Recipe Dutch Winter Food

Winter is the best time to try Dutch cuisine. As Dutch dishes are not very subtle in taste, restaurants serving traditional Dutch food can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Another reason is that Dutch dishes are considered best when home-cooked. That’s why few restaurants bother to promote Dutch food.

Stamppot

The ultimate Dutch winter dish is stamppot – mashed potatoes mixed with shredded raw or cooked vegetables. Stamppot is eaten with rookworst – smoked pork sausage with a generous dollop of mustard. Stamppot means that vegetables and potatoes are mixed to a smooth consistency.

Hutspot – a mixture of carrots, potatoes and onions

Boerenkool stamppot met rookworst and hutspot are everyone’s favourites. Snijbonen (runner beans) stamppot is equally good. In fact most vegetables can be eaten as stamppot.

Recipe 1

Boerenkool Stamppot – Curly kale hotchpotch

1. Take equal quantities of potatoes and vegetables. (The Dutch do not consider potatoes as a vegetable. If you question this, the Dutch will tell you, potatoes are potatoes).
2. Mash the potatoes with a lump of butter and milk. Add salt to taste.
3. Chop the curly kale finely and cook until tender.
4. Mix potatoes and vegetables together and your stamppot is ready to be eaten.
5. Serve with rookworst (smoked sausage) or frankfurter sausage if you cannot get Dutch rookworst.
6. Use runner beans or sauerkraut instead of curly kale.

Recipe 2

Hutspot – carrot and onion hotchpotch

1. Take equal quantites of potatoes, carrots and onions
2. Pre-cook 500 g rib of beef or thin flank steak for 2-3 hours in water. Leave out the meat if you want a vegetarian dish.
3. Peel the potatoes and chop into small pieces
4. Clean and chop the carrots.
5. Peel and chop onion
6. Add potatoes, onions and carrots to the meat.
7. Cook all together until done (about 30 minutes)
8. Remove the meat. Mash and mix the vegetables
9. Serve the meat separately

photo credit Ellywa