Goblin Surprise

2 portions Rice, 1 cup Any kind of stock, 1,2 liters (just water and two stock cubes works fine) Bring to a boil, and cook over a low heat until the rice is softened all the way through, about 15 minutes. Blend with immersion blender until smooth. Rant time: Every recipe for this I've seen so far has you boil the porridge for hours until the rice falls apart on its own. Trust me - no-one in any cultures where this meal is a staple would do that unless they absolutely couldn't avoid it. Just use an immersion blender. You can add any amount of things to give it more flavour. Garlic and ginger are popular to add to the stock as it cooks, you can also top it with any number of condiments. Chilli crisp or sambal, soy sauce, chopped spring onions, meat, or a poached egg all go well. It's a blank savoury canvas, go wild!

Vegan Champignon Stroganoff  2 porties - 25 gr. margarine - 1 ui, gesnipperd - 1 1/2 eetlepel bloem - 2 theelepels mosterd - 2 theelepels tomatenpuree - 1 theelepel gemalen karwijzaad - 1 bouillonblokje (groente of champignon) - 175 ml water - 1 bakje champignons, in plakjes - 1 rode paprika, in reepjes - 100 gram vegan crème fraiche - wat takjes peterselie, fijngehakt Bereiding: - Smelt de margarine en bak de ui glazig. Voeg de bloem toe en bak tot deze bruin wordt. - Voeg de mosterd, tomatenpuree, karwijzaad en peper toe, bak even mee, voeg dan het water en bouillonblokje toe. Roer tot een gladde saus.  - Voeg de champignons en paprika toe en laat 5 minuten koken met deksel op de pan. - Roer dan de crème fraiche en peterselie er door, breng op temperatuur, en breng op smaak met zout en peper.

May the new year bring peace and prosperity, I'm so lucky to have you all in my life. Today is the day for end of year musings. Though usually this is a cooking blog, it's also the best place I have to write long-form blog posts. I'll add a recipe for mulled apple juice as an apology. Mulled apple juice uses the usual spices used for mulled wine, just alcohol free. You'll need: Apple juice - 1 liter Cinnamon - 1 stick Cloves - 3 Star anise - 2 Sugar - 50 grams Heat the apple juice in a saucepan to just under boiling. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the spices, let steep for 5-10 minutes before serving. If you want to keep this around for longer, remove the spices after about 15 minutes or it'll get bitter. You can add other spices just as easily. The classic warm spices - ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, mace and (star) anise - are all great, but I'd suggest using mostly whole spices rather than powdered. You can also add lemon rind or orange rind...

For two portions (four pancakes) you'll need:  - Two cups of breadcrumbs - Two eggs - 1/2 cup (125 ml) of milk  - butter, ghee or margarine - topping, such as sugar, jam, syrup or chocolate spread 1. Mix the breadcrumbs with eggs and milk. 2. Heat your skillet and keep it to a low heat. Add fat 3. Scoop a ladleful of the batter into the skillet. You may be able to fit more than one, depending on the size of your skillet . 4. Slowly fry for a few minutes, flip and fry a few minutes more.  5. Serve with the sweet topping of your choice.  Another recipe to use up breadcrumbs. These resemble a cross between French toast and American pancakes.

1 tbsp of neutral oil 1 onion, finely chopped 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed 2 tsp ground laos (galangal root) 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground coriander seed 4 tbsp sweet soy sauce (ketjap manis) 2 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter 1 cup of milk or light coconut milk Heat the oil in a saucepan, fry the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and spices and fry until fragrant, then add the soy sauce. Cook while stirring until reduced by about half. Add the peanut butter, stir through, then add the milk and bring to a boil while stirring. The sauce will thicken as it heats. Add more peanut butter if it is too runny, or more milk if it is too thick.

This weekend I'm cooking at Exhumation, held at Chateau Dalheim, just across the border from Maastricht in Wallonia, Belgium. The chateau is relatively modern, having been built in 1912. It has since been renovated into a group accommodation - a bit of a budget job unfortunately, but the building is quite charming nonetheless. As you may expect, my haunt is the kitchen, located in the basement/lower floor at the back of the chateau. Since the building is built into a slope, the kitchen actually has windows looking out across the chateau grounds. The kitchen itself is pretty good. I'd rate it at 3.5/5 Goblin Ears. Highlight is a huge electric oven, spacious room and good supply of pans. It also has a separate dishwashing kitchen - WITH PROFESSIONAL DISHWASHER - on the ground floor. The basement cooking kitchen and the dishwashing kitchen are connected with an ancient dumbwaiter, operated with pulleys and rope. You'll also find three different coffee makers here - a Senseo, a...