The Netherlands: Boerenkool Stamppot & Roast Beet Salad With Chèvrette

The Netherlands, also known as Holland, is now a highly populated & urbanised Kingdom in Western Europe bordered by Belgium to the south, Germany to the east, and the North Sea to the northwest. The Netherlands also shares a maritime border with the United Kingdom. However, the food culture is strongly influenced by a time when Holland was a farming & seafaring nation. The historic cuisine is Dutch in origin and reflects the needs and experiences of farming folk so is typically rustic & straight forward with dairy products & seasonal vegetables being the highlight, then carbohydrates like bread and a little meat to bless the bowl. This meal was actually quite simple to make as it is peasant food. As my Dutch friend Taisa explained to me, this is simple, heart warming food to be cooked and shared with family.

We cooked

BOERENKOOL STAMPPOT 
(Smoked Sausage with Kale Hash)

&

Roast Beet Salad with Chèvrette (Goats Cheese)

Which we served with

 crusty fresh baked bread rolls 

                                                     & fresh Danish light-salted butter

                                       >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

BOERENKOOL STAMPPOT (KALE HASH)

Ingredients:

·      1 kg potatoes

·      2 onions

·      1 fresh  bay leaf

·      4oo gm fresh baby kale

·      ½ tsp salt

·      ½ tsp ground pepper

·      500 gm smoked Dutch sausage (mild flavour)

·      120 ml milk

·      1 tbs  butter

·      pinch nutmeg

Method:

1.     Peel and dice potatoes in 1 cm cubes

2.     Peel & fine dice onions 

3.     Wash baby Kale

4.     Place the potatoes, onion, bay leaf, nutmeg, I pinch salt and just enough water to cover all the ingredients in a medium/large size pot with a well fitting lid.

5.     Bring potato gently up to the boil

6.     Pierce the sausage in a few places to ensure the flavour escapes into the pot & lay the sausage onto the potato

7.     Cover and boil gently for 15 minutes.

8.     Uncover & add the baby Kale to the top then gently stir the Kale in so it is mixed with the potato & the sausage is still on to

9.     Cover & gently cook for a further 10 minutes

10.  Remove the sausage & slice into circles about 4 ml thick

11.  drain the vegetables,  remove the bay leaf, then return vegetables to the pot  and use a potato masher to crush the potato but not too much – leave it a little bit chunky so you have smashed potato not mashed potato.

12.  Add milk and butter to the smash & stir through.

13.  Stir in the hot, sliced smoked sausage, add remaining salt and pepper to taste

14.  You can now either serve the pot right onto the table or scoop out the Stamppot into a  pot suitable for serving on the table

This recipe is a q-Zine original developed by our team & informed by several internet sources including:

http://www.food.com/recipe/boerenkool-stamppot-kale-hash-33269?mode=metric&scaleto=4.0&st=null

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Nk6ZbfipA

         

ROAST BEET SALAD WITH CHÈVRETTE

Ingredients:

·      4 large beetroots

·      1 tsp regular olive oil

·      1 clove garlic, minced

·      2 tbsp red wine vinegar – plus a little extra to finish the salad

·      1 large red onion

·      1/2 cup Chèvrette Cheese, - roughly grated

·      4 tbsp chopped walnuts

·      3 tbs  extra virgin olive oil

·      Rock Salt & pepper corns, to taste

·      2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, cut into long thin strips

Note: Dutch Chevre ( Goats cheese), is semi-hard cheese similar to Dutch Edam cheese in texture.
Do not confuse Dutch Goats cheese with French or Swiss  goats cheese which is characteristically either soft (like Brie) or crumbly (like fetta).

Method:

1.    Preheat oven to 190 degrees C  (375 degrees F).

2.    Wash and trim the beets.

3.    Place beets on a large piece of aluminium foil and drizzle with 1 tbs olive oil.

4.    Close the foil up over the beets & fold the top edges of the foil together to form an airtight parcel. This is very important as making an airtight seal mans that the beets will both bake & steam at the same time

5.     Place the foil parcel of beets on a baking tray & place in the middle of the oven. The foil parcel will expand as the steam from the beets expands so make sure you have removed the oven tray above the beets or it will be hard to get the tray back out when it is finished cooking.

6.    Bake the beets in the oven for 45 minutes. They should still be a little firm at this stage. If you have smaller beets reduce the cooking time.

7.    When the time is up remove the beets from oven & allow to cool in the foil. This will ensure that the beets are tender

8.    Whilst the beets are cooling prepare the other salad ingredients

9.    Mix the garlic with the red wine vinegar in a bowl to form a marinade.

10.         Slice the red onion finely and separate into rings.

11.          Place the onion in the bowl of marinade, toss and allow to steep for at least five minutes.

12.         When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them by scaping off the skin with the back of a small vegetable knife

13.         Slice the beets with a sharp knife into thin rounds.

14.          Arrange the beet slices in an overlapping pattern (roof tile-style) on a serving platter.

15.         Arrange the onion rings on to

16.         Layer this with the grated chèvrette

17.         Then top the salad with the  walnuts.

18.         Drizzle the salad with olive oil and  a sprinkle of  red wine vinegar

19.          Season the salad with fresh cracked rock salt & peppercorns.

20.         Finally garnish the salad with shredded mint leaves and serve immediately.

TIP 1: if you don’t have a big enough piece of foil to bake your beets you can easily join two pieces of foil together to make a large rectangular piece of foil. Take two pieces of regular size foil about  45 cm long & lay them on top of each other on a firm surface with  dull sides facing into each other; now it’s a bit like origami; you will be making an airtight seam on the long side of the foil; make a 1 cm fold along the  long edge of the two pieces of foil so that both pieces of foil are folded over (being careful not to cut yourself on the foil as the edges are very sharp); now press this fold down gently so you have a 1cm seam; now fold that fold over itself to form a ½ cm seam & press it down again; now fold that seam over  onto the foil & press it down; you should now have a very secure sealed seam. Gently open up the two sides of the foil & press down on the inside of the newly formed seam; you now have an airtight piece of large foil & you should be looking at the dull dull of the foil, which means you are ready to put your food on.

TIP 2: you can use this foil ‘trick’ for any purpose & it is especially useful if you want to bake a large whole fish.

This is a Q-Zine Recipe adapted from an original found at:

http://dutchfood.about.com/od/salads/r/RoastBeetSaladwithChevre