Kale: Boerenkool: Farmer's Cabbage: Stampot: Stamppot

Speaking of funny vegetable greens...

Isn't it pretty!?

In Holland (The Netherlands: home of the folks known as the Dutch) this is a typical winter dish. In many parts of the western world a colourful variant of this is sold as a crinkly leaved decorative winter flowering cabbage plant; not used for food.

It's known a Kale in many places.

In The Netherlands we cooked it with potatoes and smoked sausage (note the clever tie-in to the previous post).

Today's quickie recipe (by the way, Dutch kids love this stuff).

Boerenkool Stampot

Ingredients:

1 kg (2 Lbs) potatoes (about 6)
2 t salt (for the water for the potatoes)
1 kg (2 #s) curly type kale
500 g (1 lb) smoked sausage
300 ml (1¼ C) milk
250 g (½ lb) lean, smoked, bacon (in one big slab [if you can find it])
4 T butter
1 T Vinegar (optional)
Preparation:

  • Kale: Wash, peel away any really tough viens and finely chop
  • Potatoes: Wash, peel, cube (1 cm: ½ inch) and wash (again - to remove excess starch)
  • Put both into a big saucepan (or a pot), with some water and a little salt (mainly for the potatoes [¾ covered]; and yes, the kale will float around on top)
  • Bacon & sausage: on top of this
  • Bring to a boil
    • Simmer low for 30 minutes (to soften the potatoes)
  • Remove the bacon and sausage.
    • Cube the bacon (1 cm: ½ inch),
    • Slice the sausage in pretty diagonals (½ cm: ¼ inch thick).
  • Drain the potatoes and kale
    • Add butter, milk and vinegar (yes, use the vinegar - it's odd but adds a special touch)
  • Mash (stamp [in Dutch]) the potatoes
  • Put into a pre-warmed dish with the bacon and sausage pieces on top

Serve.

Notes:

  • Pre-warm a bowl by filling it with really hot water (boiling) and waiting for a bit. Unless the oven was already on to prepare something else and you want to use to oven's residual heat.

Yes, basically it's mashed potatoes fancied up with kale and some meat. If you eliminate the kale and change the sausage & bacon for hot dog pieces you've got a delicious traditional dish that my mother was likely to serve back in the old (old old) days in Canada.

Currently there's no Kale in the shops here yet so I haven't made any this year so far. When I do I'll take a picture (now that my camera's back in action). Meanwhile here's one from wikipedia:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, maybe it's Dutch, but this dish is completely UNTASTY for any foreigner in the Netherlands. The quallity of the sausage is really poor in the Netherlands - injected with lots of chemicals. Dutch usually cook / boil the sausage in the plastic folie that covers it and don't take it off. This dish is actually without the taste considering the fact that Dutch - paradoxally - don't use much spices. They don't even salt potatoes a bit!

willson said...

Good point about the salt; it's essential for potatoes and I neglected to include it in the above recipe. I will amend the post on that count.

As for the sausage, I recommend removal of the packaging (both the plastic that forms the sausage and the cardboard label & vacuum-pack plastic that sausage often comes packed in.

In my case I was fortunate to have a butcher down the street where I lived in The Netherlands that made sausage and had his own recipes and a smokehouse/drying-house. It was delicious, traditional and had lots of flavour.

Spend a bit more for good sausage for this dish; it'll make a real difference.

groetjes.

Anonymous said...

I'm from the netherlands and i like it to. The nice part is that u can spice it up to ur own taste and still keep the base of the dish. if u like spicy, add some black peppers to it, or italian spices. second option for the bacon is to bake it seperately instead of cooking it. and then cube it and add it it to the dish.

just a little note to dutchman. there are people who can cook or not. doesn't depends where they come from. we do use spices in holland. and about the sauseges. there is price meat and quality meat. maybe visit a real meatstore other then a supermarket. Don't bring it black and white, like whole netherlands is like that.

Angela said...

On a trip to the Nederlands, I tried this dish and LOVED IT! It all depends on the cook and the ingredients used. We complemented the sausage by eating it with a spicy mustard. I've traveled around the world and tried many dishes and this is one of the dishes I cook for friends.

Unknown said...

what ever you do.. don't put vinegar in it... put some sambal in maybe, or chili... but no vinegar... yuck

Anonymous said...

We are 3rd generation Canadians but LOVE this dish. I make sure it is a smooth mashed composition and even my 1 year olds will eat it. I don't mix the vinegar in but we add it once it is served with some mustard. LOVE IT!! Belinda