In Bruges...and Beyond!

On our full day in Bruges, we had a lot we wanted to accomplish, but there's always time for meals on vacation so we wandered the town, looking for a place to eat breakfast. Breakfast isn't the same in Belgium as it is back home, so when we sat down at Miss Ellie's tea room, and ordered omelettes, they informed us that it was normally a lunchtime menu item. Well, we were both starved (after 13 hours of much-needed sleep), and they were willing to serve it to us anyway, so we went with it! This might have been the best omelette I've ever had! Fluffy, cheesy, and seasoned perfectly, this one totally hit the spot! Our coffees even came with little Belgian chocolates! This place is a winner!!

We then ventured to the bell tower in the center of Bruges for a mid-morning climb and a view of the whole city. After this excursion, as well as a few cathedrals, it was time for a late lunch. We approached one of the many bars with outdoor seating, since it was just lovely outside, and he informed us that they served three things: lasagna Bolgonese, spaghetti Bolognese, and ham and cheese. Well, okay, a spaghetti and a lasagna it is! Along with a beer, this meal hit the spot. I never order lasagna in restaurants but this one was just delicious!

We continued on, shopping and sight-seeing some more but then, I had an idea. The #2-rated restaurant in Bruges, according to TripAdvisor, is a wonderful little tearoom called Bittersweet, and I wanted to make a point of visiting it before we left. They make their hot chocolate in a very unique way, and it is just divine!! They brought us two cups of steamed milk, in Bodum thermal cups. Alongside the milk were two chocolate tulips, filled with thin pieces of more chocoloate. The woman explained what we must do: drop the tulip into the milk, and when it sinks all the way to the bottom, stir, stir, stir! I ordered dark chocolate, and my husband ordered milk chocolate, so our drinks tasted very different. The dark chocolate was richer, yet a bit less sweet with the purer of the chocolate grades. The were both, however, very rich and totally delicious! I don't think any other hot chocolate will ever compare!

My husband also ordered another waffle, with homemade chocolate sauce to pour on top! YUM!!!

A few hours later, we stumbled upon a gathering of bars that we hadn't seen before, and one of them boasted "Moules + Frites" for 10 euros (we couldn't leave Belgium without having mussels, we were told!!). Everywhere else seemed to be charging an arm and a leg for them so this seemed like a great deal! We sat ourselves, as seems to be the custom in Bruges, and ordered beers (of course) as well as two bowls of mussels, one with a garlic broth, and one with the house broth made of beer, and other seasonings. We also got some garlic bread for sopping up the broth. While the broth could have been seasoned a bit more heavily, the mussels were plumb and beautifully cooked! We got a huge bowl of them, along with a small plate of "frites." One more thing we can check off our list: "Moules + Frites."

We finished off our evening with a drink at one of the few bars we found to be "hoppin," full of young adults enjoying a few beers on a Friday night. They were playing good music, and it was fun to have found a local hang-out!

When we woke up in the morning, we headed directly to the train station with our luggage, so we could make the most of our day in Brussels, before catching our train to Cologne this evening. We stopped for coffee in the station, but waited until we arrived in Brussels to get a meal.

Once in Brussels, we were starving and made our way towards one of our destinations, the Mannequin Pis. This small statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain is really one of the must-sees of Brussels! On the way, we came across a lovely little cafe called Le Cercle de Voyageurs. I loved the creative menu, and the place looked interesting so we went in. There was an eclectic mix to choose from, with clever names for each dish as well. I opted for the salmon tartare, made with fresh ginger and green apples. It was served on three giant pieces of hearty wheat bread, and really satisfied my hunger. I found myself looking forward to each bite, especially the sweet crunch of apple which paired so nicely with the spicy ginger flavor, as well as the salmon. My husband had an Indian-inspired lamb dish that was also packed with flavor!

After some sight-seeing in Brussels for the day, it was time to hop on another train, this time heading into Germany! Our first stop in Germany is Cologne, but we'll only be there for a day, so I have a feeling it will be a busy one! We grabbed some sandwiches for the train ride with the hopes that we'd settle in to our hotel with time to get a late dinner once we arrived in Cologne.

We arrived at the hotel later than expected, and opted to stay in-house and eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. Our hotel seemed a little further out of the way than the one in Brugues, but Cologne is also a much larger city. I compare it to staying in Allston, and having to take the green line from the center of Boston to get there! I saw Spaetzle on the menu, and that's what I've been looking forward to! Spaetzle is a boiled dough, similar to pasta, but made by pressing the dough through a spaetzle-maker, or colander, to make droplets, that expand as they are boiled. It is a German delicacy, and this restaurant was no exception. They cooked their spaetzle in a cream sauce, and I chose to have it with veal, although it could have been served with fried champignons, or pork as well. The veal was cooked perfectly, and the spaetzle was delicious! I'm really looking forward to more German food!

Tomorrow, we will explore Cologne, and then hop on another train, heading to Stuttgart! The travels continue! Stay tuned for more European eats! I hope you are all enjoying the trip so far!

This One Took Awhile!

Today, I decided to conquer the challenge of Jamie's Lasagne alla Cacciatora, or "hunter's lasagne." This was quite an endeavor, I found, but nonetheless probably the BEST lasagna I've ever had, so it was totally worth it. Trust me, during the process, I was cursing all the ingredients and thinking, "This better be the best lasagna ever." It was totally worth every second I spent making it, and even though the recipe mentions that it serves 6...this is going to feed us for awhile!

I took pictures a bit differently this time since there were so many moving parts of this recipe. I have a couple of mise en place pictures, for each of the different steps. So, let's get the show on the road!

This afternoon, I roasted a whole chicken to be used in the sauce for the lasagna. There are a bunch of roasted meat recipes in Jamie's Italy, and the hunter's lasagna calls for one to five of them. I opted for just one my first time, but I could have done rabbit, duck, chicken, squab or quail. You can get a whole chicken relatively cheaply at the grocery store, while the others can be a bit pricier. All I needed to roast the chicken was well, the chicken, as well as some bay leaves, some garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, pepper and some lemon halves.



I rubbed the chicken with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Then, I stuffed the lemon halves, bay leaves and garlic cloves (whole) inside the bird.



I know that's not a very pretty picture, but I wanted to show you how it's done! :) I put the chicken into a 375 degree oven for an hour and a half, basting half way through!



Once the chicken was done, and cooled, I shredded it with my fingers. This became part of the mise en place for the red sauce. Along with more olive oil, more garlic, some rosemary, more bay leaves, and 3 14-oz cans of plum tomatoes, I was ready to start the next step in the process.



I heated a large saucepan with some olive oil and slowly fried the garlic until it was lightly colored and very fragrant. Once the garlic was ready, I threw in the rosemary sprig, bay leaves, and the three cans of tomatoes. I left this to cook gently for 45 minutes, covered.



While the red sauce was cooking, I made my fresh pasta dough and left it to rest for the requisite 30 minutes.



Once the red sauce was close to the 45 minute mark, I started in on the white sauce for the lasagna. This step called for milk, a sprig of parsley, nutmeg, some sliced onion, black peppercorns, butter, flour, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.



I needed two different pots for this step. The milk, parsley, nutmeg, onion, and peppercorns went into one pot, and I then brought it to a gentle boil.



Meanwhile, in the other pot, I was melting down some butter. Once the butter had liquified, I stirred in the flour to make a roux.



While the milk mixture was heating, the timer went off on the 45 minutes for my red sauce. I added the chicken to the sauce and set the timer for another 20 minutes. I also pulled out the bay leaves and rosemary sprig.



And now back to the white sauce! Once it was gently boiling, I strained all the stuff out of it (because all we really wanted was the flavoring for the milk) and slowly poured the milk into the roux, stirring to blend as I poured. This is a slow process so be patient with it - pour a little and then blend it, pour a little and then blend it - it's a bit like risotto!



At some point during all this commotion, I found time to roll out some lasagna noodles. I quickly blanched them by putting them in boiling water for a minute, and then directly into an ice water bath. Once the noodles were done, my red sauce had simmered, and my white sauce was blended, it was time to build the lasagna!

I want to pause here, and say that lasagna does not need to be this much work. You could very well buy dried lasagna noodles, some jarred marinara sauce, and an already cooked rotisserie chicken to make this same meal, but...have you ever known me to take the simple route!?

Okay - back to the task at hand! I layered two of my lasagna noodles in a greased 13x9" pan.



They aren't exactly square but hey, it's more rustic that way. On top of the noodles, I ladled on my red sauce with the chicken in it.



On top of the red sauce, I poured on some of the white sauce, and then sprinkled it with some of the shredded parmesan.



Then, you start all over again, until you've used all the sauce. I ended up with 2 layers of sauce and three layers of noodles (one layer for the top). The pan was full to the brim, nothing else would fit in there if I had tried! Once the last layer of noodle had been placed on top, I poured the remaining white sauce over it, sprinkled with parmesan and some fresh shredded mozzarella. I sprinkled some sage leaves on top and a few drizzles of olive oil, and it was ready to go into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, until it turns golden on top.



I made some Italian-Style Swiss Chard while the lasagna was cooking, and when the time went off, this is what I pulled out of the oven!



This was the best lasagna I've ever had. I'm not sure whether it was the different layers of sauce, or the fresh lasagna noodles, or the touch of fried sage on top, but this ... was ... de-lish-ous! I can't wait to eat it for lunch tomorrow!



I'll be making my next menu this week, so if you have any requests, don't forget to comment on a post to let me know. You can also contact me here, if you would prefer to email your request directly to me.