Belgium

 Welcome to Belgium!  It has always been a dream of mine to go here.  Belgium chocolate...Belgium waffles...the beauty of Belgium.  Someday I will get there - I hope!  According to Google, the population of Belgium is around 11.5 million people (seriously - it said "around"!) and the capital is Brussels.  Their official food is...

 

 

Belgian Beer Carbonnade!

Seriously.  I thought it would be Belgian Waffles.  When looking up the food in Belgium and trying to find recipes, all I could find was waffle recipes!  Too bad we don't have a waffle iron...I also found several recipes for Frites, so I thought I'd give that a try. Their dipping sauce was an interesting one...  And lastly, I found a recipe for Speculoos, which is a spice cookie that is traditionally made during the holidays.  Well,  the Christmas season is upon us, so why not?!  They are traditionally put in a stamp-like mold to shape the cookies.  I didn't have this, so I just used cookie cutters :-)

Here's what I did:

Belgian Beer Carbonnade

2 lbs Stew Meat

1/4 C Gluten Free Flour (I used America's Test Kitchen Blend)

4 tbsp Butter

4 Bacon Slices, chopped

8 Garlic Cloves, chopped

3 Onions, thinly sliced

2 C Gluten Free Dark Beer (I found some local Porter GF beer)

1 C Beef Stock

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

3 Thyme Sprigs

1 tbsp Tarragon 

3 Bay Leaves

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Applesauce, for serving

1. Slice onions thinly and set aside with chopped garlic.
2. Salt and pepper the stew meat, and then coat with the flour (I did this in batches).
3. Melt 2 tbsp butter in your Dutch Oven, and brown the beef in batches. Set aside.
4. Cook the bacon until crispy.
5. Add the chopped garlic, onions, and remaining butter and cook until onions are caramelized (this took about 30 minutes to get a good carmelization).
6. Add 1 C beer, cook to reduce and scrape the bottom of the pot.
7. Return the browned beef to the pot, along with the remaining beer, stock, sugar, vinegar, thyme, parsley, tarragon, and bay leaves.
8. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium-low.  
9. Cook, covered, for around 2 hours, or until beef is tender.
10. To serve, serve in bowl with applesauce on the side.

(Source: https://souvenirfinder.com/2015/01/31/souvenir-recipe-belgian-beer-carbonnade-belgian-beef-stew/)

Frites and Andalouse Sauce

Frites:

5 Yellow Potatoes

Oil for frying

Salt

 

Andalouse Dip

1 C Mayonnaise

2 tbsp Tomato Paste

1 tbsp Green Bell Pepper, chopped

1 tbsp Red Bell Pepper, chopped

1 tsp Onion Powder

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

1/4 tsp Salt

2 tsp Onions, finely chopped

 

For the fries:

1. Slice the potatoes into fry shapes.
2. Fill a bowl with cold water, and add the sliced potatoes.  Let it sit until the water becomes cloudy, empty the bowl, refill with fresh cold water, and let potatoes sit again.  Repeat until water does not become cloudy.
3.  Heat oil to 325 degrees and add the potatoes, in batches, to cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Remove the potatoes from the oil and let them drain.
5. Once all the potatoes have been fried, let them cool completely (1 hour).
6. Heat oil to 375 degrees.
7. Sprinkle salt on the potatoes, and add them to the hot oil again, and fry to your liking.
8. Remove the potatoes from the oil, drain, and salt again.
9. Serve immediately with sauce.

For the Andalouse Sauce:

1. Mix all ingredients together and let it sit for at least an hour.  
2. Serve with fries.

(Source: https://foreignfork.com/fries/)

Speculoos

4 C Gluten Free Flour (I used America's Test Kitchen)

1 1/2 C Brown Sugar

1 C Butter, room temperature

3 Eggs

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tbsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

1/4 tsp Ground Cardamom

1/4 tsp Ground Pepper

1/4 tsp Ground Anise

1/4 tsp Salt

1. In a mixer, mix butter, sugar, and spices.
2. Add eggs, one by one, to the butter mixture.
3. Gradually add the flour and baking powder, until a dough forms.
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours (I did a full 24 hours).
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Dust a work area with flour, and pull 1/4 of the dough from the bowl.  Roll the dough with a rolling pin until it is around 1/4 inch thick.
7. Use cookie cutters to cut out cookies.
8. Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 10-13 minutes (mine took 13).
9. Repeat until all the dough is used.

(Source: https://www.196flavors.com/belgium-speculoos/)

 

  

The verdict?  I did not care for the Carbonnade.  It was bitter to me.  However, Handsome Husband really liked it.  I think if I was able to use a true Belgian Beer without getting glutened, it would have been MUCH better.  Someone should try it and let me know!  The fries were good - nothing special about them.  The sauce was interesting: It was very similar to a Thousand Island dressing, but had the sweetness from the chopped peppers.  I think it would be a good salad dressing.  The cookies were very yummy, and were similar to gingerbread cookies. We liked them a little bit better when they were a bit crispy.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of them before they were gone...Ooops!  They are delicious with tea as well.  The Nifty Niece and Neat Nephew helped with the cookies, and thought they were delicious with hot chocolate.

So the rating.  We are both going to rate the dishes on a scale of 1-10.

ME
Taste of Belgian Beer Carbonnade (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 3

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

HANDSOME HUSBAND
Taste of Belgian Beer Carbonnade (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 2

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

ME
Taste of Frites and Andalouse Sauce (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

HANDSOME HUSBAND
Taste of Frites and Andalouse Sauce (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 1

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

ME
Taste of Speculoos (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

HANDSOME HUSBAND
Taste of Speculoos (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 1

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

So there you have it!  Another country in the books!  Up next, the Nifty Niece is taking me just across the border to the Netherlands!  Hope to see you there!