It 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?