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.
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Pastinaakpuree
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Before the potato ruled the Dutch plate, pastinaak waited in the winter cellar: pale, sweet, stubbornly useful, and ready to be mashed with butter and nutmeg.
Side Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
25 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, the one she rebuilt after de Ramp, the great flood, there are recipes that look almost too plain to survive. Roots. Potatoes. Milk if there was milk. Butter if the week had been kind. Pastinaakpuree belongs to that family table: humble fare, yes, but not poor in meaning. The Dutch kitchen has always known what to do when the garden has gone quiet.
The name already tells you it is older than the potato's reign. Pastinaak comes from Latin pastinaca, a word the Romans used for cultivated pale roots, though their botany was not always as tidy as ours. But let me tell you a secret: this so-called vergeten groente, forgotten vegetable, was not forgotten by the soil. It simply waited while we made potatoes the king of every plate.
Parsnip has a sweetness that wakes in cold weather, especially after frost, when its starches turn generous. Potato gives it body, cream rounds the edges, and nutmeg, that everyday Dutch cargo from the old spice routes, makes the whole bowl smell faintly of the seventeenth century without making a speech about it. Hou het altijd simpel. Cook the roots until they surrender, dry them briefly in the pot, then mash them while hot. A puree becomes heavy when you fuss with it too long. Even history prefers a light hand.
Parsnip was widely grown in the Low Countries before the potato became dominant in the eighteenth century, valued because it stored well through winter and sweetened after frost. Its modern Dutch reputation as a vergeten groente, forgotten vegetable, reflects a late twentieth-century market revival of older roots such as pastinaak, schorseneer, and aardpeer rather than a true disappearance from rural kitchens. The grating of nutmeg over mashed roots belongs to the long Dutch habit of using VOC-era spices as household seasonings, not luxury decoration.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
parsnips (pastinaak)
Quantity
500g
peeled and cut into chunks
floury potatoes
Quantity
400g
peeled and cut into chunks
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
whole milk
Quantity
75ml
cream
Quantity
75ml
unsalted butter
Quantity
40g
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground white pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| parsnips (pastinaak)peeled and cut into chunks | 500g |
| floury potatoespeeled and cut into chunks | 400g |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| whole milk | 75ml |
| cream | 75ml |
| unsalted butter | 40g |
| freshly grated nutmeg | to taste |
| freshly ground white pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium heavy-bottomed pan
- •Potato masher or potato ricer
- •Fine grater for nutmeg
Instructions
- 1
Cut the roots
Peel the parsnips and potatoes, then cut them into similar chunks so they finish cooking together. If a parsnip has a woody core, slice it out; old roots sometimes keep a little timber in the middle, and no amount of butter makes that polite.
- 2
Boil until tender
Put the parsnips and potatoes in a pan, cover with cold water, add the salt, and bring to a boil. Cook for 18 to 22 minutes, until a knife slips through both roots without resistance. The parsnip may soften slightly before the potato; wait for the potato, because it gives the puree its body.
- 3
Dry the pan
Drain well, return the roots to the warm pan, and set it over low heat for one minute, shaking gently. This small drying step matters. Water left clinging to the roots turns a mash dull and loose; let it leave now, before the dairy goes in.
- 4
Warm the dairy
Warm the milk, cream, and butter together in a small pan until the butter has melted. Do not boil it. Hot dairy meets hot roots kindly, while cold dairy makes the puree tighten and sulk.
- 5
Mash and season
Mash the roots until smooth but not gluey, then beat in the warm milk, cream, and butter a little at a time. Grate in nutmeg, add white pepper, and taste for salt. Stop as soon as it is creamy and light. Pastinaak is sweet by nature; the seasoning should give it backbone, not bury it.
- 6
Serve with butter
Spoon the puree into a warm bowl and make a small kuiltje, a little hollow, in the middle. Let a knob of butter melt into it and grate over a last breath of nutmeg. This is the Dutch way of admitting that even plain food deserves ceremony.
Chef Tips
- •Choose small to medium parsnips when you can. Very large ones often have a woody core, and puree should be soft under the spoon, not fibrous.
- •Make this in autumn or winter, when parsnips are at their best. Frost sweetens them, which is why a January root often tastes fuller than one pulled too early.
- •Use floury potatoes, not waxy ones. The potato is here to give body and absorb butter; a waxy potato stays tight and can make the puree pasty.
- •Nutmeg should be grated fresh. The jarred powder is serviceable in an emergency, but fresh nutmeg is the difference between a note and the whole small chord.
Advance Preparation
- •The puree can be made up to two days ahead, cooled, covered, and refrigerated. Reheat gently with a splash of milk, stirring over low heat until smooth again.
- •For the lightest texture, mash it the day you serve it and keep it warm for no more than 30 minutes. Long holding makes root purees heavier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 265g)
Calories
270 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
610 mg
Total Carbohydrates
35 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
4 g
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