Portobello mushrooms with goat's cheese and spinach

I've been in doubt for a few days whether or not to write this blog. Sometimes you cook up something that's so simple that a description of it doesn't qualify for the term "recipe". And yet I've decided to post this entry. Because maybe there's still somebody out there that doesn't know this dish or hasn't tried it yet.
It's a vegetarian dish, but you can easily add some meat (e.g. ham or chicken). It's not necessary though, as the goat's cheese and the pine nuts supply plenty of nutrional value.

For the record: I actually intended my roasted pine nuts to be this dark (well, black). I like it that way; there's more flavour.

Ingredients (serves 4):
4 large portobello mushrooms
150 gr soft goat's cheese (5.3 oz / 0.7 cups)
300 gr (frozen), spinach (thawed) (10.6 oz / 1.4 cups)
100 gr pine nuts (3.5 oz / 0.6 cups)
pepper, salt

olive oil

The first steps can be done well in advance:

Roast the pine nuts in a dry pan untill they've reached the colour of your preference. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F). Put the portobello mushrooms in an ovenproof dish (bottom up) and sprinkle olive oil on top. Cook the portobello's in the oven for approx. 20 minutes.

If you wish, you can stop preparations here and leave the pine nuts and pre-cooked portobello's in the fridge until further use.

Slowly heat the defrosted spinach in a pan and pour off as much liquid as possible. Add half of the goat's cheese and stir in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill the portobello's with the spinach and crumble the remaining goat's cheese on top. Finally, sprinkle the pine nuts over the cheese and cook in the oven for another 15 minutes (again at 200 degrees C / 390 degrees F).

Couscous-crusted salmon from Austria

Despite my recent statement about "rustic comfort food" I've actually made a rather elegant and sophisticated dish. Or at least as sophisticated as I can probably manage...

It all started with a small book my sister D. borrowed me lately. She and her husband are regular visitors of Austria (especially in the winter time, no surprise) and the owner of the hotel they're always staying in turned out to be the co-writer on this book about (modern) regional dishes in the Weissensee-area. Although much more posh than my usual cookery style, I decided to give it a go. The original recipe calls for trout, but - and here the author agrees - you can also use salmon.

I'm pretty pleased with the result and I'll definitely make it again. I only wonder how couscous made its way into Austrian cuisine...

Serves 4:

4 filets of salmon or trout

lemon juice

Noilly Prat

120 ml water (4.2 fl oz / 0.5 cups)

80 gr couscous (2.8 oz / 0.4 cups)

60 gr bread crumbs (2.1 oz / 0.25 cups)
1 teaspoon mild curry powder
1 teaspoon paprika powder
lemon zest
salt, pepper
400 gr fennel (14.1 oz / 1.8 cups)
0,5 liter vegetable stock (16.9 fl oz / 2.1 cups)
40 ml white wine (1.4 fl oz / 0.2 cups)
1 teaspoon dill
corn starch

Cover the couscous with the salted water and leave for 5 minutes. Using a fork, fluff it up, spread out onto a plate and leave for 1 hour. Then mix with the bread crumbs, curry, paprika, lemon zest, salt and pepper.

Sprinkle a little lemon juice and Noilly Prat (if you don't have it - just leave it) over the fish and make a crust of the couscous mixture on the upper part of the fish (press well). Heat a little oil in a pan and carefully fry the fish for a few minutes (couscous crust side down). Then place the fish under a preheated grill (180 degrees C / 360 degrees F) for approx. 6 minutes.
Clean the fennel and cut off the stalks. Slice in half and cut up in rather large chunks. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil and braise the fennel in it (this takes 15-20 minutes). Take out the fennel once it's done, add the corn starch to the broth and return the vegetables to the pan. Finish the fennel with the dill and white wine.
Place the fennel in a deep dish and put the filet of fish on top of it.

An introduction to Cook & Book

Well, basically this is much more an introduction to me, Riejanne. As mentioned in the header, I'm a 39-year old female, living in the small city of Arnhem (Netherlands). I'm the owner of Cook & Book, a book store completely dedicated to cookbooks (or more specifically: books on the subject of food and cooking).

I'm not a professional chef, just a normal home-cook. My lack of skills is compensated by great enthusiasm and fearlessness. I prefer to make rustic comfort food - do not expect any fancy haute cuisine here, that's not me at all.
As long as I can remember, I've had a thing for cookbooks, reading them the way other people read novels. A few years ago, after realising to be totally fed-up with my high profile business career, I decided to turn cookbooks into a living - that day Cook & Book was born. Life hasn't been easy since, but definitely much more fun! Now I finally get to do the things I love most: cooking and talking and writing about cooking and listening to people talking about cooking.
I hope you will enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it. Let me know your opinions! And remember...

"There is too much talk of cooking being an art or a science - we're only making ourselves something to eat" -  Nigel Slater