European cuisine from home
Travel by cooking these amazing recipes from all over Europe
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While travelling is of course the ideal way to taste a country's local cuisine, cooking some great dishes at home can take you to your preferred destination through your tastebuds. We've listed 4 great recipes for you, from the home countries of our amazing colleagues. So pre-heat your oven, grab a mixing bowl and get ready for a taste of Europe from your kitchen.
Italian Tiramisu
The chance you've never eaten a piece of tiramisu before is slim. This dessert is the classic of classics! And very, very yummy too (and we need some yummy goodness in our lives these days). So, when you go out for groceries again, make sure to get these ingredients in your basket, one way or another.
When it's time to dig in, turn on some Italian music, close your eyes, and take that first bite. You just might find yourself sitting in a restaurant in Italy...
- A Classic Tiramisu
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Ingredients
- 500 grams of Italian mascarpone – Optimus brand is great, but any Italian mascarpone will do
- 4 eggs
- 60 grams of sugar
- Italian savoiardi cookies
- Italian moka coffee (or an espresso or extra strong coffee)
- Unsweetened cocoa
Materials
- Mixing bowl
- Hand mixer
- Dish
Instructions
1. In a bowl, put egg yolks and sugar. Whip fast with hand mixer to thicken. Then, spoon by spoon fold in mascarpone. Stir slowly and always in the same direction, preferably clockwise. Mixture should be a little softer than the consistency of mayonnaise.
2. Whip the egg whites and add them to the mascarpone cream with a spoon, stirring from bottom to top. You don't have to add all the egg whites, just a little bit until the colour is becoming more white and the consistency is soft.
3. On a small plate, pour your moka or other strong coffee. Quickly dip each side of the biscuits in the coffee (do not completely soak them), then add a layer of the soaked biscuits to the bottom of your serving dish. Top with a layer of the mascarpone mixture. Repeat the this for two/three times (depending on the size of your dish).
4. Cover and rest in fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
5. Before serving, sprinkle the unsweetened cacao on the top.
Jacket potato
A popular dish in the UK is the Jacket Potato (you may also know it as a baked potato). It all starts off with baking a nice big potato in the oven, after which you can stuff it with whatever you want! Could be with your favourite stew, a side of coleslaw, lots of cheese and sour cream, among many other great toppings.
Some well loved British versions are jacket potatoes stuffed with tuna mayonaise, chili con carne, various curries and of course beans!
So get creative and create your version of a jacked potato:
- The Jacket Potato
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Ingredients
- Big potatoes, as many as you want to bake
- Olive oil
- Pinch of salt
- Stuffing and toppings of choice
Materials
- Fork
- Oven at 200°C / 390F / 180C fan / gas 6
Instructions
1. Turn on your oven and let it warm up to the temperature or setting mentioned above. In the meantime, prick your potatoes all over with the fork. If you don't do this, the potatoes might 'explode' in the oven.
2. Optional: rub some olive oil on the potatoes and sprinkle some salt on them.
3. Pop them in the oven for 1 hour / 1 hour 15 minutes. You'll know they are cooked when you can very easily stick a fork or pin into them.
4. When they're cooked, take them out of the oven. Let them cool a little bit before you cut a cross on the top of the potatoes and open them up a bit.
5. Stuff the potatoes with your stuffing of choice and enjoy!
Suggestion
You can also 'slow bake' your potatoes. Turn the heat of the oven down a bit, and increase the baking time (to 2 - 2,5 hours). This way the potatoes will have a more crispy skin, yum!
Dutch Pancakes
In the Netherlands we love to make ourselves a nice stack of pancakes (we call them 'pannenkoeken') every now and then. Whether you eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner, you can't go wrong ;).
The good thing is, it's basically impossible not to like pannenkoeken! You can put (almost) everything in or on your pancake(s). Think sweet, with fruits, syrup and chocolate, or if you're more of a savoury kinda gal, put some veggies, cheese or meat. It's all up to you!
Let's get you started with the recipe for the basic pancake:
- Dutch Pancakes: regular and vegan version
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Ingredients (for around 8 pancakes)
- 300 grams of flour
- 1 big or 2 small eggs (no eggs necessary for vegan version, or sub for a flax or chia egg)
- 500/600 ml of milk (use unsweetened plant based milk if vegan)
- Pinch of salt
- Butter for baking (vegan butter or some coconut oil if vegan)
Materials
- Big bowl
- Whisk
- Big (soup) spoon
- Pan
Instructions
1. Put the flour in a big bowl and add the salt. Add in the eggs and mix them together with the flour. Then slowly start adding the milk while whisking everything together. You have to end up with a smooth batter. Add some extra milk if you feel like your batter is still too thick.
2. Heat up some butter in the pan, add one big spoonful of the batter and spread it out in the pan. Let it sit until the batter on the top is 'dry', then flip the pancake and bake until it's brown.
For a 'stuffed' pancake:
If you want to 'fill' your pancake, for example with some slices of apple, grated cheese, or bacon, make sure to add that on to the pancake before it gets 'dry'. Then, once the top is 'dry', flip the pancake and bake until its brown on that side as well. Make sure your additions don't burn.
3. Add your favourite toppings and eat up!
Serving suggestions:
In the Netherlands we love our pancakes with 'stroop' (syrup), but powdered sugar, chocolate spread, strawberries and of course 'hagelslag' (chocolate sprinkles) are always a good choice as well.
Of course we also love savoury. A few favourites are 'pannenkoeken met spek' (pancakes with bacon), but we also add cheese, mushrooms, onion, salami and many more savoury things. Everything is possible :).
TIP: baking pancakes until your batter is finished might take a while. Keep your pancakes warm.
Put some water in a pot and bring it to a boil, then bring it to a simmer. On top of the pan, put a big plate with some aluminum foil (big enough to cover the pancakes). Put the finished pancakes in between the foil on the plate and they will still be warm when you're ready to eat them!
Bulgarian Banitsa
One of Bulgaria's most famous dishes has to be the banitsa - a beautiful pie filled with a mixture of yoghurt, eggs and feta cheese. You'll find this version almost everywhere in the country!
If this is not enough, then fill it up with plenty of other ingredients as well, like spinach, pumpkin and other cheeses. Or, satisfy your sweet tooth by filling it with apples, walnuts and raisins, or any other mixture of sweet ingredients. It's all up to you.
- The Bulgarian Banitsa
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Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 500 grams of plain whole milk yoghurt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100 ml oil
- 400 grams of feta cheese
- 1 pack phyllo dough (could also be called filo pastry/dough)
Materials
- Bowl
- Whisk
- Oven
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease a large pan with a tablespoon of oil.
2. Start by preparing the filling first. Whisk the eggs, yoghurt, baking powder and oil in a medium bowl.
3. Unroll the phyllo dough and prepare it sheet by sheet. Spread the mixture over the sheet, crumble in some feta cheese, and roll the filled sheet into a "sausage" shape. Place it on the baking tray, starting from the outer side of the tray. Repeat with the rest of the sheets, liquid and cheese, placing the rolls into a spiral-shaped form. If you have a rectangular pan, you can place the rolls in a shape that fills the shape of your pan. Pour the remaining mix on top.
4. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden-brown.