"What I Cooked Today" Day 147

Well. After the champagne (enough said) and dragging my sorry ass home, I spent the entire rest of the day watching reruns of Dawson's Creek in my bed. It was actually kind of fun (minus the mind numbing motion sickness), although I wish Jochem had been there as well instead of at work in Amsterdam. I was thankful to have a frozen pizza available to me in these dire times, although, sadly, I forgot to take a picture of this meal. But perhaps that's for the best...

"What I Cooked Today" Day 146

Today Jochem and I traveled 'below the rivers' as we say in Dutch to celebrate Jochem's uncle's 50th birthday, so we had dinner with the in-laws and then feasted on champagne and appetizers all night (more so on the champagne than on the appetizers...). We did, however, had a wonderful lunch when Jochem prepared these breakfast tortillas based on scrambled eggs with spring onion and lots of typical fresh ingredients one would expect to put on a tortilla, including homemade guacamole. I wish I could have lunches like this every day!

Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

"What I Cooked Today" Day 145

Today Jochem and I cooked another meal with left-overs, although this one was a little bit more difficult to pull off and we really had to get back to the basics. We sautéed some garlic, onion and mushrooms with parsley first. Not having any cream, we decided to add some white wine and then some lemon juice. We served it with spaghetti, but not having anymore Parmesan cheese we used some of our normal cheese. It was pretty decent for a meal whipped up in 15 minutes, although you may not be able to tell from the picture!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 144

Today Jochem and I made dinner with last night's left-over ingredients. We cooked tagliatelle and served it with a homemade tomato sauce with lots of fresh goat's cheese and fresh basil. Whenever I feel lazy, I often make this pasta sauce because it's so simple - addings fresh goat's cheese gives it a crumbly yet creamy texture that is just to die for. Try it some time!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 143

Today Jochem and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary! For a moment I thought that we could go out to dinner, but in the end we decided that cooking dinner ourselves would be the best way to go. It was, after all, just an ordinary Wednesday night and we love to cook, after all, and this way we could spend a couple of hours together in our home with Bicho and Manchego. We started the meal with a little Prosecco topped with fresh lemon fruit. We then proceeded to cook the following, appropriate 4-course meal (inspired by fall flavors, because, say all you want about the fall, food-wise it's the absolute best, at least in my culinary book):

For the first course, we cooked what Jamie Oliver refers to as a mothership tomato salad: a tomato salad with LOTS of sea salt, black pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Top this with fresh chilis, basil and mozzarella cheese and you're good to go!

Source: Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver

For the second course, we cooked a simple mushroom dish with mozzarella cheese and thyme. It basically comes down to putting all of the ingredients into a baking tray and putting it into the oven. It was a delicious golden oldie!

Source: Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver



For the third course, we cooked something totally new: a game ragù made from deer and rabit served over tagliatelle with orange zest, parsley and Parmesan cheese. It had to stew in the oven for 90 minutes, so you know that it was good!

Source: Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver



For the fourth course we cooked another golden oldie: chocolate rocks with nuts, seeds and chili. We had this on the couch with green ginger tea while watching Top Chef!

Source: Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver

"What I Cooked Today" Day 142

Sure, it's September, and sure, it's the Netherlands. It rains. But this is crazy! From the moment I woke up till now it hasn't stopped raining for a second. I came home after a long day at work fully drenched. Luckily I came home to a warm apartment where Jochem had made me dinner in the form of a zuccini and tomato tart. What made it so delicious was the lemon zest at the bottom, although next time we're thinking of adding some pancetta as well.

Source: Jamie Magazine Issue 12 August/September 2010

"What I Cooked Today" Day 141

Today Jochem cooked me lasagna leaves with a creamy spinach sauce, fresh goat's cheese and roasted pine nuts for dinner. It was simple, fast and delicious and I wish we had more!

Source: Jamie Magazine Issue 12 August/September 2010

"What I Cooked Today" Day 140

Usually I try to cook something new and exciting during the weekends, but today I had no energy for anything new and decided to make an old classic: tofu tandoori. To make it a little bit extra special, I also made a Japanese cucumber salad with coriander, mint and ginger rice wine vinegar.

Source: Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

"What I Cooked Today" Day 139

Today I didn't cook because Jochem and I were in Veghel to celebrate with the in-laws. Okke and Loes had arranged a LOT of tasty treats to celebrate their birthdays and housewarming, and we gladly enjoyed it all!

"What I Cooked Today" Day 138

Today Jochem and I cooked a classic Sicilian pasta dish with sardines. In hindsight, it would've been a much better dish had we used fresh sardines instead of tinned ones, but one can't be perfect in the kitchen every day, especially not when it's a late Friday night. Jochem did most of the actual cooking and prepared the sardines with fennel, onion, pine nuts, raisins and lemon zest. He only added one chili and of course I used some spicy olive oil, but it was a very hot dish for some reason. The flavors were really interesting: there was the overwhelming presence of the sardines, the acidity of the lemon, the sweetness of the raisins and the fattiness of the pine nuts. An interesting Friday night experiment, I'd say.

Source: Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver