Bruine bonen met zoutvlees

Bruine bonen met zoutvlees; 'brown beans and salted beef' is a classic Surinamese dish. 

First you have to boil the salted beef for about 30 minutes to soften the meat and discard most of the salt. After you have boiled the meat, cut it in small cubes.

In the meantime fry in oil some onion rings and garlic. Most recipes call of a stock cube at this point but you need to skip this; the dish will be too salty in my opinion. Add the beef and fry for 10 minutes. Add a few spoons of tomato puree, some halved fresh tomatoes, fry for a couple of minutes, and add can of beans. Instead of brown beans I used kidney beans. Add a glass of water or (optional) beef stock. Add bay leaf, pimento, a Madame Jeantte pepper and simmer for 30 minutes. Garnish with fresh leaf celery and/or add some sprigs of celery while cooking.

Spritz, Aperol Spritz

Spritz is a cocktail from Northern Italy. It's ingredients are: Aperol, Prosecco and carbonated water. It's served 'on the rocks' in an old fashioned glass (a wine glass is also suitable). Garnish with a slice of orange.

3 cl (one part) Aperol

3 cl (one part) Prosecco

3 cl (one part) carbonated water.

Variation: use a white wine (Pinot Grigio or Tocai) instead of Prosecco.

On the Aperol bottle it lists the following ratio: 3 parts Prosecco, 2 parts Aperol and 1 part carbonated water.

I tried the latter (3:2:1) and it tasted absolutely great.

Photo: Travis Breaux.

Asparagus 2012

This year's asparagus from Spargelhof Tenbrock (An der Kapelle 3. 46419 Isselburg-Herzebocholt, Germany) were coupled with a bottle of German Weißburgunder - basically a Pinot Noir - from the wine region Nahe.

Mama Seedorf's peanut soup (sort of)

This soup is staple food for the Dutch national football team: no game is being played without this soup being served beforehand, apparently. The recipe is developed by the national team's cook, Johan Klein Gebbink, in collaboration with the mother of Clarence Seedorf (=football player).

The recipe calls for chicken breast, but how you can make a tasty chicken stock with chicken breast is beyond me. I used the carcass of a chicken, chock-full of bones and fat.

Make a clear stock from the chicken carcass, water (3 liters), onion, leek, bay leaf and mace:

Simmer for 3-4 hours.





Prepare the lemon grass and chili pepper by crushing the lemon grass and deseeding the peppers.

Heat oil in a pot, fry onion (cut finely) and add the banana's and plantain (bakbanaan), also: cut very finely.



Pour in the chicken stock and a jar of peanut butter. Add lemon grass and chili peppers. Simmer for up to 2,5 hours. Stir frequently: the peanut butter will stick to the pot.



In the last 15 minutes you can add sweet potato (optional). Season with black pepper and salt. Taste and season with brown sugar if you want the soup a bit more sweet (recommended).

In the original recipe the soup is seasoned with an enormous amount of sweet chili sauce (the kind used for Vietnamese spring rolls) and ginger sirup. To me this seems like adding Heinz tomato ketchup to a fine bolognese sauce. I skipped both.

Before serving remove the lemon grass and add shredded celery leaf. If there is enough meat on the chicken carcass add it to the soup. If you want more meat, boil chicken breast in the chicken stock and add it to the soup, shredded.


Ingredients

Surinamese peanut butter (Faja Lobi: Pindakaas Trafasie, spicy!):


Banana or ripe plantain:


Plantain (bakbanaan):


Chicken carcass (this amount for 1 euro!):


Lemon grass:


Chili pepper:


Leek:


Onion:


Leaf celery:


Sweet potato:

Stuffed salmon

This simple snack invokes memories of Peruvian ceviche. Get some smoked salmon, cut thinly and big enough to use as a wrap.

For the filling:
One avocado, cut in very small cubes
One green apple (Granny Smith), cut in very small cubes
100 gram brown shrimp (Dutch: grijze garnaal, French: crevette grise)
Spring onion, cut finely
Basil leaves, cut finely (optional).

For the dressing (taste for the right mix of the ingredients, you should taste the mustard):
Sour cream
Sharp mustard
Lemon or lime juice

Mix the filling and dressing and wrap the salmon around it. Don't use too much dressing, otherwise you won't taste the other ingredients. Keep in the fridge until serving. You can serve the stuffed salmon as part of a green salad. Serve with lemon wedges.