ➍
500 g dried peas, soaked
1 knuckle of ham (jambonneau)
250 g smoked bacon
4 leeks
4 onions
1 tbs lard (or butter)
1 stalk of celery
thyme
bay leaves
2.5 l water
pepper
8 slices of bread

Cut onions in rings. Heat lard, add onions and make them sweat.
Add celery, bacon, the white of 4 leeks, the knuckle of ham and peas.
Add 2,5 liters of water, thyme, bay-leaves and pepper. Bring to a boil. Keep cooking for 90 m.
During cooking, cube the crumb of 8 slices of bread. Fry them in butter.
Put crumbs on kitchen paper to degrease.
Remove bacon and the knuckle of ham, as well as thyme and the bay-leaves from the stew. Cube the meat in large pieces.
Mix the soup roughly. Add the meat. Add croutons when serving.

Serve with rye bread.

The Belgian Ardennes are part of a larger region, covering the North East of France and Luxemburg, with beautiful scenery and rustic food. The Ourthe valley is one of its highlights.

Frangipane

For ➏-➑
125 g butter
125 g sugar
3 eggs
1 tbs orange (or lemon) peel,grated
125 g ground almonds
35 g flour
puff pastry*
powder sugar**
pears***

Drape a floured form with the pastry. Cut away the edges, keep apart to decorate.

Melt butter, put the pot in cold water until butter reaches room temperature.

Beat sugar into the eggs, and add the peel. Mix soft butter through the eggs. Mix flour and ground almonds in another bowl. Then add to the butter mixture.

Put mixture into form. Decorate with bands of pastry.

Put in the preheated oven at 200°C for 30/45 m. (Mix some lemon juice with the powder sugar, cover the top.*)

Let cool before serving.

*Use commercial ready-made or splurge on home-made puff pastry.
**Add a Belgian touch by covering the top in icing, and decorate it with one or more bottled cherries.
**Ad a French touch by adding half pears, cooked in syrup to the top.

The origin of frangipane filling was in 16th century Italy by the Italian nobleman, Marquis Muzio Frangipani. He created a perfume that was used for scenting gloves that was popular in Paris. Perhaps fueled by the popularity of the scent, Parisian pastry cooks flavoured a pastry cream with almonds and called it frangipane.
In France and Belgium, almost the same recipe is used for an epiphany treat, the galette des rois.