Brussels sprouts & Marsala

Clean, then boil Brussels sprouts for 5-6 minutes. I used 500 gram. Do not overcook Brussels sprouts. Overcooking releases the sulphur smelling glucosinolate: sinigrin.

In the meantime: fry 100 gram diced pancetta in a little oil for a couple of minutes. Add 20 gram butter & cooked chestnuts. When the butter has melted add 50 ml. Marsala and cook until the butter and Marsala form a thick sauce.

Mix the drained Brussels sprouts and a handful of parsley with the pancetta-Marsala-sauce and serve.

Bartolomeo Scappi - eggplant

This is a recipe from Opera dell'arte del cucinare, the famous cookbook by Bartolomeo Scappi (c. 1500 – 1577). His book was translated in Dutch quite early: Koocboec oft familieren keukenboec, 1612, by Antonius Magirus).

The basic ingredients are eggplant, fresh herbs, olive oil and heavy spices like cinnamon and cloves. Peel the eggplants. Slice the eggplant and coat in flower. Drizzle a baking tray with plenty of olive oil and add a layer of eggplant. Sprinkle with fresh herbs, cinnamon (powdered), cloves (powdered), sugar and salt. Drizzle more oil. Add another layer of eggplant. Sprinkle more herbs (if you have, the top of fennel), a splash of vinegar and more oil. I also used some fennel seeds. Bake until soft. Be careful not to burn the herbs, the whole dish will taste bitter.

Bigos - Polish hunter's stew

Typical of a hunter's stew, there is no fixed recipe. Bigos is a national dish of Poland and the Ukraine, but is also eaten in Latvia and Belarus. Bigos is a cabbage and meat stew.

Basic vegetables:

Sauerkraut.
A small white cabbage, shredded.
Onion.
Garlic.

Meat:
Smoked pork belly, cubed.
Ham (Polish shop), cubed.
Kiełbasa sausage (Polish shop), whole.

Meat is an important aspect of this dish. You can use any kind of meat or meat leftovers. Traditionally this would be a hunter's stew so game works well, but pork is also very tasty. I wasn't sure what kind of sausage to use, so I went to a Polish shop in Amsterdam and was sold the sausage below and a cut of ham. The pork belly is Dutch 'gerookt ontbijtspek'.

Other ingredients:

Dried Boletus edulis (Dutch: eekhoorntjesbrood).
Dried prunes, chopped.
Apple, cubed.
Tomato, cubed.
Small can tomato puree.
White wine, a glass. If you make the version with game instead of pork use red wine instead of white wine.

Spices:
Bay leaf.
Allspice (=piment), freshly ground.
Black peppercorns.
Juniper berries.
Caraway seeds.

First shred the cabbage and simmer for one hour in water. Drain and preserve the water.

Fry the smoked pork belly in some butter or oil. Remove the pork belly and use the fat to sauté the onion and garlic. Add the rest of the meat except the Kiełbasa (in this case just the ham). Then add all the other ingredients and return the pork belly to the pot. I also added the soaking water of the mushrooms. If you need more liquid use the water used for simmering the cabbage. Add the Kiełbasa on top. The bigos I had in Poland was rather dark in colour, so I added a small can of tomato puree. Simmer for at least three hours.

Well, I’ve just learned that tomatoes should not be on the ingredient list. Next time I’ll use the following list of ingredients:

750 gram zuurkool

750 gram witte kool

350 gram varkenslapjes

350 gram kip- of kalkoenfilet

250 gram Silezische worst

een glas rode wijn

40 gram gedroogde paddenstoelen

4 gedroogde pruimen

2 uien

4 jeneverbessen

3 korrels piment

4 peperkorrels

laurierblad

Fried small fish

Smelt (Dutch: spiering; Osmerus eperlanus) is available in the winter months December until March. No need to clean this little fish. Eat them whole. 

Dry the fish and sprinkle with salt. Keep cold. Mix 40 gram very fine flower and 40 gram corn flower. Alternatively: add some cayenne pepper. Coat fish with flower mixture.

Fry in very hot oil for 2-3 minutes. They should be crispy. Drain on kitchen paper. One recipe says to fry them for 1,5 minute, drain and then fry again for 1,5 minute. I'm not sure if this is really necessary. 

Garnish with persillade (parsley and garlic mixture) and lemon wedges. Serve with ice cold beer.

Spiering

Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School

The one day cooking class in Chiang Mai was quite interesting. The Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School is located on a former rice field just outside the city. The owners have transformed the rice field into a garden full of fresh ingredients. The recipes you practice are the standard dishes like a curry and som tam.

Ruamchok Mall, 204 Fhaham Muang District Tambon Fa Ham, Chiang Mai.

Back in the Netherlands I mainly made khao pad (ข้าวผัด) street food style, or specifically khao pad gong (ข้าวผัดกุ้ง). So with shrimp. Not fresh in my case, but dried shrimp.

Khao Pad Gong

The shopping list for Khao Pad Gong (ข้าวผัดกุ้ง):

• Rice (cooled)

• Dried shrimp (or fresh)

• Half an onion.

• Chinese broccoli. Also known as kailan. Chinese: 芥蘭. Asian spinach is also perfect.

• Garlic.

• Egg.

• 1 tbs Thai soy sauce.

• 1 tbs oyster sauce..

• Spring onion/scallion.

Prik Nam Pla Ra (chili in fishsauce น้ำพริกปลาร้า)

• Thai small chilli pepper

• Thai fish sauce.

• Lime.

When the wok and oil are hot, add the garlic to the oil. After 15 seconds add the shrimp. When the scent is well released, add a little less than half of the rice and toss well. Slide rice to one side of wok and crack an egg over wok. Mix the egg with the rice and then add the rest of the rice.

Add the soy sauce and oyster sauce and continue to stir well. Add the Chinese broccoli and onion, stir for 30 seconds and finally mix in the spring onion. You can make the prik nam plan simply by mixing about three tablespoons of fish sauce with about five Thai chilis cut into pieces.

Squeezing some lime is optional. Serve immediately with lime and prik nam pla. Some black pepper works wonders.

Kao Pad Nam Prik Pao

A variation with three types of chili: nam prik pao, prik pon and prik sod). You need to buy a jar of nam prik pao (Pantai brand is well known). The steps are easy. Sauté garlic and roasted chili flakes (prik pon) in oil. Add rice and toss. Mix a table spoon of nam prik pao with fish sauce and toss. Add onion and toss. Add scrambled eggs and fresh chilis (prik sod). Add fresh spinach and/or Thai basil and toss.

Picked in the garden of Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School.

San phra phum (ศาลพระภูมิ) op de Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School. You have to please the local guardian spirits with offerings of lemonade.

Thai mise en place.

Snert

You will need:

500 gram split peas.
A piece of pork hock or ham hock [Dutch: hamschijf], about 500 gram, or two pig's trotters. Note: hamschijf is neither smoked nor cured.
100 gram streaky bacon [Dutch: zuurkoolspek], salted but not smoked, preferrably with rind.
One smoked sausage [Dutch: rookworst].
2 large onions, chopped.
1 large carrot.
2 leeks.
1 celeriac [Dutch: knolselderie].
2 potatoes.
1 bunch of fresh leaf celery.
Black pepper and salt according to taste.
2 litres of water to start with.

Serve with Rye bread ('pumpernickel') and slices of 'katenspek' (lightly streaked pork, first boiled and then smoked black).

How to make split pea soup

Start the day before. Wash the split peas, add 2 litres of water and bring to a boil adding the meat, excluding the 'rookworst'. Remove the thick layer of foam, which will form. Discard the water. Add clean water and bring to a boil again.

Cut the celeriac, onion and potato in small cubes; the carrot in 'half moons'. Cut the leeks 'cross wise', like a feather stick. Add all vegetables (but not the leaf celery) and simmer for 1,5 tot 3 hours.

Remove the meat and cut in small pieces and remove the bones. Pork hock contains an amazing amount of fatty skin. Perfect for an hungry 19th century farmer, maybe not so great for a 21st century city dweller. Discard some of the fat. Return the boiled meat to the pot.

Add the 'rookworst' and a handful of chopped leaf celery. Season with salt and pepper and leave overnight.