Celebrating the Belgian national day with a touch of Creole magic |21 July 2020

Mr Crutzen, general manager at APEX Hotel Supplies, has been living in Seychelles since May 2013. He is married to a Seychellois, Melisa, and together they have five children

To mark an important day in its history, Belgium celebrates its national holiday on July 21 every year.

It commemorates the anniversary of the investiture of King Leopold I who became the first King of Belgium in 1831.

If, like us, national day celebrations across the world make you want a taste of that nation’s cuisine, you’ve started off reading the right article.

We have a very special recipe from Eric Crutzen, a Belgian living in Seychelles and who previously worked as a chef in Belgium.

Mr Crutzen, general manager at APEX Hotel Supplies, has been living in Seychelles since May 2013. He is married to a Seychellois, Melisa, and together they have five children

Before sharing his recipe, Mr Crutzen told Seychelles NATION that the Belgian national day is a good reason to spend some quality time with friends and family noting that there is a very small community of Belgians in Seychelles.

The tradition in Belgium, he explains, is to meet at a restaurant for dinner to enjoy typical Belgian dishes and their very own traditional beers. Belgium has one of the biggest selections of beers in the world (around 1,600) and more than 200 active breweries. Mr Crutzen adds that his favourites are Stella Artois and Rochefort.

“Cooking with beer is very actual and traditional, we call it food pairing,” he says. “In Seychelles we don’t find all the ingredients for our most famous Belgian dishes, but we find good alternatives on the local market. Belgian dishes with flavours from Seychelles. The fact that I’m married to a Seychellois makes it also a bit more colorful and flavourful,” Mr Crutzen remarks.

“As our dishes are not very spicy, my wife always adds some extra spices to them; I call it the Creole Magic. One of my favourite dishes is local fish cooked with our traditional onion and beer sauce and Belgian endives (chicory).”

The preparation for this recipe is below and takes about 10 minutes; cooking time is 30 minutes and the recipes is for 4 persons.

Ingredients

-           1 medium onion, thinly sliced

-           1 tablespoon vegetable oil

-           1 tablespoon unsalted butter

-           1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

-           2 cups fish stock

-           1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

-           1/4 teaspoon black pepper

-           2 bottles of very cold Belgian beer – ‘Leffe’ is perfect for this recipe

* For the fish stock you can use the leftovers from your fish, adding carrots, onions, thyme, celery and leeks, and cook this for 45 minutes.

* For the chicory chips, bake it with onions in salted butter, add salt, black pepper and honey, and let it caramelize.

* For fish options use dorado, king fish, bourgeois, captain blanc.

Preparation

1. Cook the onion in oil and butter over moderately high heat, stirring frequently until the onion is softened and browned (about 15 minutes).

2. Open 1 bottle of beer and enjoy the taste while cooking. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. You can add the fish stock, Worcestershire sauce, the second bottle of beer and pepper. Cook until the gravy is slightly thickened, for 8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt, and if you want it spicy, well you know what to do!

If you would like to taste other famous dishes from Belgium, Mr Crutzen suggests the following dishes:

-           Mussels à la marinade with French fries

-           Stew of pork cheeks

-           Meatballs in tomato sauce

-           Gratinated chicory with ham and cheese sauce

For those celebrating, we wish you a happy Belgian national day!

Photo sources: Eric Crutzen