Book of Days Tales

The third Thursday in February has two rather obscure celebrations associated with it: Global Information Governance Day and World Anthropology Day. Let’s pick anthropology to honor given that I am a professional anthropologist. The question then becomes: What dish should we make? My advice to you is to cook something exotic (or go to an unusual restaurant). Still leaves me out of the picture, though, since I’ve lived on 5 continents and eaten foods in no end of funky places. Well . . . I am writing about the Basques right now in one of my books, and I have a fondness for tripe so here is Basque tripe stew:

Ingredients

3 lbs honeycomb tripe
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion diced
1 green pepper diced
2 tbsp garlic finely chopped
¼ cup of finely chopped green chiles
1lb fresh or canned (drained) sauce tomatoes peeled and chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
beef stock

Instructions

Simmer the tripe in rich beef stock for about 1 hour, or until it is fork tender but not soft, and then let it cool in the broth (preferably in the refrigerator overnight).

Remove the tripe from the broth and cut it into bite size hunks.

Skim the fat from the broth and return it to the heat to warm through.

Gently heat the olive oil in a large skillet or heavy bottomed saucepan capable of accommodating all the stew ingredients comfortably. Sauté the green pepper and onions in the oil until they are soft. Add the tomatoes, green chiles, parsley, and garlic and continue to sauté gently for 5 minutes. Add three cups of the warmed broth and the tripe, and simmer very slowly, uncovered, for one hour.

The sauce will thicken considerably in this time. There is no harm in extra cooking if the sauce appears too thin. Essentially, the longer the cooking the better (if the sauce gets too thick add a little more broth).

Serves 6