Recipes
Flemmish Stew
Ingredients
- pounds chuck roast, trimmed and cut into stew cubes
- 2 (11.2oz) bottles of Oscar Oud Bruin
- 4 slices of bacon, diced
- 3 medium onions, sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 springs of fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1 Cup chopped parsley plus more to garnish
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
– Marinate the beef with the beer, the garlic, the bay leaves and a pinch of salt for at least two hours, or overnight.
– Drain the beef and reserve the marinade. Pat dry the beef with paper towels.
– In a dutch oven, heat the olive oil until pipping hot. Fry the beef in batches, until golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the beef cubes and reserve.
– In the same dutch oven, fry the bacon until golden and crisp. Reserve with the beef.
– Add the onions, a pinch of salt and fry in the bacon grease, until caramelized (around 10 minutes).
– Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes until the flour is cooked and the onions are coated.
– Add the beef broth and scrape the bits stuck in the bottom. – — Add the reserved marinade, the beef, the bacon and the thyme.
– Cook for 1.5 hours.
– Add the brown sugar, the parsley, some fresh pepper and the mustard.
– Cook for 30 minutes.
– Sprinkle some fresh parsley on top and serve with fries.
– Pairs perfectly with Den 12, Oscar Oud Bruin, Ferre or one of our numerous sours.
Sole Meunière
Ingredients
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 6 4-ounce skinless, boneless sole or other thin fish fillets, patted dry
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground white or black pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons clarified butter
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons minced parsley
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving
Instructions
– Heat oven to 200 degrees and place a large oven-safe plate or baking sheet inside.
– Place flour on a large, shallow plate. Season both sides of fish fillets with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge fish in flour, shaking off excess.
– In a 12-inch nonstick or enamel-lined skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons clarified butter until bubbling. Place half of the fish fillets in the pan and cook until just done, 2 to 3 minutes per side, then transfer to the plate or baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Add 2 more tablespoons clarified butter to skillet and heat until bubbling, then cook remaining fillets. Wipe out the skillet.
– Arrange the fish on a warm serving platter. Top with parsley. In reserved skillet, heat remaining 4 tablespoons unsalted butter until bubbling and golden, 1 to 2 minutes, then pour evenly over fillets. Serve immediately, with lemon wedges on the side.
– Pairs perfectly with Ename Blond, Gentse Strop or Antiek Blond.
Chicon au gratin
Ingredients
- 4-6 medium-sized Belgian endives
- 30g (2-3 tablespoons) butter (plus a bit more to butter the baking pan)
- Salt and pepper
- 500ml (2 cups) of béchamel sauce (see recipe here)
- 200g gruyère (or other good, meltable Swiss cheese), shredded
- 4-6 slices of best-quality cooked ham
Instructions
– Begin by removing any discolored leaves from the endive and trimming the root end. Place the endives in a sauté pan with the butter and a glassful of water. Season with salt and pepper.
– Allow the endives to simmer, covered, until they are quite soft, about 20-30 minutes. If you like, you can let them go longer, allowing them to turn a nice golden brown. Either way, drain the endives, root ends up, so that any excess water will drain off. (You may be tempted to skip this step, but don’t—otherwise, you may wind up with soggy vegetables and a runny sauce!)
– While your endives are braising, make your béchamel sauce in the usual way, and when it is done, add the gruyère, holding back about a third, however, for later. For extra flavor, you can add some of any cooking liquid left over from the braising or draining of the endives. (This sort of béchamel with cheese is called a sauce mornay.)
– When your endives are well drained, take them one by one, and place them on one of the ham slices, then roll the slice around the endive, covering it completely.
– Butter a baking dish just large enough to contain your endives. Arrange them neatly in the dish, then pour over the mornay sauce. Cover the dish with the remaining cheese. Dot the top with some additional bits of butter.
– Bake the dish in a hot oven (200C/400F) for about 30 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned and the sauce is bubbling hot. Let the dish cool off for a few minutes before serving.
Moules frites
Ingredients
Instructions
Gentse Waterzooi
Ingredients
– 3 stalks of celery
– 1 leek
– 3 carrots
– 6 firm potatoes (like Yukon Gold)
– 1 bunch of parsley
– 2-3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
– 2 eggs
– 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
– 6-8 cups of chicken stock
– 2 tbsp of butter
– salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
– Heat chicken stock and add chicken, let simmer for approx. 20-30 min on a low-medium fire until the chicken is done. Set aside.
– Cut celery, carrot and leek into very fine strips (‘julienne’). Dice potatoes into rough chunks.
-Take a large enough pan so all the broth and chicken will eventually fit, and sauté the vegetables and the potatoes in 1-2 tbsp of butter over medium heat.
– In the meantime, take chicken out of the stock and peel off the skin, discard the skin.
– Add peeled chicken to the vegetables & potatoes. Sift the stock to eliminate any impurities the chicken left behind, and add to pot with chicken, vegetables and potatoes.
– Add 2/3 of the cream into the pot, and simmer another 10-15 min. Season with salt & pepper, to your liking.
– In a separate bowl, add remaining cream and 2 egg yolks. Whisk together and gently add a bit of the hot broth one spoon at a time. This is called ‘tempering’. Keep whisking as you introduce the broth, to make sure your egg mixture won’t scramble. Keep adding broth until you reach a warm temperature. When the egg mixture is warm, take pot off the stove and gently drizzle and stir the egg mixture in the pot.
– Ladle in shallow soup bowls, and sprinkle chopped parsley & thyme leaves over the top. Make sure to serve some French bread on the side, as the broth will have you yearning for more!
Pairs perfectly with a Gentse Strop!