Dutch Farmer’s Cheese Soup (Boerenkaas Soep)

It’s time to travel the world, foodie-style with the Eat the World Recipe challenge hosted by Evelyn at CulturEatz.

This month, we’re traveling to the Netherlands. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize that the Netherlands was the country and Holland was a province - I thought it was the other way around! Oops! But that’s why this group is so great - I get to learn about new countries (and their food) each month!



As I started looking for recipes, I found a ton of inspiration and really had to work to narrow down my choices! Eventually, I landed on a soup - we’re having unseasonably cold weather and a soup sounded just perfect!



The soup itself was super tasty - with cauliflower being an interesting ingredient that we all loved. We enjoy roasted cauliflower frequently, but never thought to put it in soup (other than the occasional blended cauliflower in a Skinny Baked Potato Soup (so the cauliflower does not take a prominent role)).



I didn’t realize, until I started cooking, that this was a vegetarian soup (other than the chicken broth, but that’s easily swapped out for a vegetarian option). I am making a mental note to make this tasty soup for Lent this year (It’s always great to have something I know the whole family will eat and enjoy!) However, for a heartier dish, I think it would also be delicious with some shredded chicken added in.



I was surprised as I read the recipe to see that the cheese was not mixed into the soup, but instead broiled onto toasts. The more authentic recipe enjoyed in the Netherlands uses boerenkaas cheese, an artisan type of gouda. Since that is not available here, I used gouda for the first time and loved it (gouda will end up on my shopping list a lot more often now).



Check out all the wonderful Dutch dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld.



Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us!



Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Memories of Holland, Dutch Traditions, and Sailboat Speculaas

Pandemonium Noshery: Mosterdsoep - Dutch Mustard Soup

Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Dutch Farmer’s Cheese Soup (Boerenkaas Soep)

Sugarlovespices: Dutch Apple Tart, Hollandse Appeltaart

Making Miracles: Hutspot met Gehaktballen (Dutch Mashed Potatoes and Carrots with Meatballs)

Sneha’s Recipe: A Small Batch Bitterballen

Chef Mireille: Ontbijtkoek - Dutch Spice Cake

Kitchen Frau: Boerenkool Stamppot (Dutch Mashed Potatoes and Kale with Sausage and Pears)

A Day in the Life on the Farm: Hachee










Dutch Farmer’s Cheese Soup (Boerenkaas Soep)

Adapted from SBS



Soup

3 tablespoons butter

1 onion, diced

3 large carrots (about ½ pound), peeled & sliced

1 ½ pounds potatoes, diced

1 small head cauliflower (about 1 ½ pounds), cut into florets

8 cups chicken broth

2 bay leaves

Salt & pepper



Cheese Toast

1 baguette, cut into rounds

Butter

Gouda cheese, sliced



Heat the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and cook until the onions are starting to soften, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the potatoes, cauliflower, chicken broth and bay leaves. Season with salt & pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, butter the baguette slices on both sides with butter. Place under a broiler until lightly toasted. Flip, top with gouda, and broil for another few minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Ladle soup into bowls and top with cheese toasts to serve.

Amy Eats the World in...

Cuba: Ropa Vieja (Slow Cooker Beef)

Ireland: Cheesy Potato Soup with Irish Ale

Thailand: Chicken Satay

Kenya: Crunchy N’Dizi (Peanut Crusted Bananas)
Sweden: Rodbetssallad med Getost (Grated Beet Salad with Goat Cheese)
New Zealand: Kiwi Burger 
France: Fougasse (Provencal Flatbread)
Argentina: Chimichurri Sauce
Mexico (Halloween Special): Pan de Muerto (Day of the Dead Bread)
India: Spiced Golden Milk 
Poland: Chrusciki (Angel Wing Cookies)
Ethiopia: Buticha (Hummus)
England: Wizarding World of Harry Potter Leaky Cauldron-Style Mini Cottage Pie 
Georgia: Lobiani (Bean-Stuffed Bread)
Mexico: Crispy Pork Carnitas
Cambodia: Loc Lac (Shredded Beef with Lime)
Israel: Chicken Albondigas (Chicken Meatballs)
Finland: Sima (Lemonade) 
Puerto Rico: Arroz con Tocino  (Rice with Bacon)
Egypt: Ghorayebah Cookies
Ukraine: Scuffles (Rohalyky) Cinnamon Crescent Rolls

Portugal: Bitoque (Steak & Eggs) 
Germany (Christmas Special): Lebkuchenherzen (German "Gingerbread" Cookies) 
Trinidad & Tobago: Trini Macaroni Pie 
Iraq: T'bit (Slow Cooked Chicken & Brown Rice) 
Fiji: Fijian Creamy Lentil Soup (Dhal) 
Senegal: Cafe Touba (Senegalese Spiced Coffee) 

Colombia: Cañón de Cerdo (Colombia-Style Pork Loin Roast) 

Soul Food (United States): Oven-Baked Ribs with Cola BBQ Sauce 

Bangladesh: Shemai (Sweet Vermicelli Pudding) 

The Netherlands: Dutch Farmer’s Cheese Soup (Boerenkaas Soep)

Geode Cake

Let’s talk cake!

I made this Geode Cake for myself for my 37th birthday, because I’ve always wanted to try a Geode cake and never really had the opportunity!

Oftentimes, I “share” a birthday cake with Hubs, enjoying leftover cake (his birthday is a few days before mine), but since I made him a Mini Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake, there were no leftovers and the opportunity was there to make myself something fabulous!

Hot Cheese Puff Canapes

This month’s book does double duty.  It is the Cook the Books Club pick, as well as the Lit Happens pick!

Cook the Books Club, generally picks a food centric book and then those choosing to join in post a recipe inspired by the book.

Lit Happens is very casual.  Done entirely on facebook, this one is done more book club style, with online discussion questions (and books are not necessarily food centric).

The book for both clubs was Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown.  Recipe for a Perfect Wife follows two women from two different decades, Alice from contemporary times, and Nellie from the 1950s.

Shemai (Sweet Vermicelli Pudding)

It’s time for the Eat the World Recipe Challenge and we are headed to Bangladesh!

As I started looking at recipes for this challenge, I immediately got nervous. I say a lot of curries. I saw cinnamon in main dishes. All the things that make my family turn up their noses at a dish.

I searched, and searched, and searched. I found a dessert that was a short of chickpea fudge that fascinated me, but then I realized that the chickpeas from the recipe were not the readily available US chickpeas.

Then I found this vermicelli pudding. Originally I thought it was a dessert (and served it as such) and then reread the recipe and realized that it may actually be a breakfast dish.

It was nearing that deadline and then I got slammed with a crazy busy week and came screeching in at the last second. As I read the recipe again and cross checked it against others, I realized that I may have bought the wrong kind of vermicelli…

I definitely didn’t have the exact kind cited in the recipe, but I got what I thought was closest. But was I supposed to have wheat vermicelli or rice? The vermicelli I bought was rice and it did not become pudding-like as described in the recipes (would wheat have made the difference? Did I make a different mistake?)

Despite what looks (according to internet pictures) to be a vast difference in consistency, the pudding was delicious. It was almost a bit too sweet (I think more nuts would balance it well). 

Check out all the wonderful Bangladeshi dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us! 

Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Fulkopir Chop (Bangladeshi Cauliflower Fritters)
Pandemonium Noshery: Zafrani Pulao
Sneha’s Recipe: Goalondo Chicken Curry With Bella Chara Porota
Palatable Pastime: Jhal Muri (Spicy Puffed Rice Street Snack)
Making Miracles: Bangladeshi Chicken Korma
Kitchen Frau: Chingri Masala (Bangladeshi Prawn Curry)
Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Shemai (Sweet Vermicelli Pudding)
A Day in the LIfe on the Farm: Yogurt and Cilantro Marinated Chicken

Shemai (Sweet Vermicelli Pudding)

Adapted from CKBK

 

2 ½ cups milk (I used 2%)

½ cup sugar

1 bay leaf

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ tablespoon butter

4 ounces (120 grams) rice vermicelli, crushed

1 tablespoon pistachios, chopped

Place the milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the sugar, bay leaf, cinnamon, and cardamom. Gently cook for 5 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and milk is infused with the spices. Do not boil.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook until the butter begins to brown. Add the vermicelli and cook until lightly golden, stirring constantly.

Add the toasted vermicelli into the milk mixture and cook on medium heat until the vermicelli is softened and milk is absorbed.

Shemai can be served warm or chilled. Serve topped with chopped pistachios and a dusting of cinnamon.

Amy Eats the World in...

Cuba: Ropa Vieja (Slow Cooker Beef)

Ireland: Cheesy Potato Soup with Irish Ale

Thailand: Chicken Satay

Kenya: Crunchy N’Dizi (Peanut Crusted Bananas)
Sweden: Rodbetssallad med Getost (Grated Beet Salad with Goat Cheese)
New Zealand: Kiwi Burger 
France: Fougasse (Provencal Flatbread)
Argentina: Chimichurri Sauce
Mexico (Halloween Special): Pan de Muerto (Day of the Dead Bread)
India: Spiced Golden Milk 
Poland: Chrusciki (Angel Wing Cookies)
Ethiopia: Buticha (Hummus)
England: Wizarding World of Harry Potter Leaky Cauldron-Style Mini Cottage Pie 
Georgia: Lobiani (Bean-Stuffed Bread)
Mexico: Crispy Pork Carnitas
Cambodia: Loc Lac (Shredded Beef with Lime)
Israel: Chicken Albondigas (Chicken Meatballs)
Finland: Sima (Lemonade) 
Puerto Rico: Arroz con Tocino  (Rice with Bacon)
Egypt: Ghorayebah Cookies
Ukraine: Scuffles (Rohalyky) Cinnamon Crescent Rolls

Portugal: Bitoque (Steak & Eggs) 
Germany (Christmas Special): Lebkuchenherzen (German "Gingerbread" Cookies) 
Trinidad & Tobago: Trini Macaroni Pie 
Iraq: T'bit (Slow Cooked Chicken & Brown Rice) 
Fiji: Fijian Creamy Lentil Soup (Dhal) 
Senegal: Cafe Touba (Senegalese Spiced Coffee) 

Colombia: Cañón de Cerdo (Colombia-Style Pork Loin Roast) 

Soul Food (United States): Oven-Baked Ribs with Cola BBQ Sauce 

Bangladesh: Shemai (Sweet Vermicelli Pudding)

Harry Potter Wedding Cake

Where are my Harry Potter fans??

July 31st (yesterday) is always a fun day for Potter fans, since July 31st is Harry’s birthday!

So what better day than to share this fun Harry Potter themed cake?

To make things even better, Tina from Squirrel Head Manor is hosting this month's Food n Flix and she chose Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!

Caprese Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

It’s time again for Food n Flix - the online club where participants watch the selected movie and whip up something delicious!

This month’s movie was Coyote Ugly, hosted by Kimberly at Coffee and Casseroles.

The movie Coyote Ugly is inspired by the actual bar/saloon by the same name.  As always, there are similarities and differences between the movie and real life.  The movie follows a small town girl as she moves to New York to follow her dreams to become a songwriter.  Her dreams aren’t as easy to follow as she thought, so she ends up working at the Coyote Ugly Bar where each night is a party, including line dances on the bar.

Patriotic Cauliflower and Beet Salad

*Disclosure: I received an advanced reader copy of All Stirred Up, courtesy of The Book Club Cook Book, Pegasus Books, and Laura Kumin.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This month, I got the opportunity to read an advance copy for the book All Stirred Up by Laura Kumin.

All Stirred Up provide a comprehensive history of the women's suffrage movement from the late 1800’s to the 1920s.  Plus, the end of each chapter includes recipes!  The recipes come from suffragists cookbooks and are accompanied by modern adaptations!

 I have to say, I learned a lot I did not previously know about the suffrage movement.  For instance, I did not know that cookbooks were commonly used to get the suffragist message to a wider audience.  The suffragists had a number of other fascinating methods of getting their message across as well.