Tag: Van Winter

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
  1. Peel the potatoes, wash and cook until not yet done
  2. Let cool
  3. Heat a heavy iron pan
  4. Add butter and olive oil
  5. Chop the satureja
  6. Slice the potatoes, not too thin, add to the pan and fry on medium heat
  7. Turn the slices every one or two minutes. The potatoes should become very crispy, a touch golden but not brown
  8. When ready to serve, add ¾ of the satureja and mix
  9. Add black pepper (if using)
  10. 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.

Satureja ©cadwu
Satureja ©cadwu

Ajo Blanco

19 August 2020

Tasty, Simple and Rich

The talent of keeping things simple: that’s very true for Spanish Almond Soup. It should consist of white almonds, water, old bread, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and perhaps a pinch of salt. And trust us, there is no need to add anything else. No cucumber, green apples, jalapeño, chicken stock, pepper, flowers, white grapes, milk, aioli, Balsamic vinegar, raisins, cream, yoghurt, pine nuts or melon. We love creativity, but the ingredients people suggest to brighten up Ajo Blanco, it’s amazing. Especially because there is no need to add anything to the original.

Blanc Manger

The use of almonds and almond milk to thicken liquid was well known in medieval times. In the classic Van Soeter Cokene (1971), professor Johanna Maria Van Winter describes four recipes for Blanc Manger, the oldest one (Blamensier) from Germany (14th century).  It contained white almonds, goat milk, chicken, lard, sugar and violets (for colouring). A similar dish was enjoyed by Royalty in England in the 15th century. Also from that century is Brouès d’Allemagne. It contained almond milk, ginger, cinnamon, onions, lard and many other ingredients making for a hearty dish. Blancmanger was also known in 15th century France, as a dish for the sick with almonds and sugar.

Ajo Blanco seems to have its origin in Roman time, others mention Moorish roots. The soup is linked to Málaga and Granada. Ajo Blanco survived and Blamensier became extinct. Perhaps because Ajo Blanco is tasty, simple and rich whereas Blamensier is rather tasteless with the consistency of porridge?

Gazpacho

Mention Ajo Blanco and someone will say ‘white gazpacho’. Because both are cold soups, because both are from Spain? We can’t think of any other reason, so please, please don’t even think about gazpacho when you serve Ajo Blanco.

What You Need

  • 70 gram White Almonds
  • 200 ml ice-cold Water
  • 30 gram old stale White Artisanal Bread without the crust
  • 1 medium Garlic Clove
  • 1 tablespoon Jerez Vinegar
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 70 ml Olive Oil
  • 10 gram of Roasted Almonds

What You Do

Buy excellent almonds, so not the soft, bland ones from the supermarket. Start by very, very lightly roasting the white almonds in a dry non-stick pan. Let cool. Soak the bread for 10 minutes. Roughly chop the garlic. Using a heavy blender or food processor whizz the almonds, the garlic and some of the water until nearly smooth. Squeeze out the bread. Add bread and remaining water to the mixture. Continue blending. Add vinegar and salt. Check the mixture for taste and smoothness. It should be very smooth, cream like; this may take 1 minute on turbo! When happy with both smoothness and taste, slowly add olive oil with the blender running on low speed. Transfer the mixture to the refrigerator for at least two hours. Also cool the bowls you want to use.
Just before serving crush some roasted almonds and sprinkle these on the soup.

Ajo Blanco © cadwu
Ajo Blanco © cadwu