Slow cooked beef with garlic, onions and bacon in Belgian beer – served with Dijon mustard croutons…….absolute bliss! I have eaten this many times on visits to Belgium and it remains a firm favourite, especially when eaten with piles of fluffy mashed potatoes and a glass of fine Belgian beer! This recipe serves two hungry people, but it can be increased to serve a crowd, and works beautifully in the crockpot too. (The recipe is courtesy of Cecile Loubaud and the Batham’s Brewery.) NB: Traditionally, the meat should be grilled on a barbecue – hence the name! The word comes from the Italian carbonate (charcoal-grilled).
Fast becoming a classic, Tartiflette is the perfect palliative supper dish for chilly autumn and winter evenings. This delicious, rich and hearty dish hails from the Alpine Haute Savoie region of France. For authenticity’s sake, try to get hold of a whole Reblochon cheese. Reminiscent of Camembert or Brie in flavour, texture and shape, Reblochon has the perfect melting quality for Tartiflette. In addition, as this dish can be prepared a day or so ahead, it could make the ultimate Bonfire Night or Halloween centrepiece! This is a truly indulgent dish, which is best appreciated after a strenuous morning on the ski-slopes — or at least a brisk winter’s morning walk. It is important to use a ripe Reblochon, preferably bought a few days in advance and left to reach maturity out of the fridge. For this to happen, it should be uncategorised. Of course, if you have a good cheese monger you will be able to buy one ripe and ready to eat. Serve the Tartiflette hot and straight from the gratin dish with fresh salad, crusty bread and assorted pickles. Edited to add: One reviewer made a comment that you should fry the bacon and discard the fat – it IS stated in the main instructions to do just that! Also, if your potatoes are not cooked after 15 minutes plus 25 minutes in the oven, you have not cut them thin enough – try to cut them quite thinly, as shown in all the photos. Reblochon cheese is a very STRONG cheese – do not try this recipe if you are not a lover of strong cheese! Merci:-)
My adaptation of Huey’s Italian version of the classic “hot” dog. Huey (Iain Hewitson) is a larger than life Melbourne restaurateur and chef who also features on his own extremely popular TV show. I have posted several of his recipes on Zaar.
Gorgeous spiced pumpkin scones with honey butter – what a treat for the tea-time table during autumn and winter. I have made these twice now and love the combination of the honey butter with the scones, although they are also delicious with plain unsalted butter. This recipe came from an Australian “Olive” magazine that was sent to me, apparently, Queensland is famous for its blue pumpkins where this recipe originates from – I added the spices as well as the honey butter! A wonderful recipe for the cooler months, but as it uses tinned or frozen pumpkin, these can be made all year around. If you don’t want to serve these with the honey butter, just split them whilst warm and spread with normal butter or cream. Mixed spice is a British spice mixture, I have a recipe for this on RZ: Recipe #266688
From Sasha Martin, Globaltableadventure.com, a truly amazing blog: “Carbonada en Zapallo is a traditional Christmas dish in Argentina, it also makes a wonderful dish for Halloween or Thanksgiving potlucks. It’s best to bake the pumpkin on something you can use for serving because trying to lift a softened pumpkin full of soup … well, let’s just say it begs to crack in half and spill everywhere. If this is not an option, roast the pumpkin on a baking sheet until well browned – about an hour and fifteen minutes, remove to serving platter and fill with completely cooked soup right before serving.” Check out her blog about cooking the world!
