Mari's Kitchen Wisdom
Mari Maris: I haven't changed much since my childhood. Taking care of plants and cooking are what I actually prefer to do.
Mari Maris, originally an Amsterdam chef, does what she loved to do as a child: digging in the earth. In her house in France, everything comes together: cooking and vegetable gardening. As a 'vegetable farmer' she has written six cookbooks. How does one become a vegetable farmer?
Mari explains: "I was a chef in the Netherlands and had a holiday home with a vegetable garden in France where I often went. Each time, I found it a bit harder to go back. I still vividly remember the moment I tasted a spinach leaf from the vegetable garden. How nice would it be if the local chefs could also enjoy this, I thought." This gave birth to the idea of staying for six months to try out this idea. Mari asked all the restaurants in the area if they wanted to buy vegetables from her. That plan proved unfruitful. The restaurants found frozen vegetables easier. "Then I started selling vegetable boxes. People could pick them up once a week and that did work out."
In 2013, she published the "Groentebijbel" (Vegetable Bible). Her latest cookbook, "GROENTEN" (VEGETABLES), is about everyday potatoes, elegant peas, Sunday sauerkraut and kilos more. Mari Maris follows the harvest of the seasons and, very conveniently, provides delicious recipes for each vegetable.
Last year, when Maris was writing this cookbook, we sent her an EcoStoof. Mari explains: "I had no idea what to expect from the EcoStoof. My grandmother already put food in a blanket, so I immediately found the EcoStoof a very clever product. It's also ideal when you're writing because if your food is in it and you forget the time, it won't burn. I mainly used it for vegetable stews and couscous dishes. Click here for the recipe for Mediterranean, gratinated cauliflower from the EcoStoof.
Mari's kitchen wisdom for sustainable cooking:
Peels in the broth. Don't throw away vegetable scraps. I always have a pot on the counter when I cook, and the peels go in there. I make a broth from that. Even if you only use it to cook your potatoes and pasta.
Not too much water. A ten-liter pot for cooking pasta for two people is really not necessary.
From the open ground of the season. What you harvest in season tastes best and doesn't have to be flown in from afar. Even in March, when there's almost nothing in the vegetable garden, you can pick wild leaves. I pick all sorts of things like ground elder, wild garlic, sorrel, and flowers.
Want to know more about Mari Maris?
Visit marimaris.nl
GROENTEN (VEGETABLES)
Author: Mari Maris
Dutch Hardcover 9789038810744 Edition: January 1, 2022 512 pages
