A thousand Facebook likes!

Gefeliciteerd!! We just reached our first 1,000 likes on Facebook and, as promised, we'll celebrate in a properly fashion! Stay tuned for more exciting news to come :-)


By the way, like the card? Check out the Simply Dutch website (www.simplydutch.com) for great designs, children's clothing and accessories, all from Dutch designers!

Spinazie met soldaatjes

The weather is starting to warm up (slightly) here in the Northern Hemisphere, enough to make me want to reach for my gardening gloves. I've browsed through all the seed catalogues that have been pouring in, placed several orders because I just can't help myself, and as soon as the temperature warms up this morning (it is sunny but still below freezing), I am going to venture out and start working the raised beds. Soon it will be time to start planting cool season crops! 

I am also really, really ready to clean the flower beds as I can see the tulips and daffodils tips poking out, but I also know that plenty of beneficial insects are still sleeping among the leaves, so I will give that a miss for now. But as soon as the days measure 50F (10C) or more for a week, I'm going in! 

Going through the seed collection always puts a smile on my face. I'm reminded of gluts of vegetables last season, some of the failures, and I am excited to try new things. One of those is spinach, perfect for early season growing. I can't for the life of me remember why I have never grown spinach before, and I am going to guess it's because, even though I like it as a vegetable, it somehow hardly ever shows up at the table. 

A quick look through my many Dutch cookbooks explains why: spinazie, spinach, is only featured in a few recipes: as a soup, in stamppot, or sautéed (with or without cream). Spinach was traditionally served with fish, not with meat. One traditional way of serving spinach is with soldaatjes, soldiers, which are fried strips of bread.   

Older recipes mention boiling the spinach with a little bit of chalk to reduce that odd feeling that spinach gives the back of your teeth. Eating it with an egg, or with cream, replaces the chalk. 

Spinach is a tricky vegetable to serve kids, right along with spruitjes and boerenkool, but made from fresh produce and with a splash of fresh cream, it may work just fine. And if they don't eat it, try the traditional Dutch approach of mashing the veg with boiled potatoes and a big helping of appelmoes, apple sauce! Works every time :-)

Spinazie met soldaatjes
2 eggs
2 lbs (1 kg) fresh spinach, although frozen spinach will work as well
1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 slices of bread, day old
2 tablespoon butter
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Garlic (optional)
Generous splash of cream (optional)

Boil the eggs in water, (6 minutes for soft, 8 to 10 minutes for hard boiled eggs), rinse with cold water. Let cool for a minute, then peel and slice.

Wash the spinach and remove any sand, any hard or root ends of the stem or wilted leaves. Cut the korstjes, the crusts, off the bread and cut it into strips. Melt half of the butter in a pan, fry the onions until they are translucent. Shake the water off the spinach and add to the pan, stir once or twice, cover and leave on low heat to wilt the leaves.

Stir the spinach. Heat the rest of the butter in a small frying pan and fry the bread on either side until golden brown. Taste the spinach, add a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir. If you wish, you can add a splash of heavy cream at this point, stir, and bring up to temperature.

Serve the spinazie with the egg slices and the soldaatjes.





Appelmoes

If you're not Dutch, or were not raised by Dutch parents, the fixation with apple sauce may leave you wondering. Most of us love our appelmoes, and it is very often a side dish to the main meal of the day. 

As children move on from puréed baby food and start sharing the same meal as their parents, their boiled potatoes and vegetables are often prakked together with pan gravy and apple sauce. It makes for a sweet-and-salty taste and a mushy texture, and it is great for masking the more bitter tastes of traditional vegetables such as boerenkool (kale), spruitjes (Brussels sprouts) or zuurkool (pickled cabbage). Most children will consume the sweet applesauce with their warm dinner and consequently, many an adult will continue the tradition, whether it’s with homemade applesauce or store bought. 

Children's menus at Dutch restaurants will invariably offer appelmoes on the side, and a very old-fashioned but oh-so-satisfying entrée to order is chicken with French fries and apple sauce. Kinderen Voor Kinderen, a Dutch children's choir, sang a very catchy tune about it: kip, patat en appelmoes. And it's a thing to dip your hot and salty French fry in the mayonnaise first, and then in the cold and sweet apple sauce. Don't knock it until you try it!

The weather is slowly cooling down and Fall is just around the corner. The apple trees are ready to share their bounty, so let's prepare some appelmoes! The sauce can be held in the fridge for a couple of days, or can be frozen or canned. Please follow your local Extension office recommendations regarding canning procedures.


Appelmoes
8 large apples (approx. 1.5 kgs) - preferably a variety of flavors
2 tablespoons (approx. 30 ml) lemon juice
2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar, optional
¼ cup (60 ml) water
Cinnamon stick, optional

Peel, core and chop the apples. Toss with the lemon juice. Add the apples with the lemon juice, sugar (optional) and water to a saucepan with a heavy bottom and slowly bring up to a simmer. Cover and simmer the apples until done. This won't take long so don't take your eye off the pan. Leave it chunky or mash it slightly to create a finer texture. Taste and adjust the sweetness, or the flavor of cinnamon as preferred. Freeze, refrigerate or can for later use.