Forgotten vegetable...black kale or Tuscan cabbage

Each year at the end of summer, the black kale is harvested at an organic farm near Cranberry Cottage. We buy it once a year for a special treat of a forgotten vegetable. It is a type of kale with a delicious strong taste. I prepare it in a similar way as my regular stamppot with kale with a few changes...

Dutch stamppot with black kale
1 bunch of black kale leaves
about 12 small/medium potatoes
vegetable bouillon tablet
salt and freshly ground pepper
Optional: Dutch rookworst (smoked sausage)

Peel potatoes and place in a deep pan. Salt the potatoes and add a bouillon tablet covering the potatoes with hot water. Cut the stem from the middle of the black kale and slice up the leaves. Place on top of the potatoes and cook for 20 minutes.
Drain water and using a hand held potato masher, stamp your potatoes to a mash with the kale. Add a little knob of butter. I find I often do not need to add milk but do so if your mash is too dry. Serve with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper so you can omit adding any additional salt.

While the potatoes/kale are cooking, cook a Dutch smoked sausage or prepare any meat you wish to accompany your stamppot. This would even be tasty with simply bacon fried up and mixed in before serving.

To me, this has become a tradition for summer's end. It has the taste of those last summer days...

Bon appetit or eet smakelijk!
Heidi

Forgotten vegetables...Hamburg root parsley

I love trying out forgotten vegetable sorts. We bought Hamburg root parsley (wortelpeterselie) in Germany and I decided to use it in a Dutch stamppot. This vegetable looks like a white carrot but is more in the region of a cross between a radish and a parsnip for taste. A unique taste that was well worth trying out and we will be buying these more regularly when in Germany.

My Country root parsley Stamppot
5 or 6 root parsley, peeled and cut up in chunks
3 potatoes, peeled and cut up in chunks
1 onion, peeled and sliced very roughly (don't make this too small as you want to taste the onion)
branch of rosemary and three of thyme
1 tablespoon herb cream cheese
half red pepper, chopped
1 red onion, peeled and chopped roughly
Dutch rookworst (smoked sausage) - you could also use salami

Cook the root parsley, potatoes and onion in a pan with rosemary and thyme. Use just enough salted water to cover and boil about 15 minutes until the potato and root parsley are tender. Discard the thyme stems and chop up the rosemary leaves.

In the meantime, cook the red pepper, onion and rookworst in a pan until the pepper is a little tender.

Stamp the potato mixture until they are roughly stamped. This is a country style meal and it should be left a little chunky. Now add the cream cheese and stir in well along with some freshly ground pepper to taste. Last, stir in the red pepper mixture and serve.

Bon appetit or eet smakelijk!
Heidi