According to the old Dutch cookbook De Verstandige Kock (1668), warmoes is a variety of stewed or cooked vegetable leaves. Jan van Riebeeck and later C. Louis Leipoldt referred to warmoes in their writings, and the latter was of the opinion that beetroot leaves added something special to this stew. During Jan van Riebeeck’s time, beetroot was planted for its leaves. Warmoes consisted mainly of garden vegetables and wild leaves, such as sorrel, and was thickened with white bread added at the end. We follow Leipoldt’s recipe, omitting the white bread and serving it with home-made pasta instead. Try it with a glass of Chardonnay!

Serves 4 – 6

For Pappardelle:

500 g ’00’ pasta flour

12 egg yolks

2 eggs

pinch of saffron

2 Tbsp (30ml) olive oil

1 tsp (5 ml) salt

Mix all the ingredients together to make a firm dough and knead well. Refrigerate for 1 hour before use.

Roll out the dough to the last setting on the machine and cut into 15 cm long x 5 cm wide strips. Toss in semolina and blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes.

Cook the pasta just before serving.

For Warmoes:

1 onion, chopped

1 Tbsp (15ml) butter

2 cups (500 ml) chopped mixed green leaves (beetroot tops, turnip tops, sorrel, chervil, borage, spinach)

1/2 cup (125 ml) pine kernels, toasted, or hazelnuts

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauté the onion in butter in a large pan.

Add the chopped leaves, give the mixture a few quick stirs to heat it through, but do not let it cook.

Add the cream nuts and Parmesan to taste and remove from the heat.

Stir in the blanched pappardelle and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with a glass of 2020 La Motte Chardonnay