OF CARBONNADE FLAMANDE AND OTHER BELGIAN DELIGHTS

Carbonnade Flamande is a classic Belgian casserole, traditionally made with beef, onions and herbs, stewed in Trappist beer. Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist Monks (an order of the Roman-Catholic Cistercian Order). According to one of their rules 'ora et labora' ('pray and work'), that states that Trappist Monks have to spend a good part of their day doing manual labour to provide for their own living, as well as to help others, the beer has to be brewed, or brewing has to be supervised, by the Trappist Monks themselves within their Trappist Monasteries, or in breweries in close vicinity to the Monasteries. Amongst several other goods, they produce a variety of Trappist Cheeses, one of them the  Chimay 'Grand Classique', a fantastic, semi-soft, buttery cheese with a flavour of yeast or bread crust.

I have never been a big fan of beer, but with all the great beers in the world, I' sure this is due to my ignorance (and maybe my fear of a beer-belly... but seriously, have you ever heard of a wine-belly? Or a Champagne-belly?) But I do very much like Trappist beers. The famous Belgian Chimay 'Capsule Bleu' (= Blue Chimay with the blue bottle cap) for example, used in this recipe, with its beautiful dark colour and rose-flowery, spicy, caramel taste is a real treat.

BEEF AND BLACK BEAN BURRITOS

These burritos rendered me speechless... and that is not easy or often achieved ;-) We have a lot of black beans at home that need using up, so I googled a couple of recipes, this being one of them. It is a little elaborate and time-consuming, especially if you make your own tortillas and cook your own beans, as these will need soaking over night. I like to make things from scratch and learn about the flavours and techniques that go into a dish, but you could cut corners and use ready-made tortillas and tinned beans. I did cut one corner by using a jar of bought salsa that we had as a pre-taste for the weekend with Tortilla chips. I soaked the BLACK BEANS Thursday night and cooked them Friday night, so we had them ready to use over the weekend.

BLACK BEANS - AND A SURPRISE 'MEXICAN' WEEKEND

Black beans, also known as Turtle beans, are very popular in Latin American cuisine, but  can be found here in health food stores. Or in the 'black hole' back of my kitchen cupboard, amongst other interesting, exotic things, waiting to be remembered ;-) With only a little shelf-life left, so having to eat them sooner rather than later, but being a complete black-bean novice, I managed to find some fabulous recipes on the Web and ended up with the most surprising, delicious and mouth- eye-opening 'Mexican weekend'. 

HOMEMADE EGG PASTA

Homemade pasta. What is it that makes it so unique? Is it because it tastes better? Fresher? Or is it simply the fun of making and eating your own? For me it's both. I love the taste and texture - it seems a lot more eggy, elastic, which such beautiful consistency, it's almost as if you can never really overcook it. But also there is something so creative and rewarding about it.

Freshly filled hand-made ravioli... lasagna with homemade sheets of pasta... just try it once and you will be hooked, I promise. Well so was I, at least initially... When I first started making pasta, I would stand at my kitchen counter for hours and hours putting so much time and effort, love and affection into that dough: I was kneading it, and rolling it, and cutting it, and holding it (mostly to show it off) and all by hand... and all with so much looove... Then I got one of those hand crank pasta makers and hooray, all became so much faster and even more fun. Although with that, being an Octopus would have helped tremendously. How are you supposed to turn that handle with one hand, feed the dough through with your other and at the same time pull away the flattened pasta with your third? Who has a third? Luckily there were always those keen helpers gathering around the machine with their additional hands, and you could even have a nice chat with them.