Book of Days Tales

The third Tuesday in September is Prinsjesdag (English: Prince’s Day) in the Netherlands. This is the day on which the reigning monarch of the Netherlands addresses a joint session of the States-General of the Netherlands to give the Speech from the Throne (Dutch: Troonrede), similar to the British State Opening of Parliament. This speech sets out the main features of government policy for the coming parliamentary session.

The national dish of the Netherlands is stamppot which I will give an outline recipe for. The ingredient that will be hardest for you to find is a smoked pork sausage called rookworst.

Start by making a mash of potatoes and kale. Peel and dice your potatoes and finely chop your kale. Place in a large pot of water along with some peeled and chopped shallots and garlic, and salt to taste.  Cook until the potatoes are soft, drain, and mash the vegetables all together with some butter and milk. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. While the potatoes are cooking grill the sausage. Serve the mash with sliced sausage on top.

Variants include hutspot, which is a mash of potatoes, carrots and onions, zuurkoolstamppot which features potatoes and sauerkraut instead of kale, and blauwe bliksem (blue lightning), made with pears instead of potatoes, and hete bliksem (hot lightning), made with apples.