It is winter time here in Iowa. It is not only winter here, but also in the rest of the USA. There was even snow in Texas and Malibu. They probably didn’t know WHAT was going on! Cold winter days bring me back to Dutch comfort food. I bet we have something like that. I’ve learned the term “comfort food” living in the US for about 15 years, but now I know we have a lot of comfort foods in the Netherlands. This winter comfort recipe is so easy to make. Try this ” Carrot Hutspot” or “Wortelenstamppot”.

What is hutspot or stamppot?

Somehow a lot of “Dutch cuisine” recipes are made of simple ingredients and available in the winter months. I’ve also noticed that a lot of these dishes were invented out of necessity. I’m thinking about wars or when the Dutch came in contact with other cultures. For this winter dish, the main ingredients, potatoes, carrots (“wortels” or “winterpenen”) and onions are boiled and later mashed together. A lot of varieties of add-ons and flavors are possible.

In 1537 the potato was first recorded in Spain. It slowly spread out over Europe. Before the potato was used in the Netherlands, the “pastinaak” or parsnip was used for dishes.

During the “Eighty Year War” (1568-1648) the Spanish soldiers left bits of cooked potatoes in the fields near Leiden (the Siege of Leiden in 1574) and this recipe was born with ingredients already used in the Dutch kitchen.

Did you know that the carrot (“wortel”) was not orange. It was purple or white, but made orange by Dutch farmers (I’m not sure how). These orange carrots were given as a present to the Royal Dutch family.

Source

Maybe because we’re from the south and closer to Belgium where “Stoemp” is like “Hutspot”, we’re more familiar with the word “Wortelstamppot”.

“Stamppot” is also used for potatoes “stamped” or mashed together with other vegetables like kale, sauerkraut, Brussels Sprouts or endive.

Make it Vegetarian or find a variety with meat.

In our household 3 out of 5 people are vegetarians. Luckily, it is easy to make hutspot vegetarian. The base is already vegetarian, but it is often combined with smoked sausage (“rookworst”), bacon or braised beef.

We used to eat it with sausages, bacon or “Hachee” (braised beef in sauce). I remember my brother playing with his food. His fork was a tractor and he made is land (the “hutspot”) flat for sowing the seeds. My mom made a pond with the ladle and sauce. Then he started to eat bits and pieces of the land, letting the sauce slowly flowing out of the pond.

1. “Hete Bliksem” in combination with “Hutspot” : This is a recipe where 2 traditional Dutch dishes are combined. It uses garlic in olive oil with onions, carrots, potatoes and celeriac and apples, vegetable bouillon and whole grain bread. Click on the link for a video (in Dutch).
2. I always like an oven dish recipe. Here is a twist on the normal “hutspot”, but now baked with ground pork or chicken with cheese out of the oven. I definitely have to try this one sometime.
3. Use leftovers (if you have any) from the basic recipe below to make patties. Dip in egg and breadcrumbs and fry in butter.

4 from 1 vote

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Hutspot or Wortelstamppot

This typical winter dish we ate a lot when I was little. My mom mixed different kinds of vegetables each time, but carrots were our favorite. Here is the base recipe for Carrot Stamppot from the Netherlands. You can add any kind of meat with it from sausages, bacon to braised pork.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Dutch

Keyword carrot recipe, Dutch cuisine, hutspot,, stamppot,, traditional Dutch food, winter dish from the Netherlands

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

• 4 big potatoes (Russet or Idaho)
• 8-10 large carrots
• 2 onions
• 1 bouillon cube
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp milk
• fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Peel the potatoes and carrots, cut them in 1/2 by 1/2 inch pieces and boil them with the salt in a soup pot or Dutch oven for about 15 minutes. Pierce with a fork to see if the potatoes and carrots are done.

2. Strain the potatoes and carrots.

3. In the meantime peel and cut the onions. Some people like to boil the onions with the potatoes and carrots. I personally like to fry the onions in some butter until golden brown and then add them later to the potatoes and carrots.

4. Add the milk, butter and bouillon cube to the potatoes and carrots and mash it all together in the soup pot or Dutch Oven. If you don't have the powdery version of the bouillon, you can warm the milk up and dissolve the bouillon in there first before adding it to the mashed potatoes and carrots. Add onions if you fried them.

5. Serve with parsley and your choice of (vegetarian) meat.

6. Add pepper, salt or nutmeg to taste.

Danielle

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.