Top 10 Belgian cuisine

Serves 4 people: 8 firm, medium-sized tomatoes, 1 lettuce, mayonnaise (as much / little as you like), 600grams of grey prawns, salt and pepper.

Method

• Wash, spin and cut the lettuce into large pieces and put them to one side.
• Wash and cut a small section from the top of the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Mix the prawns with the mayonnaise.
• Add the salt and pepper. Stuff the tomatoes with prawns and put the small section of tomato back on top of the prawns.
• Garnish 4 plates with the lettuce, salt and pepper and put two tomatoes on each.

Serving suggestion: Delicious with homemade chips, a potato salad or simply with some toasted bread. 

Serves 4 people: 2kg of large asparagus, 2 pinches of sugar, 125 grams of butter, 3 fresh eggs, 1 sprig of parsley, fine cooking salt, ground pepper.

Method

• Peal the asparagus and cut all the stalks to the same length.
• Divide into 4 bundles and tie them together.
• Fill a large saucepan with water.
• Add the sugar and a soup spoon of butter.
• Add the salt and bring to the boil.
• Put the bundles of asparagus in the boiling water and cook for 20 minutes.
• Drain.
• Put the saucepan on a folded dishcloth.

• In a dish add the whites of the eggs and add some pepper and the finely chopped parsley.
• Cook the eggs in a saucepan of boiling water for ten minutes, peal the shells, cut into two and remove the yolk.
• Crush the yolks in a bowl, season and cut the whites into small pieces.
• Heat the remaining butter in a saucepan and add the egg yolks, stir together.
• Untie the asparagus and arrange on a plate then cover in the sauce. 

Serves 4 people: 250g of grey, peeled prawns, 60g g butter, 15g of gelatine (leaves), 40cl of milk, 5cl of crème fraiche, 3 eggs, 100g of breadcrumbs, 150g of flour, 1 tablespoon of maïzéna, 1 lemon, parsley, salt & pepper.

Method

• Soften the gelatine in cold water.
• Separate the egg yolks and mix them with the crème fraiche,
• Keep the egg whites to one side.
• Prepare the béchamel with the butter, 60g of flour, the maïzéna and the milk. Add the gelatine when the sauce has thickened (if you have opted for the lobster bisque, add 2 tablespoons of non-diluted bisque instead).
• Season with a little salt and generous amounts of pepper and then remove from the heat to add the cream and egg yolks.
• Mix in the prawns, check the seasoning and pour the mixture into a well-oiled rectangular dish.
• Leave it to sit for 12 hours in the fridge.

• Beat the egg whites with a fork.
• Divide up the paste from the fridge into sections.
• Cover them in flour then in egg whites, and then finally roll in breadcrumbs. 
• Allow the croquettes to sit for a few hours in the fridge (you could also now freeze them).
• To cook, put them in the frying pan at 180° C and serve with parsley and lemon quarters.

Serves 4: 8 Romaines (chicories), 4 slices of ham, flour, butter, milk, salt and pepper, nutmeg for the béchamel sauce.

Method

• Prepare a large amount of béchamel sauce.
• Add the nutmeg to season.
• Roll each chicory in a slice of ham and lay on a plate.
• Fill the plate with sauce.
• Cover in grated gruyere cheese.
• Put in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.

Serving suggestion: serve with homemade mashed potato.

Serves 4: 4 litres of mussels,  30g of butter, 3 shallots, 1 glass of dry white wine, 1 teaspoon of flour, parsley, salt & pepper.

Method

• Scape and clean the mussels well.
• Put them in a casserole dish with aknob of butter, chopped shallots and white wine.
• Cover the pan to encourage the mussels to open, over a high heat for several minutes.
• Mix 2 or 3 times during cooking. Once they are opened, remove the mussels from the pan keeping the cooking juices.
• Place the mussels in a covered dish and keep them warm.
• Put the juice on the heat. Knead 1 teaspoon of flour with the same amount of butter or margarine with a fork.
• Add the juice from all the cooking pots.
• Boil for one minute.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Pour over mussels.
• Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. 

Serving suggestion: serve with home made lightly salted french fries

Serves 2: 1 pheasant (emptied), 2 shallots, 1kg of chicory, 150g of salted lardons, 25cl of beer (Leffe), butter, salt & pepper, Optional: cream.

Method

• Brown the pheasant in butter.
• Throw away any burnt butter.
• In fresh butter, melt the shallots, fry the bacon and then add the chicory (endive) in whole leaves.
• Put the pheasant in the middle of the pot; add beer, salt and pepper.
• Simmer until the chicory is the desired consistency.
• Remove the pheasant, cut it and keep it warm. 
• Boil the sauce (with chicory) to reduce it, possibly adding a little cream to bind. 

Serving suggestion: serve with home made potatoes.

Serves 4: 750 g beef (beef bourguignon type), 3 onions, 2 slices of ginger bread, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, 250 g lardons (chopped up bacon), two slices of white bread covered in plenty of rustic mustard, salt, pepper, 10 pink peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, two 33cl bottles of dark beer (Chimay Blue), 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons of salted butter, 2 bay leaves, 1 sprig of thyme, 2 garlic cloves cut into strips.

Method

• Put the butter and olive oil in a pressure cooker.
• Cut the meat into pieces of about 4 cm and when the oil is hot add the meat to the pot to roast.
• Add the bacon and onions but don’t blacken them, they should stay blonde.
• Throw in the brown sugar and stir.
• Spread the slices of bread with mustard and place over the meat, mustard side down.
• Stir gently.
• Pour in the 2 bottles of Chimay.
• Cut the gingerbread into chunks and add to the pot along with the salt and pepper, pink peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme, garlic.
• Close the pressure cooker and cook on a low heat for 3 hours.
• It shouldn’t be in direct contact with the flame, place a heat diffuser between the flame and the pot.

Serving suggestion: serve with home made potatoes.

Serves 4:  25cl of chicken stock, one whole chicken or 4 chicken breasts, 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1 leek, salt, pepper, a little nutmeg, 20 g butter, 30 g of wheat flour , 1.5 cl of cream, 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon of chopped chervil.

Method

• Cut the chicken into quarters.
• Chop the celery, leeks and carrots.
• Allow the vegetables to sweat for 10 minutes in butter without letting them brown.
• Add the chicken stock (with fat removed) until the vegetables are submerged.
• Season and add the chicken pieces and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes until cooked.
• Remove the chicken and vegetables and keep them warm in the rest of the broth.
• Melt some butter and mix in the flour to make a slightly yellow dough.
• Add this paste to the broth and cook 10 minutes over a low heat.
• Arrange the chicken pieces in a bowl. Stir the cream into the broth.
• Drain the vegetables and add to the sauce. Do not boil. If necessary, adjust the seasoning, adding a little nutmeg.
• Pour this mixture over chicken and sprinkle with parsley and finely chopped chervil and serve.

Serving suggestion: serve with a dressed green salad.

Serves 4: 500g minced beef, 4 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1 onion, 4 teaspoons of mustard, 4 teaspoons of mayonnaise, 4 teaspoons of ketchup, 1 egg yolk, 3 teaspoons of capers , 2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns, 2 teaspoon of salt.

Method

• Finely chop the onion and half the capers.
• In a bowl, place the onion,chopped parsley, chopped capers, mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, egg yolk, Worcester sauce, pepper and salt.
• Mix these ingredients to create a sauce.
• Gently add the ground meat and the remaining capers.
• Carefully, mix the sauce and place in the fridge before serving quickly. 

Serving suggestion: serve with homemade fries and a large dressed green salad.

120g flour, 25 cl of milk, 10 g vanilla sugar, 100 g of melted butter, 4 eggs, 2 pinches of salt, icing sugar for decoration.

Method

• In a bowl, pour the flour, sugar, a pinch of salt and egg yolks.
• Add milk and mix to create a smooth paste.
• Melt the butter and add it to the mixture.
• Beat the egg whites until stiff and forming peaks with a pinch of salt.
• Gently fold the egg whites to the waffle batter.
• Cook the waffles immediately for 2 minutes on each side.

Serving suggestion: with a cup of hot chocolate.