One of the things I absolutely love about my new iPhone is the insane amount of recipe apps you can download for it. I’ve tried a few dutch apps, and in one of them I found this jewel of a recipe. Keep in mind that the Dutch are known for mashing the heck out of pretty much everything.

This recipe is not going to convert a convinced sprouts hater, but it’s a fun twist for those of you already in love with those green little cabbages.

It’s just an easy, basic, and pretty fast recipe that you can put on the table in roughly 30 mins and that doesn’t require exotic ingredients. 

Perfect for a cold winter weeknight.

 
Ingredients:

2 pound potatoes
1 1/2 pound Brussels sprouts
2 golden delicious apples
9 oz bacon (in small pieces)
1 cup milk
1 tsp butter
pepper & salt

 
Optional: 1 dinner spoon grainy mustard

Directions:

It really can be this easy. Sprouts and potatoes.

 
A typical Dutch way of eating any type of ‘hodgepodge’ is to serve it with bacon bits (and optionally: smoked sausage). Key thing is to use a good quality bacon. I bought mine at the butcher shop.
 

Go for sweet and fresh apples, such as Golden Delicious.

Trim the stem and remove the unpretty outer layers. Peel the potatoes and put them in a large pot with a royal amount of salted water.

 
Bring the potatoes to a boil and set your timer to 15 minutes once they’re boiling.
 

Pour the milk into a seriously old and worn out Tupperware bowl. Or go for a fancier bowl. Or heat it on your stove.

Wash, dry and chop the apples. You can peel them if you like. Obviously I didn’t.

As soon as you hear that annoying timer beep, add the sprouts to the potatoes and boil everything for 10 more minutes.

 
Please, don’t cook the heck out of the sprouts. They should still be ever so lightly crunchy in the center. Overcooked sprouts are like snot.
 

That’s also your cue to cook the bacon in 1 tsp butter. I always give mine 10 minutes.

As soon as they start to get brown and crunchy after, give or take, 7 to 8 minutes.

 
Oh, just for the record: I also use the bacon grease. (I can almost hear you gasp now!). I don’t add extra butter to the mash and I don’t serve it with gravy, so it’s cool. Really.
 

Add the dices apples and give everything 3 to 4 more minutes.

 
Heat the milk now.
 

Drain the potatoes and sprouts.

 
I test every recipe I place on KK at least once when it’s not mine to begin with. Same applies to this recipe. I felt it lacked a little, how do I say that… zing? So I added grainy mustard. It was exactly what the dish needed.
 

Add the mustard, hot milk and coarsely mash it. Season with black pepper (and see if it needs extra salt).

Stir in the bacon bits and apples.

How easy do you want it? An absolutely gorgeous and tasty dinner in only 30 minutes.

 
Note:

I love the flavor combination of this dinner mash, but to me it really needs the grainy mustard. Next time I’m adding some sautéed onions and perhaps a little cheese as well.
 

Recipe adapted from Weekmenu app.