Since I had all this left-over kale from the kale salad with goat cheese I made recently, I decided to make a very traditional Dutch dish: boerenkool met worst. I’ve eaten this lots when I was a child, but never made it myself before since I never really liked it. I discovered that I actually quite liked this version, since it tastes a lot better when you remove the bitter stems from the kale. And perhaps my palate has evolved a bit, too?
I’m not sure if the traditional smoked pork sausage (rookworst) is available anywhere outside of this country. Rookworst from a butcher is much better than the supermarket stuff, but that may be the only thing available outside of Holland. If you can’t find the sausage, kale with mashed potatoes is also very good with chuck roast (draadjesvlees).
Ingredients
For 2 servings
500 grams (1.1 lbs) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
300 grams (0.67 lbs) kale, destemmed and shredded (obtained from almost double the weight of kale with stems)
1 rookworst of about 300 grams (0.67 lbs), Dutch smoked pork sausage
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
250 ml (1 cup) beef gravy
Preparation
Put the kale into a large pot and put the potatoes on top. Add about 250 ml (1 cup) water and 1 tsp salt.
Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let this boil gently for 15 minutes.
Add the sausage on top. Cover again and continue to boil for another 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. Make sure that there is enough water and add some more if needed.
Remove the sausage and keep it warm (under the lid works great).
Pour out most of the cooking water. Add 1 Tbsp vinegar. Mash potatoes and kale together.
Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and vinegar if needed.
Make sure the beef gravy is warm.
Serve with the gravy (traditionally served in a hole int he middle of the kale and potatoes, “kuiltje jus”) and the sausage.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
Boerekool is probably my favorite stamppot, although I must admit that I like the German version of this dish better.
Even though removing the stems, seems like such an obvious idea it never came to my mind before, next time I will cook this, I will use that tip!
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I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a German version. What’s the difference?
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Well the biggest probably is not mixing the kale with the potatoes 😉
The exact preparation differs regionally, but generally
it starts of with baking onions in oil, than adding the Kale, spices, and broth to it, cook that for about 10 min. Than smoked pork loin and bacon is added and stewed together for 2-3 hours. After words a sausage similar to rookworst is added and heated up.
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I have never heard of that, but that is not strange as I have hardly ever been to Germany (except for driving through it to Italy on the Autobahn). Sounds interesting, so I’ll look into it.
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Wow! Looks divine!
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Thanks, Adam!
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Very nice. I love meals like this. 🙂
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This is something entirely new for me but definitely looks worth giving it a try. 🙂
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It is quite far removed from Italian cooking, that’s for sure 🙂
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I made something with kale the other day and didn’t really get on with it (never had kale before) – now I know why – because it was bitter!
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Yup! That’s why I didn’t like it too. Removing the stems really helps…
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Stefan, it’s getting so international around here! 🙂 This kale and potato mash sounds like just my thing, I’m going to try it. But also the butternut lasagna, and the gado gado, and–everything looks just delicious! I’ll have to see if I can find some vegetarian rookworst to use in this dish. 🙂
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Thanks, Emmy. Vegetarian rookworst does exist in the Netherlands, but I have never tried one.
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Your blog came up looking at Boerenkool and Rookworst. Interesting; my friends in the Netherlands do make it more like Monika’s German recipe. I am certainly adding mild onion and a bit of garlic (not a lot). Probably some flatleaf parsley as well, as that perks up the colour and is extremely nutritious.
I’ll try to see what I can come up with in terms of rookworst in Montréal. There are regions in Canada with significant Dutch populations, but not so much here. People in Québec with Dutch surnames are more likely to be Belgians.
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The kale and potatoes look like a great hardy side dish to serve with a rib roast. I usually make creamed spinach.
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Hi Clayton, I think that would work, as long as you use the drippings of the rib roast to make gravy 🙂
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Wow, sausage looks excellent, kale and potato – very nice indeed. Maybe I should collect all the recipes :)! Thanks for sharing Poli
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