The greens in stamppot can be soft all the way through the mash, or they can give each spoonful a little bite. The difference begins with how much time they spend cooking. Kale gets time to soften. Finely cut endive can go in just before the bowl comes to the table.
The 1984 printing of Het Nieuwe Haagse Kookboek gives both approaches in its chapter on stamppot, a Dutch winter dish built around potatoes mashed with vegetables. The writers cook boerenkool, or kale, for their kale stamppot and give a separate method for raw andijvie, or endive.
Give kale time to soften
If you want tender greens throughout the mash, start with the cooked approach. In the book’s boerenkool version, the writers remove the tough central ribs and give the chopped leaves a head start. The kale goes into the mash once it has softened.
When you’re making your own version, taste a piece of leaf before you reach for the masher. If the larger pieces still feel tough, give them more time. For a coarser bowl, leave some small pieces of potato visible among the greens.
Prepared greens change the timing. HAK kale comes in water and sea salt. Follow the jar’s directions when using it with your potatoes, and taste before you add more salt.
Fold in endive just before serving
For a fresher texture, get the potatoes ready first. The book’s raw-andijvie version adds finely cut leaves to hot mash near serving time. The warmth softens the endive a little, so the leaves can still give some bite.
The authors describe a version with raw endive and fried bacon as familiar in Gelderland. The same chapter also offers a way to combine the textures in a single bowl. Start with tender cooked endive and keep some finely cut fresh leaves to fold through near the end.
Taste the greens and the potatoes together
The cookbook adjusts the amount of vegetable according to its flavour. It treats sauerkraut as a stronger ingredient than mild cabbage. If you’re adding sauerkraut to your mash, taste a spoonful together first to decide how much tang you want in the bowl.
Moisture also changes the result. When you drain the potatoes, keeping a little of the cooking liquid gives you a way to loosen a stiff mash. Stop when it still holds its shape on a spoon.
Serve the topping separately
The cookbook pairs its kale stamppot with rookworst, or smoked sausage. If you’d like it on the side, heat Unox Gelderse smoked sausage according to the packet and slice it at the table. Each person can choose how much they want with the mash.
If you’re curious about the late addition, mix a spoonful of hot mash with a few finely cut endive leaves first. That small bite gives you a feel for the texture before you fold the greens into the whole pot.
From the Pantry Bookshelf. F. M. Stoll and W. H. de Groot, Het Nieuwe Haagse Kookboek, revised with J. C. Heidenreich, 71st printing, Elsevier Amsterdam/Brussel, 1984, pp. 246–248.