Dutch Queen's Day Feast

Queen's Day is just around the corner here in Holland and this day is one of the few days of the year when you really see ALL dutch people wearing their Queen's Family name color proudly (Oranje -orange-) and showing their love for their country, so what better way to get in the Oranje mood than some typical Dutch snacks? 


Bitterballen 
Bitterballen are a savoury Dutch meat-based snack, typically containing a mixture of beef, beef broth, flour and butter for thickening, parsley, salt and pepper (this is also called ragout) rolled into balls and battered in a breadcrumb, milk and egg mixture and deep-fried. They are very popular on Dutch pub menu's, but also at birthday parties or pretty much any kind of reunion. For this day you can serve them with an orange dip sauce to match the outfits instead of the typical mustard. 

Ingredients:

• 300gr trimmed beef brisket, cooked and shredded (you can also use steak- finely chopped-) 
• 2 dl. meat stock
• 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 150gr breadcrumbs
• salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Melt butter in large cooking pan, add the flour and mix together, allow to cook for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the COLD stock slowly to this mixture to get a smooth paste.
3. Stir in the meat and the parsley and cook for a couple of minutes, add salt, pepper and nutmeg.
4. Allow it to cool and settle in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
5. Whisk the egg in a bowl, add the milk and oil and mix together.
6. Shape the meat mixture into little balls, dip them in the egg mixture and then cover them with breadcrumbs and let them rest in the fridge until you are ready to fry them and serve them (at this stage you can also freeze them)
7. Fry the bitterballen in a deep fryer or in a deep pan for 5  minutes, until they are golden brown.
8. Serve with mustard or orange dipping sauce.

Orange Dipping sauce
Great dipping sauce for bitterballen but also for chips or raw vegetables but it works great with tortilla chips too!

Ingredients:

• 50gr mayonnaise
• 1 small carrot finely chopped or rasped
• 50gr yogurt
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the carrot in a little bit of water until tender, drain and allow it to cool. Once cooled mix it with a food processor until smooth.
2. Add the mayonnaise and yogurt and mix well.
3. Add the salt and pepper and serve.

Chilled Bell Pepper Soup
This soup is not really Dutch, it has more to do with the color (I say it is Orange but technically it is yellow) than with the ingredients. However, Dutch people do eat a lot of bell peppers (they call them paprikas) so, in the end it does fit really good with their celebration of everything Orange!

Ingredients:

• 4 yellow bell peppers
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 750g yellow bell peppers chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons paprika powder
• 5ooml chicken or vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• Basil leaves for garnish
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the tops of the 4 bell peppers and remove the seeds, clean and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the garlic and paprika powder, cook for a couple of minutes and lower the heath.
3. Add the stock and chopped bell peppers and allow it to cook on medium-low heath for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the bell peppers and place them on a food processor with a little stock and mix until smooth. 
5. Stir in the paprika paste back into the pan and  add the sour cream, add salt and pepper to taste. (You can sift the paste if you want to make it smoother).
6. Allow the soup to chill and serve on the hollowed bell peppers. 
7. Garnish with 1/2 teaspoon sour cream and basil leaves.

Oranje Tompoes


This are typical dutch pudding cakes, they are served pretty much on every occasion, from birthdays to every day desserts, but on Queen's Day they are Orange (of course!) and they are sold EVERYWHERE!

Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks
• 25g all purpose flour
• 250ml milk
• 40g light brown sugar
• 100g powder sugar
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1 egg white 
• Pinch of salt
• Orange food color
• A couple of lemon juice drops
• 1 package frozen Puff Pastry (defrosted)

Directions:

1. Let the puff pastry defrost on flat surface, but don't let it dry out.
2. Warm the milk with the vanilla pod for 10 minutes making sure it does not boil. Once warm, take the vanilla pod out, take the beans out and place the pod back in the pan, stir well.
3. Mix the egg yolks with the brown sugar, add the flour and mix until smooth. 
4. Add 1/2 of the milk slowly while mixing and then add the rest of the milk and cook on medium-low heath until it thickens. Take the vanilla pod out and allow it to cool in the fridge, covered.
5. Mix the powder sugar with the lemon juice and egg whites for 3 minutes. Add the food color and mix well.
6. Preheat the oven to 220°C
7. Spread a little egg on the puff pastry and bake them for 10 minutes, take them out of the oven and peel the top layers of the pastry carefully.
8. Spread a thick amount of the pudding mixture on the bottom layers and cover them with the top layers. 
9. Spread the color mixture on the top to create a frosting effect. 
10. You can garnish with a little whipped cream and a dutch flag.

Tip: You can use the vanilla beans you scraped off and use them in any other recipe that requires vanilla:One vanilla bean equals roughly 2-3 teaspoons of vanilla extract, although if a recipe called for 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, I personally would go ahead and use the whole bean! With the empty pod you can make vanilla sugar: allow the empty pod to dry, chop it and place it on a cup of sugar, you can enjoy some vanilla-flavored sugar anytime!