Saturday, December 4, 2010

Boerenkool (Farmer's Kale)

My friend Darlene recently brought this old-fashioned Dutch dish to a church fellowship meal and I immediately fell in love with it. I asked her for the recipe, and she informed me that there wasn't one. However, she did give me a run down of the ingredients, and the basic "how-to".

I recently made it, but couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me. Here's what I did. With the name!

Boerenkool (Farmer's Kale)

Several pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced
Large bunch of kale, chopped
1 lb. bacon
1 lb. kielbasa or Polish sausage
1 large onion, peeled and diced



Peel potatoes and cover them with water. Bring to a boil. Cook until tender. Alongside the potatoes, cover a huge bunch of chopped kale with water in a separate pot. Bring to a boil, drain; cover with water again, and cook until tender. (This prevents the kale from being bitter.)

In the meantime:
Saute 1 lb. bacon, save the drippings.
Saute the onion in the bacon drippings.
Slice 1 lb. kielbasa or Polish sausage into 1/4 inch slices. Fry in bacon grease along with onion.

When potatoes and kale are tender, drain them both and combine them. Drizzle bacon grease in and mash well. Crumble bacon and kielbasa into potato/kale mixture and stir well.

Serve very hot with a drizzle of vinegar, if desired.(It's very good this way!) Some also like gravy poured over their portion.

7 comments:

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

That sounds really good! I don't know if I have had kale before but everything else I really like!

Margo said...

oooh, that sounds GOOD. Reminds me of Irish colcannon (cook potatoes, kale, and leeks together in one pot - mash with butter and oil and salt).
I love the funny name, too.

Rebecca said...

I am Dutch and we eat this and versions of it often. I knew it was *authentic* when you said Potatoes and bacon grease. The Dutch are known for their kielbasa and bacon grease.

;-)

Melissa Campbell said...

Yum. This sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Kielbasa is usually associated with Eastern European counties like the Ukraine and Poland instead of the Netherlands and other Scandinavian countries. Perhaps this is Pennsylvania Dutch. They make such wonderful hybrid dishes.

Thanks for sharing!

Tracy said...

Anonymous,

True! I'm Polish myself, and grew up with a lot of Kielbasa. However, the woman who gave me this recipe and her husband are both Canadian, and have Dutch heritage. They both grew up eating variations of this meal. As far as I know, they have no Pennsylvania Dutch ties, but true Dutch only.

The Good Husband said...

I know I am late to the discussion but I couldn't help but respond. I grew up Dutch Canadian. Both my parents came from Holland. We ate Boerenkool alot. It is so awesome to see how the unique things of our past are experienced by others. Now, a father of 3 I see my kids loving it too...How awesome!

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