Hutspot

Hutspot is a dish that is held close to the hearts of the Dutch. Every October the 3rd, the people of Leiden celebrate the liberation of the city from the Spanish that had the city under siege in 1574. The people of Leiden flooded the surrounding fields which took the Spanish by surprise and sent them packing, leaving their food on the stoves. The food was an early version of Hutspot, which consists of potato, onion and carrot.

Serves 2 people

Ingredients

2 onions
4 potatoes
6 carrots
A generous knob of butter

Preparation

Peel the onions, carrots and potatoes and slice them in pieces. Boil the sliced vegetables in a small amount of salted water until they’re well-done.
Mash the vegetables together with the butter and you’re done!
In Holland this meal is often eaten with smoked sausage which is absolutely delicious. Mattesons do a very similar type of sausage (Mattesons).

Quick fish and rice comfort food

Neither my boyfriend or I were in any mood to cook a proper slap up meal tonight. I mean on a Tuesday evening? Meh. So I raided the cupboards and freezer and came up with this: Breaded cod with Teriyaki seasoned brown rice with endamame beans. Try it, I urge you. It's a balanced and healthy meal (if it weren't for the breaded part of the fish but hey-ho, right?).

Steam cuisine

Steaming veg has always been one of the things that I should do but often sort of forget to do it or worse, just turn a blind eye and pop veg straight into boiling water.

But those dark days are over.


I now try to steam all veg and fish if possible (this includes in the microwave). It tastes so much better.

Welcome

Imagine the title of this post to be one of those brush mats outside grannies' doors with the word Welcome written on it, I want you to feel like you can come in to my blog (take your shoes off mind you!) and take a load off and have a nice cup of tea in my cosy kitchen.

This blog is going to include some interesting (and eccentric, knowing me!) recipes, and also will include some general food-related musings.