Brunch

A lot of blogging is due, but I have to find the time. So, for now, just two pics of a nice Sunday brunch at Le Passiflore in Ixelles.

Two old ladies' feet at the table next to us.

Apple pie

So many nuts


- huge ones -


and so many chestnuts!


But this post is about apples. Also huge ones - boscoop, a sour variety meant for cooking - from my mother's garden, which I used to make a pie. I follow my friend K.'s simple and delicious recipe. It has lots of fruit and only a little bit of pastry around it.

2 eggs
125 g sugar
125 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
750 g apples
a bit of dried raisins
butter

Separate the egg whites from the yolks and beat the whites.
Then beat the yolks with half the amount of sugar until you get a creamy and light coloured mix.
Add the egg whites.
Mix baking powder and cinnamon into the flour and add this to the egg whites.
Peel the apples, remove the cores and cut them into pieces.
Add them to the mixture together with the raisins and mix well.
Grease a pie dish with butter and add a little flour.
Add the mixture.
Sprinkle the remainder of the sugar on top and add a few pieces of butter.
Bake in the oven for 50 min at 180° C.

The pie was eaten by candle light in a cosy appartment ;-)

Note: I added a bit of rum.

Chestnuts again

Tonight I prepared my first chestnuts of the season, hooray!
A simple soup to start with, using a previous recipe, with slightly different ingredients.

I used patisson from my mother's garden and also shallot and leek.

Pears with star anise

My mother gave me pears from her garden, a special variety called St-Rémi, which you need to cook. I was inspired by labelga's recipe for stewed pears with star anise and cardamom.
I left out the sugar as she recommended and added honey instead.
I also left out the cinnamon as I wasn't sure how this would combine with the other spices, and used bigger quantities of those.

4 pears
2 star anise
5 pieces of cardamom
2 tsp honey

Peel the pears, remove stalks and cores, and cut them in pieces.
Put them in a pan with a bit of water (they should not be completely covered) with spices and honey. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for 45 min.

Birdies and beans

More and more birds are showing up on the crane outside my window.

And where's the royal palace?

Tonight I made another butter bean casserole, with a few adjustments to the recipe:
I added carrot and bay leaves when boiling the beans for the first time.
In the second part I used shallot, carrot, yellow pepper, courgette, potato and celery as vegetables. I only let it simmer for 20 min, until the vegetables were soft.