Murder at Mansfield Park

When I first started to listen to the audible version of this book, I was glad the narrator, Phyllida Nash, had such a wonderful rich voice and interesting manner as I was not able to forgive Lynn Shephard for her abuse of Jane Austen. I changed my mind half way through the book when the book changed to a murder mystery. Suddenly, it all worked for me. I do love a good mystery and this one kept you wondering. It was one that I had not been able to figure out which also keeps me reading. I enjoyed the character of Charles Maddox who disgusts you in his crass personage at first but warms you with his knowledge of solving the unknown. I felt for him by the end of this book and happily his work continues in Shephard's second novel set in Dicken's time. Looking forward to it...

Happy reading!
Heidi

Crustless zucchini pie

Last weekend, Jos and I tried this recipe I found online. I made a few changes. It was so delicious and luckily we had a very large zucchini so we grated enough carrot and zucchini which are in the freezer ready to make another pie soon...

Crustless zucchini pie
3 eggs
1/2c (125ml) flour
1-1/4c grated zucchini
2/3c (150ml) grated carrots
1 onion, chopped
125g bacon lardons, fried to preference
1/2c (125ml) grated old Dutch gouda cheese
2 tbsp. olive oil

Grease a 9-inch pie plate. Heat oven to 350F/180C. Beat eggs in a large bowl adding flour until smooth. Stir in zucchini, carrots, onion, bacon, cheese and oil. Pour mixture into the pie plate and bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot from the oven.

Eet smakelijk!
Heidi

Belgian stoemp

I love trying new recipes but also trying specialties from various countries. I had some carrots and leeks and wanted to do something different with them so I tried out the Belgium version of our Dutch stamppot which is called stoemp. It was so easy to make since it is all thrown in one pot.

I also needed something that would taste good with the Beef Wellington I bought at our butcher. He makes them up when the weather starts to turn cold. They are so delicious and all you have to do is pop them in the oven. He makes his version with a very spicy meatloaf type filling instead of a piece of beef. It is something we look forward to as autumn starts.

Belgian stoemp for two
3 potatoes, peeled and largely diced
2 carrots, chopped in very small chunks
1 leek, sliced
50ml milk
50gr butter
salt and pepper
nutmeg

Peel and boil potatoes in salted water. When the potatoes only need about 5 minutes more, add the carrots and leeks to the water. (The carrots should not be so soft that they mash up which is why you add them later.) When the potatoes are ready, drain the water. Place the milk and butter in a small dish and warm up in a microwave. Now add the mixture to the potatoes, carrots and leeks and mash with a hand masher. Add salt. pepper and nutmeg to taste.

As you can see, we love pepper here so I added a good deal of freshly ground pepper over the stoemp before I served it.

Eet smakelijk!
Heidi