Michiel and Jeen

Cacio e Pepe

21 August 2025

It takes only four ingredients to create an international culinary incident: a classic Italian recipe, a well-known British food website, Parmesan cheese and butter. What happened? BBC Good Food published a recipe for a quick and easy lunch meal, called Cacio e Pepe, with Spaghetti, Butter, Black Pepper and Parmesan Cheese. Claudio Pica, president of the Fiepet Confesercenti Roma (an association representing restaurants in Italy) couldn’t disagree more and expressed his astonishment in several letters, including one to the UK Ambassador.

Cacio e Pepe is a traditional, Italian classic, typical for the Lazio region, made with Tonnarelli or Spaghetti, Water, Salt, Pecorino Romano and Black Pepper. No cream, no butter, no olive oil, no Parmesan cheese. And it may seem simple to prepare, but serving Cacio e Pepe requires skills, passion and experience, according to Claudio Pica.

The incident made us think of Sophia Loren adding cream to her Spaghetti Carbonara and Jamie Oliver putting chorizo on his Pizza. Don’t mess with Italian traditions!

Now that we agree on the ingredients, we need to understand how to prepare the dish. The heart of the dish is a sauce made with pasta water and pecorino. We found various ways of making this sauce, ranging from adding pepper and grated cheese to the pasta just before serving (no sauce, just sticky pasta) to a scientific one whereby the sauce is made au bain marie (complicated).

We think the main points of the recipe are:

Use less water than usual, because you need starchy water to create the sauce
Use less salt in the pasta water because the Pecorino cheese is rather salty
The Pecorino must be relatively young, older cheese may make the sauce lumpy
The Pecorino must be very finely grated

We humbly present our version of this delicious Italian classic dish.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of Pima Luna Frascati with our Cacio e Pepe. This is a white wine from the Lazio region, or to be more precise: from the hills overlooking Rome. The wine is made by wine maker Mauro Merz with malvasia bianca di candia and trebbiano grapes. It’s a light and refreshing wine with hints of green apple and citrus. Notes of slightly bitter almond on the finish. Its freshness matched very well with the creamy Cacio e Pepe. The aroma of the wine comes with a hint of butter, which is a nice connection to the Pecorino.

What You Need

130 grams of Spaghetti
70 grams of Pecorino cheese
2 grams of Black Pepper
1 litre of Water

What You Do

Heat the water in a large pan and add the spaghetti
Warm your plates (50 °C or 120 °F)
Cook the spaghetti for a few minutes. Our spaghetti needed 11 minutes in total; we cooked it for 7 minutes in the pan.
Crush the peppercorns
Roast them in a pan over medium heat until they become very aromatic
Reduce heat and wait for the spaghetti to be somewhat cooked
Add some pasta water to the pan with the toasted pepper
Increase the heat
Transfer the pasta to the pan and combine
Add a large spoon of pasta water to the pan
Leave to cook
Repeat steps 10 and 11 until the pasta is al dente. At this moment the pan should be nearly dry
In parallel add some pasta water to the finely grated pecorino and make a smooth paste
When the pasta is al dente remove the pan from the heat
Allow to cool for perhaps one minute
Quickly add the paste and combine everything in the pan
Add pasta water to reach the right consistency
Serve immediately on warm plates
No need to add pepper or cheese

PS

The Good Food website mentioned they would be happy to post the original recipe. We looked for it, but couldn’t find it. We did however find a recipe for Cacio e Pepe with Gnocchi (and butter and Parmesan cheese, obviously).
Perhaps another letter to the Ambassador? Or one to the Prime Minister?

Satureja or Savory

14 August 2025

The traditional way of eating Fava Beans in the Netherlands is by combining them with an herb called ‘bonenkruid’. The name isn’t very helpful, it translates into ‘bean herb’, so it’s ‘beans with bean herb’. The tradition is based on the idea that the herb would help your body digest the fava beans and that it would compensate for the bitterness of the inner skin of the beans.

Given its name we didn’t pay too much attention to ‘bean herb’, until we saw it in France, where it’s called ‘sarriette’. In English it’s ‘satureja’ or ‘savory’. It turns out to be a very tasty herb, related to rosemary and thyme. It is one of the main herbs in Herbes de Provence, together with marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and oregano.

Its history goes back to Roman times, when it was one of the main ingredients of Garum (or Liquamen), the fermented fish sauce that was used to flavour food. Amongst the herbs used in garum are cilantro, dill, fennel, celery, mint, thyme, oregano and clary sage. The Romans also used satureja as an aphrodisiac.

In her book Van Soeter Cokene Professor Van Winter describes a recipe from 1430 for Crustade, a pie with veal, various herbs (satureja, sage, parsley, hyssop) and spices such as cinnamon, saffron, cloves and mace. According to Van Winter one of the first recipes to combine (green) herbs with spices.

Our ‘bonenkruid’ has much more potential than we expected!
We decided to combine it with slowly baked waxy potatoes. They will be very crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The satureja makes it into a very light, uplifting side dish, great with Coq au Vin or a hearty stew.

What You Need

Waxy Potatoes
Satureja
Olive Oil
Butter
(optional) Black Pepper

What You Do

Peel the potatoes, wash and cook until not yet done
Let cool
Heat a heavy iron pan
Add butter and olive oil
Chop the satureja
Slice the potatoes, not too thin, add to the pan and fry on medium heat
Turn the slices every one or two minutes. The potatoes should become very crispy, a touch golden but not brown
When ready to serve, add ¾ of the satureja and mix
Add black pepper (if using)
Serve and add the remainder of the satureja

PS

Making your own garum is perhaps not the most obvious thing to do. We made it once, many years ago. It turned out to be a very tasty and subtle condiment, despite the fairly present aroma.

Exploring Asma Khan’s Ammu (Part 3)

7 August 2025

We conclude our review of Asma Khan’s cookbook Ammu, Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul by preparing two dishes: Saffron Lamb and Pulao and asking our esteemed panel (André, Joke, Martine and Rutger) for their thoughts. In Part 1 we wrote about her Pumpkin and Coconut soup and in Part 2 about her Pineapple and Chilli Chutney and Eggs in Tamarind Gravy.

Asma Khan is an Indian British chef, cookbook author and restaurant owner. In 2012 her pop-up restaurant started for 12 guests at her home, serving food cooked from traditional family recipes. Today her all-female Darjeeling Express restaurant in London offers Indian Rajput and Bengalihome cooking specialties.

In 2024 she won the Johannes van Dam Prize, a lifetime achievement award for an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the world of gastronomy. Previous winners of the prestigious prize include Yotam Ottolenghi, Carlo Petrini, Alice Waters, Claudia Roden, Jeroen Meus and Alain Passard.

The book is called ‘Ammu’ which translates to ‘Mother’. The stories, the recipes, the whole book is a tribute to the food her mother (and the family’s cook) prepared. But we feel it’s more: it’s also a tribute to original flavours, to people taking time to prepare food, to sharing and enjoying, to communities and heritage.

Saffron Lamb

The recipe calls for a whole leg of lamb. For practical reasons we decided to make a stew using neck of lamb. The meat is marinated for at least 4 hours (or overnight) in a combination of yoghurt, garlic, chilli powder and saffron. Using saffron can be challenging. Asma Khan soaks the saffron in tepid water, which makes it much easier to add the right amount of saffron, not only at the beginning but also just before serving. The stew was a well-balanced combination of lamb, spices and saffron. To quote Asma Khan: “This is a good one to serve friends and family to make them feel loved without having to spend a lot of time in the kitchen!”. It was Rutger’s favourite.

Pulao

Doesn’t it look amazing? Basmati rice with cardamon, cinnamon, rose petals, pistachios, apricots, cloves, onion, rose water and bay leaf. The pulao surprised us all with its flavours, aromas and vibrant colours. The rice has a sweet undertone which makes it ideal to serve with spicy dishes. It combined very well with the lamb, the chutney and the eggs.

It was Martine’s favourite. Preparing it is, as you will expect by now!, a bit of work but it’s not difficult.

Should This Book Be On Your Shelf?

Our answer is “Yes, definitely” but our esteemed panel didn’t agree with us. They loved the dishes and the range of (new) flavours, the complexity of the aromas and the beautiful colours. They would be happy to enjoy more food from Asma Khan, but the time and effort required to prepare the food would be a problem.
Which means we will plan another Asma Khan dinner, with dishes such as Stir-Fried Aubergines, Coconut Ladoo and Prawns with Peas and Potatoes. To be continued!

The Book

Ammu, Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul by Asma Khan is available via the usual channels or your local bookstore for 35,00 US$ or 26,00 EUR.
Some of her recipes were published by the BBC, other recipes were published by Great British Chefs and these by the Foodnetwork.

Grand Dessert

31 July 2025

It’s not every day that we visit a museum to explore the world of food, let alone the world of desserts. End of last year the Kunstmuseum in The Hague (the Netherlands) opened the exhibition Grand Dessert about the history and joy of European desserts. According to guest curator Janny Van der Heijde (author of cookbooks and member of the jury of the Dutch version of the Great British Bake Off), “A dessert is more than just the ultimate ending to a meal. It reflects changes in culture, society and tastes down the centuries. You can tell a lot of stories using desserts. Stories about wealth and poverty, about temptation and deception, dominance and oppression, but first and foremost about love of all things sweet.”^[1]

On Display

The exhibition shows a variety of pastries (glass and ceramic, made by Shayna Leib), moulds, recipe books, baking tins and fun objects such as dessert-bags (made by Rommydebommy), dessert-clothing and knitted desserts (Kate Jenkins). It shows how ice-cream was made, what desserts would be served during royal banquets and how sugar was used to create centrepieces, for instance Sugar Flower pieces (Natasja Sadi). Also on display a large, pink, moving jelly, created in 2024 by Chinese artist Rong Bao.

Moulds

We were especially intrigued by the vast collection of moulds, in all kinds of shapes, classic ones, fish, lobster, pineapple, shells, elephant, cow, pig and a young child (very odd).
Pudding can be both savoury and sweet, just think of the blancmange as it was made in 1510 with chicken, salt, flour, egg yolks, saffron, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and mace.

Jellies

The moulds made us think of jelly pudding, something we haven’t eaten for many, many years. We noticed a book by Sam Bompas and Harry Par, called Jelly, obviously. The book includes recipes for Campari & Orange jelly, Cherry jelly, Lavender jelly, Sex on the Beach jelly and many more. It discusses the history of jellies and techniques such as marbling. The shapes are incredible, look at their Jelly Parlour! We bought the book and will write about it in a future post. But first we must buy a pudding mould…

Practical

The exhibition Grand Dessert runs until October 26^th.
Jelly by Bompas and Par seems to be out of print. We bought our copy for 7 euro.

^[1] Quote taken from the website of the Museum

Fried Prawns with Garlic and Samphire

24 July 2025

Shrimps and prawns are subtle, delicate and tasty. Popular food in many countries, just think shrimp cocktail, stuffed eggs with shrimps and of course, fried prawns with garlic and lemon.
For this recipe you need large, wild or organic prawns. We strongly suggest using ones that are not yet cleaned. It’s not difficult to clean shrimps and they taste much better than factory cleaned shrimps.
We serve the prawns with samphire. It’s a crunchy and salty vegetable that brings lots of colour and flavour to the plate. It can be eaten raw but it’s better to cook or steam it for a minute or two. The history of samphire goes back to the 14^thcentury when the ashes of the marsh samphire (rich on sodium carbonate) were used to make glass.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our Prawns with a glass of Picpoul de Pinet produced by Gérard Bertrand. A dry white wine, with a pale straw yellow color. It has aromas of citrus and gooseberries. The wine is full and round with minerality which is typical for a Picpoul de Pinet.
Recently we combined the prawns with a white wine made by Casa Relvas in Portugal. The wine is made with antão vaz and viognier grapes. Subtle aromas, gentle acidity and a nice finish.
You could also combine the prawns with a glass of Chablis, Verdejo or Soave.

What You Need

Six large Prawns
Garlic
Olive Oil
Black Pepper
50 grams of Samphire
Crusted Bread
Lemon (optional)

What You Do

Use scissors to cut the shell of the prawn. Start behind the head and cut towards the tail. Just before the tail turn 90 degrees and make a cut around the prawn
Remove the head, the shell and the legs of the body. Keep the tail on the prawn.
Remove the black vein (the prawn’s intestines) and the slurry (if any)
Wipe clean with kitchen paper
Transfer the prawns to the refrigerator
Wash the samphire
Coarsely slice the garlic
Heat a pan with water
Dry the prawns and fry them in a skillet in olive oil (depending on the size maximum 4 minutes in total) on both sides and on the back.
When the prawns begin to colour, add the garlic and reduce the heat
Coat the prawns with the oil and the garlic in the pan
Cook the samphire for one minute maximum (or steam for two minutes)
Drain the samphire
Serve on warm plates with some black pepper and lemon (if using)
Enjoy with crusted bread

Fried prawns with Garlic and Samphire ©cadwu

Exploring Asma Khan’s Ammu (Part 2)

17 July 2025

We continue our review of Asma Khan’s cookbook Ammu, Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul by preparing two dishes: Pineapple and Chilli Chutney and Eggs in Tamarind Gravy and asking our esteemed panel (André, Joke, Martine and Rutger) for their thoughts. . Earlier we wrote about her Pumpkin and Coconut soup.

Wine Pairing

Aska Khan doesn’t include suggestions for drink pairing in the book. As a main we served four dishes: Pineapple and Chilli Chutney, Eggs in Tamarind Gravy, Saffron Lamb and Pulua. We paired this with a red wine called Magenta produced by Domaine de l’Arjolle from the Côtes de Thongue area (west of the French city of Montpellier) made with merlot and cinsault grapes. The wine has a light red colour, and its taste made us think of cherries and red fruit. Excellent light wine that combined very well with the various flavours of Asma Khan’s dishes. In general, we would suggest a light, fruity red wine.
If you would like to enjoy a white wine, we would suggest one with limited acidity, for instance Pinot Gris.

Eggs in Tamarind Gravy

When going through the book, we noticed this delicious looking dish. It made us think of Sambal Goreng Telor, an Indonesian side dishe which combines fried hard-boiled eggs with a sauce made with chillies, lemon grass, shrimp paste and other ingredients.

The recipe for Eggs in Tamarind Gravy is not too difficult, just a bit time consuming. The gravy is made with very thinly sliced onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, chilli, tamarind extract and water. Once combined it needs to be reduced by half. We read the recipe again and started to wonder why it was called ‘gravy’. The liquid in our pan resembled a watery soup, not gravy. We left it to reduce, on low heat, and we waited patiently. It started to thicken and after two or three hours we knew Asma Khan was right: gravy it was.
We think that the very thinly sliced onion, cooked through and through, worked as a thickener. Ten minutes before serving we made three shallow slits on the surface of each hard-boiled egg, which helps the eggs to absorb the gravy.
The panel loved the combination of subtle flavours: sweet, tangy, sour and rich. The sauce has the texture of old-fashioned gravy and it coated the eggs perfectly.

Pineapple and Chilli Chutney

We decided to prepare Saffron Lamb because of the intriguing recipe (more in our next review). Asma Khan suggests serving the lamb with Rose, Apricot and Pistachio Pulau and Pineapple and Chilli Chutney, so that’s what we did.

The chutney is made with red chillies (we used Kashmiri red chilies), Indian bay leave (tej patta), ginger, sugar, salt and water. It needs to cook until the chutney thickens and looks glossy. As with the gravy we were slightly worried: after thirty minutes our chutney wasn’t glossy or thick and the pineapple was bright yellow. But after three hours the chutney looked exactly as Asma Khan predicted.
The panel was surprised by the sweetness and gentle spiciness of the chutney. The flavour of the pineapple was clearly present, but in a savoury way. Tasty in its own right, very nice accompaniment with the lamb and the rice.

The Book

How to Make a Roulade (Part 1)

10 July 2025

Butterflying meat is a technique that allows you to turn a thicker piece of meat (for instance pork tenderloin or turkey breast) into a piece that you can use to make a roulade, without damaging the texture. The first step is to slice the meat lengthwise, but not through and through. The second and third step are a bit more challenging: take your knife and half the meat, again lengthwise, from the centre to the right and then from the centre to the left. Basically, you have now quartered the meat but it still in one piece. Difficult? This helpful video shows you how to do it.
Some instructions stop after the first step and use a meat hammer to flatten the meat. Nice, but the result is not even close to the real thing.

Once the pork tenderloin is butterflied, it’s time to add the filling, on the outside. Sounds odd, but our butcher was right, if you fry the roulade inside-out, you get a much better result.

We have made pork tenderloin roulades with various fillings. This recipe is for a Mediterranean approach. You could also go for a spicy mixture with red pepper paste, garlic, onion, ginger and soy sauce.

Wine Pairing

In general both red and white wine can go very well with a roulade of pork tenderloin. It all depends on the filling. In case of this Mediterranean filling, we would suggest a more robust wine, for instance Syrah. This is a full-bodied red wine with medium to high levels of tannin. It has fruity flavors and a slightly peppery finish.
In case of a filling with red pepper paste, garlic, ginger and soy sauce you could pair the roulade with a more spicy red wine, for instance Zinfandel, or with a white wine with a touch of sweetness (Riesling, perhaps Viognier).

What You Need

Pork Tenderloin
Black garlic
Sage
Black Olives
Rosemary
Fennel Seed
Pancetta
Black Pepper

What You Do

Butterfly the meat
Devein and chop the sage
Halve the black olives
Crush the fennel seeds
Make a mixture of black garlic, sage, black olives, rosemary, fennel seed and black pepper. It should be a powerful mixture
Spread the mixture over the meat. Keep the edges free.
Cover with slices of pancetta.
Roll up the meat
Tie with kitchen twine
Tightly wrap in plastic foil and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours
Remove the roulade from the refrigerator and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 – 60 minutes
Preheat your oven to 160 °C or 320 °F
Fry in the oven until the internal temperature is between 65 °C and 75 °C, or 145 °F and 165 °F (pink and well-done respectively)
Transfer to your worktop, wrap in aluminium foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes
Slice and serve on a warm plate, for instance with green peas, or pommes dauphinois, or a salad or ratatouille. Just think about the filling and be inspired!

butterflying meat allows you to create a roulade

Tartelette with Pear

3 July 2025

Always a pleasure to serve a tartelette, with lemon, with blackberries, with raspberries or in this case with pear. The challenge is to capture the delicate flavour of the pears.
Making the filling is simple and quick. Making the pastry requires much more time. Feel free to use ready-made pastry!

What You Need

Filling
- Pears
- Butter
- Lemon Juice
Pâte Sucrée
- 50 grams of Unsalted Butter
- 40 grams of Caster Sugar
- 125 grams of All Purpose Flour
- 1 gram of Salt
- 1 organic egg
- Water (optional)

What You Do (Filling)

Peel and core the pears
Chop coarsely
Melt the butter
Add some water
Slowly cook the pears until soft
Taste and perhaps add a drop of lemon juice
Pass gently through a sieve, without applying pressure. You want as much liquid as possible without damaging the texture of the pears
Set the pears aside and allow to cool.
Reduce the liquid until it becomes thick

What You Do (Pastry Case)

Combine sugar, flour and salt
Dice butter, add to the mixture and combine. Use a hand mixer with kneading hooks
Beat the egg and add
Use your hands to make the dough. It should not be sticky, so it must be easy to make a ball. If too dry, add just a bit of water. If too wet, add some flour
When done, remove from the bowl and wrap in kitchen foil. Store in the refrigerator for at least two hours. It can be stored for a few days.
Flour your work surface and roll out the pastry to a circle a larger than the top of the tartelette forms. The dough should be approximately 2 or 3 mm thick
Coat the forms with butter
Line the forms with the pastry. Press the pastry well into the sides and bottom. Use a knife to remove the excess dough
Cover and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator
Preheat the oven to 190 °C or 375 °F
Use a fork to prick small holes in the pastry
Line the forms with greaseproof paper or aluminium foil, add baking beans and bake blind for 10 minutes
Remove the paper and the baking beans
Reduce the oven temperature to 160 °C or 320 °F
Transfer back to the oven for 5 minutes or until golden
Transfer to a wire rack and let cool

Assembling the Tartelette

When the pastry cases are completely cool, add the pears
Use a spoon to drizzle the pear-syrop on top of the pears
Serve immediately

Exploring Asma Khan’s Ammu (Part 1)

26 June 2025

Recently we bought Asma Khan’s cookbook Ammu, Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul. ‘An entrancing book’, according to Nigella Lawson.
Asma Khan is an Indian British chef, cookbook author and restaurant owner. In 2012 her pop-up restaurant started for 12 guests at her home, serving food cooked from traditional family recipes. Today her all-female Darjeeling Express restaurant in London offers Indian Rajput and Bengalihome cooking specialties.

We prepared five dishes from the book and asked our esteemed panel (André, Joke, Martine and Rutger) for their thoughts. In this post we will look into Asma Khans Pumpkin and Coconut Soup and a dessert from Bengali, Bhapa Doi. On July 17^th we will post part 2 of this review.

Flavours and Aromas

Asma Khan’s cookbook is about the food she enjoyed when she lived in India, the food she missed so much when living in the UK. By publishing the recipes, she creates an opportunity for all of us to enjoy the food that is close to her heart. That’ s why we followed her instructions to the letter, with one exception; we used less chillies.

Spices

Buying the right spices was a bit of a challenge. One of the ingredients of the Pineapple Chutney is Tej Patta, or Indian bay leaf. It has a clear cinnamon-like flavour and is not to be confused with common bay leaf.
We also needed not too spicy large chillies. We found some excellent Kashmiri Red Chilies. Flavourful, a touch spicy and dark red.
One dish required Cassia Bark which we couldn’t find and replaced with cinnamon.
We wanted to serve original Indian beer, so we had to find a few bottles of Kingfisher or Cobra.
The shopping took a bit of time, but it was worth the effort!

Not Just Another Cookbook

Pumpkin and Coconut Soup

When talking about our menu, we looked at the menu of The Darjeeling Express and decided to prepare one starter and four dishes as main course. A vegetarian Pumpkin and Coconut soup would be ideal as a starter. The ingredients are pumpkin, onion, garlic, ginger, red chillies, coconut cream, salt, star anise and fennel seeds. Two tablespoons of fennel seeds (for 6 servings)? Star anise? Would that work?

The panel was impressed: a delicious pumpkin soup, spicy, but not the kind of spiciness that lingers on. The fennel worked beautifully with the pumpkin and coconut. The star anise gave the soup a nice additional and unexpected aroma. André’s favourite.

Bhapa Doi

When reading the book, we noticed that the recipes are not too complex, however, most are rather labour intensive. The book includes several recipes for desserts but given the time we needed to prepare the other dishes we decided to make a relativity easy Bengali dessert (not included in the book).

The Bhapa Doi is rich and moist, the taste long and (not overly) sweet. It made us think of cream cheese pie. The raisins combined very well with the creamy flavours and the cardamom. Perhaps we could have made smaller portions?

What You Need (for 7 ramekins (150 ml))

One tin of Condensed Milk (approximately 400 grams)
250 ml Greek Yoghurt
100 ml Whole Milk
1½ teaspoon of finely crushed Cardamom Seeds
Handful of Sultana Raisins
Pistachio Nuts (to decorate)

What You Do

Soak the sultana raisins for 15 minutes in lukewarm water
Preheat your oven to 170 °C or 340 °F traditional (no fan)
Combine the condensed milk with the yoghurt until smooth
Add the milk and combine
Add the crushed cardamom seeds
Use kitchen paper to dry the raisins
Add the raisins to the mixture
Fill the ramekins with the mixture
Place the ramekins in a baking tray
Add boiling water up to 2/3 of the height of the ramekins
Close the oven door and reduce the temperature to 120 °C or 250 °F
Leave in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes, until set
Test with a needle (it should come out dry)
Remove the ramekins from the baking tray and allow to cool.
Best to refrigerate the ramekins for 4⁺ hours in the refrigerator before serving
Decorate with pistachio nuts

The Book

Ammu, Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul by Asma Khan is for sale via the usual channels or your local bookstore for 35,00 US$ or 26,00 EUR.
Some of her recipes were published by the BBC, other recipes were published by Great British Chefs and these by the Foodnetwork.

Field Peas

19 June 2025

Field Peas (Pisum sativum subsp. Arvense, Austrian winter pea, Kapucijner in Dutch or Blaue Speiseerbse in German) are well known as dried or canned peas. Typical winter-food. The season for fresh Field Peas is relatively short (6 weeks in June and July) so we were happy to buy them earlier this week, for a reasonable price. Last year they were incredibly expensive because of a very poor harvest. Ask your greengrocer for Field Peas and explore another forgotten vegetable. One that has been around for over 7000 years!

Fresh Field Peas are tasty, sometimes a bit dry and should be eaten young. Best is to combine them with rich flavours and butter or oil. We could imagine adding Satureja to a dish with Field Peas. We combined the peas with bacon and served them with Boudin Blanc and mustard.

Wine Pairing

A not too complex red wine will be great with the rich flavours of this dish. We enjoyed a glass of Rioja made by Campo Viejo. The wine is made with tempranillo grapes. It’s an aromatic, fairly bold, dry red wine with pleasant tannins.

What You Need

500 grams of fresh Field Peas
Olive Oil
100 grams of Bacon
Black Pepper
(optional) Boudin Blanc and French mustard

What You Do

Shell the peas
Cook or steam the peas 5 minutes or until al dente
Drain and let cool
Add olive oil to a warm heavy iron skillet
Add peas and bacon to the pan and fry on medium heat for 10 minutes
Stir to combine the flavours
In parallel fry the boudin blanc
Add black pepper and serve with French mustard

A dish with fresh Field Peas, Bacon and Boudin Blanc ©cadwu — Fresh Field Peas ©cadwu

The Art of Flavours

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

PS

What You Need

What You Do

PS

Saffron Lamb

Pulao

Should This Book Be On Your Shelf?

The Book

On Display

Moulds

Jellies

Practical

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

Wine Pairing

Eggs in Tamarind Gravy

Pineapple and Chilli Chutney

The Book

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do

What You Need

What You Do (Filling)

What You Do (Pastry Case)

Assembling the Tartelette

Flavours and Aromas

Spices

Not Just Another Cookbook

Pumpkin and Coconut Soup

Bhapa Doi

What You Need (for 7 ramekins (150 ml))

What You Do

The Book

Wine Pairing

What You Need

What You Do