• The often-criticized chicken fillets do not dry out at all when stuffed, and here is how to do it. Score the fillets with a very sharp knife like a pointed bread roll. Top with ham and herbs, fold closed. Secure slightly with a cocktail stick. Sprinkle the outside with salt and pepper.

• Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan. Brown the fillets with the rough side down, turn, and brown on the other side as well. Cover and cook gently for fifteen minutes, turning occasionally.

• Wash the snow peas, trim the ends if necessary, and boil for 5 minutes in plenty of water over an open pan. Drain.

• Keep the cooked fillets and snow peas warm.

• Pour the cream into the frying pan and simmer briefly until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the herbs, pour half under the fillets, and serve the rest separately in a sauce bowl. Garnish the snow peas with the whole herbs. Serve with bread.

Wine: Rosé de Provence.

 

Menu suggestion:

•  Starter: hollowed-out tomato filled with cooked shrimp mixed with mayonnaise and chives on a bed of shredded butter lettuce, sprinkled with plenty of basil leaves.

• Dessert: strawberries with bourbon vanilla sugar and fresh mint leaves.

• Mix flour and yeast in a bowl. Make a well in which you pour small dashes of milk, stirring all the time and finally beating the mixture well until it becomes a smooth batter. Whisk the egg through the batter, then also the sugar, salt and herbs. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave to rise for an hour at room temperature.
• Heat butter in the pan, stir batter and pour 100 ml from a ladle, shaking the pan until the bottom is covered entirely. Bake until the upper side is dry and small holes have formed. Turn and bake the other side a light brown too.
• Eat with melted salted butter and/or treacle.

 

Drink: A vegetarian friend of mine always drinks champagne with this Kroetkoek, I suspect in anticipation of what she hopes will follow. But ‘Brugse Tripel’ (a strong sweetish beer from the city of Bruges) is definitely in better accordance with the place of origin of this recipe.

 

* B.A. de Winne-De Bodt, “Confrérie van de Cruydtcoeck en het Begijnhof van Diest”, in: Academie voor de streekgebonden gastronomie: Mededelingsblad en Verzamelde Opstellen 16, Nr. 4, Oktober 1998, pp. 62-63. For the modern version see: J. Collen & J. Lambin, Oude gebruiken en gerechten uit Limburg, Antwerpen/Amsterdam: Helios/Nederlandsche Boekhandel, [no year, (1977)], p. 38.

 

• Scrub the potatoes thoroughly and cut them into thick slices. Melt two tablespoons of butter in a wide frying pan. Cover and fry over medium heat until cooked and browned, stirring occasionally. Finally, add some salt.
• Boil the eggs for 10 minutes in plenty of water, then cool them under cold running water. Peel and keep warm with the potatoes.
• Wash and spin dry the lamb’s lettuce. Place on a large platter. Sprinkle with cubes of peeled beetroot and spring onions.
• Just before serving, halve the eggs and place them in the salad. Melt the remaining butter with vinegar and salt. Place in a small bowl on the table so that everyone can drizzle some over the salad. Serve the fried potatoes separately, along with a bottle of vinegar and a salt shaker.

Wine: Beaujolais or Pinot Noir.

 

Menu suggestion:

• Starter: Celeriac soup. Bring half a liter of water to a boil with a crumbled vegetable stock cube. Cook small cubes of peeled celeriac in it until very tender. Puree with a stick blender. On the table, a small bowl of crème fraîche and a small bowl of finely chopped parsley as a garnish.
• For dessert: Cinnamon custard. Soak two sheets of gelatin (about 4 g) in plenty of cold water; take 50 ml of 250 ml vanilla custard and heat it to the boiling point in a saucepan with half a dessert spoon of ground cinnamon. Remove from the heat and dissolve the squeezed gelatin in it. Stir in the rest of the custard. Let it get a a thick, sticky  consistency (such as yoghurt) in the refrigerator; whip 100 ml of whipping cream until stiff with sugar. Fold into the thickened custard, leaving two dollops of cream. Transfer to dessert glasses. Let it set further in the refrigerator. Serve with dollops whipped cream on top, sprinkled with a touch of cinnamon.