Cheese Croquettes

This is a video of Fans of Flanders, a program about Flanders Belgium.They will show you how to make cheese croquettes. Here's my recipe.

Ingredients:
- 80 g butter
- 85 g flour
- 200 ml milk (add more if it's too thick)
- 4 tbls Affligem Tripel (or just use some white wine)
- 2 separated eggs to coat the cheese croquettes
- 125 g grated cheese (preferably Old Bruges)
- Breadcrumbs
- Salt and pepper
- Nutmeg
- Frying oil

Melt the butter and add flour. Cook it for 1 minute.
Add the milk, then the Affligem Tripel.
Add salt and pepper.
Add nutmeg.
Add cheese.

Then pour it in a casserole dish and put it in the fridge for 2 hours.
Afterwards you cut them into large pieces and coat them with the eggs.

Here's how to coat them:
Roll them in the egg white.
Roll them in the breadcrumbs.
Roll them in the egg yolk.
Roll them in the breadcrumbs.

Then place them in the fridge for half an hour and then deep fry it at 180 °C.

Brazilian Cheese Bread

Something I've never heard of before, until the World Cup of Soccer 2014 started. Apparently these balls are a delicacy in Brazil. They are called Pão de Queijo.

You will only need 4 ingredients:
- 100 g glutinous rice flour
- 100 ml milk
- 50 g parmezan
- 1/2 table spoon oil

First mix the rice flour with the milk..
Then mix it with oil and parmezan.
Then bake it in a 180 °C oven.

That's it.

Now let's try if it's edible...

Kaasbroodje

A "kaasbroodje" is a dutch speciality (especially those from Panos are really great) and is actually cheese with roux wrapped in crispy puff pastry. It's one of my favourite snacks.

To produce the cheese-milk-flour-butter mixture I used this recipe from Fans of Flanders.
In this video you see how they make "Cheese Croquettes". But instead of making a cheese croquette, you make a "kaasbroodje" in puff pastry.

To make the cheese mixture do this:
- cook some flour with butter
- add milk
- add white wine
- add cheese (e.g. Old Bruges Cheese or Leerdammer)

Make sure you add enough flour to the butter to make a pretty thick pastry. Cook the roux long enough to get rid of the flour taste. Add the milk until the pastry gets smooth, but stays thick. Then add some wine and then some cheese. There are no recipes for this, just experiment, it's not that difficult. Don't forget to season with pepper and salt.

Then wrap the cheese mixture into some puff pastry and bake it at 180 °C in the oven.

Cheesecake

My project today will be Cheesecake. For New York Cheesecake go here.

Here's how a professional cook makes it:

But here's an easier version: I got this recipe from a colleague of mine and it's pretty easy to make.

You will need:
- 200 g of sugar (I'm going to use 150 g because I don't like it to be so sweet)
- 125 g of butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 pod of vanille
- 2 tea spoons of pudding powder
- lime juice
- 500 g of full farmer's cheese (which is basically thick yoghurt with a lot of fat)
- crumb pastry

Make sure everything is at room temperature!!! Otherwise you will get lumps.

1) Put the sugar, butter, vanille, pudding powder in a bowl.
2) Add 1 egg and mix it
3) Add 1 egg and mix it again
4) Add 1 egg and mix it again till it is smooth
5) Add the lime juice to it (don't forget to taste the mixture)
6) Add the farmer's cheese
7) Put the mixture in your crumb pastry
8) Bake it at 180° C for 55 minutes
9) Let it cool down
10) Put it in the fridge

This is the result after baking:

And this is the result after a day in the fridge:

=> Eat!