Andijviestamppot (endive mash potatoes)

Now that the days are getting shorter and the temperature is dropping slowly it’s time to get ready for the winter. Can you believe it’s almost end of September? I still remember when we said goodbye to 2010 and welcomed 2011. And now in about 3 months another year is gone!

As much as I enjoy spring and summer, winter has a special place in my heart. I just love stews and Dutch mash potatoes with smoked sausage. And of course pea soup! I can’t wait to make that again.

Today I’m sharing a very easy Dutch mash potato dish. All you need is:

-          potatoes

-          bacon bits

-          endive

-          sausages

-          one bouillon cube

-          salt and pepper

After all these years I’m still amazed by how easy Dutch food is and how great it tastes. Maybe also because it takes so little effort to make it.

This endive was about 800 gram and I really wanted to use it all, but it was too much.

Although I cut and washed it all I ended up only using half. The other half is waiting in my fridge.

I was lucky that my sister already pealed the potatoes so all I had to do was to cut them in small pieces and boil them with one bouillon cube. This cube would give it plenty of flavor already so I didn’t had to add any extra salt.

While waiting for the potatoes to cook I fried the sausages and the bacon bits. You can use whatever sausage you like or have at hand. It normally goes with some rookworst (smoked sausage) but it taste great with “fresh” sausages as well.

There are 2 ways of making this dish. When the potatoes are done you can add the endive and let it “cook” together for a minute or to and then mash everything up. Or you can add the endive to the hot potatoes and mash them together. Either way I recommend you to drain the potatoes and keep the juice so you can add that later. Endives will release some juice as well and otherwise it will become endive soup. I happened to me once and although it still taste good, it doesn’t look too appealing.

After the potatoes are mashed and the endive is incorporated it was time to add the bacon bits. They were nice and crispy and salty so extra salt was definitely not needed.

Dinner was done in less then 30 minutes! The hubby sliced the sausages, pretty huh? We both loved this dinner! Highlight were the bacon bits so don’t skip on those!

On a different note:

Over the last few days I’ve been receiving some awards that I haven’t been able to thank for yet. But I haven’t forgotten about it.

So this is a BIG thank you for Ridwan from Ridwan’s Kichen / Asian-spice mix for sharing these awards with me. Although we are new foodie friends I’m always on the lookout to see what he’s cooking now. I’m keeping a close eye on this guy; he’s Indonesian and I’m hoping he’ll share some of the delicious dishes from his birth country.

And then sweet Parsely Sage from The Deep Dish. I think we’ve started reading and commenting on each others blog about the same time so we go wayyyy back =)

This lady lives in the Cayman Island and shares awesome dishes from Caymanian and Caribbean cuisine. Reading her blog makes you want to move to the Cayman Island right away.

Girl, HUGE thank you for thinking of me!

Easy dinner: carb, veggie and meat

An easy lunch has to be followed by an easy dinner. Well actually the easy lunch gave me plenty of time to make a killer dinner, but my body is still resting; recharging for Monday. Since very meal has to have some kind of carb, veggie and meat I went for this very very easy one pot has it all dish, which is actually typical Dutch.

We call it hutspot. It’s a dish for cold winter days, but as Summer hasn’t really came this year I thought why not. And my carrots has to be eaten before they turn bad so the choice was easily made.

I used 8 or 9 potatoes, 6-7 carrots, 3 big onions (I didn’t use all 5 since they didn’t all fit in my pot) and one long “fresh” sausage.

I pealed the potatoes, the onions and the carrots and chopped them in equal big pieces so they cook evenly. Then I added one cube of bouillon and some salt and pepper. I cooked everything till the carrots and potatoes were soft.

In the meantime I fried the sausage in a bit of oil till it was nice and golden brown. 

With a potato masher I mashed everything together. Since everything tasted good already I didn’t had to add any extra salt.

Taraaaa! There you have it; today’s easy dinner. And it was sure tasty, we all came back for seconds!