DIY version of filet Americain - Not bad for a first DIY attempt!
Cravings of an expat
I've written about it before and will probably do so in the future. Being an expat means you have to accept that some food is not available in your new country. On the bright side, new food is there to try as well so it's not only bad! I have to admit that during our time in Budapest, I've never grown really fond of any local food. If we had lived in a better area, it could have happened but my memories with food and Budapest are just not good. Here in Spain on the other hand, within the first months, I learned to eat olives, which I hated for all my life! And I can name more things such as Iberico, so super delicious! I still can't believe that's pork as it's never disappointed me when I ordered something Iberico.
Available but differently
When looking for Dutch delights, the first thing I looked for was probably hagelslag. The strangest thing is, I rarely ate it during my last years in Holland, yet it was one of the first things I really wanted to eat while it was not available anymore. Strange how the mind works, right?
I discovered that hagelslag was available in Lidl sometimes but differently, it was sold as a topping for baking. The Dutch also use it for that but not as the main purpose. We mainly buy them in big cardboard boxes to top our bread with butter. We have them available in milk and dark chocolate as well as fruit flavour. I think we also have them mixed with white chocolate. I always ate the dark ones only because I'm a dark chocolate lover, always have been too!
After seeing Lidl sell it every so many months, I discovered a budget supermarket in Budapest where they sell the hagelslag year round, but in a tiny package so it's not really suitable to top your bread if you eat it a few times a week. I bought it to let my daughter try it and she (clearly) loves it. Here in Spain, I have access to many other options, all imported from Holland so nowadays, hagelslag is one of the toppings in the kitchen cabinet as in most Dutch households with kids.
Filet americain cravings
Although I could not afford eating Filet Americain the last years of my stay in Holland, I really craved this from the moment I set foot in Spain at the time. I think I ate it once when we were in Belgium for three weeks before moving to Budapest for the years to come. I couldn't find it anywhere and I was happy to find online stores back in Spain where they sold it. Yet they always happened to ran out when I ordered a fresh order (read: cool transport so higher shipping costs) so I let it go and just kept on craving it.
Just a week before we were put without water, I googled for a recipe and saw that they use beef tartar. Now I have found (and eaten) beef tartar in Budapest many times (so good but expensive) but never found it here. I decided to try and just use minced meat as in the end, it's all raw meat and none of it is probably good for you anyway. I had to try. I adjusted the recipe a bit and luckily I could find the two key ingredients which I didn't have yet in the local supermarket.
The ingredients
- 300 grams of minced meat (or if you have it beef tartar / chopped steak)
- 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons of mustard
- 2 teaspoons of paprika powder
- A little tabasco
- A bit of Worcestershire sauce
- Pepper and salt
For the topping:
- Chopped onion
- Parsley
Mix it up!
I added it all to my chopper and mixed it until I was happy with the result. In this first attempt, I used less paprika powder and mayonnaise to my liking, you will see that in a follow up post another time. For a first try it was very good though. It was good to fulfill my cravings for a bit, even though I have to admit that I made it a few too many times since. I'm on a "filet americain" stop now, lol. I won't make it for a while as I'm pretty sure whatever meat you used, it's not good for you. But it tastes so nice, haha.
Let me know if you ever ate this in the comments :)
For the best experience view this post on Liketu
Greetings! For a moment I thought it was tuna, here in Venezuela it is customary to prepare canned tuna that way, adding some vegetables and sauces, although there are people who like tuna alone.
When I saw your photos my appetite was whetted hahaha, it looks so delicious by the way it looks and also, by the way you prepared it.
I would like to make it someday and see how it turns out.
I'm glad you are in Spain, I want to travel and live there. I hope that soon that goal will come true.
Have a good day! 😊
Oh we also make tuna spread ourselves sometimes. It was a nice replacement especially if you add some onion and parsley.
Where do you live now? Portugal? What area are you looking to move to in the future? We lived in Granada (not the city but around Granada) and now moved to the Almeria area. Planned on going back to the old region but our issue in our old home last month made us decide to stay here a bit longer.
Thanks for stopping by, I'm going to give you a follow to follow your journey :)
That actually sounds really good. I'm not a huge fan of raw meat, but that sure looks good! It's odd when you crave things from home when you're living out of country, I experienced that a lot over the years. Now that I'm in the US I miss the food from other countries where I used to live as well. Funny how that works!
Crazy isn't it? I admit that the first attempt was not even close as good as the last ones I made. Now I have to quit eating it for a while and just make it once every few months or so lol. If I'd known that it was made this easily, I'd have probably eaten it too much in my childhood, lol. So better that I didn't find out in my younger years. At least now I'm aware of the stuff that's bad for you and things should at least be balanced out a bit..
That's why I eat lots of vegetables now and less meat, except fish. Eating healthy is hard, but sometimes you have to splurge on something really good like that!
Yeah I learned that the hard way too, lol. I should have started a bit sooner eating lots of veggies but hey, at least I am now.
I rarely eat fish, I like some fish but I don't like preparing it..
Now we have a new pan as we started cooking on gas since we moved here and I have only hated it so far. All my life, I had a gas cooker from my childhood, my mother cooked on gas. I never had troubles actually, but after many years on induction/electric cooking, I forgot how to properly do it .. My boyfriend fumed at me for ruining the new pan he bought (I told him cook yourself the first time, he didn't have time, so)..
Now I'm thinking about buying back another pan with non-stick coating but he really says it's smarter to avoid them as we now have a choice and not dealing with someone else's cooking gear. I like to agree, but I fear ruining all my food :)