I have long wondered about my Grandpa Vellinga's food that he called husput. The internet, being a wonderful thing, helped me out. It turns out, I had been misspelling a well known dish called Hutspot. or hotchpotch (hodgepodge) But the dish that my dad describes is more like Stampot, which contain kale. Many recipes I found contain meat or sausage, (Hutspot met klapstuk) but I suspect that
meat was a rarity in the Vellinga house, and that they just had the
vegetables.
My dad has been making "Potato Cheese Soup" since
we were children. It is based on his
memories of this dish. I will leave you
to search the internet for your own recipes,
but basically all it is, is boiling potatoes, carrots and onions
together, and mashing them with milk and butter until they are like mashed
potatoes.
Hutspot
met klapstuk from http://www.holland.com/us/tourism/article/hutspot.htm
·
500 gram (1.1 lb) beef chuck rib roast
·
400 ml (13.5 fl oz) water
·
1/2 beef bouillon cube
·
1 bay leaf
·
8 black pepper corns, whole
·
1 tablespoon flour, dissolved in 1/2 cup water
·
6 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
·
8 large carrots, peeled and diced
·
4 large onions, peeled and sliced
·
Salt and pepper
Add the
water to a Dutch oven or a braising pan, add the bouillon cube and stir until
dissolved. Add the beef, the bay leaf and the pepper corns and braise on low heat
for approximately 90 minutes or until beef is tender.
Remove
the meat to a serving dish, discard the bay leaf and peppercorns and stir the
dissolved flour into the pan juices. Stir scraping the bottom of the pan,
loosening any meat particles that may be stuck. Bring the heat slowly up until
the gravy starts to thicken. Pour the gravy over the meat and set aside,
keeping it warm.
In the
meantime, place the potatoes on the bottom of a pan, and add water so that the
potatoes are just covered. Put the carrots on top, and finish with the onions.
Add salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and boil for about 20
minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. Pour off the cooking water, but save
it. Mash the potatoes, carrots and onions until you achieve a mashed potato
consistency. If you need more liquid to make it smoother, add a tablespoon of
cooking liquid at a time. Taste, adjust with salt and pepper.
Serve the hutspot family
style on a large platter, slice the beef and serve with the gravy.
