Cookie’s Kitchen: Hutspot

Hello everybody. Me is back with another Dutch recipe for the cold winter time. The Dutch really like to eat Stamppot, a dish made of potatoes and some vegetables mashed together. Ofcourse with a little pit to put the gravy in. There are all kinds of stampot to make. Me chose Hutspot (hotchpotch), a dish everybody likes! Well… if you like carrots ofcourse.

Ingredients
Hotchpotch is really easy to make. You need carrots (the big ones, not the small ones), onions and potatoes. There is a little trick to know how much you need. When you use 500 gram carrots and 500 grams onions, you need 1 kilogram of floury potatoes. It is all about the right proportions. If you use a kilogram of carrots and a kilogram of onions you need twice as much potatoes: 2 kilograms. It is just basic math. But usually if you want to make a bit pot for say 6 people, 500 grams of carrots, 500 grams of onions (they add up to be a kilogram) and 1 kilogram of potatoes is enough. You also need gravy, some butter and some salt. And ofcourse a large pot, a masher and water.

How to make it
Peel the potatoes and cut them in quarters. Smaller pieces are okay to when you have big potatoes. They are going to be mashed up anyway. Put them in the pot (a pan with a lid). Then clean up the carrots and cut them in small pieces so they will cook faster. You can grate them, but not to fine. Then you peel and chop the onions in half rings. Put the carrots and onions with the potatoes in the large pan. Fill up with water until all veggies are under water. Add some salt and bring the water to a boil.

Let the veggies boil just as long as is necessary to get soft, well-cooked carrots. Just stab them once in a while with a fork. When everything is well-cooked, it is time to drain the water. Just throw the veggies and potatoes in a strainer until the water runs all out. Put the carrots, onions and potatoes back in the pan. Take a lump of butter and put it in the pan with the rest. Use the masher and mash it all up until you get a nice Stamppot. You do not have to mash it to a smooth mixture, you can still see the ingredients. Add pepper or nutmeg to taste and serve with a nice meatball, some smoked sausage (rookworst) or slow cooked beef…



Ah… you are in for a nice Dutch, vitamin C filled treat. Om nom nom nom nom!