Matevž

Ingredients

Beans

• 400 gdried borlotti or cranberry beans
• 1bay leaf
• 1 clovegarlic
• salt

Potatoes

• 700 gfloury potatoes
• salt

Onion

• 3onions, sliced
• 100 gpork lard, or 4 tbsp oil
• 2 clovesgarlic, chopped

To finish

• salt and black pepper
• 1 tspcumin seed, optional
• a splash of the bean water

To serve

• sauerkraut
• krvavica, blood sausage
• or roast pork

Directions

1. Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain them, cover with fresh water, and simmer with the bay and garlic for about an hour until completely soft.
2. Salt the beans only in the last ten minutes of cooking, because salt added at the start toughens the skins and they never soften properly. They must be very soft, well past merely cooked, because they are going to be mashed.
3. Keep a cup of the bean cooking water before draining, which you will want later. Boil the potatoes separately in salted water until tender, then drain them well. Cook them separately rather than together. Beans and potatoes take different times, and one or the other always ends up wrong in a single pot.
4. Let the drained potatoes stand in the hot pan for a minute to steam dry. Now fry the onions: melt the lard in a wide pan and cook the sliced onions slowly for 20 minutes until deep golden and sweet.
5. Take the onions all the way to deep gold rather than stopping at soft. Add the chopped garlic and the cumin seed for the last minute. Mash the beans and the potatoes together, roughly, with a masher or a wooden spoon.
6. Mash it by hand and leave it coarse. A blender turns it into a smooth purée, and matevž is meant to be rustic with whole pieces still in it. Work in most of the fried onion and enough of the reserved bean water to loosen it to a thick, spoonable mash. Beat in a good spoonful of the onion fat as well, which is what makes it rich.
7. Season generously with salt and plenty of black pepper. Pile it into a warm dish and top with the remaining fried onion and its fat. Serve it hot, beside sauerkraut and blood sausage, which is the classic Slovenian plate. Bakalca and štruklji aside, this is about as plainly Slovenian as a side dish gets.

Technique

• The ratio is usually about equal weights of cooked beans and potatoes.
• It reheats well with a splash of water and a fresh spoonful of onion fat.
• Some households add a little sour cream, though purists do not.

Substitutions

• Tinned borlotti beans, drained and rinsed, which saves the overnight soak.
• Oil or butter in place of lard, which changes the flavour noticeably.

Variations

• With more onion, which nobody objects to.
• With cracklings, ocvirki, stirred through.
• Made with broad beans instead of borlotti.

History

A Carniolan peasant mash served beside sauerkraut or blood sausage; the name is the Slovene form of Matthew.

Frequently asked questions

What is Matevž?

Matevž is a salad & side from Slovenia: mashed beans and potatoes topped with fried onion. A Carniolan peasant mash served beside sauerkraut or blood sausage; the name is the Slovene form of Matthew.

How long does Matevž take to make?

Matevž takes 20 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Matevž?

Yes, within limits. Tinned borlotti beans, drained and rinsed, which saves the overnight soak. Oil or butter in place of lard, which changes the flavour noticeably.

What is the most important thing to get right in Matevž?

Salt the beans only in the last ten minutes of cooking, because salt added at the start toughens the skins and they never soften properly. They must be very soft, well past merely cooked, because they are going to be mashed.