Day 5: Food

Day 5: Food. What’s for dinner?

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’m fresh out of ideas as what to make for dinner. If you’re the same, I have two recipes for you and if you serve them together, I can guarantee you, it will be a big success.

The two are “French fries” and “Tomate crevette”. In case you don’t know how to make them, relax, I’ll tell you step by step (with pictures) how to go about it.

Even though both recipes sound French, let me assure you, they are Belgian specialties. And take my word for it, being from Belgium (born and raised) I know what I’m talking about.

French fries

To make good fries, it’s vital that you start off with a good potato. In my experience, a russet potato is the best. And not only does the potato have to be the right kind, it has to be rock hard. If the potato is slightly soft, it cannot produce a good fry.

Once the potatoes are peeled, place them in cold water. The colder the better and leave them there for about an hour.

Next, take a clean towel and thoroughly dry the potatoes. Place the towel on the kitchen counter and cut the potatoes into thick slices, about the size of a finger. Then cut the slices into fries, also about a finger thick.

When you’re done, work the towel over the fries so that they’re as dry as possible. Next, place the fries in a pot and cover them with the towel.

In a french fries cooker, pour about a liter of oil. This can be sunflower oil or vegetable oil and heat it up to maximum temperature. If you have an electric cooker a light will tell you when the oil is ready. If you have a stovetop pot, drop one fry in the oil. When it sizzles the oil is ready.

Place the raw fries in the oil and turn down the heat. After a few minutes, lift the fries out of the oil, leave them to cool for about one minute and then place them back in the oil.

When the fries are golden brown, lift them out and shake off the excess oil. Place kitchen paper on a serving tray and pour the fries onto the tray. The kitchen paper will absorb any remaining oil.

Lightly sprinkle with salt. Serve plain, with mayonnaise, ketchup or gravy.

 Tomate crevette

For a family of four, take four tomatoes and plunge them into boiling water for no more than 10 seconds. Remove the tomatoes and submerge them in ice cold water.

With a sharp knife, peel the skin off the tomatoes, slice off the ‘hat’ and remove the inner flesh.

Mix about 200 grams of shrimp with mayonnaise and some salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the tomatoes and put the hat on top.

Serve on a bed of lettuce.

There, that’s it, that’s all there is to it.

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