New Year's Eve treats (part 1.)

Although I hardly notice it, 2014 is just around the corner. Sure, the neighbours practiced their firework skills and I (with some help) made 3 different dishes in a couple of hours. That’s all well and fine and needed, even, but I’m not particularly in a New Year’s Eve kinda spirit. Of course I could look forward to drink some champagne, but the fact that I’m not fond of alcohol... well, it doesn’t help much.

Hopefully tomorrow will be different when we’re eating, drinking and playing Munchkin and/or Monopoly with some friends, but for now all that remains is simple, utter tiredness.

Which is kind of okay, of course, because making three time-consuming dishes is difficult, even with help. Take a look at the menu for a start:

a) Cheese-salad

b) Coconut roll

c) Coconut and white chocolate biscuits

For now I’m gonna show you how to do some really good cheese salad.

Cheese-salad

family recipe

400 g of cheese (4 types, like smoked , trappist, edam and gouda cheese)

4 hard-boiled eggs

1 big onion

1 head of garlic

For the mayonnaise:

1 egg yolk

100 ml flavourless oil

150 ml sour cream

salt, pepper

juice of ¼ lemon

1 tsp of mustard

some smoked paprika

Now the trickiest part of this recipe is getting the mayonnaise right. Let me tell you: I messed it up this year, my mayonnaise split, even though I was really-really patient. But no worries, I saved it. So here’s how you do mayonnaise.

Step 1. Take your egg yolk and whisk it up. Then slowly (I mean REALLY slowly), whisk in your oil. Drop by drop. Don’t rush this part, otherwise you won’t succeed! By the time you’re finished it should look velvety, and would be quite stiff. That’s okay, don’t panic. If your mayonnaise separates, don’t worry, you can save it! Just take another egg yolk, and whisk it up in another bowl. Then slowly – drop by drop – whisk in your separated mayonnaise. Once again: don’t rush! It will be okay. After you’re done, your mayo should be stiff and velvety. Don’t put any more oil in it!

Step 2. After the base of your mayo is done, the rest is easy-peasy. Just mix in some salt, pepper, the lemon juice, the mustard, the smoked paprika and lastly the sour cream. A lot depends on your taste, but it’s important to use 150 ml sour cream, because you need that amount to coat all your cheeses.

After you’re done with the mayonnaise, it’s time to move on to the cheeses. Grate all of them on a medium grater (so they won’t be mashed once you stir them with the other ingredients). Then take your boiled eggs, your onion and the garlic, and grate them in, too. (Yes, a big head of garlic, not just one bulb.) Stir these with the cheeses and then take the mayonnaise and pour it over the cheese-egg-onion-garlic mix. Stir well and refrigerate it. It’s best to keep it there overnight so the flavours have time to develop.

If you’d like to eat some salad, just toast some bread and put your salad on top. Then eat it with your mouth.

If you’d like to make a double portion (just like I did today), simply double the recipe. Believe me, it’s worth it. Photos will be up as soon as my salad is ready to eat!

Tomorrow I’ll show you how to do a last minute coconut roll and some coconut-white chocolate biscuits. Comments are welcome!