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Carrot & Potato Gratin
No real fancy recipe this time, just a personal trip down memory lane. A typically Dutch winter dish is called ‘hutspot‘. I grew up with it, just smelling it brings back memories of days long gone. The almost forgotten scents of my childhood.
Hutspot is a simple, nourishing dish made from boiled potatoes, carrots and onions. Everything is boiled in one big pot and coarsely mashed up. Spiked with pepper and served with lots of gravy, beef (stew) or smoked sausage and, not to forget, real bacon bits.
Now imagine my excitement when I recently happened upon this recipe in a magazine. It’s very similar to our traditional hutspot, only with a modern twist (and lots of cheese:). Another bonus is the fact it’s a pretty cheap and easy dinner that even most kids will like.
Made it, tweaked it, love it and am sharing it.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds potato
1 cup grated cheese
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp paprika powder
1 or 2 large onions
1 cup of milk
2 cloves garlic
1 pound carrots
3 sausages
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Optional: 1 tsp dried parsley
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 (200C)
Get your knife sharpener out! We’ll be doing lots of cutting so you’re gonna need a razor sharp knife. I could cheat and do this with the slicer that came with my food processor, but I’ll be a good sport! Peel the potatoes and slice them wafer thin, as thin as you can. Go for waxy potatoes that will hold their shape.
Once the potatoes are sliced, rinse them – I always keep them in a bowl of cold water until everything else is done. It will not only keep them from discoloring, but it also removes the surface starch.
The bright orange is too gorgeous! Be still my heart! Peel the carrot(s) and slice them as thin as you can.
I have an onion addiction. I just try and sneak them into almost anything. I like them raw, cooked, stir-fried, deep-fried, caramelized, really can’t get enough of them. I’ve used two large onions for my gratin, but you can also do this with just one. Thinly slice them.
Grab a bowl, measure one cup of milk and pour it in. Add two eggs and 2 grated garlic cloves.
Herbal seventh heaven. Add 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp paprika powder, 1/2 tsp mustard powder and 1/4 tsp white pepper. You want to pop the egg yolks, don’t you? C’mon, admit it!
Now this is completely optional, it’s not gonna add any flavor, merely a hint of color contrast. But boy, it sure looks pretty in the bowl so I’ve added 1 tsp dried parsley. Give everything a good stir.
Add 1/2 cup grated cheese.
Grab an oven dish and lightly grease it. Now start layering.
Once you’ve layered about half of the ingredients, pour half of the milk/egg mix on top. It looks like some sort of bizarre noodle soup, doesn’t it? Sway the oven dish a little to make sure the liquids are evenly divided.
Layer the other half of your ingredients, pour the rest of the milk over it and finish with 1/2 cup (or a little more) grated cheese.
I’m using a meat we call ‘slavinken‘. It’s simply seasoned ground beef wrapped in bacon, that’s all. You can do this with sausages as well. Just cut them up in thick slices.
Place them on top of the cheese. I ended up using only 2 slavinken and later on noticed I should have used all three of them. They shrink when they’re cooked, go figure. That’s what I get for being cheap!
Put the dish in the oven for 60 minutes. Keep an eye on it, if near the end you feel the cheese is turning too brown, you can put a little foil on top and that will stop the browning. Use a fork to check the gratin for readiness.
Different generations, different preparations, but I will always relive the past through the foods I eat. It may not be the most stylish dish to prepare or serve, but it sure reminds me of my mom and grandma. Memories I’ll cherish forever until I meet them again.
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Food is such a reflection of geography and culture. I love your site! The photos are great.
I’m always looking for a great carrot recipe. I think this would work well without the meat, served with roasted poultry.
Thanks Pamela!
That’s what I love about food blogs. You adopt someone’s basics and make it your own by adding, subtracting, tweaking. It definitely is, I love multi-culti food, as I like to call it :)
p.s if you really want to make a good carrot recipe, try my caramelized carrots! I promise you won’t be dissapointed.
That “slavinken” is interesting and I could imagine quite nice just roasted in the oven.
What did you grate your cheese with? It looks like from a potato ricer but cheese would be far too hard for that.
I have a food processor that comes with tons of slicers, graters and all. I couldn’t live without the thing. This cheese wasn’t that hard btw!
Hello, I just wanted to let you know that I am really enjoying your blog.
I made this gratin two nights ago and my whole family liked it, onions and all. It was a miracle! I was missing the slavenkin, and sadly so. Last night I took the gratin to a meeting and everybody who had some made comments on how beautiful the colors were and great it tasted.
We will be eating this often during this winter. After putting the garden to bed, carrots, potato and onions are things we have piles of. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for letting me know, Trisha! Aside from the fact I love the combination of ingredients and wild colors, it’s just a very special dish to me, memorylane I guess :)
I am really enjoying your site! Lots of great pictures and ideas.
Well hello there. I followed a link from Pioneer Woman (she posted your green bean recipe as you know). I just love the sound of this gratin, I believe it might be what’s for dinner. I was just wondering if a mild Italian sausage (I have 4 large ones in my fridge right now) would work for this dish. We have nothing in our meat department that looks anything like the yummy sausage you used. There is some sort of sausage patties they sell here in Canada but they contain MSG which causes me to stop breathing so they are out of the question. :) This really looks like it would be a good dish to have on the table for Christmas too. Although our family is more the masses of mashed potatoes (to suck up the gravy) type.
Love your site. I will be back. Thanks so much for sharing.
Oh and Lawry Seasoned Salt? Rock on! I can’t live without it. It is often my “secret” ingredient. :)
Kait, I think any kind of sausage works for this dish, just cut it up and put it on top. I lately made it with regular sausages and it worked like a charm. What I think might also work is thinly sliced Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage.
Thanks for the compliments … all the sweet words are overwhelming :)
What type of cheese did you use? Looks like something slightly creamy in your photo.
I think my Tante Cory, my mom’s sister, made something like this when we visited her several years ago in Holland!! I don’t know why it was the first time I had ever had it, growing up with old-fashioned Dutch meat and potatoes dishes as I did. This is the first time I have seen a recipe even close to it–thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to try it, although I am not sure what cut of meat to use–the selection is not the same in Texas as it is in Holland!
omg, I found this site on google, I love your site!! The photos make me want to go and cook that immediately!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
Aku cinta halaman ini! Gambar-gambarnya bagus dan sengaja dibuat (orang lainkah yang shoot, Kay atau you did it yourself?) dari angle pelaku dan comments dibawahnya jelas direncana selama Kay kerjakan multi-culti-nya. 8D
Thanks Kay! Saya bookmark halaman kamu.
Btw, punyakah Kay recipe topping untuk Swedish crispbread?
Thanks again.
@Marjorie Tsau:
I have no idea what you just said. You’ll have to speak English, or I won’t be able to answer you.
Hi there! Ik ben ook een nederlandse en vind al je recepten heerlijk! Prachtige foto’s ook! Ik ga deze Hutspot proberen maar dan met runderworst want ik ben Joods… Tot een volgende keer! Groetjes, Cindy
k hou van deze pagina! Mooie plaatjes en opzettelijk gecreëerd (iemand anders die schieten, Kay of u hebt het zelf?) Van de dader en de opmerkingen onder duidelijk de geplande hoek voor Kay doet zijn multi-culti. 8D
Bedankt Kay! Ik heb bookmark uw pagina’s
Hebben Kay recepten Zweedse knäckebröd toppings?
Hi Kay,
Just wanted to let you know I made this for our World Cup Party yesterday, and (unlike the game’s outcome), it turned out fabulous. I have never made Dutch food before, but your blog was a huge help in familiarizing myself to it. Our guests really loved it, and everybody wanted to take home leftovers.
I used two pans for the one recipe, putting sausage on top of one and leaving it off the other for a vegetarian version. My only sub was dijon mustard for the mustard powder since I didn’t have that on hand, and an added dash of red pepper flakes. We served it with tijgerbrood (not sure how authentic that bread is, but it was great!) and slices of gouda. Such a nourishing, satisfying meal. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes. I’m sure I’ll be back to try more soon.
-amanda
My grandfather was Dutch, and moved to Canada where he married my grandmother. From there, they moved to the United States, where I was born. My mother used to make this for me, and I always assumed it was something she made up, since I’ve never heard of it or seen it before. I am so glad that I came across your website today, and finally have the answer to this riddle
Both of my parents are Dutch, and as you can guess Opa and Oma came straight over from Holland. My Oma doesnt cook much anymore but when she did it was usually and old Dutch recipe that I could never pronounce. :-) It was usually one of those dishes that my non Dutch friends would look at in discust simply from not know what it was. But anyways one of my favorites she used to make was Jachtschotel (with her own little twist)and Im so happy to see some of your favorite Dutch recipes, and Im hoping to surprise some of my family with this one!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!