As long as I can remember we had bushes of Ribes rubrum in our back garden. Red currant is native to The Netherlands. For me there is only one way to eat them, in plain yoghurt. Never with added sugar. 100 grams of red currant is almost half the recommended %DV for vitamin C.
The Chinese name for this dish is 肉末茄子煲 ("Minced Meat and Eggplant Claypot"). It is simple to make.
To prepare this dish you finely dice: fatty pork, paprika, mushrooms and garlic. The eggplant should be sliced while rolling the eggplant on the cutting board. Use a long light purple Asian eggplant instead of European eggplant.
Heat a wok and fry firm tofu in 5 mm slices on medium heat until slightly brown.
Heat the wok again and add the diced pork. Stir fry the eggplant for 5 minutes in the pork lard. Season with oyster sauce, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce for color. Add a bit of water. Add the paprika, mushrooms and garlic. Stir fry and add starch for thickening the sauce. Add some scallion oil 葱油 as a last step.
Add the vegetable mixture to the claypot and sprinkle with spring onion. Heat the claypot on a fire for a short time to make this dish sizzle.
Photo: video still from YouTube.
With not much to do in my free time, other than care for my father, I decided the summer of 2021 should be the summer of flat breads. It’s staple food in many parts of the globe. To make a distinction between the different types of flat bread I divided the different types of flat bread in unleavened and leavened flat bread. The regions I am interested in are the Indian subcontinent (and its influence on migration: Kenyan chapati, Surinamese roti), the Middle-East and Turkey. That’s plenty of bread to make for just one summer.
Indian Chapati/ roti
Atta flour, water, salt. For 2 chapati I use one cup of atta and 100 ml water. Recipe
Indian Paratha
Atta, water, ghee/butter/cooking oil. The flaky chapati from Kenya is in fact a paratha (“parat” means layer in Punjabi).
Surinamese roti
Actually the Indian dhalpuri. A roti with a stuffing of ground yellow split peas, cumin (geera), garlic, and pepper.
Which flour?
For Indian flat bread like chapati and paratha atta flour is used. Atta is a whole wheat flour made from hard wheat (which is also used to make Italian pasta) and is high in gluten content, which provides elasticity.
Chapati, matar paneer and home made lime pickle.
Saj bread
This is an unleavened bread baked on a saj, a convex metal griddle. This can be markook shrek or an even thinner and very large bread called lavash. This bread is common in the Middle-East.
Turkish Flat Bread (Bazlama)
300 ml warm water
12 g active dried yeast 1 packet
15 gram sugar
Combine the yeast, sugar, and water and activate the yeast for 10 minutes.
200 g Greek-style yogurt
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
Mix the yoghurt and oil.
15 g kosher salt
500 g all-purpose flour
¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Mix the yeast-mixture, yoghurt and flour. Roll the dough portions into approximately 15 cm circles.
Khubz (Greek: pita)
The name is confusing since ‘khubz’ is the generic Arabic word for bread. A recipe from Claudia Roden’s “A New Book of Middle Eastern Food” (1968):
500 gram ‘strong’ flower. Strong flower is made from hard wheat and is high in gluten content.
300 ml water.
15 gram fresh yeast or 7 gram dried yeast
Sugar
Salt
Oil.
Bake in hot oven.
Note: when I bake this bread in my oven, the outside becomes hard. The same dough on a flat piece of cast iron on the stove results in a soft khubz.
Indian Naan (no yeast but baking soda)
1 cup all-purpose flour plain flour, Maida
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup yogurt room temperature
1-1/2 tsp oil canola, vegetable
1/4 cup look warm water use as needed
Making Naan:
For garnishing mix all the ingredients, butter, salt, cilantro, and green chili. Set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients together, add 1 tablespoon of oil and yogurt mix it well. Then add the water gradually to make very soft dough but not sticky. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough well. Apply light oil to the dough and cover. Let the dough sit for about 3 hours in warm place.
Dough should be about 1-1/2 time, knead the dough again on floured surface. Divide the dough in four parts, lightly roll into the flour, cover the balls and let it sit for about five minutes before rolling.
Roll the naan one at a time on a lightly floured surface little less than 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle the water lightly on one side of the naan.
Put water side naan over tawa, once the naan start bubbling and dough start drying, turn the tawa over flames keeping about 2 inch away from the flames to cook the naan from top. Note: yes naan will stick to tawa and will not fall of, this the reason you cannot use the nonstick skillet.
Once naan browned to your satisfaction, remove, and spread the butter mix over.
Man’ouche Lebanese flatbread
360 g flour
150 g self-raising flour
10 g salt
5 g sugar
4.5 g dry yeast
250 ml lukewarm water
As needed: olive oil
As needed: za’atar
Mix the flour, self-raising flour, salt, and sugar well. Dissolve the yeast in the water and leave the mixture to rest for a while so that the yeast can activate. Gradually add the yeast and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the flour mixture. Knead for ten minutes until it forms a smooth and supple dough. Cover the dough and allow to rest for one and half to two hours.
Knead the dough again and divide into eight small balls. Leave the dough to rest again for 30 minutes. Flatten the balls with your hands into thin, round pizzas. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle over the za’atar. Bake in a hot oven at 200°C or on the traditional convex pan (saj) for a few minutes until done.
"Then God said, "I give you every Seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." (Genesis 1:29)
There is no fixed list of ingredients for this Jamaican “Ital” stew in coconut milk. Quantity for 2-4 people. First fry an onion translucent in oil. Add some garlic, allspice and thyme and sauté until aromatic.
Once you have this base add two cups of coconut milk and two cups of water. Add bay leaf and green onions. Add a Scotch bonnet for heat.
Now add a selection of the following vegetables, first the hard vegetables, add the soft vegetables at the end:
Taro (2 cups).
Pumpkin (2 cups).
Yam.
Okra (1 cup)
Yellow plantain.
Potato
Sweet potato
3 carrots
Collard greens; or spinach in Europe.
Simmer for a total time of about half an hour (leaf vegetables only take 5 minutes). Remove sprigs of fresh thyme, allspice, green onions and bay leaf.
Season with salt, black pepper, chopped cilantro and lime juice. Burst the Scotch bonnet before serving.
![Jamaican Dutch oven made from cast aluminium. I ordered a 9,5 inch version. [ Probably due to corona they don’t ship to The Netherlands. I had to cancel my order ]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/585f9adee58c620a62b8f554/1617385103252-JIMEIMGMP42KNMHLL2P1/il_1588xN.2955453283_f6fc.jpg)
Jamaican Dutch oven made from cast aluminium. I ordered a 9,5 inch version. [ Probably due to corona they don’t ship to The Netherlands. I had to cancel my order ]
I had a pretty good and well filled poke bowl from Undercover in Amsterdam. I decided to deconstruct this dish and learn its origin. Poke is simply Hawaiian for "to slice" and the current dish originates in the 1970s but I’m sure traditionally a similar dish goes back much further in time.
A recipe for ahi (yellowfin tuna) poke:
Cut the tuna in bite sized cubes. Cut a spring onion and some sweet onion really thin. Add finely cut ginger, fresh ogo seaweed, and fresh chopped garlic, salt, sesame oil, soy sauce and a little vegetable oil. Mix. Traditionally you need something crunchy as well, like candlenut.
This is just the tuna. You can make sushi rice with rice vinegar as a base. My poke from Undercover was much more refined without onions, but with two types of raw fish, avocado, some leafs, fish roe and sesame seeds.
On the fish market in Tokyo they served a similar dish made from just rice and tuna. The price difference between the bowls is the fattiness of the tuna.
Preparations:
You need a leg of lamb, cut away the bones. Chop the meat in big chunks. Cut the tail (100% fat) in thin slices. Boil the lamb meat in water. Skim the foam.
Add hot water to saffron.
Chop onions in small pieces.
Tail fat is called kurdyuk in Central Asian languages and kuyruk yağı in Turkish. It is also used in kofta and Adana kebabı.
Tail of lamb
Assemble the dish:
Add pre soaked chickpeas in an earthenware casserole. Add the boiled meat, chopped onion and salt. Add the lamb stock and put a slice of the fatty tail on top.
Heat the earthenware casserole on a fire or in the oven.
When the fat is melting add dried apricots, chestnuts and the saffron.
Serving:
Pour the liquid on Azerbaijani bread and add some sumac. Add the stew from the casserole.
Source: WILDERNESS COOKING
There are many variations on ratatouille. I thought I should memorise one, a Spanish version. Samfaina is a very versatile dish. Use as a sauce with cod fish or meat, eat on it's own with bread, couscous or rice.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil.
1 onion.
3 bell peppers (for best results use 3 different colors).
4 fresh tomatoes (or canned tomatoes).
1 eggplant.
saffron.
Cut onion in 2 cm stripes. Cut all other ingredients in 2 cm cubes. Fry the onion in the oil for 2-3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and fry for 8-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes with lid closed. Add eggplant and cook for 10 minutes. Add salt & saffron and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Optional: add a glass of white wine.
The basics are simple. Pre soak a cup of rice. Brush the clay pot with oil, add the rice and add 1,5 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Wait until the rice is roughly 50 -75% cooked. Add a selection of the toppings. Cook until the rice on the bottom of the pot is crispy. In the last 10 minutes tilt the pot so the sides also get crispy. When the toppings and the rice is cooked, add spring onion and pour a mixture of oyster sauce and soy sauce on top. Just before serving mix everything together.
Sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine 绍兴酒
Salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tsp corn flour
1 tbsp oyster sauce.
1 tbsp light soy sauce or seasoned soy sauce.
Boneless chicken, marinated (see above).
Lap Cheong
Shitake mushrooms
Dried fish
Egg
Bok choy
Fresh ginger, julienned
Spring onion (garnish)
½ garlic clove , crushed
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Mix the garlic, wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and 1 tbsp warm water. Add the oil slowly, whisking constantly, then whisk in another 1 tbsp warm water to emulsify and thin the dressing. Season with sea salt and pepper.
This dressing is perfect for sliced tomatoes or Salade niçoise.
The problems with many ramen is that is takes an enormous amount of time to make the stock. Not so much for Tan-men (タンメン) although it still takes 1,5 hours.
To make the stock:
Soak chicken bones for 20 minutes, refresh the water and bring to a boil. Skim the broth. Add the greens of green onion or white leek, carrot skin, piece of cabbage, about 3 ginger slices. Don’t boil but simmer for 90 minutes.
Tan-men ramen is basically a stir fry with pork and vegetables, added stock and ramen.
To make the stir-fry:
30 gram pork shoulder thinly sliced, seasoned
50 gram onion, thinly cut
15 gram carrot, sliced in sticks
5 gram bell pepper
5 gram wood ear mushroom
5 gram green peas
5 gram white leek
1/2 minced garlic
5 gram Chinese chive
100 gram cabbage, bit size
100 gram bean sprouts.
Heat oil in a wok, add pork and garlic. Then add: onion, carrot, mushroom, bell pepper, white leek and green peas. After that the cabbage and bean sprouts.
Fry for a couple of minutes, season and add 500 ml chicken bone stock. Taste for salt.
In the meantime boil the ramen. This will likely be a good instant ramen.
Assembly:
Pour the stock in a bowl, add the boiled ramen. Add Chinese chives and the stir fried vegetables.
For Sateh babi (pork) or sateh ayam (chicken):
9 red shallot.
2 table spoons vegetable oil.
1 clove garlic.
3 rawits.
50 gram freshly fried peanuts.
1 teaspoon trasi bakar.
3 tablespoons kecap manis.
juice of one jeruk limo.
Cut the shallot in fine slices and fry until crispy in 1 tablespoon oil. Use a mortar to grind the garlic, rawits, fried peanuts, trasi, half of the fried shallot and 1 tablespoon oil and salt to a paste.
Transfer the paste to a bowl and add kecap manis and the juice of the jeruk limo. If the sauce is too thick add water. Pour the sauce over the sateh and sprinkle the rest of the fried shallot on top. This sauce is very sweet and spicy.
Marinade for the meat:
3 gloves of garlic, minced.
5 table spoons kecap manis.
From: De Complete Indonesische Keuken, 785 authentieke recepten van de verschillende eilanden, Lonny Gerungan (2002).
It’s a simple recipe. Soak long grain rice for 30 minutes in a clay pot and bring to a boil. After a couple of minutes add sliced ginger and add sliced Cantonese sausages (lap cheong) and Chinese cured pork (lop yuk). Simmer for another 10-12 minutes and turn the fire off. Instead of (or next to) meat you can make a vegetable version with mushrooms, Bok Choy, carrot, cauliflower or green beans.
There are many types of sauces. The following is just one possibility. Prepare the sauce from the following ingredients:
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon seasoned soy sauce (蒸鱼豉油)
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
Just before serving add the sauce and garnish with green onion.
Serve with boiled Bok Choy on the side.
Brussels is a great city for food. There are traditional dishes like: ‘mosselen met frieten’, vol-au-vent, steak tartare, ‘stoemp met worst’ and ‘konijn met pruimen’. ‘Frieten’ with Belgium mayonaise and gaufres nature are great as street food. When I visited Brussels in December there was a Christmas market with many stalls selling mulled wine (vin chaud) and freshly sugared almonds. Another place I like is the classic Café Cirio. They serve a speciality called ‘half-en-half’. The waiter first pours rather sweet sparkling wine in the glass until half full and then tops it off with white wine. The result is a bit too sweet for me but the interior hasn’t changed much in many decades.
I don’t know how old this fish street bar is but I have been visiting this bar since more than decade. My favourite is the soupe “escargots”. This soup is made from a strong dark fish broth with red chillis, possibly quite a bit of black pepper, celery as the only vegetable and snails. This soup is spicy! I’m pretty sure the snails are whelk, which are common in the North Sea, although the population has dwindled. This is street food and it fun to spent some time at the bar among locals and tourists.
Location
Sint-Katelijnestraat 45
1000 Brussel
I stumbled upon this noodle bar by accident because my eye caught a lady in the window making fresh noodles by hand. Fascinating to watch. I was so mesmerised by the lady pulling and twisting the noodles I forgot to make photos. The photos below are from the official website of Au bon bol. Freshly made noodles are a far cry from instant noodles. Sadly many noodle bars use instant noodles.
Location
Paul Devauxstraat 9
1000 Brussel
On Saturday afternoon I visited Matonge. After the Dipenda of Congo many Congolese moved into this neighbourhood. Later people from other African countries settled in Matonge. This is the place to find many African restaurants. I settled for L’archipel on Rue de la Paix 29, 1050 Ixelles, which is more of a community meeting center than a restaurant. They serve simple but filling Congolese style food. I had poulet sauce d'arachide: tender chicken in peanut sauce, with fufu and some fried plantain.
4 cuisses de poulet
1 gros oignon
20 cl de coulis de tomates
150 g de beurre de cacahuètes (home made)
2 gousses d'ail
1 cuillère à soupe d'huile d'arachide
Sel, poivre, piment
Smoked catfish is a must for some west African stews. I think the blackened fish in the photo below are are catfish and it is hard to imagine they taste well. I haven’t cooked with smoked catfish yet but I hope to in 2020. Another ingredient for stews or soups is sauce graine, which is made from palm fruit and can be used for palmnut soup. Brussels is a great city to pick up some West African ingredients.
I don’t bake cookies often but this typical cookie deserves a mention. It’s a very basic cookie with candied ginger on top. It's typical of Amsterdam and likely of Jewish origin.
My upstairs neighbour is well into her nineties. She’s been my neighbour since 1993 when I moved in. She still bakes gemberkoekjes. A few months ago the smoke alarm went off and when I went upstairs, she was baking cookies and forgot the oven. Her kitchen was filled with smoke but the gemberkoekjes were fine. She gave me some cookies to take home. That moment I vowed to bake those cookies myself and keep baking them.
My neighbour Emmy Mechanicus is the embodiment of the history of my “Waterlooplein” neighbourhood, which was the Jewish quarter. Her mother immigrated from Germany in the 1920s and worked as a maid. Her father was Jewish, although not religious. According to the Mishnah she is not considered Jewish and that probably saved her and hew sister during the war. Her father spent some time in Westerbork but returned to Amsterdam and laid low during the war. The family survived.
Her brother is the well-known photographer Philip Mechanicus who passed away in 2005.
Unfinished time line. Emmy Mechanicus passed away on 2 May 2021 at the age of 97.
The recipe below (in Dutch) is by pâtissier Cees Holtkamp.
The food-writer and anthropologist Claudia Roden doesn’t mention “gemberkoekjes” in her The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand and Vilna to the Present Day (1996) but does give a recipe for Joodse Boterkoeke with 75 gram of candied ginger mixed into the dough as a variation.
From 3 November 1942 the Waterlooplein market was one of the four markets where only Jewish people could trade and buy.
(voor 40 tot 50 koekjes)
200 g zachte boter
125 g witte basterdsuiker
1 eetl. vanillesuiker (zelfgemaakt of uit een zakje)
3 g zout
250 g Zeeuwse bloem (bevat minder glutenvormende eiwitten)
1 ei plus 1 dooier, losgeklopt
200 g gekonfijte gember, uitgelekt (het uitlekgewicht van een potje van 240 g is ongeveer 125 g)
50 g suiker
1. Meng boter, suiker en zout met de kneedhaken van een mixer. Voeg op het laatst de bloem toe tot je een los, kruimelig deeg krijgt. Kneed dat met de hand tot een samenhangend deeg. Teveel bloem en het deeg blijft kruimelig.
2. Laat het deeg ongeveer 1 uur ingepakt in plastic folie in de koelkast rusten.
3. Rol het deeg uit tot een vierkante plak van 21 bij 21 centimeter en 5 millimeter dik. Bestrijk de bovenkant met het losgeklopte ei. Verdeel daarna de gember er in een dikke laag overheen. Bestrooi met suiker.
4. Leg het deeg nog even in de koelkast om op te stijven (dat snijdt gemakkelijker). Snijd de koek daarna met een natgemaakt mes (anders blijft de gember aan het mes kleven) in vierkantjes van 3 bij 3 centimeter.
5. Verwarm de oven voor op 170 graden (zonder luchtcirculatie 15 graden hoger). Leg de koekjes op een met bakpapier beklede bakplaat. Bak ze in ongeveer 10-15 minuten goudbruin.
Updated version 05/06/22.
Palak paneer is from the Punjab region so I would serve it with chapati. I used 400 gram spinach, which is enough for two. You can also call this dish saag paneer, ‘saag’ being the name for green leafy vegetables and ‘palak’ पालक referring to spinach in particular. If you use mustard greens or collard greens it’s simply saag paneer.
Spinach
Boil 400grams of spinach. Drain well and puree the spinach in an electric blender. Set aside. There is no need to spice the spinach at this point.
Onion, garlic, green chili pepper and tomato masala
Heat butter and add shallot and garlic. Sauté until the onion and garlic become soft. Add a few small green chili peppers and about two tomato’s. Simmer until all ingredients are soft. Again, puree this masala in an electric blender. Set aside.
Spiced ghee
Now the spices come into play. Heat ghee and add whole cumins seeds. Then add: turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Fry for 30 seconds and add the tomato masala. Add some water and boil. Add the pureed spinach and mix well. Add the paneer in small cubes. Mix carefully and melt some butter in the palak paneer.
The recipe is from the YouTube-channel Veg Village Food.
If you don’t know Annie’s Place you will never find it. This Surinamese take away place is tucked away in a small nondescript building in Venserpolder, Amsterdam Zuid-Oost. The inside is very clean. One wall is filled with framed shirts signed by famous soccer players. Nobody goes to Annie’s place unannounced. You call, order and after 30 to 45 minutes you pick up your order. That’s what my co-worker who tipped me off Annie’s Place, told me to do. I ignored his advice and went there unannounced. Sub-sequentiality I had to wait 45 minutes for my fish. Okay, next time I will call beforehand.
The fish is Annie’s signature dishe. It is most likely American butterfish, fried to perfection and served with banana and cassave. The dish is a basic version of heri-heri, which consists of bakkeljauw, banana and cassava. You get three condiments: pickled cucumber, a dark brown sweet-spicy sauce and very hot yellow pepper sauce.
The butterfish was huge (the photo shows the fish on a 26 centimeter plate) and fried to perfection.
ANNIE’S PLACE
AGATHA CHRISTIESINGEL 28
1102 WK, AMSTERDAM-ZUIDOOST
“Bond ordered a double gin and tonic and one whole green lime. When the drink came he cut the lime in half, dropped the two squeezed halves into the long glass, almost filled the glass with ice cubes and then poured in the tonic. He took the drink out on to the balcony, and sat and looked out across the spectacular view.”
“The abuses committed in the name of Paella Valenciana, are excessive - an absolute scandal.”
Cooking paella on a charcoal fire is very rewarding. It took 1,5 hours to finish and because of the slow proces the paella was easy to tweak during the cooking process. Below quantities are supposed to be for 4 people. My small 28 centimeter paella could only take 150 grams of rice, which was barely enough for me and my parents. Adjust below quantities accordingly.
500g Rabbit
500g Chicken.
60 cl Extra virgin olive oil.
1 ripe tomato.
200g of green beans.
200g kg of garrofón (lima bean).
500g Bomba rice.
1.5 liters stock (rice stock ratio: 1:3)
Sprig of fresh rosemary.
Saffron.
Salt.
10 pre-boiled snails (optional).
Fry the meat (rabbit, chicken) in olive oil. When the meat is sealed and golden brown, add a peeled, ground tomato and the beans. I only got my hand on fresh flat beans. Fry until the tomato has dissolved.
Add the stock. I used chicken stock. Since I used one glass of rice (about 150 grams) I added 3 glasses of stock. Add a sprig of rosemary (which I couldn’t buy on a Sunday). Wait until the stock boils.
Paella Valencia has humble origins and it is hard to imagine the farmers were using stock during lunchtime in the fields. This dish was probably made with just rice, snails and vegetables. You can use water instead and boil the water a bit longer before you add the rice. Basically you are making a stock in the paella.
Add the rice, saffron (dissolve in lukewarm water) and salt. If you have snails, this is the moment to add them. Then let everything simmer for 30 to 45 minutes until the rice has soaked up all stock and the paella is dry but not too dry. By this time the charcoal fire is probably not too hot anymore, which makes it easier to reach the perfect moment.
I have to say the result was very tasty. I didn’t peel the tomatoes and just chucked in the saffron, so there is room for improvement. Now a much bigger paella (pan) is on my list.
Another method would be to make a sofrito first by slow cooking onion, garlic and tomato en olive oil. You can make this separately and add a couple of tablespoons to the paella pan before adding the rice and stock.
I had this appetiser or ‘primi piatti’ in restaurant Dappertutto in Amsterdam. I am pretty sure the cook said it was made with spinach and not endive. I almost immediately vowed to try this at home. According to the internet endive is normally used. I made these tortinos without the ingredients I marked ‘optional’. It tasted great without, although the official recipe has parsley, capers, raisins, tomato sauce and two kinds of cheese.
You need fresh anchovies. Clean the fish by breaking off the heads, clean the inside and take out the backbone. You can use your thumb for this. Set aside the cleaned fish.
To prepare the vegetable layer sauté the finely cut endive in olive oil with minced garlic. Add pepper and salt, raisins and the pine nuts. Set aside.
To prepare the breadcrumb layer mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese, capers, parsley, pepper and salt and a sprinkle of good olive oil.
To assemble the pie you can use a pie shape. I just had terracotta baking dishes, and this worked out perfectly. Start with an optional layer of tomato sauce, then add a layer of breadcrumbs, a layer of endive and a layer of anchovies. Repeat and finish off with a layer of breadcrumbs.
Put in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Below amount is for two servings.
300 grams of fresh anchovies.
60 grams of stale bread crumbs.
extra virgin olive oil.
salt and pepper.
garlic
10 grams of grated pecorino cheese.
10 grams of grated Parmesan cheese or 20 grams of either cheese.
chopped parsley (optional).
70 grams of tomato sauce (optional).
a head of endive, finely cut.
10 grams pine nuts.
raisins (optional)
capers in salt (optional).
My Italian neighbour invites me for dinner now and then. Once a year he receives a cooled box of zuppa di soffritto napoletana through his network of Italian friends who import Italian foodstuff to The Netherlands. It’s basically smuggled in a cooled truck along with the regular export and import products. Because of the ingredients this dish is even rare in Napoli nowadays. Every year he shares the soffritto with me. This year, the shipment didn’t get through for unknown reasons. I told my neighbour that if he gave me the recipe, we would cook it together. The status of this project is still at the stage of “a list of ingredients”.
The recipe:
1,5 Kg di coratella di maiale (polmone, trachea, cuore e milza); 250 gr di pancetta fresca, 300 gr di concentrato di pomodoro, 2 cucchiai d'olio, 100 gr di strutto (sugna), 1/2 peperoncino forte, 180 gr di salsa di peperoni rossi, 4 foglie di alloro, 1 rametto di rosmarino, sale. From the book: "La cucina napoletana”, Ricetta n° 57.
This is the list of ingredients in English:
1,5 kg of pork offal (lung, windpipe, heart and spleen).
250 gram fresh bacon.
300 gram concentrated tomatoes.
2 table spoons of olive oil.
100 gram lard.
1/2 strong chili.
180 gram red peppers (paprika) mashed to a smooth paste.
4 bay leafs.
1 twig of rosemary .
salt.
