Tripe Marche Style (Umbria)

Meat

Ingredients

Dressed calf's or beef, tripe - 3 pounds

Pig's trotters - 2-3

Salt

Butter - 4 tbsps

Bacon, finely chopped - 1/4 pound

Garlic, finely chopped - 1 clove

Celery, finely chopped - 1 stalk

Carrot, finely chopped - 1

Parsley, finely chopped - 2-3 sprigs

Ham bone - 1

Marjoram - 1 sprig

Rind of 1/2 lemon

Pepper

Tomato paste - 2-3 tbsps

Savoy cabbage - 1 head

Pearl oniond - 24

Potatoes, thickly sliced - 3 large

Grated parmesan cheese

Wash and scrape the trotters thoroughly and scald them in boiling water. Cut the tripe into smallish squares; drop them into a pan of cold water, bring to a boil and drain. Put the trotters and tripe into a large, heavy pan and cover with plenty of cold, salted water. Bring to a gentle boil, lower the heat and simmer gently for 2 hours.

Take the tripe from the pan and cut it into strips about 1/4 inch wide. Reserve. Take the trotters from the pan and gently pull out all the bones. Reserve the boned meat. Strain and reserve the stock.

Wipe the pan clean, heat the butter in it and gently fry the bacon with the garlic, celery, carrot and parsley. Add the ham bone, marjoram, lemon rind, tripe and the meat from the trotters, and season to taste with a very little salt and pepper. Dilute the tomato paste with a little of the reserved stock and add it to the pan, together with the remaining stock. Bring it to a boil again, lower the heat and simmer gently, covered, for 1 1/2 hours.

In the meantime, trim off the outer leaves from the cabbage, cut it into 6 pieces and blanch for 2 minutes in boiling water. Drain well, add this to the pan with the onions and potatoes and continue cooking for a further 30 minutes. Just before serving, discard the ham bone.

Serve the stew very hot with plenty of grated parmesan cheese.

Serves 6