Chef Joost
Aardappelgratin
A French name, a Dutch potato, and a Sunday table: aardappelgratin is what happens when a frugal kitchen borrows richness and behaves as if it had always belonged.
Culinary Explorer
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Blote Kindertjes in het Gras
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White beans peeking through green snijbonen give this old Dutch side its nursery-table joke: bare little children in the grass, sweet garden thrift with butter, nutmeg, and no apology.
Side Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
20 min cook•35 min total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, the recipes that mattered most were often the ones written shortest. Snijbonen, flat green beans cut into ribbons. Witte bonen, white beans. Boter. That was nearly all she gave herself for Blote Kindertjes in het Gras, because every Dutch child at the table already knew the picture: pale beans peeping through a tangle of green, bare little children in the grass. You can hear the grown-ups trying not to laugh.
But let me tell you a secret. This is not nursery food and it is not merely a joke dish, though the name does its best to misbehave. It is kitchen-garden intelligence: summer snijbonen, sliced thin so their fibres soften, meeting white beans from the pantry, the stored bean that made poor weeks less thin. The name already tells you the method. Keep the green beans green enough to be grass, keep the white beans whole enough to be seen, and don't drown either in sauce.
Some households call the ruder cousin Blote Billetjes in het Gras, bare little bottoms in the grass; for obvious reasons, that version travels fastest among children. I prefer this kindertjes version for the table, a little gentler and just as cheeky. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: cook the snijbonen until tender, warm the white beans carefully, then butter, nutmeg, white pepper. A dish without its story is half a meal, and here the story is exactly what the spoon shows you.
Blote Kindertjes in het Gras, also known in many households as Blote Billetjes in het Gras, belongs to the rural Dutch kitchen-garden repertoire, especially in northern and eastern households where fresh snijbonen were paired with white beans from the pantry. The dish reflects the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century household economy of fresh summer vegetables lengthened with dried legumes; later versions often use jarred white beans and sometimes fold the mixture through mashed potatoes as stamppot. Its lasting value is the name itself: a nursery-table image that preserves how frugal cooks made a plain bean supper memorable.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh snijbonen or flat green beans
Quantity
600g
trimmed and thinly sliced
cooked white beans
Quantity
450g
drained and rinsed
unsalted butter
Quantity
25g
small onion
Quantity
1
finely chopped
fresh summer savory (bonenkruid) or dried summer savory (optional)
Quantity
1 sprig or 1/2 teaspoon
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground white pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh snijbonen or flat green beanstrimmed and thinly sliced | 600g |
| cooked white beansdrained and rinsed | 450g |
| unsalted butter | 25g |
| small onionfinely chopped | 1 |
| fresh summer savory (bonenkruid) or dried summer savory (optional) | 1 sprig or 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1/4 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| freshly ground white pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Bean slicer (bonenmolen) or sharp knife
- •Wide saucepan
- •Colander
Instructions
- 1
Slice the snijbonen
Trim the snijbonen and pull away any tough strings from the sides. Slice them thinly on the diagonal, or use a bonenmolen, the old bean slicer that turns long flat beans into green ribbons. The pieces should be narrow enough to soften quickly but still long enough to look like grass on the plate.
If your beans are older and the strings fight you, remove them properly. A string left in the pot announces itself at the table, and never politely. - 2
Cook the grass
Bring a wide pan of salted water to a boil. Add the sliced snijbonen and the summer savory if using, then cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the beans are tender but still green. Dutch snijbonen are not meant to squeak raw under the tooth; they should give way cleanly. Scoop out a small cup of the cooking water, then drain the beans and discard the savory sprig.
- 3
Butter the beans
Return the pan to low heat and melt the butter. Add the onion and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until glassy and sweet, not browned. Stir in the white beans with two tablespoons of the reserved cooking water and warm them gently for 3 minutes. Shake the pan more than you stir; the little children should stay whole enough to be recognized.
- 4
Fold and season
Fold the drained snijbonen through the white beans, then season with nutmeg, white pepper, and salt. Add another spoonful of cooking water only if the pan looks dry. You want a light butter sheen, not a sauce. Serve straight away, with the white beans still peeking through the green.
Chef Tips
- •The tide sets the menu, and so does the calendar. Fresh snijbonen are best from high summer into early autumn; outside that season, frozen sliced snijbonen are an honest Dutch shortcut. Canned green beans are tired before they reach the pan.
- •Jarred white beans are perfectly acceptable here. If you cook dried beans yourself, salt them near the end and keep them whole; a broken bean still feeds you, but it loses the joke.
- •Many households turn this into stamppot by folding the finished beans through 800g of mashed floury potatoes. Do it if supper needs more backbone, but leave some white beans visible. Otherwise the name has to do all the work alone.
Advance Preparation
- •The snijbonen can be trimmed and sliced up to 1 day ahead; keep them covered in the refrigerator with a damp cloth or paper towel.
- •Cooked white beans can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated in their cooking liquid, then drained before use.
- •The finished dish is best the day it is made, but leftovers reheat gently in a covered pan with a spoonful of water and a small knob of butter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 275g)
Calories
260 calories
Total Fat
6 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
40 g
Dietary Fiber
12 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
14 g
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