I was eating kale long before it was cool.

While its nutritional benefits have recently thrust this humble green into the spotlight, the Dutch (and I’m sure many other nationalities) have long known the benefit of this dark leafy vegetable.

Kale is a main ingredient in boerenkool stamppot, a Dutch dish that my Oma introduced me to.

The dish is a rustic, one-pot meal: it’s a mash of kale and potatoes, topped with rookwurst, a Dutch smoked sausage.

While it may look unappetizing, and it certainly won’t send your taste buds into a frenzy, to me, it is comfort food as its best.

Its soft, creamy, stodgy and salty. Most importantly, my Oma always makes it for me on-request, so I know it is cooked with love.

The Tour de France has not headed north to the Netherlands, and unfortunately boorenkole stamppot is not on the menu.

But today’s Taste Le Tour recipe is similar in concept to boerenkool stamppot.

It would seem that many European countries have their own version of this peasant food — potatoes with a green vegetable, slow cooked until soft and topped with an inexpensive cut of meat (often pork). Cheap and cheerful.

A French version is a ham knuckle with braised green cabbage.

Into a cast iron pot goes cabbage, carrot, celery, onion, juniper berries and bacon. The French are a bit fancy and add some riesling, then nestle a ham knuckle into the cabbage mixture. Cover and let it do its thing for an hour and a half. When the dish is ready, add cooked potatoes.

While it isn’t much to look at, it is a tasty winter meal. The ham and bacon add a salty hit while the sharp, unique flavour of the juniper berries adds interest to the soft vegetables.

My ham knuckle needed to be cooked for longer as it wasn’t meltingly tender, but I would be careful about increasing the cooking time of the whole dish as you wouldn’t want the cabbage to cook any more.

But on a cold winter’s night, this dish — and the rest of the bottle of reisiling — are good company.

View other blogs on my Taste Le Tour French cooking journey here.