Posts tagged with "food"

Dutch Food: Hutspot

Posted by heather No Comments
Jan 24 2012

HutspotIt is finally getting a little colder in the Netherlands and if the weather reports are to be believed, then from Sunday on, it is going to be a whole lot colder.  Cold weather is the perfect time to eat one of the all-time favourite Dutch dishes, hutspot.

Hutspot is a dish made from boiled and mashed potatoes (or parsnip when potatoes did not exist in Europe), onion and carrots. It is often served with smoked sausage or smoked bacon.

If you thought hutspot was a bit boring, think again.  The history behind the dish is pretty interesting.  From Wikipedia:

“According to legend, the recipe came from the cooked bits of potato left behind by hastily departing Spanish soldiers during their Siege of Leiden in 1574 during the Eighty Year’s War, when the liberators breached the dikes of the lower lying polders surrounding the city. This flooded all the fields around the city with around a foot of water. As there were few, if any, high points (and September in the Netherlands is not exactly a warm month), the Spanish soldiers camping in the fields were essentially flushed out.

During the Nazi occupation the dish came to represent freedom from oppression since its ingredients could be grown beneath the soil and thus somewhat hidden from sight, and the carrots gave the dish an orange colour, which represents the Dutch Royal Family.”

Depending on who you talk to, hutspot may also be called Peen en Ui (Carrots and Onion) or Ui en Peen (Onion and Carrots). But however you decide to call it just be careful with your pronunciation.  Otherwise you might find yourself with a wireless internet connection (‘hotspot’) instead of the tasty orange dish.

Do you like hutspot?

Let’s Make Oliebollen!

Posted by heather 1 Comment
Dec 15 2011

Photo Credit: Teunie

The number of days before we ring in the New Year is getting less and less.  So, now is the perfect time for you to get to work practising your Oliebollen making skills.  These round doughnut like food items are made with yeast and deep fried before being covered in powdered sugar and are an important part of New Year’s celebrations in the Netherlands.

As mentioned before, some people prefer their oliebollen without the currants and raisins, so feel free to leave those out if you are one of those people.

Oliebollen Recipe*

Voor 16 stuks – Serves 16

  • 0.5 sinaasappel – ½ orange, zest only
  • 30 g. verse gist, verkruimeld – 30g fresh yeast, crumbled
  • 0.5 liter lauwwarme melk – ½ litre lukewarm milk
  • 500g tarwebloem – 500g wheat flour
  • 2 theelepels suiker – 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 theelepel zout – 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 theelepel gemalen kaneel – 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 100g krenten en rozijnen, gewassen – 100g currants and raisins, washed
  • 25g sukade, gesnipperd – 25g candied peel, finely chopped
  • 1 appel, geschild en in kleine stukjes – 1 apple, peeled and in small pieces
  • olie om te frituren – oil for deep-frying
  • poedersuiker  - powdered sugar

Boen de sinaasappel onder stromend water schoon en rasp de oranje schil er dun af.  Roer de gist met 3 eetlepels van de melk los.  Roer de bloem met de suiker, het zout en de kaneel door elkaar.  Maak een kuiltje in het midden en schenk het gistmengsel erin.  Voeg al roerende met een mixer met deeghaken de rest van de melk toe en roer het tot een egaal beslag.  Schep de sinaasappelrasp, de krenten, de rozijnen, de sukade en de appel erdoor en laat het beslag afgedekt met een schone theedoek of met huishoudfolie op een warme plek 1 uur rijzen.  Bak van het beslag 4 porties van 4 flinke oliebollen in hete olie van 190C.  Laat ze op keukenpapier uitlekken en bestuif ze dik met poedersuiker.

Scrub the orange in cold water and grate off the zest.  Stir 3 tablespoons of mil into the yeast to loosen it up.  Mix the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.  Make a slight hollow in the middle and pour in the yeast paste.  Add the rest of the milk, continuously turning with a blender with dough hooks to produce an even dough.  Stir in the orange zest, currants, raisins, candied peel and apple, and allow the dough to rise under cling film or a clean tea towel in a warm spot.  Then fry four portions of the doughnuts in hot oil at 190 degrees Celsius.  Allow them to drain on paper towels and sprinkle them abundantly with powdered sugar.

*From Deliciously Dutch

November in the Netherlands

Posted by heather 1 Comment
Nov 1 2011

Photo Credit: Udo Ockema

Can you believe that another month is upon us and that before we know it, 2012 will be knocking at our door?  I know I can’t.

Fall and winter are actually my favourite times of the year.  I love the cold, the scented candles, the festive atmosphere and of course the food.  The Netherlands during the last few months of the year can be a dangerous place to be if you are looking to count calories – what with all those chocolate letters, Christmas cookies and oliebollen about.

So just what is there to look forward to for the month of November in the Netherlands?  Here are some things that make my list:

  • Museum Night Amsterdam (November 5th) – I’ve mentioned the Rotterdam version already on this blog but if Amsterdam museums are more your thing, then November 5th is your big chance to visit more than forty museums in the city.
  • Chocolate Letters – How many have you consumed already?  If you don’t know all the details of chocolate letters than stay tuned because I’ll be covering that this month.
  • Crossing Border The Hague (November 16th – 19th) – Holland.com describes it as “the festival where literature, music, film and the visual arts are combined. For several days writers, poets, musicians, filmmakers and artists will reign over The Hague’s cultural center. Crossing Border The Hague is one of Europe’s main international literature and music festivals.”
  • The Sinterklaas Build-up – Sinterklaas will be arriving in mid-November with his steam boat filled with gifts and helpers but what (near) disasters will happen during the journey?
  • International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (November 16th – November 27th) – One of the world’s most prestigious documentary film festivals with over 300 documentaries shown over the festival’s eleven days.
  • Oliebollen – The stands have already started popping up around the city.  Will your local stand score in the top 10 of the oliebollen test?
  • GLOW Eindhoven (November 5th – November 12th) – GLOW is the International Forum of Light in Art and Architecture. Artists use artificial light to change or enhance parts of the city of Eindhoven. This year’s theme is ‘illusion and reality’.

Know of an interesting, unique or fun event happening in the Netherlands (or Belgium!) during the month of November?  Been waiting all year for a special food item that only comes out at this time of year?  Share them with us on the Transparent Language Dutch Facebook page.

The Humble Stroopwafel

Posted by heather 5 Comments
May 14 2011

At first glance, there is nothing that spectacular about a stroopwafel.  It’s thin, it’s round and it’s brown.  But hidden behind that waffle grid exterior is a gooey, sweet, caramelness that challenges even the best home cooked meal from your childhood.

Stroopwafels are a waffle made from two thin layers of baked batter with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle.  The batter for the waffles is made from flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs and is then shaped into balls and cooked on a waffle iron. Once the waffle is baked, and while it is still warm, it is cut into two halves. A warm filling, made from syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon, is spread in-between the waffle halves, gluing them together.

According to Wikipedia, “the stroopwafel originates from Gouda in the Netherlands. It was first made during the late 18th century or early 19th century by a baker using leftovers from the bakery, such as breadcrumbs, which were sweetened with syrup. One story ascribes the invention of the stroopwafel to the baker Gerard Kamphuisen, which would date the first stroopwafels somewhere between 1810, the year when he opened his bakery, and 1840, the year of the oldest known recipe for syrup waffles. In the 19th century, there were around 100 syrup waffle bakers in Gouda, which was the only city in which they were made until 1870. After 1870 they were also made at parties and in markets outside the city of Gouda. In the 20th century, factories started to make stroopwafels. In 1960 there were 17 factories in Gouda alone.”

Stroopwafels are pretty wonderful.  When I used to work in Amsterdam they were in one of the vending machines outside the office.  We would often have people from the States over to work on projects and they would buy one, wondering what it was.  From that moment on you would find that they had cleared out the machine and were living basically on a stroopwafel diet with regular announcements of “wow, these are really great.”

Just before it is eaten, the stroopwafel is often placed on top of a cup of hot drink (e.g. tea or coffee) in order to soften it up. The filling then melts making the stroopwafel extra delicious.  This is a (messier) way to become addicted quicker.

Have you had a stroopwafel?  What did you think of it?  Does it rank in your top five of Dutch foods (if not, what does)?

 

Grocery Shopping in the Netherlands: A Blood Sport

Posted by heather 25 Comments
Jan 21 2011

Albert Heijn in the Jodenbreestraat, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Photo Credit: Mig de Jong

Yesterday evening, we went grocery shopping. While there are several different shops in our neighbourhood we tend to go to the nearby Albert Heijn because it is easy to get to and we know where everything is within the store, well usually. Grocery shopping, I must admit, is not one of my favourite pastimes in the Netherlands. It is a task I identified early on in moving here, that was likely to cause me to secure a criminal record or at the very least have a minor heart attack.

Shopping in the Netherlands starts out like all other countries, you get a shopping trolley or basket (we won’t discuss the fact that you have to put a 50 cent deposit in the trolley to borrow it for your shopping adventure) and you enter the realm of food and drink. The food and drink supply is pretty plentiful, although there is a distinct lack of variety in the breakfast cereal area. However it is the checking out area that is the biggest cause of my distress.

The first thing to mention is that everything is slightly smaller so you have a shorter conveyor belt, a smaller place to handle your money and even smaller dividers. The second thing to mention is that there are no bags available, you have to bring your own along. The small selection of use-again-bags just before the cash register are for you to purchase. Meaning you are attempting to get a normal sized trolley down a smaller aisle, whilst piling your food on the shorter conveyor belt (making sure it doesn’t enter the area of your fellow shoppers) all whilst battling with your numerous bags – already you are at a disadvantage. It is probably worth mentioning here for the American readers that there is also no packing people – you pack your own bags.

So now you have managed to get your items on the belt, the shopping assistant has started to scan them and you are ready to pack them all up but here is the clincher…..you can’t!!

That’s right, you can’t pack your items because the person in front of you is still packing their items and is standing in the middle of the aisle. Now it makes common sense that the shopping assistant would slow down or even stop and wait but this does not allow him or her to get the most people through the register per hour equalling Dutch efficiency so she/he just keeps scanning.

Taking it one step further the Dutch have even invented a dividing bar which they can slide across the small packing area creating two even smaller triangle areas, in theory allowing two people to pack at once. However, you hardly ever make it to your shopping in time to do so, not to mention the turf wars that then occur as each of you grabs for your items and tries to find room for all your bags.

‘Wow that is awful’ I hear you think but it doesn’t even end there. No, no, no the Cloggies have added an extra element of irritation – as soon as your fellow shopper has cleared off out of the way and you are finally packing at normal speed and in a normal space you hear…

CCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

…and across goes the barrier smashing all your remaining food and allowing room for the next Cloggie’s food to go barrelling down.

The whole shopping experience used to have some redeeming features, such as getting to weigh and price your own fruits and vegetables (see the very funny video below – there are a couple swear words, just to warn you).  However, even that has been taken away.

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