Ghent Waterzooi
Waterzooi is a classic stew of Flanders. Its name is Dutch, ‘zooien’ meaning ‘to boil’. It is sometimes called Gentse Waterzooi (in Dutch) which refers to the city of Ghent.
The original recipe is made of fish, either freshwater or sea, though today chicken waterzooi is more common. The most accepted theory is that rivers of Ghent became too polluted and the fish disappeared. The stew is made of the fish or chicken, vegetables including carrots, leeks and potatoes, herbs, eggs, cream and butter and usually serbed as a soup with a baquette to sop up the liquid.
Instructions
- Melt the butter, cube the vegetables, sauté the vegetables for 4 to 5 minutes
- Add the chicken
- Add pepper and salt and the stock (the chicken has to be entirely submerged; add water if necessary)
- Allow to simmer on the hob for 45 minutes
- Take the chicken out of the pan, cut it in pieces and remove the skin and bones
- Beat the two egg yolks and cream and carefully pour it into the soup
- Add lemon juice
- Put the pieces of chicken back into the soup
- Serve very hot with a baguette.