Yesterday my husband turned 28.
Those of you who count him as a friend will surely agree with me that he is wonderful. He is by far my favorite person in the whole world.
I wanted to make this birthday special. I had to think for a while about how to do this, because during the previous three years his birthdays had been quite special already - last year we were picking up my wedding dress and visiting relatives in Spain, in 2012 we celebrated his birthday in a whimsical castle on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Copacabana, Bolivia and in 2011 I took him to Edinburgh, Scotland for his birthday.
Unfortunately, we did not celebrate his birthday abroad this year, but luckily it does not take much to make my husband happy (unlike his restless wife, perhaps).
In the end, then, I decided to go with what I knew would work: I was going to shower him with plate after plate of homemade food (not literally, of course).
This is why I woke up at 4 AM yesterday morning to make my husband breakfast. The reason why I set my alarm at such an ungodly hour is because my husband leaves for work at 6 AM to beat the traffic between Amersfoort and Amsterdam. I had also chosen a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's book Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi, whose recipes take me a little bit longer to prepare than the average recipe, plus, my inferior knife skills probably do not help matters much.
With my pajamas still on I prepared a couple of very special omelettes.
I started by cooking some potatoes, spinach and saffron in a little bit of boiling water before adding lemon juice and raw garlic. The original recipe calls for chard but I could not find it so I used spinach instead, which seemed to work just fine.
I added fresh tarragon, dill, parsley and chives to the omelettes and made them super thin.
One of many great things about my husband is that he makes my lunch every day when I go to work. For his birthday I wanted to return the favor and so I made a secret lunch box for him with panzanella in it.
Panzanella is an Italian bread and tomato salad and one of our favorite dishes because it is easy to make, looks amazing and will taste better with time, although it can be challenging not to dive straight into it.
I made this dish one day before his actual birthday because the bread needs to sit in the olive oil and tomato juice overnight. It probably does not sound very appealing to eat day-old, soaked bread for lunch, as it did not to me either when I first read about panzanella, but you have got to trust me on this.
Alternatively, trust Nigella Lawon's judgement, because it is her recipe. Although panzanella is an Italian dish I prefer Nigella Lawson's take on it in her cookbook Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home since classic Italian recipes call for at least twice the amount of ingredients and time, while her version tastes amazing without this extra effort.
The dish looks bright and colorful and tastes even better - after a night in the fridge all the flavors have melded into a perfect harmonious whole.
During the evening we had dinner with Jochem's family at De Aubergerie.
This small restaurant on the edge of the city center in Amersfoort offers inventive seasonal dishes in its beatifully restored dining room.
Perhaps the menu is a little bit too oriented on French cuisine and a little bit too 'chef-y' (for lack of a better word) for my personal taste, but their beurre blanc was to die for. I think I might have licked the plate had we not been in such a formal setting.
At the restaurant I was finally able to give Jochem his birthday gift. I gave him a two-in-one blue Le Creuset pan that I hope he will enjoy cooking with.
But we are not quite done yet, because what is a special birthday for a special person without a special birthday cake? I needed something else - a pièce de résistance.
After the four-course dinner at De Aubergerie we were not unwilling but definitely unable to taste this birthday cake, but luckily for us it is a cheesecake and cheesecakes need to chill overnight in the fridge, says Nigella Lawson, and I tend to believe her in all baking matters.
We have made this chocolate peanut butter cheesecake many times already, but I knew it was the only worthy choice for my husband, who loves cheesecake, who loves peanut butter, and who, in general, prefers the boldest of flavors: strong black coffee, aged Scottish whiskey and caramelized ginger to name a few.
This recipe can also be found in Nigella Lawson's superb cookbook Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home. I did not change a thing about it because, let's face it: Nigella Lawson does not need to be disputed when it comes to baked goods - she knows her stuff.
You will need a 23-cm springform tin to hold the cheesecake and clingfilm to cover it with when you chill it in the fridge overnight.
A food processor is not a requirement, but will make your life a lot easier (not just when making this particular recipe, but for all your future cooking adventures).
Make sure that all of your ingredients have been assembled and are at room temperature when you start.
Begin by preheating the oven to 170 degrees Celcius.
You start with the base, for which you need:
* 200g digestive biscuits
* 50g salted peanuts
* 100g dark chocolate
* 50g unsalted butter
Put the ingredients into your food processor and press play. First smell the mixture, which is divine, and then pour it in your springform tin. Press it into the bottom and a little up the sides and then put it in the fridge.
Continue with the filling, for which you need:
* 500g cream cheese
* 3 eggs
* 3 egg yolks
* 200g caster sugar
* 125ml sour cream
* 250g smooth peanut butter
Repeat the steps that you took with the base: put in food processor, press play, then smell. Pour this filling into the chilled springform tin and cook for 1 hour in the oven. When the cheesecake is done the top should be set and dry, but underneath it may wiggle a little.
Take the cheesecake out of the oven so it can cool slightly while you make the topping, for which you need:
* 250ml sour cream
* 100g milk chocolate
* 30g soft brown sugar
Warm the ingredients in a small saucepan over a low heat until the chocolate has melted and you are left with a smooth chocolate mixture. Carefully pour the topping over the cheesecake and place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. When it is done, take it out of the oven, let it cool, cover with clingfilm and let it chill in the fridge overnight. If you can.
Nigella Lawson also mentions that when you are finally ready to eat the cheesecake, you should not let it get too warm, because that will make it difficult to slice.
This statement of a cheesecake can be kept in your fridge for four days and you will want to take your time with it. Nigella Lawson warns that this cheesecake is "not for the faint-hearted" and I could not agree more - you really need to be an advanced cheesecake eater to appreciate this one in its "unashamed indulgence," as she calls it. In this last image I held up the cheesecake to take the picture and it was HEAVY.
Enjoy!
Those of you who count him as a friend will surely agree with me that he is wonderful. He is by far my favorite person in the whole world.
I wanted to make this birthday special. I had to think for a while about how to do this, because during the previous three years his birthdays had been quite special already - last year we were picking up my wedding dress and visiting relatives in Spain, in 2012 we celebrated his birthday in a whimsical castle on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Copacabana, Bolivia and in 2011 I took him to Edinburgh, Scotland for his birthday.
Unfortunately, we did not celebrate his birthday abroad this year, but luckily it does not take much to make my husband happy (unlike his restless wife, perhaps).
In the end, then, I decided to go with what I knew would work: I was going to shower him with plate after plate of homemade food (not literally, of course).
This is why I woke up at 4 AM yesterday morning to make my husband breakfast. The reason why I set my alarm at such an ungodly hour is because my husband leaves for work at 6 AM to beat the traffic between Amersfoort and Amsterdam. I had also chosen a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's book Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi, whose recipes take me a little bit longer to prepare than the average recipe, plus, my inferior knife skills probably do not help matters much.
With my pajamas still on I prepared a couple of very special omelettes.
I started by cooking some potatoes, spinach and saffron in a little bit of boiling water before adding lemon juice and raw garlic. The original recipe calls for chard but I could not find it so I used spinach instead, which seemed to work just fine.
I added fresh tarragon, dill, parsley and chives to the omelettes and made them super thin.
I then spread crème fraîche on one half of the omelet, added some of the potato and spinach
mixture and then folded the omelet twice to get a fan-like shape. I did the
same with the other omelet, put both omelets in an ovenproof dish and let them
heat up in the oven at 165 degrees Celcius for 8 minutes.
The result was a very rich omelet with lots of flavor and different textures. Jochem enjoyed it a lot and told me later that it had kept him satisfied until lunch time.
So far so good.
The result was a very rich omelet with lots of flavor and different textures. Jochem enjoyed it a lot and told me later that it had kept him satisfied until lunch time.
So far so good.
One of many great things about my husband is that he makes my lunch every day when I go to work. For his birthday I wanted to return the favor and so I made a secret lunch box for him with panzanella in it.
Panzanella is an Italian bread and tomato salad and one of our favorite dishes because it is easy to make, looks amazing and will taste better with time, although it can be challenging not to dive straight into it.
I made this dish one day before his actual birthday because the bread needs to sit in the olive oil and tomato juice overnight. It probably does not sound very appealing to eat day-old, soaked bread for lunch, as it did not to me either when I first read about panzanella, but you have got to trust me on this.
Alternatively, trust Nigella Lawon's judgement, because it is her recipe. Although panzanella is an Italian dish I prefer Nigella Lawson's take on it in her cookbook Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home since classic Italian recipes call for at least twice the amount of ingredients and time, while her version tastes amazing without this extra effort.
The dish looks bright and colorful and tastes even better - after a night in the fridge all the flavors have melded into a perfect harmonious whole.
During the evening we had dinner with Jochem's family at De Aubergerie.
This small restaurant on the edge of the city center in Amersfoort offers inventive seasonal dishes in its beatifully restored dining room.
Perhaps the menu is a little bit too oriented on French cuisine and a little bit too 'chef-y' (for lack of a better word) for my personal taste, but their beurre blanc was to die for. I think I might have licked the plate had we not been in such a formal setting.
At the restaurant I was finally able to give Jochem his birthday gift. I gave him a two-in-one blue Le Creuset pan that I hope he will enjoy cooking with.
But we are not quite done yet, because what is a special birthday for a special person without a special birthday cake? I needed something else - a pièce de résistance.
After the four-course dinner at De Aubergerie we were not unwilling but definitely unable to taste this birthday cake, but luckily for us it is a cheesecake and cheesecakes need to chill overnight in the fridge, says Nigella Lawson, and I tend to believe her in all baking matters.
We have made this chocolate peanut butter cheesecake many times already, but I knew it was the only worthy choice for my husband, who loves cheesecake, who loves peanut butter, and who, in general, prefers the boldest of flavors: strong black coffee, aged Scottish whiskey and caramelized ginger to name a few.
This recipe can also be found in Nigella Lawson's superb cookbook Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home. I did not change a thing about it because, let's face it: Nigella Lawson does not need to be disputed when it comes to baked goods - she knows her stuff.
You will need a 23-cm springform tin to hold the cheesecake and clingfilm to cover it with when you chill it in the fridge overnight.
A food processor is not a requirement, but will make your life a lot easier (not just when making this particular recipe, but for all your future cooking adventures).
Make sure that all of your ingredients have been assembled and are at room temperature when you start.
Begin by preheating the oven to 170 degrees Celcius.
You start with the base, for which you need:
* 200g digestive biscuits
* 50g salted peanuts
* 100g dark chocolate
* 50g unsalted butter
Put the ingredients into your food processor and press play. First smell the mixture, which is divine, and then pour it in your springform tin. Press it into the bottom and a little up the sides and then put it in the fridge.
Continue with the filling, for which you need:
* 500g cream cheese
* 3 eggs
* 3 egg yolks
* 200g caster sugar
* 125ml sour cream
* 250g smooth peanut butter
Repeat the steps that you took with the base: put in food processor, press play, then smell. Pour this filling into the chilled springform tin and cook for 1 hour in the oven. When the cheesecake is done the top should be set and dry, but underneath it may wiggle a little.
Take the cheesecake out of the oven so it can cool slightly while you make the topping, for which you need:
* 250ml sour cream
* 100g milk chocolate
* 30g soft brown sugar
Warm the ingredients in a small saucepan over a low heat until the chocolate has melted and you are left with a smooth chocolate mixture. Carefully pour the topping over the cheesecake and place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. When it is done, take it out of the oven, let it cool, cover with clingfilm and let it chill in the fridge overnight. If you can.
Nigella Lawson also mentions that when you are finally ready to eat the cheesecake, you should not let it get too warm, because that will make it difficult to slice.
This statement of a cheesecake can be kept in your fridge for four days and you will want to take your time with it. Nigella Lawson warns that this cheesecake is "not for the faint-hearted" and I could not agree more - you really need to be an advanced cheesecake eater to appreciate this one in its "unashamed indulgence," as she calls it. In this last image I held up the cheesecake to take the picture and it was HEAVY.
Enjoy!
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