Two Belgians

Here is a post about a recent visit again to local restaurant De Twee Belgen (The Two Belgians). We went there last Ascension Day. No lengthy stories about what we ate there, just pictures and short descriptions.

Amuse bouche was a small cup of tomatosoup with a cheese twister.

Every time I eat here, I just have to have the shrimp croquettes as a starter. I'm sure they have other items on the menu, but come one, who'd order something else when you can have shrimp croquettes? Especially when they're the best in town.

Okay, maybe N's lactose intolerance made her choose oxtail stock with ravioli, stuffed with duck foie gras. Apparently, very good. Not as good as shrimp croquettes of course.

Since the asparagus season was in full bloom, we both ordered the special of asparagus, served with a poached egg and fabulous ham of a special kind of pork I've already forgotten. Served on the side were the infamous Flemish fries (whole different league altogether than french fries), though a bit on the salty side. And apparently some salad.

Service was swift since we had mentioned we were on a tight schedule because we wanted to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox, so we were amply in time at the cinema. Afterwards we had a drink at a bar and after that we even went to the fair, where I won N a stuffed bee, we had cotton candy and sugar coated nuts and I even lost some bucks on a dexterity game where you had to try to win a prize by making a stick push through some tight holes (sorry, I can't think of a better explanation). All in all, it was a great day!

Quinoa

Now there's a first time for everything. Today was my first time to sample some quinoa. N is still sick, so I decided to make some just for myself. I used beef stock to cook it in, and added some red bell pepper and feta cheese to spice it up. On the side a lamb burger to go with it.

It was a disappointment.

I read about it being compared to couscous or rice. I don't even like rice, but I know I'd pick rice over quinoa now. Maybe I didn't get the cooking method right, but the quinoa was still too tough. I also made the mistake of using one cube of beef stock (originally intended to be used with 1/2 L of water) on 200 mL of water to cook the quinoa in, resulting in way too salty stuff. I let it simmer for a quarter, with the lid on the pan just like I ought to.

The lamb burger was nice though.

Sunday Dinner

Sunday dinners usually allow me to spend a little more time on preparing the meal. This sunday, I made the dish above (or below, but it doesn't really matter of course, because they're different photos from the same dish).

I preheated the oven to 50^oC (122^oF) and put a steak in, and let it there for about half an hour. Meat apparently tends to cook at 50-60^oC (122-140^oF), but cooking at too high a temperature supposedly makes the collagen contract and thus squeezes out all the meat's juices, giving you a tough piece of meat. Therefore, cooking at a low temperature maintains the tenderness. However, it will take longer for the heat to reach the core of the meat, so you'll need to cook your meat longer. After cooking in the oven I fried the meat for exactly one minute on each side and let it rest five minutes, wrapped in tin foil.

I cut the meat to 2 mm slices and served them on top of a pile of fried mushrooms, which were put on top of a heap of napa cabbage (raw), mixed with some tinned corn kernels and a dressing of chili sauce and pickle juice (the acidity of the pickle juice cut nicely through the sugary richness of the chili sauce, and the heat of the chili saus gave it all an extra zest).

I drizzled two tablespoons of chimichurri on top, which I had made two hours in advance, using parsley, cilantro, two garlic cloves, balsamic vinegar and oregano perfumed olive oil. On top of that a nice hand of alfalfa.

Alongside it I scooped some leftover couscous salad, which was previously made with stock welded couscous, fried bacon rinds, garlic and herb olives, parsley, cilantro, deseeded, skinned and diced tomatoes and diced cucumber.

I must say, it was a nice experiment which turned out pretty okay. N. loved it and it looked quite good. Surprisingly, the flavours mixed quite well. The acidity and heat of the cabbage/corn contrasted the hearty flavour of the beef and mushrooms, which in turn were complemented by the freshness of the chimichurri and the alfalfa. A lot of raw vegetables made sure it was a healthy meal, together with the fact that we shared just one steak amongst the two of us - something which I never thought would do for a meatlover like myself :)