Hot lightning – apple & potato mash

Yolanda Bonfrer goes back to her Dutch roots and whips up a hearty winter fare.

A glorious weekend saw us head out as a family to pick our own apples from the local orchard. The kids loved it, munching on an apple while strolling through the apple trees. It was wonderful knowing the apples were fresh and free from pesticides or sprays – which somehow makes them taste sweeter.

Yolanda (far right) and family. Click to enlarge.

The dilemma now is what to do with close to 10kg of apples? We picked some fresh fennel from the garden and enjoyed a scrummy fennel and apple salad for lunch, with the addition of walnuts and blue cheese. Then there were our trusty apple turnovers – always a big hit in our house – with plenty of filling left over to put on our porridge the next morning.

One of my all time favourite childhood recipes is Hete Bliksem. It’s a traditional Dutch dish comprising of mashed apples and potatoes and is perfect for cold winter nights. It’s translation is ‘hot lightning’, aptly named as the addition of apples keeps the dish very hot. With a house full of guests, it was the perfect dish to make, and for the first time ever there were no leftovers!

Hot Lightning – Apple & Potato Mash

Serve with meat balls, sausages, peppered steak or pork tenderloins.

Ingredients:
2.5 kg (88 oz) potatoes
1 kg (35 oz) Granny Smith apples (or other tart cooking apples)
750g (26.5 oz) red apples (or sweet apples)
2 large onions, chopped
100g (3.5 oz) butter, chopped into cubes
Milk, if needed
Pepper & salt to taste

To make:

1. Peel potatoes and cut into cubes. Place in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.

2. Add chopped onions to the saucepan and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, peel and core the Granny Smith apples, cut into cubes and place in water.

4. Peel and core the red apples, cut into cubes and place in water – in a separate bowl to the Granny Smith apples.

5. Once the potatoes and onions have cooked for 20 minutes, drain the Granny Smith apples and add to the potatoes. Allow to cook for 30 minutes before adding the sweet apples and then cook for a further 15 minutes until both potatoes and apples are cooked. You can test this by using a fork or the point of a knife to assess how soft they are.

6. Once the potatoes and apples are cooked, drain and mix in the butter. Mash to a fine consistency and season with salt and pepper. Add milk if needed.