THE traditional Dutch kitchen has a wide variety of seasonal products and prepares mainly family-style food served in large quantities.
The Dutch like to mix things. Stews are tremendously popular, preferably with lots of gravy. Curly kale, sausage stew, mashed potatoes and meatball casserole are favourite winter dishes.
''Pea soup with chopped smoked sausage (rookworst) is a typical winter meal, as is hotpot with beef flank and a heavy mixture of carrots, onions and mashed potatoes seasoned with butter, salt and pepper,'' said Fred Jonkheer, executive chef of the Regal It is accompanied by Pumpernickel (a dark bread) and thinly sliced boiled bacon.
According to Rene Van Schie, a fellow Dutchman working at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the average family eats three square meals a day, starting with sandwiches, biscuits, porridge, boiled eggs, Dutch spice cake and a glass of milk for breakfast.
''Lunch will consist of more sandwiches, savouries and a glass of buttermilk and, for dinner, there is meat, vegetables, potatoes, dessert and coffee,'' he said.
''We don't like to make a hassle out of cooking, just a filling meal that is enough for a long evening working in the flower beds.'' The asparagus season falls at the end of April and is a good time for white asparagus from Brabrant and Limburg in the south of Holland.