Boerenkool is a traditional Dutch comfort food dish; flavourful mashed potatoes richly green with little specks of cooked kale, served with a side of smoky sausages. It's easy, all cooked together in one pot. This authentic version is also topped with sweet pear halves and a drizzle of their juice - totally unexpected and totally delicious! (Skip to recipe.)
Come join me as this month for our Eat the World recipe challenge we visit the beautiful Netherlands, often referred to as Holland by English-speaking countries. (This is technically incorrect as Holland actually only refers to the name of two of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands: Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland.) The Netherlands is mainly located in western Europe, but is also partly comprised of a small cluster of islands in the Caribbean.
I was excited when I found out we were showcasing the food of the Netherlands this month, as I've long been meaning to post a Dutch comfort food dish that has become a beloved meal in our family's culinary repertoire: Boerenkool, a dish made simply of mashed potatoes and kale with sausages.
A good portion of my childhood was spent on our family sugar beet farm in southern Alberta. In addition to other German farm families, there were many Dutch farmers and Japanese farmers in the area. We were a multicultural lot. You could easily tell which was a Dutch farm as you drove by, as the farmyards were always immaculate, with beautiful flowerbeds, freshly painted barns, and spotless (not a weed or lump of dirt) graveled yards in the center of the buildings for machinery and vehicles to turn around in. The farmhouses always had lace curtains in the windows and there were often pairs of wooden shoes lined up outside the door. Their beautiful farmyards always gave off an aura of welcome, as did the friendly and hospitable Dutch people.
Just down the road from us lived a Dutch family, and their daughter, Marylene, was one of my best friends during junior high school. We rode the bus together, but she went to the Catholic school in town and I went to the public school. We used to ride our bikes to each other's houses after school and have many a sleepover and adventures together. I loved going to her house because there was always good food to eat (not that there wasn't at mine, but hers was different, therefore better to my young teenage mind). Her mom often made us an after school snack of oliebollen (delicious balls of dough fried in oil til crispy, then covered in a snowfall of icing sugar) or homemade chocolate spread slathered onto toasted homemade white bread.
What is Boerenkool and How do You Eat It?
One of the many memorable meals I ate at their house was simply called Boerenkool, meaning 'farmer's cabbage' (the word is also the name for kale). This Dutch mashed potato and kale dish with sausages was tasty and comforting. Marylene's mom always served it with home-canned sweet pear halves, such a unique and surprising combination. We'd make a big mound of the green-flecked mashed potatoes on our plates, lay a few sausages and a dab of mustard on the side. Then we'd make a crater in the top of our potato mountain and fill it with pears and lots of the pear syrup, which poured down the sides to add rivers of gentle pear sweetness to the plate. Somehow that pear juice added just the right light touch to balance the slight bitterness of the kale and the saltiness of the sausages. All together it was a comfort and a surprise.
I found out later that this tasty dish is a version of a Stamppot, (meaning 'hodge podge' or 'mashed pot'), a common dish in the Netherlands consisting of potatoes mashed with other vegetables (like sauerkraut, spinach, carrots & onions, or as in this case, kale).
I got my mom to get the recipe for this fun dish from Marylene's mom, and we started cooking it at home, too. Dutch Boerenkool now became part of our family's culinary patchwork. When I left home and got married, I kept on cooking it for my family and it's still a favourite today.
Delicious Comfort Food Boerenkool
Now that we're heading in to cooler weather, I'm craving this kind of comfort food. The kale in our garden is lush and glorious; it's calling my name to come and get it and pop it into the pot!
I used new potatoes from the garden to make this batch of boerenkool, so they were more light and watery than if you use regular potatoes, and look a little less white in the photos.
It only takes a few simple ingredients and a bit of time to get this tasty Dutch comfort food dish onto the table.
* * * * *
Kitchen Frau Notes: The way we originally learned to cook Boerenkool from our Dutch neighbours was to cook the kale, onions, and sausages together for a long time until the kale was very soft, then cook the potatoes separately and mash them together with the cooked kale, serving it with the sausages and pears. However, when I researched the recipe (I didn't have one written down), I found that most versions cook it all together in one pot, so I tried that this time, and it made the whole process much quicker and simpler, although the kale is a bit more 'al dente' or toothsome. The one-pot method is the process I've shared with you here, but you can also cook the kale separately until it's softer, if you prefer. You can also use canned kale; drain it and mash it with potatoes and butter and seasoning, then serve with sausages, mustard, and pears.
Boerenkool Stamppot (Dutch Kale-Potato Mash)
- 8 medium potatoes (3lbs/1.4kg)
- 1 large onion, diced (2 cups)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups water
- 2 bunches of kale (1lb/45ogms/12-14 large leaves), about 8 cups, stems removed, finely chopped, lightly packed
- 1 lb (450gms) smoked sausage: rookworst, bratwurst, kielbassa, etc (gluten free, if necessary)
- ¼ cup (115gms) butter
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
- ¾ - 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cans (400ml/14 oz each) pear halves in light syrup, or home-canned pears
- mustard
Peel the potatoes and cut them in halves (or quarters, if large). Put the potatoes into a large pot. Add the diced onion and the bay leaf and pour the water over the potatoes.
Cut or tear the kale leaves off the thick center rib, and finely chop the leaves. This works best if you grab a handful of the leaves and kind of press them into a ball, then finely slice them. Once you've got a pile of ribbons on the cutting board, chop the pile again coarsely to cut up the long ribbons into smaller bits. Pile the chopped kale on top of the potatoes in the pot.
Cut the smoked sausage links into 2 or 3 inch (5-7cm) pieces and lay them on top of the kale. Cover the pot with a lid.
Bring the pot ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook everything together until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork and the kale bits are tender, about 25 minutes.
Drain the pot, reserving the water. Remove the sausage pieces, scraping off any big bits of kale stuck to them, and put the sausages into the reserved draining water to keep warm.
Add the butter, pepper, nutmeg, and ¾ teaspoon of salt to the potatoes and kale in the pot. Mash them with a potato masher until broken down and well mixed, but the potatoes don't have to be perfectly smooth, removing the bay leaf when you come across it. If you have the kind of potato masher with holes in it, you'll need to scrape out the kale that gets stuck in there. Add enough of the reserved cooking water or milk to moisten the boerenkool if the potatoes are too dry. Taste and add the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt if it needs it.
Pile the boerenkool into a bowl or onto a serving platter. Remove the sausages from the cooking water and pile them around the edges.
Put the canned pears into a serving bowl (serve them at room temperature).
Each diner makes a pile of the boerenkool on their plate and tops it with two pear halves plus a few spoonfuls of pear juice. The sausages are served on the side and eaten with a dab of mustard.
Serves 4.
Eet Smakelijk!
Check out all the wonderful Dutch dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us!
Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Memories of Holland, Dutch Traditions, and Sailboat Speculaas
Pandemonium Noshery: Mosterdsoep - Dutch Mustard Soup
Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Dutch Farmer’s Cheese Soup (Boerenkaas Soep)
Sugarlovespices: Dutch Apple Tart, Hollandse Appeltaart
Making Miracles: Hutspot met Gehaktballen (Dutch Mashed Potatoes and Carrots with Meatballs)
Sneha’s Recipe: A Small Batch Bitterballen
Chef Mireille: Ontbijtkoek - Dutch Spice Cake
Kitchen Frau: Boerenkool Stamppot (Dutch Mashed Potatoes and Kale with Sausage and Pears)
A Day in the Life on the Farm: Hachee
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