Chocolate Raspberry Truffles With Fresh Raspberries
Entered for safe-keeping. By Michelle Polzine, from “Grow”, Volume 1, 2009 by www.vegetablegardner.com. Prep time includes 1 hour chilling.
Poached Pears in Kriek
Kriek is a special Belgian beer which some say is reserved for consumption by the fair sex! For this recipe the Kriek made by Lindemans is recommended. This recipe is taken from De Vlaamsche Pot by Marie Cattoor.
Mushroom-Flavored Forcemeat Stuffing
From Ruth Van Waerebeek’s “Everybody Eats Well in Belgian Cookbook.” She uses it as the stuffing in her Christmas Turkey recipe, which I use on Thanksgiving. The stuffing takes a fair amount of prep (and those porcini mushrooms can be hard to find and expensive; I’ve started skipping them), but people absolutely love it. It’s got a rich, complex taste completely different from the traditional bread-and-herb stuffing. (I looked it up: Forcemeat comes from the French “farce,” to stuff. The forcemeat stuffing is more like a meatloaf.) This recipe is enough for a 12 to 14 pound turkey.
Fennel-Tomato Soup
A simple and light vegetable soup, great for lunch or as an appetizer. The fennel is complemented nicely with tomatoes, potatoes and a bit of garlic; even people who are usually not very fond of the anise-like taste of fennel might enjoy this soup. This recipe comes from a classic Belgian cookbook and I make it pretty often.
Belgian Shrimp Croquettes (Croquettes Aux Crevettes Grises)
From Ruth Van Waerebeeks’s “Everybody Eats Well In Belgium Cookbook.” Traditional Belgium shrimp croquettes are made with North Sea shrimp, called brown shrimp — small, and very flavorful, and not readily available in the United States. Ruth writes: “For a while I thought I could never duplicate [the traditional Belgian croquette in the U.S.] …. But with a little experimentation I achieved quite good results. Do avoid frozen peeled shrimp, for they have very little flavor and search out the freshest shrimp you can find.” The dish must be refrigerated at least overnight to allow yourself enough preparation time. (And DO read the directions through to prepare yourself for the time involved!)
