"A feast of Dutch light and everyday comfort. I want to cook every page." —Jeroen Blok, author of Salt in the Polder
"Old-world coziness meets fresh market flair. A keeper for anyone who loves butter, bread, and bright vegetables." —Mina Vos, editor of De Eetkamer
Self-taught cook and food photographer Anneke Van der Meer grew up between canal-side grocers in Delft and summers on her oma’s small dairy in Friesland. After years of chasing rules, spreadsheets, and late-night editing marathons left her anxious and exhausted, she stepped away from punishing diets and toward ingredients that felt close to home: raw milk, buckwheat, cabbages the size of kettledrums, butter perfumed with hay, pickled onions in tiny glass jars. The shift was gentle but profound. Her energy returned, mealtimes became slow again, and flavor led the way.
What followed was a quietly blossoming corner of the Internet: melkmeisjeskeuken.nl, where Anneke’s stories of farmers’ markets (Noordermarkt, Albert Cuyp, Rotterdam Markthal), foggy morning photos, and sturdy, seasonal recipes drew a loyal readership throughout the Netherlands and beyond. "Het Melkmeisje’s Keuken" is her long-awaited debut, an abundant collection of 120 recipes that braid farmhouse tradition with city kitchen pragmatism.
Chapters wander like a Dutch bike route: Morning Light in Delft (hangop with roasted rhubarb and lavender honey; spelt pannenkoeken with caramelized pears), Canal-Side Lunches (smoked mackerel and apple on rye with dill-mustard; beet-and-horseradish boterhammen), Polders & Potatoes (kale stamppot with browned butter and pickled mustard seeds; hasselback celeriac with juniper salt), Market Suppers (Beemster cauliflower gratin; carrot hutspot with hazelnut pangrattato), Feast Days (Frisian sugar bread French toast with orange blossom; saffron mussels in farmhouse beer), and Winter Light (stoofpeertjes in buttermilk caramel; split pea stew with lemony leek gremolata). There’s a loving ode to bread: rye-and-molasses loaf, krentenbollen that pull apart like clouds, and a sourdough schedule that forgives busy weekdays.
Balancing comfort with clarity, Anneke includes thoughtful notes for various eaters: lactose-light swaps using cultured cream or goat’s milk; plant-forward variations (oat-and-hazelnut "room" in place of heavy cream, cashew "hangop," coconut-buckwheat pannenkoeken); and over 80 gluten-free recipes. Allergens are flagged, sweets lean on fruit and syrups, and many dishes offer both vegetarian and omnivorous paths, from smoked tofu rookworst to traditional versions for festive tables.
Practical guides anchor the pantry: a tour of Dutch butters and cheeses (boerenkaas, Leidse kaas, aged Gouda), making quark at home, churning cultured butter with wooden pats, straining creamy hangop, and turning leftover whey into lemonade and pancakes. Step-by-step photo spreads glow with Delft-blue light as Anneke shows how to weave an appeltaart lattice, pickle silver-skin onions, and build a week of suppers from one market basket.
More than a collection of recipes, "Het Melkmeisje’s Keuken" is a kitchen window thrown open to soft, northern brightness—a reminder that simple, well-sourced food can restore, delight, and invite us back to the table, one slow spoonful at a time.
