When farm work came to a standstill during a frosty period, ‘Vijfschaft’ used to be a real hit in Utrecht. ‘Vijfschaft’ means [Vijf] = five & [Schaft] = available foods. Typically this dish is made of beans, potato, carrots, onion & apple. However, after adding crispy bacon and smoked Dutch Sausage, the dish is made of seven ingredients. Therefore here a recipe for [Zeven] = seven [Schaft] = available foods!
‘Zevenschaft’
Equipment
- Cooking Pot
- Frying Pan
Ingredients
- 500 gram Small Potatoes
- 250 gram Brown Beans
- 250 gram Carrots
- 2 Onions
- 2 Granny Smith Apples or another firm, fresh apple
- 200 gram Smoked Bacon like 'Zeeuwse Spek'
- 1 Smoked Dutch Sausage
- 2 tsp Cornstarch
Instructions
Preparation [24 hours ahead..]
- In case you're using dried brown beans: soak them for about 24 hours in cold water.
Preparations [just before cooking..]
- Cut the potatoes in even sizes, the bacon in lardons, the carrots in slices, the apple and onions in cubes.
Cooking
- When using dried brown beans, start by cooking the beans for about 30 minutes. Then add the potatoes, smoked sausage (as a whole) and onions. Cook for another 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, you can bake the lardons crispy on a low/medium heat. Once crispy you can transfer the lardon to a plate. Keep the baking fat in the frying pan since this will be used for the gravy.
- Time to add the carrot slices and apple! Let everything cook for another 10 minutes. *In case you are using precooked beans, you can add these the last few minutes of the cooking time. These just need to be warmed up 😉
- Mix the cornstarch with a few tablespoons of water. Mix this until all the lumps are out.
- Then, take about 400 ml of the cooking liquid. Transfer this to your frying pan, whereafter you add the mixed cornstarch water. Bring the baking fat, cooking water and cornstarch, while stirring, to a boil.
- Remove the smoked sausage from the cooking pot, and cut it in slices.
- Once the rest of the ingredients are cooked, you can drain these. Add the cooked ingredients, crispy bacon and smoked sausage to your frying pan. Cover all the ingredients with some gravy, and season with salt & pepper.
Serving
- Serve this dish with salt, pepper and maybe a good spoon of 'Zaanse' Mustard! Do you like chillies? Serve the 'Zevenschaft' with spicy sambal and Maggi ; )