Stamppot

Stamppot is the ultimate Dutch comfort food—a hearty, rustic dish that has been a staple of Dutch kitchens for centuries. The name stamppot literally means "mashed pot," and it perfectly describes the process of mashing vegetables together with potatoes to create a warm, filling meal. It also uses affordable, easily accessible ingredients - how Dutch is that! It’s a one-pot dish, simple yet deeply satisfying, especially on cold days.

Stamppot isn’t just food; it’s part of our Dutch heritage, it's in our genes. As soon as the cold weather hits, the cravings for stamppot explode. It evokes memories of cozy family dinners and the comforting flavors of home. It’s a dish that connects generations and reflects the down-to-earth, practical nature of Dutch cuisine. 

It’s a dish we’re often teased about, as though our only contribution to global cuisine is a humble plate of mashed potatoes with vegetables. But if you’ve been following this website for a while, you know that’s far from the truth—Dutch cuisine has had more influence than we often care to boast about.

That said, a steaming plate of stamppot may not be earning Michelin stars anytime soon… but it will win the hearts of everyone you serve it to. I have yet to meet anyone who’s turned up their nose at our beloved stamppots!

The mashed vegetables are often root vegetables (carrots, onions) or greens (kale, cabbage, endive) and stamppot is traditionally served with smoked sausage (rookworst), bacon or crispy bacon bits, meatballs and gravy, and even a fried egg on top! But it doesn't have to be meat: crispy tofu, fish sticks, dried fruit, or a handful of cashew nuts are often used as substitutes for meat. While stamppot made with potatoes is a beloved classic, modern variations often include creative ingredients like sweet potatoes, roasted garlic, or even vegan options with plant-based sausages.

The most common varieties of stamppot, with a link to the recipes, are:

• Boerenkool Stamppot: made with kale and potatoes, often regarded as the most traditional version, and still the favorite of all stamppots.
• Hutspot: a mix of potatoes, carrots, and onions—legend has it this dish dates back to the Siege of Leiden in 1574!
• Andijviestamppot: raw endive is mixed in for a slightly bitter and fresh flavor.
• Zuurkool stamppot: sauerkraut adds a tangy twist to the dish. (This is a keto version with cauliflower)
• Rodekoolstamppot: stewed red cabbage with apples are mashed into hot, fluffy potatoes.
• Spruitjesstamppot: Brussels sprouts for a slightly bitter flavor. Together with appelmoes, apple sauce, it's a great way to start kids on the more challenging vegetables.
• Hete Bliksem: the apples in the dish hold their heat so the dish is called "hot lightning". 

And we wouldn't want to miss out on that kuiltje, a little well in our stamppot to hold the pan gravy, to make sure that every bite is extra flavorful! 

Rode Kool Stamppot

Red cabbage, that wonderful red-almost-purple vegetable bowling ball, belongs (together with white cabbage, Savoy cabbage, and pointed head cabbage) to a variety called "sluitkool", or head cabbages. Head cabbage is a general collective name for those cabbages whose leaves are so densely packed that they more or less form a 'head'. Other types like bladkool, leaf cabbage, would be kale, boerenkool, farmer's cabbage.

In the Netherlands, cultivation traditionally takes place in North Holland. This reflects back in the names of vintage or heirloom varieties: Langedijker Allervroegtste, Langedijker Herfst, and Langedijker Bewaar. This is also where 60% of the Dutch red cabbage acreage is located, but cultivation also takes place in South Holland, Limburg, and North Brabant. 

The variety of cabbages in the Netherlands is high, and one can find several types sold at greengrocers or vegetable stores at the same time. The top ten most popular cabbage varieties are: 

• Witte kool (white/green cabbage)
• Rode kool (red cabbage)
• Boerenkool (farmer's cabbage = kale)
• Spruitjes (Brussels sprouts)
• Bloemkool (cauliflower)
• Savooiekool (Savoy cabbage)
• Spitskool (pointed head cabbage)
• Chinese kool (Chinese cabbage, Napa cabbage)
• Paksoi
• Broccoli

Of the head cabbages, the two types that are most easily found are the white (often called green) and the red. Both can be used raw by shredding it for salads, fermented as in zuurkool (sauerkraut) or kimchi, and in a variety of hot dishes. White/green cabbage is very flavorful as creamed cabbage, and red is great stewed with apples or pears, and a little splash of vinegar to maintain the color. 

Cabbages are also great for making a stamppot, that ultimate Dutch comfort food: mashed potatoes (or cauliflower if you're going low-carb) and vegetables. The combination of slightly salty, fluffy potatoes and the various flavors that the vegetables contribute, make each stamppot delicious. Is it pretty food? No, but it's at the heart of many as our typical, traditional winter food, like a warm embrace. 

Rodekoolstamppot pairs well with beef stews, rabbit, or pork, like slavinken. Don't feel like cooking the cabbage? There are several commercial varieties of red cabbage with apple out there which will make this dish even quicker to prepare! 

Rodekoolstamppot

2 lbs red cabbage

1 small apple

4 bay leaves

3 whole cloves

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 lbs potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

Peel the outer, tough leaves off the cabbage. Cut the cabbage in half, then each half in half again. This will give you an easy opportunity to cut out the core which is tough and bitter. Slice each quarter into thin strips. Rinse the cabbage and add to a pan with a heavy bottom. 

Add enough water to cover the cabbage about halfway, and set it on the stove. Add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, cover and bring to a slow boil. Stir in the vinegar, add the sugar, stir and cover again. Turn down the heat to a simmer. Let it slowly braise on the back of the stove, for a good half hour.

In the meantime, peel, core and quarter your apple. Stick the three cloves in the largest piece of apple before adding them to the pan, and slowly simmer until the apple is soft. Remove the cabbage and apple from the pan until you only have the braising liquid left. Fish out the bay leaves and the cinnamon stick, and pick the cloves off the apple. 

Make a slurry with the cornstarch (one tablespoon of water to one tablespoon cornstarch). Bring the cooking liquid back up to a boil, and stir in the slurry. At first it will color the liquid pink but as the cornstarch absorbs the water, it will clear up. Continue to stir until the sauce has thickened.  Add the cabbage and apple mix back into the pan, stir a couple of times to mix the sauce with the vegetables and turn off the heat. Taste, adjust with salt and pepper. If you like it sweeter or tangier, add a bit more sugar or vinegar. 

Set the red cabbage aside to cool. Peel the potatoes, quarter them and boil them until they're cooked. Drain the potatoes, but reserve 1/4 cup (60 ml) cooking water. Turn the heat to low, and put the pan back on the stove. Add the red cabbage to the potatoes (maybe drain first if you have a lot of liquid). Mash the potatoes together with the red cabbage. If the stamppot is too dry, stir in a tablespoon of cooking liquid at a time. End with folding in the two tablespoons of butter. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking. 

Serve hot.  

Vijfschaft

 As you can imagine, I do a lot of reading. Cookbooks, history books, and anything else that can help me dig deeper into our Dutch food culture and our traditions. And very often I can find background information that helps me place a dish in a certain province or timeline. But the information for today's dish, Vijfschaft, eludes me. For one, there are as many variations as there are recipes. The only constant is the main ingredients: potatoes, carrots, onion, apple, beans. Secondly, it is said to be a typical dish from Utrecht...but I can't find the source. I've gone back as far as 1769 but there is no mention. Every recipe intro says the same thing: the name is unknown, it is eaten during the time of year when there was not much left of the foods stored over the winter, it was eaten during the time that there was not much farming to be done (i.e. winter), and the name "vijf" (five) either refers to the five main ingredients or dinner time, and the word "schaft" (worker's meal break) indicates the worker nature of the dish.

I can see why this dish would be suitable for workers: it is loaded with carbs which provide plenty of energy. The ingredients are also easily found and prepared: apples, onions, potatoes, and carrots are ingredients for many a stamppot, and brown beans are the main ingredient for a delicious soup. 

Because I can't really vouch for the recipe's origin, background, regional impact, or significance, there is a good side: we can make the recipe our own, and nobody can tell us we're doing it wrong :-)  The premise of the dish is that the five cooked ingredients are added to a deep bowl or dish, seasoned with salt and pepper. The two main variations seem to be that you can: 

- boil all the ingredients in bouillon or water.

- fry the onions and the apples in butter, boil the potatoes, beans, and carrots. 

From here on out, it's a free for all. You can mash the boiled ingredients roughly, with a bit of butter and some of the cooking liquid, warm milk, or appelmoes and eat it like a coarse stamppot. You can leave the vegetables whole and serve it with the cooking liquid (more like a stew), or thicken the cooking liquid and season it with mustard and pour it over before mixing it in. Or you can serve it with a dollop of butter or mayonnaise. You can also add rookworst, smoked sausage, and/or bacon. See what I mean? Many variations of the same dish - so it's all up to what you prefer! As for me, I like it two ways: either hot, with smoked sausage, with a mustard sauce, or cold the next day, chopped up and mixed with mayo, more like a potato salad. Below is the recipe for the hot dish. Serves 4. 

Utrechtse Vijfschaft

4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 large carrot, peeled and sliced

1 small can brown or red kidney beans (approx.8 oz/ 250 grams), drained and rinsed

1 smoked rope sausage

1 large onion

1 large apple

2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter

2 tablespoons mustard

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Salt, black pepper

Bring the potatoes to a boil in enough water to cover, with the bouillon cube for about 10 minutes. Turn to simmer, and add the carrots, the rinsed beans, and the smoked sausage and slow boil for 10 minutes more. Check to see if the potatoes are done, then drain, but reserve a cup (250 ml) of the cooking water. 

In the meantime, peel and slice the onion in rings, core the apple, and slice into 8 slices. Melt the butter in a skillet and brown the onions, for about ten minutes on low-medium heat. Add the apple slices and fry them brown on each side, for about five minutes. Turn off the heat and set it aside. 

Mix the cornstarch with a tablespoon of cold water. Bring the cooking water to a boil, mix in the cornstarch slurry and stir until it thickens, about a minute. Turn down the heat and stir in the mustard. Taste to see if you'd like a stronger mustard taste, if so add another tablespoon. 

Mix the potatoes, carrots, beans, fried onions, and apple in a large bowl. Taste and see if you need to adjust the salt. Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper over the dish. Serve the warm mustard sauce on the side, together with the sliced sausage. 

 

Gebakken Mosselen

 Last weekend, I was really craving fish: a fresh herring, a little bit of smoked mackerel, a lekkerbekje, or even a small tray of kibbeling (with remoulade sauce of course), would have satisfied my palate. Even a portion of smoked eel would have done the trick! It made me realize how fortunate we are in the Netherlands, where there are still specialized fishmongers in almost every town, right next to the cheese shop, the local bakery, and the butchers. Of course, I am well aware that slowly but surely these specialized shops are disappearing, as so many buyers prefer to shop and get everything from the local supermarket. The danger in that is, and that is not only in the Netherlands but everywhere else, that these specialists with their unique recipes, products, and knowledge, retire or close up shop - and that the knowledge is lost forever. 

But back to the fishmongers' store: here you can find a large variety of fresh fish and seafood, as well as prepared foods. Large platters with a variety of fish, seafood, marinades, and dipping sauces are available for the barbecue (grill) for those summer weekends, or for those gourmet evenings with friends and family. Soft white rolls are stuffed with herring, eel, mackerel, fish paté, or smoked salmon for a bite on the go. They sell shrimp, salmon, herring, or mackerel salads by the portion or by the kilo, for lunch, or for a party. I could go on and on about the amazing foods you can find at the visboer....and most of this is made in-house, and according to traditional recipes. 

After cooking up mussels the other day, I was left with about two pounds after dinner: a typical case of eyes bigger than my stomach....but not really, for I had a cunning plan; fried mussels!! These babies are scooped out of their shell, battered, deep-fried, and served with a dipping sauce. Delicious as a snack, with a cold glass of something or other, or served with a fresh spinach stamppot, for example, for dinner: these mussels are very versatile! 

If you prepare them from scratch, use this recipe for 2 lbs (1 kg) mussels, but substitute the cup of wine for beer, and cool them after steaming. Two pounds of mussels will give you approximately 8 ounces (225 grams) of meat. If you don't care for beer or wine, you can fish stock or plain water. Use seltzer water for the batter, if you can. You can also often buy already shelled mussel meat in the freezer section. 

I used the same mustard dipping sauce that I had for the steamed mussels, but you can also make a remoulade sauce or one of your own liking.

Fried mussels

8 oz (225 grams) mussel meat
1/4 cup flour (75 grams)
1/2 cup (100 ml) beer
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika powder
1/8 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
4 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped finely (or 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley leaves)

1 lemon

Pat the mussels dry and look for any shell pieces or "beards", small tendrils that are attached to the mussel. Remove. Mix the flour with 3/4 of the beer, the egg, the baking powder, and the rest of the ingredients. Let it sit for five minutes, while you prepare the dipping sauce(s). The batter needs to be thick, like the consistency of thick American pancake batter. If it's thickened too much, add a bit more of the beer and stir. 

Heat the fryer to 350F. Set a large platter or a bowl to the side with a few paper towels to soak up the grease. With two spoons, dip each mussel in the batter, and shake off as much batter as you can. Drop them carefully in the hot oil. Fry the morsels golden brown, for about four minutes, and fish them out of the oil, and onto the paper towels. 

Slice the lemon in quarters and squeeze over the mussels. Time to dig in!

Serves four. 

Groningse Eierbal

Eierbal (egg ball), or aaierbal in the Groningen dialect, is a treat like no other. It's similar in looks to the Scotch egg, but whereas a Scotch egg has a wrapping of ground meat or sausage, the eierbal has a thick gravy coat, seasoned with curry spices and fresh parsley. Both contain a whole boiled egg, and both are breadcrumbed and deep-fried until they're golden and crispy, but where the Scotch egg gives a solid bite, the eierbal is creamier, much like a bitterbal or a kroket. The egg in the Gronings specialty is also soft boiled so that the yolk is still a little liquid. Heaven!

Contrary to other snacks, like the frikandel, the eierbal can not be found everywhere and seems to be specific to Groningen and surrounding areas. There is one place, in Venlo, Limburg, that claims to have been the originator of the treat, but the proprietor lived in Groningen for a while so possibly got her inspiration there. 

So how did this deep-fried egg ball happen to be in Groningen? I am glad you asked! During WW1, the Netherlands was neutral and provided a safe location for many English soldiers who were fleeing from the Germans in Belgium. They were interned in a camp in Groningen, named Timbertown. Up to 1,500 soldiers were housed here at one time. 

Photo source: Friends 

As the war progressed, the men became restless but as they were unable to leave the camp, they entertained themselves with theatre, music and....food! A couple of lads opened up a chip shop on the premises. They named it the Timbertown Chip Shop, and were open every night from 4 PM - 8 PM. 

It is very, very possible that these men also made Scotch eggs, seeing as how the Scotch egg was already known for several centuries in England. As they were also in contact with the locals, it is easy to see how the idea of wrapping boiled eggs would have stuck. 

Since then, the eierbal has nestled itself so deeply into the local tradition and culture, that the golden snack was added to the inventory of Immaterial Cultural Heritages in 2017. As it appears to have been around since the early 1900s until now, you can imagine that the recipe has developed: almost everybody has a favorite snackbar to get their eierbal fix, or makes the recipe slightly different, but they're all considered eierballen, and they're all considered a Groningen tradition. 

I decided to make these after working on videos from Groningen for our YouTube channel. Many of you have commented on how much you enjoy the nostalgic throwbacks to older times, and see how our parents and grandparents lived. I was also making dinner at the time and decided to serve mine as a meat alternative with spinach stamppot. Not traditional, but delicious nonetheless! 

I chose to make the most traditional version, those with a curry ragout, but if you're making kroketten or bitterballen one of these days, you may try it also with a meaty ragout to see if you like it or substitute the curry powder with Mediterranean herbs, or something else you favor. I can also see where falafel seasoning would go well. You can also brush the egg with flavorings (sweet chili sauce, or mustard), so this recipe is perfect for turning it into a family exclusive! 

Groningse Eierbal

4 eggs

3 1/2 tablespoons butter (50 grams)

1/2 cup flour (100 grams)

2 cups vegetable or chicken bouillon (450 ml)

2 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs or panko (50 grams)

2 tablespoons flour

Oil for frying

Melt the butter in a skillet and stir in the flour, until it looks like wet sand. Slowly stir in the bouillon until you have a thick sauce, about four minutes. Add the curry powder and the parsley (or other flavors) and keep stirring for another two more minutes. Line a shallow pan with plastic film, pour the ragout sauce over it, and tap another piece of plastic on top, touching the sauce. This will keep it from drying out. Chill the ragout overnight, or for at least four hours, until solid. 

Boil 4 eggs for 5 minutes, then shock in cold water and peel. Divide the cold ragout into four pieces, and wrap each piece around an egg, shaping it into a round ball. This does not have to be precise, so do the best you can! Roll the wrapped eggs in a little bit of flour. Beat the 5th egg, and roll each egg in the egg wash, let the egg drip off a little bit, and then roll it in breadcrumbs or panko. Pat together and shape into a ball again. If you want, you can repeat the egg and breadcrumbing for a thicker coating. If you feel that these are too big, or want more of a small snack, boil the eggs one minute longer, and cut in half before wrapping.

Heat the fryer to 350F (170C) and carefully drop the eierballen in the fryer, one or two at a time. All at once may overflow the fryer, or drop the temperature too fast. Fry for five to six minutes, or until all sides are golden brown. Drain on a tray with kitchen towels to soak up some of the grease. Serve cut in half, cold or hot. 

Sources: Sikkom, Friends

Zuurkoolstamppot met rookworst (keto version)

Well, folks, over here it's that time of the year where you're eyeing the warm sweaters and the woolen socks. You know that, if you put away all your summer gear and stock your closets with your winter clothes, the weather is going to turn and we'll have a hot weather spell. But you also know that if you don't, the weather will turn the other way and it'll be so cold you're layering three summer dresses and looking for a warm long sleeve cardigan. At least, that's my experience :-) 

Regardless of whether the sun is shining or the rain comes pouring down, once my nose catches a whiff of that autumn scent (chrysantemums, caramel apples, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon pine cones), this girl wants stamppot. And any variety will do, whether it's boerenkool (kale), spruitjes (Brussels sprouts), or hutspot (carrot and onion) - it matters not. All I look forward to is a cozy evening in front of the TV, with my legs pulled up under a warm blankie, watching a good mystery show, and a plate of hot, steaming stamppot on my lap. 

Vending cart at Waterlooplein, A'dam

Stamppot, a one pot dish of mashed vegetables and potatoes, is a staple dish in the Dutch household, and has been for various centuries, although it wasn't always named stamppot (stomped pot) but used to go by the more general name of hutspot (or hussepot, tossed pot). The first reference to the mashed vegetable and potato dish as stamppot does not happen until around 1870, even though similar dishes had been served for many years before that. One of the most famous, and still celebrated every year, mashed one dish pots is the hutspot, a dish the Spanish left behind when chased out of the city of Leiden, in 1574. 

The dish we're making today is a simple zuurkoolstamppot: mashed potatoes with zuurkool, sauerkraut. If you remember, a short while ago we prepared pots and pots of salted and shredded cabbage to make zuurkool). We're serving rookworst with it, a smoked beef sausage - the smoked, juicy meat matches the slightly sour flavor of the zuurkool really well! 

A nineteenth century Dutch cookbook, Aaltje de volmaakte en zuinige keukenmeid, has several zuurkool dishes listed, and they were popular dishes to make: one pot was easier to tend to if you were working the fields or the shop, or had an otherwise busy household. 

Now.... since somebody in our household is keto-ing, I made a keto version with cauliflower, but also included directions for potatoes. I wonder what Aaltje would have to say about that! 

This makes four servings.

Zuurkoolstamppot met rookworst

2 lbs (900 grams) cauliflower florets (or floury potatoes, peeled and cubed)*
2 lbs (900 grams) jar sauerkraut
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 smoked sausage

Optional: milk, heavy cream, butter

Chop the cauliflower into small pieces, add enough water to cover, add a teaspoon of salt and set to boil, covered. Alternatively, you can also steam the cauliflower. Drain the sauerkraut and squeeze out as much moisture as you can, making sure to save some liquid. A 2 lbs. jar should leave you with approximately half to 3/4 lbs of sauerkraut. 

Boil on medium heat for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until the cauliflower is cooked soft. Pour off the water and blend the vegetable into a purée until it's smooth. Put it back on the stove and stir several times on low fire, for a good five minutes, to dry the mash out a little bit, as cauliflower tends to be very wet. Make sure it doesn't scorch.

In the meantime, heat the smoked sausage according to instructions (I tend to simmer it in a shallow bottom of water in pan on the stove, but others have been known to take it out of the plastic and microwaving it for 3 minutes). 

Fold the sauerkraut into the purée, make sure it's all mixed in together, and add in some of the sauerkraut liquid, one tablespoon at a time, if needed. You can also add a little butter. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Slice the sausage or serve whole. A side of good mustard is appreciated! 

* if you use potatoes, just boil until tender, drain and mash with a potato masher, do not use the stick blender! Since potatoes are much drier than cauliflower, dress up your stamppot with a little bit of butter, milk or heavy cream to make it creamier.

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Spruitjesstamppot

Your kids will most surely not be impressed when they hear you're serving spruitjes for dinner. And let's face it, quite a few adults will also pout at the thought. The thing with Brussels sprouts is that you either love them, or you hate them, but few are indifferent to the enticing (or revolting, depending on what side you're on) taste of spruitjes.

Brussels sprouts, those little miniature green cabbages on a stalk, have been grown for centuries in Europe, reportedly brought in with the Romans, presumably grown in Brussels (hence the name), although the history is a bit lacking on the initial provenance of the vegetable. I guess even back then spruitjes weren't all that much to get excited over. It never deterred the Dutch, though. Whether you prefer them boiled, mashed, shredded..... the Dutch have a recipe for it. We love our spruitjes!

And why not? The good-natured sprout is chock-full of vitamin C. One cup of these lovely green leafy marbles provides you with one and a half times your daily value of vitamin C. I mean, really! That's more than an orange will give you any day.

And this wintry weather sure asks for plenty of vitamin C. Many of us are still trying to recover from a nasty cold *cough*. Another thing we can never get enough of is a good stamppot. Let's face it, it's the ultimate Dutch comfort food: a plate of steaming stamppot , whether it's hutspot, zuurkool, boerenkool or hete bliksem, has chased many a winter blues away. And today we're adding spruitjesstamppot to the list!

The key to spruitjes cooking is time: not too long, so as to maintain the amount of vitamins, but also to avoid the well-known "spruitjeslucht", the smell of overcooked sprouts. Mixed in with the vegetables, spruitjes lose some of their dreaded bitterness and become palatable even to the most fervent sprout-hater. And if it doesn't? Well, hey, more for you! ;-)

Spruitjesstamppot
1 tablespoon (15 grams) butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced
4 fresh bratwurst
1 cup (250 ml) water
1/2 beef bouillon cube
1 bay leaf
2 lbs (1 kg) potatoes
1 lb (500 grams) Brussels Sprouts
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Melt the butter in a skillet and fry the onions until golden brown. Take out of the skillet and set aside. Now fry the brats in the skillet until brown. Lower the heat, add the onions back in the pan. Add a cup of warm water, half a beef bouillon cube and a bay leaf to the pan, cover and let the meat simmer on the back burner.

In the meantime, peel, wash and quarter your potatoes.  Wash the sprouts, cut the hard bottom end off if needed (after being cut off the stalk, the bottom end of the sprout will dry out and become hard) and cut the bigger sprouts in half. Put the potatoes, with a generous pinch of salt and just enough water to cover them, on the stove and bring to a boil. Cover with a fitting lid.

After ten minutes, add the Brussels sprouts on top of the potatoes, cover and boil for another ten minutes. Lift the lid and see it the potatoes are done - the sprouts should be bright green by now! If the potatoes are done (it should be easy to poke a fork right through the potato) and the sprouts seem tender as well, take the pan off the stove. Drain the cooking liquid but do not throw it away!

Mash your potatoes and sprouts - if you have a potato masher, that's great, if not just use a large fork. Blending or whipping potatoes in a mixer will turn the whole thing into a glue-like paste! Pour a quarter cup of cooking liquid into the mashed potatoes and fold in the liquid. Taste (careful, it's hot!!). Do you like the texture, or is it too crumbly? If you want it smoother, add another quarter cup of liquid and fold it in again. Also adjust your salt at this time.

Mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with a quarter cup of cold water and stir well. Take the brats and the onions out of the pan, bring the gravy to a boil and stir in the cornstarch slurry until the gravy thickens.

Serve a steaming plate of spruitjesstamppot, add a bratwurst and pour some onion gravy over it, and eet smakelijk!!

Spinazie met soldaatjes

The weather is starting to warm up (slightly) here in the Northern Hemisphere, enough to make me want to reach for my gardening gloves. I've browsed through all the seed catalogues that have been pouring in, placed several orders because I just can't help myself, and as soon as the temperature warms up this morning (it is sunny but still below freezing), I am going to venture out and start working the raised beds. Soon it will be time to start planting cool season crops! 

I am also really, really ready to clean the flower beds as I can see the tulips and daffodils tips poking out, but I also know that plenty of beneficial insects are still sleeping among the leaves, so I will give that a miss for now. But as soon as the days measure 50F (10C) or more for a week, I'm going in! 

Going through the seed collection always puts a smile on my face. I'm reminded of gluts of vegetables last season, some of the failures, and I am excited to try new things. One of those is spinach, perfect for early season growing. I can't for the life of me remember why I have never grown spinach before, and I am going to guess it's because, even though I like it as a vegetable, it somehow hardly ever shows up at the table. 

A quick look through my many Dutch cookbooks explains why: spinazie, spinach, is only featured in a few recipes: as a soup, in stamppot, or sautéed (with or without cream). Spinach was traditionally served with fish, not with meat. One traditional way of serving spinach is with soldaatjes, soldiers, which are fried strips of bread.   

Older recipes mention boiling the spinach with a little bit of chalk to reduce that odd feeling that spinach gives the back of your teeth. Eating it with an egg, or with cream, replaces the chalk. 

Spinach is a tricky vegetable to serve kids, right along with spruitjes and boerenkool, but made from fresh produce and with a splash of fresh cream, it may work just fine. And if they don't eat it, try the traditional Dutch approach of mashing the veg with boiled potatoes and a big helping of appelmoes, apple sauce! Works every time :-)

Spinazie met soldaatjes
2 eggs
2 lbs (1 kg) fresh spinach, although frozen spinach will work as well

1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 slices of bread, day old
2 tablespoon butter
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

Garlic (optional)
Generous splash of cream (optional)

Boil the eggs in water, (6 minutes for soft, 8 to 10 minutes for hard boiled eggs), rinse with cold water. Let cool for a minute, then peel and slice.

Wash the spinach and remove any sand, any hard or root ends of the stem or wilted leaves. Cut the korstjes, the crusts, off the bread and cut it into strips. Melt half of the butter in a pan, fry the onions until they are translucent. Shake the water off the spinach and add to the pan, stir once or twice, cover and leave on low heat to wilt the leaves.

Stir the spinach. Heat the rest of the butter in a small frying pan and fry the bread on either side until golden brown. Taste the spinach, add a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir. If you wish, you can add a splash of heavy cream at this point, stir, and bring up to temperature.

Serve the spinazie with the egg slices and the soldaatjes.

Spruitjes

 

"Spruitjes? Vies!" ("Brussels sprouts? Gross!") is Dutch for what most children would say if they heard that Brussels sprouts were on the menu. Quite often, when asked what the evening dish entails, the Dutch will answer by simply stating the vegetable. It is generally understood that boiled or mashed potatoes are part of the deal and traditionally, a certain type of meat is expected to go with a particular dish. So by learning what vegetable will be served, the whole menu will usually be crystal clear. Tonight's dinner therefore consists of spruitjes, boiled potatoes and fresh sausage, or braadworst.

But back to the spruitjes. Possibly a child's least favorite vegetable because of the bitterness (and the similarity to rock hard green marbles?), spruitjes however are a staple on the Dutch table. Whether simply boiled, or mashed into a stamppot, they are often found on the menu during the winter months. Brussels sprouts, just like other cabbages, will often benefit from a bit of frost, where the starches will convert to sweet sugars.

Nowadays, however, Brussels sprouts have been modified to taste less bitter. Although the flavor has changed, the nutritional value of these little green globes has remained: a very valuable source of vitamin B and C. Just what you need in the winter!

Spruitjes can be steamed, boiled or stir-fried.

Spruitjes
1 lb Brussels sprouts
6 large potatoes
4 fresh sausages
2 tablespoons butter
Salt
Nutmeg

Clean the sprouts by cutting off the bottom and removing outer leaves, if damaged or heavily soiled. Peel the potatoes, cut in half and bring them to a boil. In a separate pot, bring water to a boil, add the sprouts, add some salt and boil on low for ten minutes. Drain, melt one tablespoon of butter in a skillet and slowly braise the vegetables, covered, until they're done. In the meantime, melt the rest of the butter in a skillet, fry the sausages until brown on each side, then add half a cup of water, cover and simmer. Drain the potatoes.

Serve the potatoes with the sausage and the sprouts. Put a pinch of nutmeg on the sprouts and pour a tablespoon of pan gravy over the potatoes, in case you wish to prak them.

 

Speculaasjes

Each season has its charms: in the winter we embrace heavy dishes of stamppot and erwtensoep, and we break the heavyness in the spring when we enjoy the first bounty of the land with white asparagus and early strawberries. The summer regales us with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, and the fall is host to mussels and a variety of apple dishes.

But nothing smells as good as this time of year, when we start preparing for the upcoming holidays of Sinterklaas and Christmas.  Enticing autumnal aromas waft from the kitchen as we bake taai taai, kruidnoten en gevulde speculaas. The fragrance bouquet of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger is one that belongs to this season, and neighbors will be wondering what you're up to, hoping for a taste of whatever it is you're baking!

Today's recipe, the humble speculaas cookie, is a great and welcome gift to those same neighbors, and will hold you over with a cup of coffee while you're waiting for the next tray to come out of the oven. It's also a good way to test your mix of speculaaskruiden, speculaas spices, and see if some spices need adjusting if you are going to do additional baking this season. Speculaaskruiden are used for speculaas, gevulde speculaas and even apple pie!

The dough will hold several days in the fridge, so there is no need to bake everything at once. Makes approximately 75 cookies. You can use cookie cutters or the more traditional speculaas molds, wooden boards that are cut out with traditional figures. If you do, dust your board well and make sure the dough is stil fairly cold so it doesn't stick to the board. Here's a video on how to accomplish this: http://www.cookerathome.nl/shoart.php?artikelid=126.

Speculaasjes
2 sticks butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup speculaas spices**
1/4 cup buttermilk


Cream the butter with the sugar and the salt. Sift the flour with the baking powder and the spices and knead it into the butter. Use the milk to make it to a rollable, but slightly stiff dough, it is not allowed to stick to your hands! Wrap the dough in plastic film and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, warm the oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Divide the dough in four pieces. Re-wrap three and return them to the fridge.

Dust the counter with a little bit of flour and roll out the dough. Cut out shapes* (I used a windmill cookie cutter but you are welcome to use any kind you fancy) and place them on the parchment. When you're done, return the baking sheet briefly to the fridge for about ten minutes, then place in the oven and bake. The cookies are done after about twenty minutes.

Cool on a rack.



* If you don't have any cookie cutters you like, just cut cookies the size of a business card, about 2 x 3.5 inches. You can sprinkle some slivered almonds on top if you wish.

** ** For the spices: start with 2 heaping tablespoon of ground cinnamon. Mix in a 1/2 scant teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon scant ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon mace and 1/4 teaspoon white ground pepper and, if you have it, 1/4 teaspoon of dried orange peel. If you like the flavor of anise, add a 1/4 teaspoon of ground anise to give it a special twist. Smell and decide if you like it. Too much clove? Add in a bit more cinnamon. Prefer more ginger? Feel free to add some more. You are welcome to make it your very own, but make sure you write down the quantities and ingredients so you can replicate your personal recipe. Store in an airtight jar.

Slavinken

Slavink, loosely translated as beat finch or lettuce finch, is one of the several ready-to-prepare foods that are available at the butcher store or in the meat department of a grocery store in the Netherlands. It is also one of the more traditional meat options for lunch (if you have your hot meal at lunch time) or dinner.

Slavink is a variation on the blinde vink, or blind finch, another meat product. Why these birds were chosen to name these products is not entirely sure, although it is thought that the size and roundness of the product reminds one of a small bird. Okay. It is true that in medieval times, out of sheer hunger, people would eat any bird they would catch, and I am sure finches were among the bounty, but more money could be made with selling the songbird to more affluent citizens.

To this day, vinkenzettingen, or finch singing competitions, are held in parts of Flanders, Holland and parts of Germany and France. The amount of songs the birds sing in an hour are counted and whomever had more songs wins. In the early days of these competitions, the birds would have their sight taken away to keep them from getting distracted and stop singing. This would be done rather cruelly. Later on, the cages would be "blinded" instead.

Another, more plausible explanation is the fact that the slavink was created by butcher Ton Spoelder, third generation butcher who opened a butcher store in Laren in 1951. Ton Spoelder decided, with Dutch practicality, that the cost of meat would reduce greatly if customers would come to the store to purchase their meat instead of having a fleet of young delivery boys running all over town. His innovative ideas were not only applied to store management, but also to developing new products, one of which was the slavink. It is thought that the name is an abbreviation of "slager's vink", butcher's finch.

Either way, you'll much prefer this meatroll to a itty-bitty feathery finch on your plate. The slavink, nor blinde vink, at the butcher's is not a bird: it is a small meatroll, wrapped in either bacon (slavink) or veal (blinde vink).

You can use bacon or pancetta for the slavink: the bacon used in Holland is not smoked so unless you can find fresh pork somewhere, select a bacon that is not overly smokey for best practices. I like to use a thicker sliced bacon and pound it flat between cling film to make the wrapping easier.

Makes six slavinken.  

Slavinken
8 oz (250 grams) ground beef
8 oz (250 grams) ground pork

1/4 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Nutmeg (optional)
1/4 cup (28 grams)  tablespoons bread crumbs
2 tablespoons milk

1 large egg
18 slices bacon

4 tablespoons (50 grams) butter

Mix the ground beef with the ground pork, and season to taste with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Don't hesitate to add garlic, caramelized onions, paprika, curry, or your favorite meatloaf spices. Knead in the breadcrumbs, milk and the egg, and divide into six equal portions, about 3 oz/80 grams each. Roll into small logs.

Place three slices of bacon on a cutting board: two overlapping slices vertically, and one slice about one third down horizontally, with one vertical piece under and the other one over the horizontal piece. Place the raw meat log horizontally on the middle piece, and fold over the loose ends on the right and left side. Bring over the top pieces, and then roll the slavink down, until you've reached the bottom of the bacon strips. If you want to, you could use a wooden toothpick to secure the bottom pieces. Roll the meat a couple of times with the palm of your hand to tighten it up. After you've done all six rolls, cover and refrigerate for about thirty minutes.

Retrieve the slavinken from the fridge about ten minutes before you are getting ready to cook them. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Place the slavinken carefully in the pan. Cook them on low-medium heat to avoid scorching the bacon. Turn them around, carefully, and cook the other sides, until all sides are golden brown. Use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature: 160°F (71°C). 

Remove the meat rolls from the pan, return it to the stove and stir in half a cup of water, a tablespoon or two of tomato ketchup, or a generous spoonful of mustard, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen up all the crunchy bits, and get a pan jus.

Slavinken serve well with stamppot (here with red cabbage stamppot), as the V in AGV (aardappels, groente,vlees, potatoes, vegetable, meat), or cold and sliced the next day on a white bun. 

On the practice of prakken....



Table manners are an important reflection of upbringing and common courtesy. Both hands above the table, no leaning on your elbows, no talking and chewing at the same time, no stuffing your mouth full or taking a sip while you still have food in your mouth....for those of us that were raised in Holland, these rules for board behavior sound probably very familiar.

Not all eating etiquette, however, transposes well into other cultures. Whereas in America most foods are served to be consumed with only a fork, the Dutch use both a fork and a knife to eat: the fork firmly lodged in the left hand, the knife in the right. The fork (vork) is used to spear the food and bring it to the mouth, the knife (mes) cuts a piece of meat, vegetable or potato as needed. Open-faced sandwiches are cut into neat little squares, fruit is skillfully severed into edible pieces. It's all very polite and educated and, the Dutch, we innerly scoff a little bit at those people that still eat sandwiches with their hands, peel oranges with their fingers and scoop up rice with a fork.

Mash those potatoes well

But do not be deceived by such haute haughtiness. Because behind closed doors, when we are alone, we subject the food on our plate to a practice so abhorrent, so abominable that even the most barbarous barbaric would drop its jaw in disgust. This is the practice of prakken. If you are familiar with Dutch cuisine, or have read the articles on this blog, you know that it suggested to always have "jus", pan gravy, with the meat when you serve potatoes. Why? Because this fatty fluid is the key to prakken.

Now what the heck is prakken? Prakken is having a beautiful plate of steaming, perfect globes of crumbly boiled potatoes, over which you drizzle hot, greasy pan juice and then brutally attack with a fork, mashing the potatoes, sometimes even mixing in the vegetables, and reducing it to a soft pulpy state. Why do we do this? I have no clue. But it tastes good.



Add enough pan gravy



As young children, when we just start to eat solids, our food is often prakked for us, sometimes with sweet applesauce mixed in to mask the taste of liver, Brussels sprouts or whatever else we tend to dislike at that age, and to make it more palatable. Perhaps that's why we still prak, I don't know. But mashing your boiled potatoes, mixing it with the gravy of the meat and having the slightly sweet, savory flavor of those mashed potatoes is a whole new experience. A more grown-up, and socially acceptable prakked food would be a stamppot, of which we have many varieties. But the home-made, plate-local prak is praktically, no pun intended, illegal, forbidden and most certainly "not done". And that is what makes it so sweet........

So prak away. At home, that is. Just not when you've been invited to dinner at some new friend's home. Or if a potential new employer invites you to a lunch interview. I know you'll be tempted when you see the gravy from the meat dripping onto the plate and slowly making its way towards the potatoes, but prakken is just not done. At least not in public!





Koolsoep

Tired of cooking large meals? Can´t fathom having to do another pig-out on New Year´s Eve? No worries! This quick, savory, easy cabbage soup will allow you to put your feet up for a bit, have a hearty bite to eat and save some space for all that lovely food that will be coming your way until the end of the year.

Green cabbage, or savooiekool (savoy cabbage) is the Dutch green cabbage of choice. Its flavor is pleasantly cabbag-ey, but not overly heavy, and the leaves maintain a pleasant crunch after a quick boil. This brassica pairs nicely with pork and bacon and does best in a broth or a stamppot.

Save some French bread or a thicker loaf to toast and add to this soup. Select a nice, flavorful cheese to melt on the toasted bread. With this addition, the soup can be served as a meal.

Koolsoep

1 small savoy cabbage, washed and cut in narrow strips

1 cup of diced salty pork (or 4 strips of bacon, in strips)
1 medium onion, sliced
6 cups of vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
Splash of white wine (optional)
4 slices of bread
1 cup of grated cheese

Fry the salty pork or bacon crispy in a Dutch oven. Add the onion slices and stir until they are golden, about five minutes. Add the cabbage and stir until it´s slightly wilted, then add the broth and the spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a good twenty minutes. Add the splash of white wine if you want. Taste and adjust salt.

Put the cheese on the slices of bread and quickly melt the cheese under a broiler. Place a piece of bread in a deep plate or soup mug, pour the soup over it and enjoy!

Foeksandijvie

I look for it right around this time of year: the endive. Not the Belgian one, witlof, although that one has plenty of flavorful applications, but the regular, green curly endive, or chicory. Nothing says "Dutch" like a good old-fashioned stamppot, a pan full of mashed potatoes and a vegetable, and this time of year it's the perfect weather for it, and andijvie, endive, is just about the best vegetable. Oh, I do love kale, boerenkool, stamppot. And zuurkool, and hutspot. But the andijvie stamppot has a special place in my heart. Maybe it's the bacon. Or the fact that the mashed potatoes are warm and creamy, soft and pillowy, and the endive is raw and has a crunch to it. It creates this perfect mouthfool of food: soft, warm, crunchy, salty... Definitely one of my favorite, favorite foods!

Most earlier stamppotten consist only of potatoes and veg, and hardly contain any butter or milk. The potatoes are usually creamy enough to make up for the lack of dairy, and the vegetables release enough juices to make the dish moist but not rich. Save some of the water that you pour off the potatoes to add back when you mash them, or heat up a little bit of milk to add to the spuds: it does make it creamier. But because of the lack of butter, this may be a good dish if you want to watch your weight a little bit, eat healthy and still feel like you have a dish full of comfort food! If you are not worried about your weight, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of butter in with the potatoes when mashing.

"Foeksandijvie" is a stamppot made with curly endive, a vegetable easy to grow and readily accessible at your local grocery store. The lettuce-type greens are washed and cut into strips, and mixed ("foeksen" in the Veluwe dialect of the province of Gelderland where this dish is traditionally from) in with the potatoes after they have been mashed. The combination of warm, fluffy mashed potatoes with the crispy, slightly tart vegetables is a winner and will be a new favorite at your family's table.

The dish can be served with or without the added " karnemelksaus", a gravy made with buttermilk and salt pork. If you go without the sauce, fry the salt pork, bacon or pancetta in small strips or dice, and fold them in with the mashed potatoes. You can also leave the meat out altogether and stir in some small dice of aged Gouda or Cheddar, or serve the mashed potatoes with braadworst, fresh sausage, gehaktballen (Dutch meatballs), or a gebakken kaasplak, country-fried cheese patties.


Foeksandijvie met karnemelksaus

6 - 8 large potatoes (about 1 kg)

1 large head of escarole endive
1 teaspoon salt

Milk and butter, optional

Nutmeg, optional

Peel the potatoes and cut into regular sized chunks. Bring to a boil in a pan of water, barely covering the potatoes, add the salt and lower the heat to medium and boil for about twenty minutes. When the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, pour off the remainder of the water saving about half a cup (125 ml). Mash and add some potato water, or a little bit of warm milk and a tablespoon of butter, if you want a richer dish.

Wash the escarole, rinse and cut into half inch strips, leaving out the bottom part of the leaves: the white vein is sometimes too hard and bitter. Mix in with the mashed potatoes right before serving. Taste and adjust salt, and add a pinch of pepper or nutmeg if desired.


For the sauce
6 slices salted pork or bacon, diced
1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk
1/2 tablespoon of flour

Slowly render the fat out of the pork. Remove the meat, stir the flour into the fat and add the buttermilk. Stir until the sauce thickens, then add the pork back in. Serve separately, or pour it over the foeksandijvie on a family-style plate.

 

Boerenkool met worst

It looks like it froze for the first time last night. Bad news for the garden's summer vegetables, but this is the time that other veggies benefit from cold nights, like kale. The Dutch have a very solid and varied repertoire of winter dishes: solid in the sense that they many consist of the culinary trinity (meat, vegetables and potatoes) and varied because well....because there is scarcely a vegetable the Dutch don't add to their famous "stamppot".

Literally meaning 'stomped pot", stamppot is a dish that consists of boiled potatoes mashed with a raw or cooked vegetable. The meat is either served on top, on the side or cut into small pieces and mixed in. If the choice of protein generates any type of pan juice or jus, it will be served in a small hollow made on top of the mashed potato dish, the so-called "kuiltje jus" (similar to a pothole in the road, but different).

Those that know me well will be surprised to see that I served up mashed potatoes with kale, a dish simply called "boerenkool", so named after the vegetable, farmer's cabbage or kale. There are few things in the food world that I don't care for, and one of them is boerenkool. Or was, I should say!

Somehow the American kale is not half as bitter as the Dutch one is, so after preparing this dish with Michiel for Idaho's Melting Pot, I was pleasantly surprised, enough even to go home and cook it for myself two days later. It's been a keeper ever since.

Kale is a dark-leaf vegetable that will add plenty of nutrition to your diet: it is riddled with vitamins and minerals and contributes plenty of protein. The butter and the kielbasa....not so much. But if you are looking for a healthier option, skip the butter and the milk, save the cooking liquid of the potatoes and vegetables instead. As you mash the vegetables, add a tablespoon of the warm liquid at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Kale with kielbasa
3 bunches of kale (or 1 lb)
6 large potatoes
3 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of milk, warmed
1 smoked rope sausage
Salt
Black pepper

Cut the leaves off the stems and slice the leaves into narrow strips, then chop them into small pieces. Peel the potatoes, quarter them and place them in a Dutch oven. Add water to barely cover the potatoes, then put the kale on top. The amount of kale will look enormous compared to the potatoes, but the heat will wilt the leaves and reduce in volume significantly.

Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil. Boil on low/medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are done. After the first ten minutes, take the sausage out of its packaging and place it, in one piece, on top of the kale. The heat and steam will plump up the sausage and bring it up to the necessary internal temperature.

Remove the sausage, pour off any cooking liquid that may remain and mash the vegetables with a fork or a potato masher. Add the butter and the milk (or for a less caloric version, add a little bit of the cooking liquid back in) and stir the whole into a creamy consistency. Taste, and adjust with salt and black pepper.

Slice the kielbasa into even sized slices, and place it on top of the stamppot. Serve with mustard if desired.

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