Slavinken with appelmoes

It wasn’t that easy finding a Dutch World Cup meal I thought we’d all enjoy eating, especially as a lot of the food seemed more like winter fare. I eventually settled on slavinken — ground meat seasoned with herbs and wrapped in bacon before being panfried – which I served with appelmoes (applesauce). If I make these again, I’ll cook six and freeze six for another meal — Adam ate two, but the rest of us were fine with one.

Slavinken
(serves 6 generously)

• 500g ground pork
• 500g ground beef
• 2 Tb fresh rosemary
• 2 Tb fresh marjoram
• 2 Tb fresh basil
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper
• 24 slices back bacon
• 50g butter

1. In a large bowl, mix together the meats, herbs, egg, breadcrumbs and seasoning with your hands. (Go easy on the salt, as the bacon adds salt as well.)
2. Take two strips of bacon and arrange them in a cross shape, with the fat ends pointing north and east.
3. Form a generous handful of the meat mixture in an oblong shape the same size as the overlapping bacon strips. Fold the edges over the meat, and roll into a neat parcel. Make another 11 slavinken the same way.
4. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the slavinken (seam side down) and cook for about fifteen minutes, turning occasionally, until the parcels are evenly browned and you’re confident the insides are cooked.
5. Serve with potatoes (we ate it with stamppot), a green veg and applemoes (recipe follows).

Applemoes
(makes about a cup)

• 4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
• 2 Tb water
• 1-2 Tb sugar (or to taste)

1. Put the apple, water and sugar in a small pot over medium heat.
2. Bring to a simmer and cook until the apple is soft (about 10 minutes), checking occasionally that there’s enough liquid.
3. Remove from heat, allow to cool a bit, then mash or purée. Add more sugar if it seems too tart.

Family score: 8.1 out of 10

Tags: apples, bacon, beef, Dutch food, pork