The warm weather is almost gone. Yessss, I can use my oven again! When it is so warm and humid outside, I’m not really in the mood to cook or even eat hot food. The leaves are falling and the mornings are a little chilly. Friends and family are connecting me to places where we can get apples, pears and pumpkins. This all means, it is time for making some delicious Comfort Food for the Fall ….. sometimes with a Dutch twist!

By now, after more than 15 years, I realize that Americans love pumpkins. You’ll find pumpkins everywhere and in everything. From lattes, to pies, soup, cookies etc. I tried to find some fall comfort foods that don’t always have pumpkins in them. Try them all and enjoy!!!

What are popular Comfort Foods for the Fall?

I would like to thank the Dutch people who commented on my post in the Dutch American Facebook Group. It is nice to see what people love to make during the Fall season. A lot of Dutch people still make traditional Dutch food, which reminds them of home. They use recipes their mom made, a grandmother or an aunt! Those recipes are authentic and just simply the best!

Sometimes it is not easy to find ingredients or make them where you live. For example “speculaaskruiden”. This is a spice mix similar to the pumpkin spice mix here in the USA. I either buy a jar in the Netherlands, or ask my parents to bring some, but most of the times I make the “speculaaskruiden” myself and store it in an airtight container.

It is officially Fall Season for me when I smell these spices in my house. Mixed with apples, pears, pumpkins and bread. I just love it!!!

What is Comfort Food?

People use comfort food to often treat themselves. It is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone. It can bring back childhood memories, give people security or it reminds them of their home culture. Unfortunately these foods often contain a high amount of calories, high in fat, salt or sugar.

But it doesn’t always have to be unhealthy or difficult to make. Most of the Comfort Foods below are not only delicious, but they’re easy to make, contain fruits and veggies and less sugar. I always cut the sugar amount in half or more from most American recipes, like this banana bread recipe.

Which of the recipes below could I use best for a Fall dinner Party?

This depends on when your party is, but a quiche is easy to share with friends. I personally almost always go for something baked, like a Dutch Apple Pie or scones. I would not use dishes you need to make at the spot, like omelets, French Toasts or smoothies. These will be the only dishes from the list below, I would not bring to a party. So scroll down and choose your favorite Fall Comfort Food Recipe to bring to your next party!

Fall Breakfast Ideas

Quiche

Quiche is originally from France, but we used to eat it a lot on a Sunday brunch and it is a popular dish to bring to parties.

Some people use puff pastry to make the quiche, but I found a simple and very delicious crust to make for this quiche. Only because it is not easy to find puff pastry in our town.

Crust ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup chilled unsalted butter in cubes
• 3 tbsp cold water

Mix the flour and salt together, then mix in the butter with your hands. Add the water, when the butter is somewhat incorporated. It’s okay to see the butter chunks a little bit. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

You can use all kinds of ingredients for the filling. Make it Mediterranean with red onions, feta, spinach, bits of chicken, garlic and olives. Or what about this one: leek, red beets, garlic, ricotta and smoked salmon…I keep it simple this time. For the filling:

• 2 small red onions in rings
• 10- 15 mushrooms, cut small
• A few pieces of thin bacon (we used vegetarian bacon)
• cheese of choice
• 3 eggs
• cream or Half and Half

Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the cream and eggs in a bowl. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Cover a greased pie pan (11 inches) with the dough. Add the rest of the filling ingredients over the dough. Sprinkle the cheese as the last topping. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the quiche. Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Let rest outside of the oven for 10 minutes.

Omelet with mushrooms, spinach and feta

My husband just found out how to make the best omelets. Now he’s making it every Sunday for brunch \and sometimes even during the week for lunch. The filling can vary again. Depends on what you have at home. He usually cooks things like mushrooms and spinach beforehand in a little bit of butter. The key to nice and fluffy omelets is the heat. Slow heat will let the eggs cook slowly without browning to quickly. For one omelet you’ll need (we usually split this one and eat it with toast)

• 3 eggs
• pepper and salt to taste
• 2 big handfuls of fresh spinach
• 7 mushrooms
• feta cheese

Whisk the eggs and season with salt and pepper. In a frying pan, add a little bit of butter and cook the mushrooms until browned. The spinach should go in later because it wilts quickly. Save both the mushrooms and the spinach in a bowl for later.

In the same frying pan (wipe it clean if you don’t want the juices of the spinach and mushrooms in the pan). Add a little butter and the egg mixture. On low heat wait a few minutes until you can add the spinach, mushrooms and feta on one side of the omelet. Carefully flip the other half over when the egg is not runny anymore.

Cinnamon Buns

I think I ate a cinnamon roll for the first time here in the US. But the original cinnamon pastry like this (bun, roll, swirl. snail or Danish) is originally from northern Europe (Scandinavia).

I try to make them always from scratch, because then I can control the amount of sugar, but I have to say…the smell in the morning of these cinnamon rolls is just amazing. My teenagers are out of their beds when these are in the oven!!!

I used the bread dough machine to make the dough. And I make them the evening before, so they just need to go in the oven the next morning!

Here is the recipe from www.seriouseats.com. Such a great idea to cut the rolls and keep the swirls intact.

French Toast (Wentelteefjes) with Pumpkin bread

My own invention, I think….perfect for the fall! At Aldi they have seasonal products they sell once in a while, like the Pumpkin bread. I love this bread toasted with Speculoos (for sale at Walmart).

But recently I was thinking to make French Toast fall-ish by dipping the pumpkin bread slices in the egg mixture, instead of normal bread. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar or maple syrup! Yummmm!

Cinnamon Pear Smoothie

For a quick breakfast in the morning before the kids go to school, make this smoothie!

• 3/4 cup yogurt
• 1 banana
• 1 peer, peeled and quartered
• 4 tbsp oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom (optional)
• 3 tbsp water

Mix it all in a blender and you’re done! Smakelijk!

Hearty Dinner Ideas for the Fall Season

Hachee

In the Netherlands this is a popular Fall and Winter comfort food. It looks a bit like Gumbo, but it is made with beef. Hachee comes from the French word “hacher”, which means “to chop”. The Dutch serve hachee usually with mashed potatoes and vegetables like broccoli or red cabbage with apples.

It is easy to make, but it takes some time for the meat to get to the state that it’ll melt in your mouth.

Ingredients:

• 5 onions
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 pound chopped steak
• salt, pepper
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves
• optional 2 tbsp flour

Melt the butter in a heavy pan, like a Dutch oven. Fry the pieces of meat for about 2 minutes. Keep stirring. Add the chopped onions with some pepper and salt.

When the onions start to get a little translucent, add the warm water with the bouillon cube. Keep stirring until the cube dissolves. Add the vinegar, sugar, bay leaves and the cloves. On a low heat and the lid on the pan, let the hanche boil for about 3 hours.

If the sauce hasn’t thickened after 3 hours, add some flour to the sauce. Taste is more salt or pepper is needed.

Hete Bliksem

Literally this dish is called “hot lightning”. I am not sure why, but the German name for this dish makes more sense (in Limburgish dialect we use the same name): “Himmel und Erde”, or “Heaven and Earth”. Heaven stands for the apples and the potatoes come from the earth.

The Dutch are known for mashing all kinds of things with mashed potatoes. A few recipes below this one, you’ll find another typical Dutch dish, called “hutspot”. Mashed potatoes mixed with carrots. But here is the recipe for “Hete Bliksem”:

• 8 large potatoes
• 4 apples
• slices of salted pork, or bacon or sausages.

Boil the potatoes in a pot with salted water. Peel and core the apples. Slice them in fourths and add them on top of the potatoes. You can add the salted pork on top, but I usually like the meat fried separately. This will be served on top of the mashed potatoes and apples later. The downside of this is, that the flavor won’t mix in with the potatoes as much.

When the potatoes are cooked (about 20 min), drain the water. Save some liquid in case the mashed apple-potato combo is too dry. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste if needed.

Kip Schnitzels

One of the members of the Dutch in America Facebook group mentioned that she really likes the home made Chicken Schnitzels her mom used to make.

This is not really a Dutch dish, but you can get this in a lot of restaurants in the Netherlands and I also remember that my mom made these also at home.

For 2 people you’ll need:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 egg
• all purpose flour
• plain bread crumbs or Panko
• salt and pepper

Carefully lay the chicken in between plastic wrap. Flatten the chicken with a rolling pin for example until the chicken breasts are about 1/2 inch thick.

Use 3 wide bowls or plates for the egg, flour and bread crumbs.

Beat the egg with salt and pepper in the first bowl. Coat the chicken with the egg first, then the flour and at last the bread crumbs.

Fry the schnitzels in a frying pan for about 4 minutes until they are crispy, golden brown. Serve the schnitzels with fried or baked potatoes and broccoli.

Witlof met ham en kaas uit de oven

I remember, this is one of my moms favorite dishes. I learned how to eat it, but chicory can be bitter. It is so easy to make.

Here you can find the recipe from Uit Paulines Keuken (in Dutch)

I’m not sure if my mom made the sauce with it, but here is the translation:

• 6 chicory
• 6 pieces of ham
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• pinch of nutmeg
• pepper and salt

Turn the oven on to 350 F. Clean the chicory and remove the outer leaves. Boil the chicory in water with salt for about 5 minutes. Drain and remove the hard piece on the bottom of the chicory. This is the bitter part.

Make a roux with the butter and flour. Make a sauce by adding the milk slowly. Keep stirring.

Taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Grease an oven dish and cover the chicory with the ham. Place the 6 chicory pieces and ham next to each other in the oven dish. Cover with the sauce and sprinkle the shredded cheese over the chicory. Bake the chicory for about 15 minutes.

Risotto with mushrooms

This recipe is my to go to dish for our rice dinner evenings. It is so easy and yummy. I’ll dive right in with you!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups of rice
• water
• 1 bouillon cube (I used vegetarian)
• 1 cup chopped spinach or other vegetable, like peas or green beans
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

If you have a wok pan, this should be super easy. Warm the olive oil in the pan and add the rice. Stir the rice until it is covered with the oil. After about 2 minutes add the vegetables, mushroom. Keep stirring.

Then add some water and the bouillon cube. The rice and vegetables should be under water. Keep adding more water when the rice soaks the water up. A little a time. Wait until the water is gone again and add more water until the rice and vegetables are cooked.

At the end sprinkle the cheese and stir, so it comes together a bit.

Hutspot

If you have carrots and potatoes at home, you’re all set: Make this “Hutspot” for your next dinner.

Here is the recipe!

Duvelkes vleisj

I am from the south of the Netherlands and when we had a birthday party of an adult (mostly one of my parents) my mom made “Duvelkes vleisj”. This happened especially after many failed attempts to make fresh chicken soup for the guests. This happened when it was too warm in the house and the soup turned bad, it tasted sour.

This “Duvelkes vleisj” is great for parties, because you can make it in one pot and it is always a huge success!

Be aware that for this (originally Indonesian) dish, you’ll need some special ingredients. See the links below.

• 1 pound chicken breast
• 6 tbsp vinegar
• 6 tbsp Ketjap Manis
• 6 tbsp ketchup
• 3 tsp Nasi Herb Mix
• 1 tsp sambal oelek
• 1 tsp sambal manis
• 1 tsp sambal branis
• 2 onions
• 1 pound mushrooms
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• cream

You can serve this dish with plain white bread rolls, or fries, and a fresh salad or “kroepoek”.

Make a marinade with the vinegar, ketchup, the 3 sambal, ketjap manis, herb mix. Cut the onions in rings and the chicken in bite size pieces. Mix these all together and let it all marinate for a few hours or better, overnight!

Use a Dutch Oven or other heavy pan and warm it up. Add the marinade chicken mixture in the pan. Keep stirring and cook for about 15 minutes. Chop the mushrooms in the meantime and add these to the pan. Cook for another 15 minutes. Add the tablespoon of peanut butter and a splash of cream into the pan. Taste and see if salt, pepper, sambal or anything else is needed.

Smakelijk eten!

Recipe adapted from OhMyDish.

Butternut Pear Soup

If I eat something pumpkin-ish, it’ll be usually something in soup form. This Pear Butternut Soup is our family’s favorite. I made it once a few years ago for Thanksgiving and it is now a regular dish in the Fall and Winter.

This recipe is adapted from an AllRecipes.com recipe I’ve found.

• 1 butternut squash
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 onion diced
• 1 tsp ginger powder or ginger root peeled and minced
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup pear or apple juice
• 2 pears, preferably Bartlett’s, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup cream

Cut the butternut squash in half and take the seeds out. Place them cut size down on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 45 minutes at 370F or 190 C.

Melt the butter in a large pot (Dutch Oven). Add in the onion, the ginger and curry. Stir frequently.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the cream. And don’t forget the butternut squash.

Cook for about 20 minutes until the pears are soft. Pour the soup in a blender or use a stick blender to blend the soup until smooth and golden yellow. Add a splash of cream and salt if necessary and serve with toast, baguette, pine nuts, sunflower seeds or roasted pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin Pizza

At least once a week we make our own pizza dough, roll out our own pizza’s and put whatever we like on them. We usually use seasonal produce on our pizza and for the fall we tried these Pumpkin Pizza’s. It is all about the spices!!!

I use my bread machine to make the dough. Sometimes I use flatbread from Aldi.

For the pizza dough:

• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 cups flour
• 1 package yeast

Put the ingredients, in the order of the ingredients above in a bread making machine. Choose the dough setting, which is usually about 1 1/2 hours.

Toppings:

• pumpkin, like butternut squash for example. Sometimes we use frozen cubes when we don’t have much time.
• goat cheese, soft
• onion
• oregano
• sage
• onion in rings
• raw ham like prosciutto or Black Forest Schinken
• Some arugula
• walnuts or pine nuts, optional

Wild rice Soup with chicken

Especially when the weather changes is good to take care of yourself. On top of that this soup is a favorite comfort food and on top of THAT, it is delicious. I usually order this at our family’s favorite restaurant chain here in the USA: Panera.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 1 carrot
• 6 1/2 cups water
• thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 1/2 cups wild rice (we use one pack of cooked wild rice from Aldi)
• 1 lbs chicken legs (drumsticks)
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup milk

Cut the onion, the mushrooms, the carrot and garlic small. Put all of the cut vegetables, the thyme, bay leaf, paprika, rice and chicken, bouillon cubes in a pot with the water.

Boil for about 30 minutes on middle heat until the chicken and rice are cooked. Take out the chicken and take the meat of the bones. Cut the meat small and return it into the soup.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and add the flour to it. Stir and let it cook for about 3 minutes. Add the milk and stir until it is a smooth roux. Carefully add the roux into the soup and keep stirring gently until the soup thickens. Taste with salt and pepper. Serve with baguette.

This recipe was translated and inspired by Albert Heijn grocery stores in the Netherlands.

Sauerkraut out of the oven

This might not be a Dutch classic recipe, but it is quite popular in the Netherlands. My mom made it especially during the fall and winter months. Sauerkraut is healthy an it keeps your immune system strong.

When I was young, I didn’t like it that much. Maybe because my mom got the sauerkraut straight from the farm. It was so sour, that’s why I was surprised that our oldest asks for it regularly. Especially now when I make it with pine apple, apples and bacon bits.

Here is the recipe.

What to bake in the Fall?

Chai Scones with Maple Chai Glaze

In the summer I made scones for our Sunday brunches. Nice, warm and buttery lemon scones. For the spring and summer these are delicious, but for the fall these can be spiced up a bit.

I made these a few weeks ago and especially the glaze is amazing. Here is the recipe. BTW, I cut the sugar in half. I couldn’t make a picture, because they were gone in a whiff….

Dutch Apple Pie

If you haven’t tried a traditional Dutch Apple Pie, you missed a huge treat! If you like apples, that is!

In the Netherlands they dress up the apple pie for you, if you order a piece in a restaurant. With ice cream or whip cream, sprinkled with cinnamon or chocolate flakes, a cup of coffee with a small glass of liquor.

Here are 3 different kinds of Dutch Apple Pie for you to try. Which one is your favorite?

Banketstaaf

If there is a Dutch store in your neighborhood, if you are that lucky;) you will likely find Dutch Letters. These are puff pastry logs in the shape of the letter “S”, filled with almond paste.

When the weather is getting colder and it is time to make hot chocolate, this also will the time to make a “Banketstaaf”, or “Gevulde Speculaas”. Normally these are traditionally made and sold in the winter time.

In our town it is hard to find good puff pastry, but it is actually pretty easy to make some yourself. Maybe I had to fold the dough ten million times and roll out the dough with pounds of hard chunks of butter, but it wasn’t that bad. And the taste is so much better!!!

Speculaas Peren taart

This was a new recipe for me. A friend bought some very ripe pears for our family. I didn’t want to put them in my kids’ lunch boxes, because they were going to be very mushy by the time it would be lunch time.

So instead, I looked up what I could make with pears. This was a surprising twist I didn’t think of and it was so good. The request to make another one came just a few days later.

For the recipe go here (it is in Dutch for now with apples instead of pears). I’ll post the recipe in English soon!

Apple turnovers

These are so good and so easy to make. If you cannot find good puff pastry in your local store, try this one.

In Dutch, these Apple Turnovers are called “Appelflappen”. You can also replace the apples for pears. Easy to make for a Sunday coffee afternoon snack. Here is the recipe!