Beef with chocolate sauce & peach purée

You're not a proper chocoholic until you put chocolate in a savory dish. Though I'm far from being utterly crazy about chocolate, I happen to have the odd craving now and then. This is the dish that came up when I craved chocolate AND a steak at the same time.

Beef with chocolate sauce for 2
2 beef steaks
2 knobs of butter
50g bacon
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
2 cups red wine
1 cup unsalted beef broth
2 tsp whole peppercorns
a few sprigs of thyme
2 laurel leaves
2 tbsp dark chocolate broken in small bits
cocoa powder to decorate

Heat the butter in a casserole on a medium heat until it foams. Brown the bacon. Remove it from the pot and set aside.

Finely cut the shallot and garlic cloves. Put the shallot and garlic in the casserole and cook until soft.

Pour over the red wine and add the thyme, laurel leaves and whole peppercorns. Take the bacon and place back in the pot. Lower the heat and let simmer until the liquid has almost dissapeared.

Add the unsalted beef broth and reduce again. When ready, pass the sauce through a fine sieve to get rid of all the bits and pieces.

You should now have a few spoonfuls of concentrated and flagrant sauce.

With the sauce well away from heat, drop in the chocolate bits and stir well to dissolve. The sauce will become rich, dark and glossy. Give it a taste - depending on the chocolate you used, you might need to add a teaspoon of honey or brown sugar.

Now it's time to prepare the beef steaks. Pat dry and season on both sides. Heat the second knob of butter in a skillet and sear the steaks to your liking. Let rest for a few minutes while you reheat the chocolate sauce. Do it on the lowest heat and watch closely not to burn the chocolate.

Slice the steaks, arrange on plates and pour over the chocolate sauce. Sprinkle some cocoa on top and serve.


The chocolate sauce also matches wonderfully with lamb or venison, so get creative and experiment. You can also make a larger quantity of sauce and freeze it until the next special occasion (just add the chocolate afterwards).

Sweet potato & peach purée for 2
2 orange sweet potatoes
2 fresh peaches
know of butter
bit of salt

Bring some salted water to a boil. Plunge the peaches in for a few seconds and then cool in a bowl of cold water. Now the skins will easily come off. Peel, stone and cut in quarters.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut in dices. Boil for 5 minutes, then add the peach quarters. Continue boiling until you can easily pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork.

Using a food processor, blend the sweet potatoes and peaches to a smooth purée. Stir in the butter and abandon yourself to the new taste.

This recipe makes 0.4kilos/person of pure goodness.

Grapefruit & lavender crème brûlée

I've been watching my big pot of lavender for about 3 weeks before I could decide on a great enough recipe to use the flowers in. By the time I made my decision, the buds were completely in flower which they shouldn't. I guess it has something to do with the flavour being more concentrated in bud form, but for this crème brûlée you only need a hint of flavour so flowers work just as fine. Besides they are more beautiful which is always a plus for superficial me.


Grapefruit & lavender crème brûlée for 6
1 pink grapefruit
2 cups heavy cream
7 egg yolks
3 tbsp cane sugar
6 - 10 fresh lavender buds
sugar to caramelise the tops (~3 tbsp)

Squeeze the grapefruit and place juice and any bits of pulp in a pan. Bring to a simmer and reduce liquid by half.

Add the cream and heat until bubbles begin to form at the edges. Remove from stove and drop the lavender buds inside. Let infuse for up to 30 minutes.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and discard the grapefruit pulp and lavender. They did their job in every way.

Blend the egg yolks and sugar until smooth.

Reheat the cream until very hot and add to the eggs one spoonful at the time. Stir well after each spoonful. Don't add all the quantity at the same time because the eggs will curdle and you'll end up with lavender scrambled eggs.

There are two methods of finishing your crème brûlée. One is to gently heat the custard mixture on the stove until it thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon (could take as little as 1 or 2 minutes) and then pour into ramekins. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

The other is to pour the custard directly into ramekins. Place the ramekins in a tray filled with water (lever of water should be the same as level of custard) and bake for about 40 minutes, until the edges have set and the centers are still wobbly. Keep in the fridge.

Unquestionably, the second method will yield a richer taste, but for those not lucky enough to own an oven like myself, the first method is a perfectly viable alternative.

Besides not owning an oven, I was always too lazy to invest in a torch and each time I find myself looking for peculiar ways to make the caramel tops. But the results look spectacular and the taste is the same, so why not?

Oil a big plate with lots of neutral-tasting oil. Melt the sugar on a very low heat until all crystals have disappeared. Using a spoon and some dexterity, pour a tablespoon of melted sugar on your plate in a spiral shape or whatever your favorite shape is. Be creative but remember the shape has to match the size of your ramekins. You might need to reheat the sugar a few times until you finish all the 6 tops, but the smell is nice and the activity quite enjoyable.

Keep the tops in the fridge until serving time. Mine have continued melting on a hot day and were quite hard to remove from the plate afterwards.

At serving time, place a caramel top on each ramekin and sprinkle with lavender buds. Yummy!

This recipe makes 0.15kilos/person of pure goodness.

Pineapple creamy pork

A superfast way to cook pork and a very tasty one too. Pork meat pairs exceptionally well with fruit and today's choice is juicy ripe pineapple, soaked in a luscious sweet and sour sauce.

Pineapple creamy pork for two
4 - 6 lean pork fillets (tenderloin is best)

1 onion, diced
1 knob of butter

1/2 ripe pineapple, diced

1 - 2 tbsp sultanas or dried plums (optional)

1/2 glass sherry/white port
1 tbsp fresh thyme

200ml cream

salt & pepper

Heat the butter in a skillet until it foams. Pat dry the pork fillets with a paper towel and sprinkle on both sides with salt & pepper. Sear on medium heat until brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same skillet add the onion (you might need a bit more butter). Turn the heat down to low. Gently fry the onion until it turns very soft, sweet and sticky, like an onion confit.

When the onion is meltingly soft, deglaze by adding sherry. Use a spatula to scrap the pan and displace any tasty bits that might have stuck to the bottom. Add the pinneaple dices and sultanas. Scatter thyme leaves on top. Return the pork to the pan with its juices and cook for 15 - 20 minutes. Add some water if the liquid evaporates too quickly.

Last thing is to add the cream, stir and taste. If strangely not sweet enough, you can drop in a dollop of honey.

Serve with rice, vegetables of your choice and lots of sauce. Delicious.

This recipe makes 0.4kilos/person of pure goodness.

59kilos.com appears in Brussels Unlimited

Just about one week after I started this blog, I received an email with a very attractive proposition: to talk about my life in Brussels. The interview would be part of an impressive project, that would span for 27 weeks and feature 27 nationals from each European country. I was to represent Romania - not a relaxing thought at all.

The interview day finally come, it wasn't as terrifying as expected. At the contrary, we spent a really nice afternoon chatting about lovely places in Brussels, about what it means to move abroad and how long does it take to call a new country home.

If you live in Belgium, you can read the interview in this week's edition of Brussels Unlimited, a magazine packed with lots of useful information. Or go online to Ana-Maria's blog anamariameets.eu where you can watch the video as well.

Mediterranean beef brochettes with parmesan polenta

What would be a sunny summer day without a barbecue? Try new bold flavours with this recipe that combines juicy beef with zingy fresh lemon. You can substitute beef for lamb or even salmon.


Beef brochettes for four
500g ground beef
breadcrumbs from 1 slice of bread
1 egg
1 small onion
2 tbsp capers
1/2 cup white wine
juice & zest from 1 lemon
handful chopped black olives
oregano
parsley
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper

Finely dice the onion. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and saute the onion on medium heat until it softens. Add the capers, lemon juice & zest and the white wine. Cook for a further 10 minutes, until almost all liquid has evaporated. Let cool.

Mix the the ground beef with breadcrumbs, the egg and the onion mixture. Add the olives and chopped herbs. Season well with salt & pepper.

Form balls the size of a walnut and arrange on a plate. Put them in the fridge for at least one hour - this will harden the composition and prevent your brochettes from falling apart during cooking. The longer you leave the flavours to blend, the tastier your brochettes will become.

While the meat is in the fridge, fill a pot with water and soak some wooden skewers. This way they won't burn on the barbecue.

Slip 3 balls on each skewer and barbecue until nicely brown on all sides. If you're unlucky and it rains, you can also grill the brochettes in a bit of olive oil, in a pan.

Parmesan polenta for four
300g corn semolina
3-5 cups hot water
1 tbsp olive oil or knob of butter
100g gratted parmesan
1 tsp salt

A good polenta takes time to make, but the good news is that you can prepare it way ahead and keep in the fridge until serving time.

What you'll need is a pot filled with salted boiling water. Drizzle the corn semolina really slowly over the boiling water and stir well. And when I say drizzle, I really mean it. The trick is to pour the semolina constantly and in a fine rain, otherwise you'll get lumps.

Lower the heat (almost to a minimum, or it will splatter) and keep stiring. You're going to be there for at least half an hour, but it's very important not to stop stiring. The polenta can stick to the bottom of the pot and burn. Add more hot water when necessary.

The polenta is cooked when it peels off the sides of the pot. The consistency should be creamy but some people like it firmer - it's up to you.

Now you can take the polenta off the heat and stir in the olive oil/butter and gratted parmesan. You can also add a sprinkle of dried mediterranean herbs.

If you plan to serve the polenta later, pour it while it's hot in an oiled baking tray. Leave it to cool. Later you can cut it in squares and heat those for a couple of minutes on the barbecue. It is also very good cold.

This recipe makes 0.4kilos/person of pure goodness.

Street style food at the Thai market in Waterloo

I found a flyer advertising the Thai market in a restaurant, sometime last year. As I had difficulties finding rare Thai ingredients in Brussels we thought we should give it a try.

Big was our surprise when we landed not in an ordinary market, but in a blooming garden crammed with stalls where countless cooks were agitating woks, barbecues and simmering soup pots. The fragrant smells instantly transported me back to Asia - and I haven't even eaten yet.

The quantity and variety of dishes on offer was unimaginable: spicy rice noodles soups, prawn stir-fries, coconut milk curries, Thai sausages and dried pork meat, dried fish, chicken & herbs salads, picked cabbage, pad thai, grilled meats, steamed or fried dumplings, sticky rice, fish cakes and a stack of divine desserts I never suspected the existence. Everywhere you looked there was yet another delicious treat to discover.

Needless to say, when we finally left, our bellies were aching but we were triumphantly carring a number of takeaway bags. The next day we were already fantasizing about going back for more supplies.

Some practical information: the market is held every first Sunday of the month in the garden of the Wat Thai Dhammaram temple. The action starts at about 10 in the morning and lasts as long as there are hungry people (till 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon). All dishes cost 5 euros. You can also shop for Thai vegetables, fruit, herbs and other foodstuffs. Sometimes, there are people selling traditional or handmade objects. People speak French, Flemish, English and obviously Thai. There are also special events involving music and glimpses to the Thai culture, so ask for the dates - everybody is very kind and willing to help. An upcoming event is Buddha Day on the 20th of June.

Address: Chaussée de Louvain 71, 1410 Waterloo, exit 26 from the Brussels RO ring. Parking is available at the Carrefour in front.

If you feel somewhat lost when you visit the market for the first time, look for friendly Mr. Sam. He will help you make sense of everything that's happening. His son runs a famous Thai restaurant in Brussels so he must know a bit about good food. He arrived in Belgium some 30 years ago and when he misses home, he comes to the temple and gives a helping hand with keeping the garden top notch.

See you there!

Strawberry jelly & vanilla panna cotta

Creamy panna cotta and sweet strawberries can only make a glorious summertime dessert. And they do, they do! It's been a while since something excited me this much :)

Beautiful things come indeed after a bit of effort. But big part of this effort is just keeping a close eye on quantities and proportions. Hopefully, now that I kind of settled on this recipe, your first try will surely be more successful than mine. The preparation should pose no problems, but keep in mind you'll need quite a lot of refrigeration time, so start early.


The one thing that might compromise this lovely dessert is using too less gelatin. The panna cotta won't set, you won't be able to unmould it and you'll be most certainly very upset. If you're in doubt about the quantity of gelatin you need, just use more.

Strawberry jelly
250ml water
50g white sugar
300g fresh strawberries
zest from 1 lemon 4g gelatin

Pick out the most handsome strawberries (count 2-3 per serving) and keep them safe. Mash the remaining strawberries into a paste.

In a pan, combine the water and sugar and boil until sugar is dissolved. Let cool. When the syrup has cooled down, drop the mashed strawberries inside and let infuse for 30 minutes.

Pass the liquid through a fine sieve, to get rid of all seeds and pulp. Now add the lemon zest.
Soften the gelatin in a cup of cold water for 5 minutes. Heat the strawberry syrup and add the gelatin. Stir until completely dissolved.

Chose the moulds you're going to use. I prefer flat bottomed ones, but any shape would do just fine. If you don't have moulds, use coffee cups or glasses. Oil them with a neutral oil, like sunflower.

Take the handsome strawberries and cut them in halves. Arrange the pieces at the bottom of every mould. Pour slowly the strawberry jelly on top. It should fill about a quarter of the mould.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.


Vanilla panna cotta for 6 - 8
400ml full fat liquid cream
200ml milk
50g white sugar
75g cane sugar
1 vanilla bean or 2 tbsp vanilla essence
9g gelatin
fresh strawberries to garnish

When your jelly has set (it should be very firm, not wobbly) prepare the panna cotta.

Mix the cream, milk and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Split the vanilla bean lenghtwise and, with the back of a knife, scrap all the seeds in the cream mixture. Add the leftover bean and let stand covered for half an hour.

Fish out the vanilla bean. Soften the gelatin in cold water, reheat the cream mixture and stir in the gelatin.

Let cool to room temperature. This step is very important: if you would pour anything hot on top of the jelly, it will just dissolve and all your hard work would have been in vain.

Last step is to fill your moulds with panna cotta mixture and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. It's a good idea to cover the moulds with cling film, especially if you have garlic lying around in your fridge.

Red wine syrup
1 cup red wine
2 tbsp white sugar
black pepper

Just before serving, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer until the liquid has reduced to a syrupy consistence.

Unmould the panna cotta by immersing the moulds briefly in hot water and turn upside down on a plate. Garnish with strawberries and spoonfuls of wine syrup.

Dead good.


If you don't have enough time to prepare this dessert don't just give up: make the panna cotta without the jelly. It's just as delicious.

This recipe makes 0.2kilos/person of pure goodness.