7 Yummy Belgian Dishes.

No, I don’t miss living in Belgium. The Philippines are ‘at home’ for me since more than 6 years already. But, sometimes, I miss some foods, dishes whom only are as they have to be in Belgium.

What dishes am I talking about?

To start with, I noticed that I had no less than three dishes based on witloof (chicory or Belgian endives), that fantastic and versatile vegetable. Before really the pride of Belgium nowadays imitated by the Dutch and the French in hydro culture, less labor-intensive, cheaper but surely not the same thing!

My absolute favorite dish with chicory is Witloofrolletjes uit de oven, the gratin of chicory with good Belgian cooked ham (not that plastic stuff of the supermarket) with a rich béchamel sauce topped

with Gruyere cheese and cooked in the oven till the cheese is melted and golden brown. A few years ago this dish was elected by the Flemish part of Belgium as the ultimate comfort food! And I would have voted for it also. I remember as yesterday the witloofrolletjes uit de oven my grandmother prepared and served with creamy mashed potatoes. Honestly, this is what I could choose my last meal!

Next on my list, oven fresh pistolets (crispy bread rolls) with butter and good ham or Gouda cheese.

Pistolets are typically for Sunday morning when you can see long lines at the bakeries waiting to buy their –often still warm- pistolets. As kid I got them with butter and with hot cocoa to dunk in. But most off all I miss that crispy bread roll sliced open and filled with butter and good artisanal ham (not that ‘plastic’ ham they sell in supermarkets) or quality Gouda cheese (you are right, buy it at a good cheesemonger!)

Ostend sole. My favorite fish dish! Simple but so delicious when eaten on a sunny Sunday in spring on a side walk terrace in Ostend at the Belgian coast. The sole I am talking about is what is called ‘Dover Sole’ and fished by local fisherman fishing by night and bring their catch early morning to the market! The fish, always on the bone, just pan seared in butter and served with the butter and good Belgian fries or a steamed potato and a glass of chilled Chardonnay. Food to die for! (picture on top)

When spring is in the air it’s the time for Asperges a la Flamande (white asparagus Flemish style)! The difference with green asparagus is that these have grown above the soil, the white ones have never seen the sun and are harvested out of the growing beds covered with black plastic to avoid any daylight. Very tender and much sweeter than their green cousins, they are mostly eaten in very simple ways. ‘A la Flamande’ (the Flemish way) means that the blanched asparagus are eaten with some melted butter and crumbled hardboiled eggs brought to taste with a drip of fresh lemon juice and some parsley. That’s it. So delicious !

The grey North Sea shrimps are, for me, the best you can eat. North Sea shrimps are small variety of

shrimps, 3 to 4 centimeter long. If you are patient it’s better to buy them unpeeled and do the peeling yourself. That’s the only way you are sure they were not ‘peeled’ with chemicals! The most known dishes of Belgian cuisine based on these marvelous shrimps are ‘Tomate Crevettes’ (tomato with shrimps) and Croquettes de Crevettes (shrimp croquettes). If you have the opportunity you have to try this great croquettes. The filling is a béchamel sauce made with milk infused with the a broth pf shrimp heads to give the béchamel that rich shrimp flavor. Crispy at the outside, abundantly filled with the béchamel and fresh shrimps! Served with a wedge of lemon and some deep-fried parsley. Try it once and will understand why this dish is on my list!

If there is one specialty you can’t eat nowhere else than in Brussels it is surely ‘Pottekeis’, a mixture of plattekaas (fresh white cheese) and Brussels cheese. Brussels cheese is a very tasty but also very smelling cheese. Before cheesemongers were displaying them under a glass cover to avoid that the smell would be all over the store. It is a very strong tasting cheese but so good when you mix it with fresh white cheese, some finely chopped shallot and a splash of geuze beer. Mixed well and spread on good bread topped with some slices of radish and eaten with a glass of good artisanal brewed Geuze, that slighty sour beer brewed along the valley of the Senne river south of the capital. A delight for your taste buds!

  

And last but surely not the least, one of 'our' national dishes! Filet Americain! 

The raw chopped beef served at the table with an egg yolk, capers, and finely chopped gherkins, chopped onions, some mustard and Worchestershire sauce and some home-made mayonaise.

You mix it as you like. Some add Tabasco, others add even ketchup but I like it the traditional way. Good beef, finely chopped with a fresh egg yolk and all the rest. 

With good crispy Belgian fries and a cold beer. 

Believe me you will come back to Brussels and eat this. Even when you are afraid of raw meat and egg!