Tag: pork

Malloreddus con salsiccia: a taste of Sardegna

The cuisine of Sardinia is wonderfully complex and delightful, a real testament against the modern world’s preconceived ideas about the Mediterranean diet. On this arid, beautifully diverse island, it’s wild boar that reigns and not the creatures of the sea. The mix of influences is what makes Sardinian cooking so incredible. I have neither the knowledge nor profound understanding of this remote, rather enclosed culture to follow this thread properly, yet I do enjoy a more practical approach of this topic. Read More

(Romanian) Meatballs for lunch, please!

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Traditional Romanian meatballs are very different than the Belgian boulettes. If I weren’t so biased, I’d say they are much better, but hey!, I’m not even gonna dare going there. So what are the differences? Firstly, the composition. Romanian meatballs are made out of pork with lots of grated veggies and herbs inside. The Belgian ones are mostly beef, or a combination of pork and beef/ veal, onion and sometimes parsley. Then, there’s the shape. We like smaller, flat meatballs, while the Belgians make them large and round. And finally, there’s the cooking method. Traditionally, we roll the meatballs in flour and then deep fry them (I confess, I do the light version: no flour, simply cooked on the grill). As for the boulettes? They are, most of the times, fried in butter…yes, yes, this sounds delicious!

So, are you curious to know how the Romanian meatballs are made?  Read More

Pork and plum stew: a childhood memory

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Autumn means lots of mouth-watering stews, slowly cooked in the oven and a kitchen that smells divine. Here’s an adaptation from my childhood, a delicious plum and pork stew made by my grandma. My grandma came from a different part of the country, where fruit and meat mixed happily, where sweet and savory embraced each other and where it is very common to add fruit to lots of dishes. And boy, how well she did it! Both my dad and I are fans, my mom and grandpa (as far as I can remember) not so much. Well, their loss, don’t let it be yours, too. Read More

Sunday tartine: jambon de langue de cochon/ pork’s tongue ham

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After the Taste of Brussels event yesterday (more to come on that soon), I just felt the need to come back to reality, where us, mere-mortals still enjoy the pleasure of the flesh, with impunity. What better place to surround myself with beautiful pieces of pork, veal, beef, ham, sausages & co. than my lovely butcher, M. Gaston? My week-end shopping list included 200gr préparé and a 800gr roti de porc/ pork shoulder (a wonderfully-fatty piece, now marinating in olive oil, smoked paprika, fresh rosemary & crushed garlic). To my surprise, something caught my eye: next to the tête préssée, a bit lonely and distinct: the pork’s tongue ham. I immediately asked M. Didier about it and he confirmed, then I proceeded to tell him about my love affair with pig’s tongue (while my man was telling him about pigs slaughtering in Romania). We ate the fresh préparé yesterday and I saved the best for last.

My Sunday tartine: dark bread + whole grain mustard + tongue ham + green & red pepper + home-grown ruccola. 

Bifanas forever

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I like fancy restaurants just as much as the next person, but what I really love is authentic, delicious, street-food. So forget about the elaborate dishes and let’s enjoy a hearty workers’ lunch. Trust me, after this, you’ll need nothing more. Read More

Thai red curry

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I was in my mid-twenties when I first had Thai curry…at a rather shady Thai joint in Gent, where I was living at that time. Something-Somethig Elephant, totally anonymus and unimpressive. Almost empty, very cold, dim light, Budhas everywhere. Yet, I was blown-away by their curry. This velvety sweetish-spicy-coconuty thing went from my stomach straight to my heart. For a while, I thought this sorcery cannot be reacreated at home and oh my!, how wrong I was! Making your own Thai curry (or Thai-inspired curry) is easy. No, actually it’s extremely easy. The most difficult step is deciding whether you wanna go for green, red or yellow, always a big discussion at my house.
So here it goes, red pork Thai curry (it was my man’s time to decide, I prefer the green one) Read More

The hot (office) lunch

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This is truly the essence of a “left-over lunch”. Quickly assembled in morning, as follows: pork snitzel, baked potatoes with home-made basil pesto, feta cheese and a small salad. Energy giving, heart-warming and fully satisfying!