Hutspot
Dutch mashed potatoes with carrot and onion, vegetarian bacon and smoked sausage, and mustard, in my apartment in Amsterdam, 2023.
After more than two years since starting this project, I've finally cooked a classic Dutch dish. Except for the fact that we used non-meat lookalikes of the traditional ingredients (because apparently The Netherlands is a meat country; context: a website launched in 2022 as propaganda by the meat industry).
See Wikipedia for some more history on this dish. Of course, potatoes and carrots did not exist in The Netherlands until they were introduced during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. So, traditional hutspot (etymologically related to hodge-podge) was prepared with parsnips (and beans). Kind of fascinating how so much of European cuisine is still relatively young, while at the same time there exist strong feelings of attachment to it.
Boil potatoes, carrots, and onions together in salted water. Drain and mash, add mustard for creaminess and flavor, possibly a stick of butter if that tickles your fancy. We sautéed the vegetarian bacon separately, and stirred it through the hutspot at the end. Heat the vacuum, smoked sausage in boiling water or in a microwave. Plate everything and serve with more mustard. I also added pickles, because those work really well together with all those starches and fats.